More of the Monkees

All that said, this is by no means "the worst album in the history of the world", and, save for one excruciatingly B-AA-A-D track (Davy Jones' hyper-treacly, spoken-word "The Day We Fall In Love") has held up far better than anyone had the right to believe it would. It is, in my opinion, quite a nice little slice of catchy, well-produced-and-played mid-60s pop which has held up far better than a lot of the hipper, "serious" 60s pop and rock of the time--think Vanilla Fudge, Moby Grape, the Strawberry Alarm Clock and Iron Butterfly here.

Highlights include the Boyce and Hart tracks "She" (which is the album's opening track and a great little rocker that any group would be proud to have cut) and "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"; the Nesmith-penned rocker "Mary, Mary" (later covered by Run-DMC of all people!) Goffin and King's shiny "Sometime In The Morning" and the eternal Monkees signature song, Neil Diamond's "I'm A Believer"--all of them brilliantly sung by Micky Dolenz and proving that he is one of the great, underrated rock singers of the 60s.

Other noteworthy tracks include: "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", a fine, sing-alongable little Neil Diamond pop ditty sung by Davy Jones and "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love", performed by Mike Nesmith, although it is by no means Nesmith's best Monkees track.

"Your Auntie Grizelda", Peter Tork's first released vocal performance in the group is, well, interesting... especially considering that the song was originally supposed to be a Stonesy "Mother's Little Helper" style social critique. Peter's goofy reading of the track suggests that the producers decided that he just wasn't up to it vocally and turned into a Ringo-style novelty track to give Peter his space on the a Monkees disc.

All in all though, it's a fine little collection of tracks. Most general-interest Monkees fans, interested in the big hits "I'm A Believer" and "Steppin' Stone" would probably be better off with one of Rhino Records' greatest hits package and leaving it at that. But folks interested in a slightly more eclectic look at the Monkees should pick this one up. It's not bad at all.

The formula that worked so well with their first album continues here in that you have a whole bunch of talented songwriters writing songs for different members of the band. A key regard in which the Monkees were like the Beatles was that each group had a pair of primary singers, a third who would write his own songs to sing, and a fourth who could be tossed as bone now and then (e.g., Peter Tork's "Your Auntie Grizelda"). There is a big difference between a song sung by Mickey Dolenz and one sun by Davy Jones, which this album amply proves with the first tracks on each side, where we have "She" and "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)." The strangest thing about the album is that there were only two singles, with "I'm a Believer" going to #1 for seven straight weeks and "(I'm Note Your) Steppin' Stone" only making it to #20. The disparity there is easy to explain because as I remember it the former came out before the album and the latter afterwards, and once we had the album we did not need the singles (but I remember feeling bad that we were not living up to our responsibilities as fans by not buying all of the singles).

Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, who wrote most of the songs on the first album, only do a pair of songs on this one, "She" and "Steppin' Stone," both for Dolenz, who also sings Neil Diamond's "I'm a Believer" and turns in one of his finest vocal performances on the Gerry Goffin & Carole King composition "Sometime in the Morning." Michael Nesmith lets Dolenz sing the lead on his song "Mary, Mary" and then saves "The Kind of Girl I Can Love" (on which Glen Campbell plays one of the guitars) for himself to sing. Given how fast Don Kirshner put out this album I have to say I was surprised that Nesmith managed to get a couple of songs included in the dozen tracks, but then Nesmith actually got to produce the two tracks as well.

Since Diamond also wrote "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)," sung by Jones, you can say he wrote the best songs for both of the group's main singers. But on balance the Jones songs are not as strong. "When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)," written by Neil Sedaka and Carole Bayer, is solid enough, but "Hold on Girl," "The Day We Fall in Love," and "Laugh," are all marginal tracks written by people whose names are not worth listing. Mickey was the funny one and Davy was the cute one, but when Jones is has to do that poetry recital in "The Day We Fall in Love," it is painful to hear (unless, I would suppose, you were a teenage girl in the throes of a romantic attachment to a cute television star from England). Consequently, there are just too many songs that you have been left off the album that drag down the rating of this one down. But what is good here is well worth having for Monkees fans.

As is the case with all of the Monkees albums reissued on Rhino, there are several bonus tracks tacked on at the end. This includes as earlier and slower version of "Don't Listen to Linda," and alternative versions of "I'll Spend My Life With You," and "I Don't Think You Know Me." The first pair there are Boyce & Hart songs, the third Goffin & King. But those songs all ended up on later albums, so the long mix of "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" and the early version of "I'm a Believer" are of more interest.