Hey, Hey, The Monkees Still Got It: Reviewing Their Killer 12th Release

The Monkees now

It's undeniable that the music of the late '60s had a huge influence on the music I love from the '80s, and, hence, the music of today.  I spent many hours of my teen years watching "The Monkees" TV show on Nickelodeon.  Dismissed in their day as a boy band, a contrived fabrication of the music industry, The Monkees were possibly loved more in my generation than they were in their own.

In recent years, the true story has come out - one of talented, young musicians trying to wrest creative control from authoritarian TV producers.  That's a struggle that any Gen Xer can admire.  It's quite "punk rock", if the term applies.  And I think it does.  The Monkees have always been beloved by punks, many of whom first cut their teeth on rock music through the music of The Monkees.  And why not?  The music was stripped down and simple.  The show was schlocky, psychedelic, and ironically anti-establishment whenever it could get away with it.  It poked fun at hippie culture.  Many of the songs were antiwar.  As a result, punks love The Monkees.  Their music has been covered by Sex Pistols, Minor Threat, and The Dickies.  The punk band I was briefly in during the '80s even did a sloppy cover of "Stepping Stone" back in the day.  Other admirers have included John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, U2, and Michael Stipe.  Last week, I listened to the new Jesus & Mary Chain album (which I will review soon), and I was surprised to hear that it sounded just like a Monkees record.

So, it was little surprise that Rhino commissioned Adam Schlesinger of new wave outfit Fountains of Wayne to produce The Monkees' 12th studio album, "Good Times!" in celebration of the band's 50th anniversary.  Schlesinger recruits a plethora of modern artists to assist in the songwriting and as session musicians, but mainly uses the surviving members of the band, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork.  (Davy Jones sadly passed away in 2012.)  The result is a captivating experiment.  As you discover which artists contributed to the record, you can see the influence of The Monkees in their music, and, at the same time, their contributions fit very well on this collection.  Remember - the original members of the band often went into the studio individually to record their own music, and this resulted in records with a very eclectic sound - from Nesmith's country rock contributions, to Dolenz's pop songs, and Davy Jones's piano ballads.  Monkees' albums had a very diverse sound, and that's what you will find on this collection.

The Monkees then

But make no mistake - this is no fluffy nostalgia piece.  This is amazingly a legitimate pop rock album in its own right.

The first song, the title track, "Good Times", is a hip-swinging number, a duet with Dolenz and the late, iconic songwriter, Harry Nilsson, who collaborated with the band several times.  Nilsson passed away in 1994, so this number is a good way to resurrect him.  The next is a toe-tapping song called "You Bring the Summer" written by Andy Partridge of XTC, one of my favorites on this record.  It is amazing that it sounds like an XTC song, but it also sounds like a Monkees song!  "She Makes Me Laugh" is a fizzy piece written by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer.  It was funny to read that Dolenz changed some of the lyrics, because he didn't feel that they were age appropriate.  Schlesinger takes a stab at a couple of songs - "Our Own World" and "I was There (And I'm Told I Had A Good Time)" - the latter co-written with Dolenz, and the younger musician shows that he is not bad at mimicry.  There are a couple of songs from the old days that were never released and were remastered for this project, sometimes the vocals re-recorded for the tracks.  These songs are "Gotta Give It Time", "Whatever's Right", and "Love to Love", a ballad penned by Neil Diamond and vocals added posthumously by Davy Jones.  It's like summoning a ghost.  "Me & Magdalena" is a haunting melody provided by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie.  Peter Tork provides a couple of songs - a newer one called "Little Girl" and an older one called "Wasn't Born To Follow".  And Nesmith provides a couple - a ballad played with Schlesinger called "I Know What I Know", and "Birth of An Accidental Hipster" - written with Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Paul Weller of The Jam and Style Council.  The song is a Beatles-esque venture into progressive psychedelia, with almost schizophrenic changes, very enjoyable.

This album is worth having.  It is a good welcome home for old fans as well as a good introduction to a younger audience, featuring the contributions of more recent acts, conjoining one generation with another.  If this is the way The Monkees are going out, then what a way to go out.  Even though Nesmith contributed to the album, with the exception of a few shows, he did not tour with the rest of the band.  It is questionable whether they will continue.  This was a good farewell.