Before going on, let me note that I am now cautiously optimistic -- based on the strength of the first single, "She Makes Me Laugh." I'll explain below.
"She Makes Me Laugh" from the forthcoming album
Now, to continue where I left off: Since Changes, which was the last of the Monkees' "original" albums, there have been occasional attempts at reunions. For the purposes of this discussion I'm largely limiting myself to recordings of new material.
The first such attempt was in the mid '70s. But Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork wouldn't sign on, So Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (who had written much of the material for the original albums, got on board. Then, legal issues prevented them from being "The Monkees." So they were Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart. The album they recorded was actually a pretty decent bit of pop music, but it didn't do well.
"Sweet Heart Attack" from Dolenz Jones Boyce and Hart
Ten years later, amid MTV-fueled nostalgia, they tried it again. This time, Tork was onboard, making it a ¾ reunion. They recorded three new tracks to tack onto a compilation album. Two of them -- including a cover of "Kicks," which had been a hit for Paul Revere and the Raiders -- were forgettable, though "That Was Then, This is Now" was pretty good and actually hit #20 on Billboard.
"That Was Then, This Is Now" from Then and Now...The Best of the Monkees
But it never got that good again. In 1987 they went for a full album. Pool It featured an updated sound, and had some very strong elements. But it was very forgettable. That was a huge disappointment for me, personally. I was in grad school, trying to become a mathematician, but also maintaining an interest in music journalism. I got Tower Records Pulse! to let me do a kind of preview article about the upcoming album. The trick was that I had to write about it as if I had heard the album. Which I hadn't. To help, Pulse arranged for me to talk to producer Roger Bechirian. That was a thrill, since he had worked with many of the New Wave/Post-Pub Rock acts that I had loved since high school. As an aside, I'll note that that article contained one of the most cringeworthy mistakes of my writing career. Anyway, I was stoked for te album -- a new album of new Monkees recordings, including a cover of Wreckless Eric's "(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World." But the attempt to make the Monkees sound contemporary just didn't work. It was cheesy pop music -- while not truly bad, it wasn't really good either.
"Heart and Soul" from Pool It!
1996 saw the next real attempt. Somehow they got Mike Nesmith on board, so there was a full reunion, and an album of new recordings, featuring all four Monkees acting like a band. Once again, I was waiting in anticpation -- this time for Justus. I tried to like the album. I really tried. But I never really warmed up to it.
"You and I" from Justus
So now, here we are, twenty years after that atrocity. In that time there have been lots of Monkees tours with one or another nonempty subset of the group.. And there have been lots of stories of one or another being kicked out of the group, or being reinstated, or whatever. I haven;t had the energy to follow the saga. But Davy Jones died four years ago, which kind of puts him permanently out of the group (at least for the purposes of touring). I'd kind of come to accept the idea that there wouldn't be new material, though Rhino Records does seem to keep finding ways to repackage the existing stuff or add previously unreleased tracks or alternate takes.
And that's where I was when I first heard that there would be a new album (called Good Times!) of all new material. I didn't like the last two attempts, and there'll be no Davy. So it can't be good. Then I heard that there will be Davy. They found old ("vintage") Monkees recordings from the 1960s. Sounds great! But then I remembered those awful tracks with John Lennon that made their way onto the Beatles' Anthology albums. And I shuddered. This can't go well, I told myself. They'll update the hell out of the group. Like Justus, it won't sound like the Monkees. And they'll have some crappy archival recording of Davy singing a crappy song that was never released for a very good reason. But, perhaps against my best judgement, I pre-ordered the album. And the release date was moved up, so bitter dissapointment loomed larger and larger.
So, this weekend I saw an email from Rhino records that I could hear the first single, "She Makes Me Laugh" (the video is at the top of this post). In my apprehension, I thought of "Laugh," from the group's second album, and worried that this will be a disaster. But I am pleased to have been proven wrong. "She Makes Me Laugh" is a catchy song. And they made it sound like vintage Monkees. If you had tyold me that it was an outtake from the 1966 recordings, I wouldn't have a hard time believing it. And Micky Dolenz' vocals sound like they did fifty years ago.
Will I be disappointed again? Maybe. But maybe not?
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