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Post subject: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 9:10 pm
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The past couple of days I've been taking out CDs that I haven't played in a long time and put my favourite cuts on "Repeat Play" for over an hour in some instances such as Johnny Winter's cover of The Stones' "Stray Cat Blues"-his playing makes Richards sound like he's wearing boxing gloves while he's playing and his lecherous, lascivious and menacing vocals makes Mick Jagger sound like a choir boy.Anyway that and other favourite cuts have had quite a bit of replay in the past while.This evening I hauled out my old Monkees CDs and played their greatest hits album for a song that never made it on an album while they were recording,it was on the B side of "A Little Bit Me,A Little Bit You"and the song is Mike Nesmith's "The Girl I knew From Somewhere".This song was a landmark of their recording history in that it was the first release that they played all the instruments on it.The boys were getting all kinds of flack and were the butt of jokes everywhere because they were looked at as being nothing more than fakes whose only talent was the ability to lip-sync. Mike got into a very heated row with Don Kirshner who had most of the say so what songs got put on what recording and he wanted "She Hangs Out" which was written by his buddy Jeff Barry.Mike and they boys were so insistent that Kirshner quit,this gave the guys more control over record content.

For the past 45 minutes or so I've been listening to a song by Mike that's on their first album and for a "teeny bopper" band it's pretty heavy and that's "Sweet Young Thing",it has a heavy throbbing bass that's in the same vein as a lot of Troggs songs from the day,it also has an Eastern music influence with the droning guitars in the background.Mikes "Papa Gene's Blues" is also a gem from the first album.Most of the songs from the first album were quite good and very listenable,since network bosses hired The Wrecking Crew to do most of the instruments,Mike and Pete played their own,Pete had made quite a name for himself on the Greenwich Village scene as a popular singer/multi-instrumentalist and of course Mike's "Distant Drum" rocketed The Stone Poneys and especially their incredibly beautiful singer with the voice of an angel-one Linda Ronstadt-to the top of the record charts.In addition to Mike's catchy songs,the network execs hired many of the top songwriters of the day such as Neil Diamond,Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart,Goffin and King etc.

A lot of Mike's songs had a heavier groove to them than those of the hired guns of song writing such as "You Just May Be The One" and some such as "Papa Gene's Blues" had a real up tempo country flavor and some were better than average love songs such as "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love" and some actually had a very noticeable Beatles influence such as "You Told Me".The Monkees got a lot of ridicule for their first 2 albums with the instruments being played by studio musicians though they did play some of their own on the second album"More Of The Monkees" and by their third album "Headquarters" they were playing almost all the instrument parts with the exception of a negligible amount,it really helped that Pete was quite accomplished on a myriad of instruments-the Monkees' equivalent of Brian Jones-of course without the tragic situations that Brian became involved in.I picked up their 5 albums in a Rhino Records box set and I can honestly say that it's a really good trip back to the '60s and its music.If you play the albums in the order in which they were released,you can easily see how their technical ability as well as their vocals improved immensely through the years.Even if you're not a "Child of the Aquarian Age" these albums are a pretty good listen and the first one especially will give you some appreciation of just how great The Wrecking Crew were.

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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 12:40 am
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I am a fan of the Monkees since they began when I was very young. The Monkees gave me the desire to learn the drums and guitar, and later also to form a band.
At the time I did not know they could not play. I do not know when and if they played their own music and it does not matter to me.
Thanks to them, I have a wonderful hobby.

I have all their records. All CD and some vinyls.

I rediscovered Mike lately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i7oQ-1LzWs


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 3:05 am
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I was only a child of 6 or 7 when the Monkees first came on the scene with their TV show. It was later in life that I found out Mike and Peter were the only 2 real musicians of the group. I was fortunate to have seen and met, Peter Tork at Chan's Jazz and Blues right here , in my hometown of Woonsocket, R.I. several years ago where he put on a great show and signed autographs for everyone afterwards.


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:14 am
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My fave of all:

Mister Dobalena, Mister Bob Dobalena
China Clipper calling Alameda
Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self defense.
It is of my opinion that the people are intending. 8)


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:45 am
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I like the Monkees, even after I found out their first two albums were played by studio musicians...If I recall correctly, those studio musicians consisted mostly (or completely) of the Wrecking Crew, so if we dismiss the Monkees, we also dismiss about 1000 other bands and performers.

...and Mickey Dolenz could actually play drums, even if he wasn't originally a drummer; his singing was pretty dang good, too.

Davy Jones was an experienced vocalist and had multiple stage credits as a child, even before being chosen at the casting call.

(I'm a vocalist as well as a guitarist and a harmonica player, and I consider vocals to be an instrument in and of itself.)

The fact that several "well respected musicians" (such as members of Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, etc.) went to the casting call and were disappointed when they weren't chosen should tell us something about the opinion of the group held by musicians and those in the music industry at the time they were being assembled.

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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:58 am
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Screamin Armadillo wrote:
I like the Monkees, even after I found out their first two albums were played by studio musicians...If I recall correctly, those studio musicians consisted mostly (or completely) of the Wrecking Crew, so if we dismiss the Monkees, we also dismiss about 1000 other bands and performers.

d.


I love the Monkees ,

The Wrecking crew help other bands who are not tight enough for studio recording and as they can read music they do the job faster.
But other bands always play their music in show , not the Monkees.


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 12:28 am
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Further to Davy Jones,Davy had a pretty promising career as a child singer/actor/dancer.Davy had actually played the lead role in the musical, Oliver where played The Artful Dodger,he so impressed the producers that he was then asked to take the lead role in musical adaptation of another Dickens' novel-Pickwick.In his late teens he moved to the U.S. to seek his fame and fortune.While we're on the subject of child actors,Mickey Dolenz was born into a showbiz family,his father was George Dolenz who played in the popular TV series-The Count Of Monte Cristo,Mickey played the central character in the T.V. series "Circus Boy",so like Davy,he got an early grounding in the ins and outs of acting.

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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 5:50 pm
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On another thread I mentioned the first album I ever bought was The Monkees self-titled debut. In fact, I bought 6 of their first 7. I didn't get Head(hey, no jokes!). All my vinyl is in storage so I make due with a 25-track 'Best of' digital album. I guess I'm still a fan.

My love for guitars started with The Beatles, but it was The Monkees that really made me actually beg for a guitar of my own for Christmas. Can anyone but Louie Shelton really play the intro to "Valleri"? I remember as a young lad slowing the record player down from 33 1/3 to 16 RPMs so I could make out the notes. It didn't help.

BTW, I guess it wasn't common knowledge back in the day that many of pop rock's most popular bands didn't play their own instruments on their records. Most of the instruments on Beach Boys records were played by The Wrecking Crew with Brian Wilson directing them. The rest of the band was usually out on tour and did the vocals when they came back home.


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:45 am
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I remember as a kid , my parents bought me a hand puppet which was made by Mattel of the Monkees. It had all 4 of their heads in plastic sewn onto a cloth body which had a talking box that had their pre-recorded voices on it that would work when you pulled the string. Anybody remember those ? I know they're worth a lot on today's vintage toy market.


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 3:05 am
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jeffo46 wrote:
I remember as a kid , my parents bought me a hand puppet which was made by Mattel of the Monkees. It had all 4 of their heads in plastic sewn onto a cloth body which had a talking box that had their pre-recorded voices on it that would work when you pulled the string. Anybody remember those ? I know they're worth a lot on today's vintage toy market.


http://www.ebay.com/bhp/monkees-doll


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 3:27 pm
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blackstratacat wrote:
My fave of all:

Mister Dobalena, Mister Bob Dobalena
China Clipper calling Alameda
Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self defense.
It is of my opinion that the people are intending. 8)


I did watch re-runs of the Monkees in the 80's and I am familiar with their hits. This is the Mister Dobalena that I know.


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Post subject: Re: Some Monkees' Songs Were Really Good, Even Heavy
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:14 pm
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Radio helped the Monkees popularity. Compared to the Beatles screen persona's in the movie Help, I always thought The Young Rascals influence more Eddie for Davy.

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