''Christmas Party'' is the 13th and final album by

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

, released on October 12, 2018. Produced mainly by

Adam Schlesinger Adam Lyons Schlesinger (October 31, 1967 – April 1, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was a key songwriting contribu ...

(with

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees'' (1966� ...

's tracks produced by his sons Christian and Jonathan), the album is the Monkees' first to focus on Christmas themes. It follows on the success of their 2016 album ''

Good Times! ''Good Times!'' is the twelfth studio album by American pop rock band the Monkees. Produced mainly by Adam Schlesinger (with some additional bonus tracks produced by Andrew Sandoval), the album was recorded to commemorate the band's 50th anniversa ...

'' The two-year gap is the shortest between albums since the 1969/1970 releases of ''

The Monkees Present ''The Monkees Present'' (full title being ''The Monkees Present Micky, David, Michael,'' also known as simply ''Present'') is the Monkees' eighth album. It is the second Monkees album released after the departure of Peter Tork and the last to feat ...

'' and ''

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''. The album features surviving Monkees

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. (born March 8, 1945) is an American actor, musician, TV producer and businessman. He is best known as the drummer and one of three primary vocalists for the pop-rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and multiple reunions ...

, Mike Nesmith, and

Peter Tork Peter Halsten Thorkelson (February 13, 1942 – February 21, 2019), better known by his stage name Peter Tork, was an American musician and actor. He was best known as the keyboardist and bass guitarist of the Monkees and a co-star of the TV ...

, as well as two posthumous contributions from Davy Jones. It is the final Monkees studio album to be released prior to Tork and Nesmith's deaths in 2019 and 2021, respectively. The album features a mix of covers of earlier Christmas songs (from "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Wonderful Christmastime" to the relatively obscure "Jesus Christ" originally by

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a new l ...

) and new holiday tunes written specifically for the album by several ''Good Times!'' contributors, including

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who founded the rock music, rock band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writi ...

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

's Rivers Cuomo and Schlesinger. This is the only Monkees album on which there are no songs written by any member of The Monkees. The

Target store Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American Big-box store, big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the ...

exclusive version features two additional tracks, "Riu Chiu" and "Christmas Is My Time of Year," vintage recordings from the group remastered and remixed by original Monkees producer

Chip Douglas Douglas Farthing Hatlelid (born August 27, 1942), better known as Chip Douglas, is an American songwriter, musician (bass, guitar and keyboards), and record producer, whose most famous work was during the 1960s. He was the bassist of the Turtle ...

Cover

The album cover was illustrated by comics artist

Michael Allred Michael Dalton Allred is an American comic book artist and writer most famous for his independent comics creations, ''Madman'' and ''iZombie''. His style is often compared to pop art, as well as commercial and comic art of the 1950s and 1960 ...

. Allred, a lifetime Monkees fan, recalled: "I can't even remember doing it now. I was on a crazy high trying to squeeze everything I could into it."

Reception

''Christmas Party'' received a mixed review in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', who described it as "a curious hodgepodge" and gave it three out of five stars. The same score was given by ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of tradition ...

'' who described it as "a mixed bag of covers and original songs and some of it is a bit cheesy". The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' gave the album two and a half out of four stars, stating "the big calling card may well be two vocals that Davy Jones recorded in 1991 and that are newly outfitted in fresh instrumental accompaniment pulled together by album producer Adam Schlesinger." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' did not rate the album, but described it as feeling "mostly like a Micky Dolenz solo album — co-produced by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger — that happens to have a few odd interjections from Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and, yes, the late Davy Jones."

Track listing

Personnel

Partial credits sourced from track listing and Monkees Live Almanac. *

: lead vocals on "Unwrap You at Christmas", "What Would Santa Do", "House of Broken Gingerbread", "Christmas Party", "Jesus Christ", "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", "Wonderful Christmastime", "Merry Christmas, Baby"; co-lead vocals on “Christmas Is My Time of Year”; vocals on "Riu Chiu"; spoken vocals on "Christmas Party" *

: lead vocals on "The Christmas Song" and "Snowfall"; vocals on "Riu Chiu"; spoken vocals on "Christmas Party" *

: lead vocals on "Angels We Have Heard on High”, vocals on “Riu Chiu”; spoken vocals on "Christmas Party"; banjo on "Angels We Have Heard on High"; Hammond organ on “Christmas Is My Time of Year” * Davy Jones: lead vocals on "Mele Kelikimaka" and "Silver Bells"; vocals on “Riu Chiu”; co-lead vocals on “Christmas Is My Time of Year”; spoken vocals on "Christmas Party" *

: bass on "Unwrap You at Christmas", "What Would Santa Do", "Mele Kelikimaka", "House of Broken Gingerbread", "Christmas Party", "Jesus Christ", "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", "Silver Bells", "Wonderful Christmastime", "Merry Christmas, Baby"; keyboards on "What Would Santa Do", "House of Broken Gingerbread", "Christmas Party", "Jesus Christ", "Wonderful Christmastime"; piano on "Christmas Party", "Jesus Christ", "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" * Brian Young: drums *

Jody Porter Jody Porter (born May 25, 1969) is an American musician. He was the lead guitarist of Grammy Award-nominated power pop band Fountains of Wayne. The band released four major label albums, including ''Welcome Interstate Managers'' on Virgin Recor ...

: guitar *

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his car ...

: guitar * David Mead: backing vocals *

Christian Nesmith Christian DuVal Nesmith (born January 31, 1965) is an American musician from Los Angeles, California, and the eldest son of Michael Nesmith of the Monkees and Phyllis Gibson. Nesmith has worked with his father (on the album '' The Garden''), Mich ...

: guitar, keyboards *Jonathan Nesmith: instruments, backing vocals on "Snowfall" *

: bass, guitar and production on “Christmas Is My Time of Year” *

Eddie Hoh Edward Hoh (October 16, 1944 – November 7, 2015) was an American rock drummer who was active in the 1960s. Although primarily a studio session and touring drummer, Hoh exhibited a degree of originality and showmanship that set him apart and se ...

: drums on “Christmas Is My Time of Year”

Charts

References

{{Authority control The Monkees albums 2018 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Pop rock Christmas albums Rhino Records albums Albums produced by Adam Schlesinger