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Customer Reviews
So many people missed out on some Really Great Songs "Good Clean Fun, Listen To The Band, Oaklahoma Backroom Dancer & Never tell a woman yes" from Nesmith, "Little Girl, Mommy & Daddy & Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye" From Dolenz and not forgetting the Superb "French Song & If i Knew" From Jones as well as some padding from earlier leftovers.
Aside we have a good solid Monkee album with each Monkees taking there own direction with a final cohesive product.
The Bonus tracks make this a worthy release and my Fave is the version of "Calico Girlfriend Samba" along with the alternate "Listen To The Band".
This is one of The Monkees better albums and a must to add to your collection!
This album has aged well, as it doesn't even have any of the sappier Davy Jones songs that sometimes cause you to embarrassingly skip over a track. (Although one comes close, more on that later.) Jones' "French Song" is actually rather enjoyable, sounding like something out of "Lupin III". And of course, Nesmith's "Listen To The Band" is, in my opinion, one of the five finest songs the Monkees ever recorded. The bonus tracks include an alternate take of this classic tune.
On to the other tracks, there are a few other decent numbers from Nesmith like "Never Tell A Woman Yes" which reminds a bit of the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon". Nez also contributes "Good Clean Fun" and "Oklahoma Backroom Dancer" which both feature all the earmarks of his style, and do not disappoint.
Dolenz' "Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye" is one of his better late period songs, and has a bit of a western flavor to it. Dolenz' biting commentary on "Mommy And Daddy" was censored for the original release, but you can hear the true, superior version of the song as a bonus track here. Dolenz also sings the lead off track "Little Girl", which features the trademark Dolenz soothing vocals, and he closes the album with his lullaby "Pillow Time", not to be confused with the Headquarters bonus track.
Jones' "Looking For The Good Times", sounds quite a bit like the previous year's "Valleri", and "Ladies Aid Society" has that silly 60's novelty feel to it, and is a lot of fun. "If I Knew" is the only track that fails to impress here, as it's simply a cookie cutter Jones ballad that could just as easily have been on the first album.
Rounding out the other bonus tracks on the album, there is one other gem in particular, Nesmith's excellent "Calico Girlfriend Samba", which sounds alot like Nesmith's early solo work, and with good reason. He re-recorded this track (as well as Listen To The Band) with his First National Band. (I highly recommend seeking out discs of this great, forgotten group.) Also included are "The Good Earth", which is simply a spoken word poem by Jones, and a radio announcement from 1969 advertising The Monkees Present.
So this is the swan song of the Monkees as a trio, after becoming Tork-less with "Instant Replay" and then becoming Nez-less with "Changes". We wouldn't have a three Monkee line up again until 1987's "Pool It!" (Tork's return), and Nes would not return for a visit until 1996's "Justus". (Essentially, Headquarters 2.)
Four stars for The Monkees Present, and in ranking it next to the Monkees finest albums, I would likely rank them currently as:
1. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.
2. Headquarters
3. Head
4. The Birds, The Bees, And The Monkees
5. The Monkees Present
4 and 5 can be interchangable for me, depending on mood.
I feel INSTANT REPLAY comes off quite a bit stronger than PRESENT, most notably for the Nesmith & Jones contributions, but PRESENT has gems on it. Most notably, and famously Mike Nesmith's `Listen To The Band'. A very true blending of country and rock that he had been pioneering since 1966 with `Sweet Young Thing' (co-written with Goffin & King). `Listen To The Band' deserves to be a classic, and a more well known song than what it was and is. The melody is irresistible, and the power of the song shines through. Nesmith later re-did this song with a more country - twang a year later with his own First National Band, but this version stands out as the definitive. The inclusion of the alternative mix allows a more audible account of the rhythm track without the brass arrangement that so defines the song in its final Monkees version.
Another incredibly strong song is included in the bonus tracks. `Calico Girlfriend (Samba)', (which Nesmith also re-did later on) is such a great song in this rendition, it is a shame that it was not part of THE MONKEES PRESENT released album. It is TOO catchy. Should have been a single, especially considering the success Santana was to experience with the melding or rock and latin rhythms the same year. Capitalising on a trend or musical movement was not an impossibility with The Monkees song catalogue in 1969. They still had material that was very relevant to what was happening around them, and equally as good, if not better than what was around. `Calico Girlfriend' is a gem that should never have been buried, only to be rediscovered for its true value. It is not unlike Nesmith's `Silver Moon'(from his second 1970 solo album), which had HIT written all over it, and no less `catchy' than what the Mavericks or The Dixie Chicks have been offering very recently. Nesmith is one of the most underrated songwriters of his generation, and it is a shame. I really need a time machine.
Bill Chadwick's `French Song' is quite interesting in its production. It bares mention, as does Scott & Willis's `Pillow Time'. THE MONKEES PRESENT is a much better representation of Mickey Dolenz's talents than INSTANT REPLAY shows, and with a bit more work on a bonus track from INSTANT REPLAY `Rosemarie' by Dolenz, and PRESENT's `Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye' by Dolenz & Klein, you'd have his standout tracks (along with the aforementioned Mommy & Daddy).
THE MONKEES PRESENT is a bit more scattershot than INSTANT REPLAY, it has a few more misses, or near misses, than hits, but if you combine the two albums, you have what should have been SUCCESS written all over it. A much stronger album overall, even moreso than 1967's `Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.', which is the benchmark of their career. My suggestions for this combination of albums also include those mentioned in the INSTANT REPLAY review.
Don't Listen To Linda (Boyce & Hart)
I Won't Be The Same Without Her (Goffin & King)
You and I (Jones & Chadwick)
While I Cry (Nesmith)
A Man Without A Dream (Goffin & King)
Someday Man (Nicols & Williams)
Carlisle Wheeling (Nesmith)
St. Matthew (Nesmith)
Mommy & Daddy (Dolenz)
Listen To The Band (Nesmith)
Calico Girlfriend (Samba) (Nesmith)
Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye (Dolenz & Klein)
Good Clean Fun (Nesmith)
It is a bit heavy on the Nesmith side, but his songwriting was as good as anything that was being provided by outside writers, and it makes for some of the most pleasurable listening on these later Monkees albums without Peter Tork. A little more group unity would have been nice as far as the recording sessions, but the songs speak for themselves. The Monkees were a valuable part of the 60's, and they had Mike Nesmith.
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