The Monkees - Good Times (2016)

The Monkees

Good Times!

The Monkees’ Good Times! The first album of newly recorded material since 1996’s Justus. That’s right, The Monkees name is alive again for the fourth time (original run, Pool It!, Justus, Good Times!). And even Michael Nesmith joins us!

                Don’t forget that we’ve been getting a lot of unreleased material for the last 15 years, in Rhino’s deluxe edition releases (the last new album being the Summer 1967: The Complete U.S. Concert Recordings album in 2001, and the last re-issue being The Monkees in 2014). For some reason, no one asked for a Monkees resurgence, but here we are.

     

The Album

                The album is confused with itself. It actually uses some original recordings from 1967-68 with overdubs this year, and the rest just being new songs from this year. You look at the tracklist, you see that the old songs are recorded by who you expect; Harry Nilsson, Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The new songs are written by members from Weezer and Death Cab for Cutie. And, boy, you can tell which ones are newly recorded.

                To just solidify that this is a Monkees album in 2016, Michael Nesmith does lead vocals on a song titled “Birth of an Accidental Hipster”.

                I also remember this album being marketed as having Davy Jones. In fact, Davy appears once, as lead vocalist on Love to Love (recorded 1967, 1968, and 2016).

The tracks

Good Times is odd. It is a Monkees song in every sense – even the guitar sounds like it belongs in a Monkees album – but with current time Dolenz singing (with Harry Nilsson). It is the strangest thing, and it just leaves me wonder what it would’ve sounded like with 60s Dolenz. Micky does sound great, though. Or in other words, I don’t think Micky matched with the song.

                You Bring the Summer is extremely pop, but it’s the first song on the album to actually feature all the Monkees, and even Tork on an organ. The bridge in this song is nice, but it’s just way too pop and too produced, obviously meant for a single (and it suddenly becomes psychedelic right as it fades out). That being said, because it is a single, I wouldn’t mind hearing this on the radio.

                She Makes Me Laugh is Weezer’s contribution to the Monkees (what did I just say). This is actually a great song, Cuomo knew how to work the Monkees sound and Dolenz’s vocal style together. Greatest song so far.

                Our Own World is another great song, but the chorus is pissing me off because it sounds like a song I know that I can’t remember. Is it an Andrew Gold song like Never Let Her Slip Away?

                Gotta Give It Time is another song with beautiful guitar work by studio sessions because this is early 1967. Which means they are literally just doing what they did for the first two albums and adding vocals on top of studio musicians. Which also means they capture the studio feeling well. Unlike Good times, Micky’s voice works well on top of older works.

                Me & Magdalena is a song that, according to an NPR interview I listened to, is basically the Monkees singing a Death Cab for Cutie song. It is written by Ben Gibbard from that band, and Micky and Dolenz share lead vocal. The A-side of this album would be the “Voice of Micky Dolenz”, because tracks 1 – 7 are Micky lead songs. But back to the song, yeah, it’s an interesting change of pace.

                Whatever’s Right is written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, but is actually recorded this year. But it sounds like it came right from the vault. The backing vocals, sung by Micky’s child, Bobby Hart and Nesmith, sound a bit too low pitch for the song, but that’s my only complaint.

                Love to Love. DAVY! OH DAVY WHY’D YOU HAVE TO GO. It’s actually really weird, since this entire album was Micky with his really energetic voice, and then Davy comes in and changes it up. His singing is pretty straight forward on this song. Also, this was released on the Headquarters deluxe, even with the vocals. So the only Davy song we get was already available, with a mix with are more prominent organ. Boo.

                Little Girl is a change of pace that I like. Peter Tork sings and changes the entire feeling. It’s less pop and more jazz. The album really needed this, because the Micky pop was getting old. A Tork still sounds good!

                Birth of an Accidental Hipster is weird. Nesmith sings lead, and Micky does a lead part as well. The song travels between being psychedelic with its vocals, rock with its instrumentation, and then back to weird with how it transitions into different parts, sprinkled with sounds of soft pop in the bridge. But Nesmith doesn’t play guitar and that makes me a bit salty.

                Wasn’t Born to Follow HEY WAIT A MINUTE I ALREADY KNOW THIS SONG. This song actually showed up, minus vocals, on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees deluxe edition. Tork gets to play a banjo and sing on this song, and Peter nails it. The song itself is pretty average, with a good guitar solo.

                I Know What I Know is Nesmith doing lead vocals and Adam Schlesinger doing everything else. It’s basically a solo piece, as was most of his Monkees material. It’s a different Nesmith feel, and it also includes a Chamberlin to finish off that accidental hipster feel.

                I Was There (And I’m Told I Had a Good Time) is the Monkees’ response to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band almost 50 years after the fact.

Edit - Bonus Tracks
The bonus tracks actually sound great, and don't sound like throwaways. In fact, it may actually just be a high point of the album. I seriously cannot believe that this is happening, but I love it. This album is actually great.
               Terrifying might be my favorite, and its a shame it's only on the deluxe edition. Great mix, and most importatnly a different sound from the rest of the songs. It's a nice mix of pop and rock (but not pop rock, that's different.)
               Me & Magdalena (Version 2) is the "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" version of the song. An electric guitar, a bass that slides, and shakers, it really sounds like it could've been on Headquarters. And while it may completely forget the original feel of the song, its fantastic.

Conclusion

For the first time in a Monkees resurgence, they aren’t trying to bring back the Monkees name, they are trying to bring back the Monkees sound and feel. And it mostly worked. The main problem was that there was too much pop, too much of trying to get the sound right, that it watered it down a bit. However, I can safely say this is the best the Monkees have sounded since they stopped, and really puts Pool It! And Justus to shame.
It really makes me happy that this happened, and its a quality album.

So I’ll say – go buy it, you’ll enjoy it, which is like two steps underneath a must have release.  If you are a Monkees fan, don't miss this. If you are a music fan, don't miss this.