''Good Times!'' is the twelfth studio album by American pop rock band
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 ...
. 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 some additional bonus tracks produced by
Andrew Sandoval
Andrew Paul Sandoval (born January 5) is an American, best known as a Grammy Award nominated reissuer and compiler and engineer of historical albums, containing popular music from the rock era. Additionally, Sandoval has ongoing careers as author, ...
), the album was recorded to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary. It is the first Monkees studio album since ''
Justus
Justus (died on 10 November between 627 and 631) was the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury. He was sent from Italy to England by Pope Gregory the Great, on a mission to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism, probably arrivin ...
'' (1996), marking the longest gap between Monkees albums to date, and the first since the death of founding member
Davy Jones. 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 ...
,
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'' (1966â ...
, 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 a posthumous contribution from Jones. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics and reached number 14 on the
''Billboard'' 200, becoming the band's highest-charting album in 48 years.
Background and recording
The project was initiated by Rhino executives John Hughes and Mark Pinkus, who were excited about a 50th anniversary album for the Monkees. Adam Schlesinger of
Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne was an American rock band that formed in New York City in 1995. The band included founding members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter, and Brian Young. They released five albums from 1996 to 2011 before effec ...
was hired to produce the album, with tracks by the three surviving Monkees, initially unreleased songs by the songwriters they used during their initial run including
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...
,
Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
&
Gerry Goffin
Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the List of Billboard number-one ...
,
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ove ...
and
Tommy Boyce
Sidney Thomas "Tommy" Boyce (September 29, 1939 – November 23, 1994) and Bobby Hart (born Robert Luke Harshman; February 18, 1939) were a prolific American duo of singer-songwriters. In addition to three top-40 hits as artists, the duo is ...
&
Bobby Hart and contemporary rock songwriters Schlesinger,
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo ( ; born June 13, 1970) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer.
Cuomo was raised in a number of Buddhist communities in the Northeast U.S. until the age of 10, wh ...
,
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 ...
,
Ben Gibbard
Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a membe ...
,
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...
and
Paul Weller
Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...
. Schlesinger had asked his Fountains of Wayne bandmate
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 ...
to write a song for the album, but it was not used because it was too similar to the title track.
The title track was written by
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ove ...
, and a surviving demo from the late 1960s was used incorporating Nilsson's vocals posthumously in a "duet" with
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 ...
. Davy Jones performs the
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...
-penned track "Love to Love" which was recorded in 1967 for the Monkees' third album in a
Don Kirshner
Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music record producer, producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by Time (magazine), ''Time' ...
-supervised session while the group was trying to gain musical independence from Kirshner. Once he was removed, the song was discarded in favor of recording an album of songs both sung and played by the group. The resultant album was ''
Headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
''. The lead vocal track was re-recorded in 1969, but it never saw an official release, still unfinished, until the late 1970s. For its inclusion on ''Good Times!'', the 1969 version is used with new backing vocals by Dolenz and Tork.
The first single from the album was "She Makes Me Laugh". Penned by
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 ...
frontman
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo ( ; born June 13, 1970) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer.
Cuomo was raised in a number of Buddhist communities in the Northeast U.S. until the age of 10, wh ...
, it was released on April 28 along with a lyric video. The second new track to be released was "You Bring the Summer" written by
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 ...
, which was debuted by DJ and Monkee-fan
Iain Lee
Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon.
Lee's career began ...
on his radio show on May 2, followed by it being made available by Rhino.
Musicians on the album include Fountains of Wayne members Schlesinger (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, percussion), Porter (guitar) and
Brian Young (drums, percussion), as well as
Mike Viola
Michael A. Viola is an American producer, musician, songwriter, and singer, best known for his work with Panic! at The Disco, Andrew Bird, Ryan Adams, J.S. Ondara, Mandy Moore, and Jenny Lewis. His original music has been featured on soundtracks ...
(guitar, bass, background vocals) and Erik Paparozzi (bass on the bonus track "Love's What I Want"), and band members
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 ...
(vocals, drums),
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'' (1966â ...
(vocals, guitar) 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 ...
(vocals, keyboards, banjo).
Reception
The album has received generally positive reviews, including a 4 out of 5 review by ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', who declared that ''Good Times!'' was "probably The Monkees' best album, after their hits compilation",
while ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' summed up the release with "Fifty years later, the Monkees are still endearing."
The ''
Herald-Standard'' concluded that "If indeed this latest album serves as the group’s swan song, then it is a joyous finale."
Music magazine ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
*Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* '' ...
'' gave the album four stars, and declared it their album of the week,
while ''
Record Collector
''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide.
History The early years
The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...
'' stated "to everyone’s considerable relief and delight, they’ve pulled it off. They really have," and gave the album four stars.
The album was awarded 3.5 out of 5 by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', who concluded "Monkees freaks have waited far too long for this album. But it was worth it."
The album was even better received by the magazine's
Australian edition, which gave it full marks and noted "Producer Adam Schlesinger of Fountains Of Wayne knows a thing or five about classic pop, and although ''Good Times!'' is a Frankenstein's monster of something old, something new and something in between, he manages to orchestrate the whole thing into something beyond an embarrassing heritage act."
''
Ultimate Classic Rock
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...
'' declared that "The fact that there is a new Monkees album in 2016 is miraculous enough, but that said album, ''Good Times!'', is nothing short of a masterpiece is astounding."
The
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
website also gave the album a positive review, stating that "keeping it analogue and raw, ''Good Times!'' is a joy. This is one band reunion that doesn’t besmirch the legacy and even offers something new and fresh." However, it acknowledged that "Noel Gallagher teams up with Paul Weller to dash off 'Birth Of An Accidental Hipster', another droll sub-Kinks ditty but it sounds bloated compared to the effervescence of what’s gone before."
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
concluded that "This is mandatory listening for any Monkees fan."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
of ''
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
'' gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, stating the album is "a joyous revival of the cheerful jangle that characterized the group's big '60s hits."
A slightly more mixed review was given by
Will Hodgkinson
Will Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London (born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne), England. He is the chief rock and pop critic for ''The Times'' newspaper and contributes to ''Mojo'' magazine. He has written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Indepen ...
in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', who gave the album 3/5,
and the ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'', who decided that the album "doesn’t quite work as it’s let down by a flat production and the lack of anything approaching their more magical moments. For all that, though, it’s no disgrace" and gave the album three stars.
A negative review was given by ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'', with Tony Clayton-Lea summarizing that "Songs by Death Cab for Cutie songwriter Ben Gibbard ("Me & Magdalena"), XTC's Andy Partridge ("You Bring The Summer"), and Noel Gallagher/Paul Weller ("Birth of an Accidental Hipster") brilliantly reference the band's 1960s glory days, but as a cohesive project it's more unpleasant valley Sunday than anything else."
At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the album has a metascore of 79, indicating generally favorable reviews. Its user score is 8.7, indicating universal acclaim.
The album is the highest charting Monkees album in the US since ''
The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees'' in 1968 and the highest charting in the UK since ''
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.'' in 1967.
Accolades
Track listing
Personnel and session information
All tracks produced by Adam Schlesinger unless otherwise noted
"Good Times"
*Micky Dolenz – lead vocals
*Harry Nilsson - lead vocals, piano
*Michael Nesmith - guitar
*Adam Schlesinger - guitar
*Rick Dey - bass
*
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
*Recorded: January 10, 1968, and Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
"You Bring the Summer"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
*Michael Nesmith - guitar, backing vocals
*Peter Tork - organ, backing vocals
*
Mike Viola
Michael A. Viola is an American producer, musician, songwriter, and singer, best known for his work with Panic! at The Disco, Andrew Bird, Ryan Adams, J.S. Ondara, Mandy Moore, and Jenny Lewis. His original music has been featured on soundtracks ...
- guitar
*Pete Min - guitar
*
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
*Adam Schlesinger - bass, keyboards
*Brian Young - drums, percussion
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February - March 2016
"She Makes Me Laugh"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
*Peter Tork - banjo, backing vocals
*Michael Nesmith - guitar, backing vocals
*Mike Viola - guitar
*Adam Schlesinger - bass
*Brian Young - drums, percussion
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
*Dolenz wasn't comfortable with some of the original lyrics as written by Rivers Cuomo. The lyric "directing traffic in the mall" was improvised by Dolenz, and Cuomo "added in new lyrics about
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
and a canoe trip when Dolenz felt the original draft was geared towards a man much younger than his 71 years."
"Our Own World"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
*Peter Tork - keyboards, backing vocals
*Michael Nesmith - backing vocals
*Adam Schlesinger - guitar, bass, keyboards
*Brian Young - drums, percussion
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
"Gotta Give It Time"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
*Michael Nesmith - backing vocals
*Al Gorgoni - guitar
*Don Thomas - guitar
*Hugh McCracken - guitar
*Lou Mauro - bass
*Artie Butler - organ
*Herb Lovelle - drums
*Tom Cerone - tambourine
*Jeff Barry - original producer, original arrangement
*Adam Schlesinger - reproducer
*Ray Hall - original engineer
*Leftover from the final Kirshner supervised sessions in January 1967. However no vocals were recorded at the time.
*Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 AM – 7:00 PM) and 24, 1967, and Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
"Me & Magdalena"
*Michael Nesmith - lead vocals
*Micky Dolenz - harmony vocals
*Mike Viola - guitar, bass
*Jody Porter - guitar
*Adam Schlesinger - piano, drums
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February - March 2016
"Whatever's Right"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
*Michael Nesmith - backing vocals
*Peter Tork - keyboards
*Mike Viola - guitar
*Adam Schlesinger - bass
*Brian Young - drums
*Coco Dolenz - backing vocals
*
Bobby Hart - organ/backing vocals
*Originally recorded during the sessions for ''
More of the Monkees
''More of the Monkees'' is the second studio album by the American pop rock band the Monkees. It was recorded in late 1966 and released on Colgems label #102 on January 9, 1967. It displaced the band's own debut album from the top of the ''Billb ...
'' but no tapes of the original recording have been found. It is unknown whether any Monkee vocals were ever recorded for the original version.
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February - March 2016
"Love to Love"
*Davy Jones - lead vocals
*Peter Tork - backing vocals
*Micky Dolenz - backing vocals
*Al Gorgoni - guitar
*Don Thomas - guitar
*Hugh McCracken - guitar
*Lou Mauro - bass
*Artie Butler - organ
*Herb Lovelle - drums
*Tom Cerone - tambourine
*Jeff Barry - original producer, original arrangement
*Adam Schlesinger - reproducer
*Ray Hall - original engineer
*Originally recorded in 1967 for the group's third album (which would become ''Headquarters''), the vocal track was re-recorded by Jones in 1969 for ''
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 ...
'', but left unreleased until ''
Missing Links Volume Three
''Missing Links Volume Three'' is a compilation album of rare and previously unreleased songs by The Monkees, issued by Rhino Records in 1996. It is the third and final volume of a three-volume set, preceded by '' Missing Links'' in 1987 and ''Mi ...
''. In 2016, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork contributed new backing vocals to the 1969 version for inclusion on this album. The original vocal track recorded in 1967 was eventually released on the 2007 re-release of ''Headquarters''. That makes this version unique in that the instrumental track was recorded in 1967, the lead vocal track in 1969, and backing vocal track in 2016, making this song a combination of three different time periods.
**Slightly different mixes featuring a vocal track by Jones from the same recording session in 1969 was featured on the track's inclusion for ''
Monkeemania (40 Timeless Hits)
''Monkeemania (40 Timeless Hits)'' is a Monkees compilation released in Australia in 1979. It contains 40 of the Monkees' songs, including hit singles, B-sides, album tracks and three previously unreleased tracks: "Love to Love," "Steam Engine" ...
'', ''
Monkee Business'', ''
Missing Links Volume Three
''Missing Links Volume Three'' is a compilation album of rare and previously unreleased songs by The Monkees, issued by Rhino Records in 1996. It is the third and final volume of a three-volume set, preceded by '' Missing Links'' in 1987 and ''Mi ...
'', ''
Music Box
A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...
'', and previously on a bonus disc on ''
The Definitive Monkees''.
*Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.) and 24, and February 4 and 5, 1967, and August 5, 1969, and Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
"Little Girl"
*Peter Tork - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
*Mike Viola - guitar, backing vocals
*Adam Schlesinger - bass
*Brian Young - drums
*Tork notes in the ''Good Times!'' CD booklet that he wrote this song with Davy Jones in mind, and had hoped Jones would've sung it.
*The track should not be confused with another Monkees song "Little Girl" from ''
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 ...
'' which was written by Micky Dolenz.
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
"Birth of an Accidental Hipster"
*Michael Nesmith - lead vocals
*Micky Dolenz - co-lead vocals
*Coco Dolenz - backing vocals
*Mike Viola - guitar
*Adam Schlesinger - bass, piano, percussion
*Brian Young - drums
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February - March 2016
"Wasn't Born to Follow"
*Peter Tork - lead vocals, banjo
*
Mike Deasy
Michael William Deasy (born February 4, 1941) is an American rock and jazz guitarist. As a session musician, he played on numerous hit singles and albums recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He is sometimes credited as Mike De ...
- guitar
*
Dennis Budimir
Dennis Matthew Budimir (June 20, 1938 – January 2023) was an American jazz and rock guitarist. He was considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew.
Biography
Budimir learned to play piano and guitar in his youth and first played profession ...
- guitar
*
Al Casey - guitar
*
Max Bennett - bass
*
Michael Melvoin
Mike Melvoin (May 10, 1937February 22, 2012) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He served as chairman and president of The Recording Academy and worked as a prolific studio musician, recording with Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, ...
- harpsichord
*
Earl Palmer
Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of al ...
- drums
*Stan Leavey - percussion
*
Milt Holland
Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist, and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percu ...
- vibes
*Originally produced by The Monkees
*Originally started during the sessions for ''
The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees'' but previously unfinished or unreleased.
*Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, March 9, 1968, and Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
"I Know What I Know"
*Michael Nesmith - lead vocals
*Adam Schlesinger - piano, bass, guitar,
Chamberlin
The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are severa ...
"I Was There (And I'm Told I Had a Good Time)"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals, drums
*Adam Schlesinger - piano, bass
*Mike Viola - guitar
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February - March 2016
Bonus tracks
"Me & Magdalena" (Version 2)
*Michael Nesmith - lead vocals, guitar
*Micky Dolenz - harmony vocals
*Mike Viola - guitar
*Adam Schlesinger - bass, organ
*Brian Young - drums
*Recorded and mixed at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, CA, February 2016
*Additional recording and mixing at Omelette Station, NYC, and The Pool, North Hollywood, CA
"Terrifying"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
*Michael Nesmith - guitar
*Peter Tork - keyboards
*Mike Viola - guitar, backing vocals
*Adam Schlesinger - bass, guitar
*Brian Young - drums
*Recorded and mixed at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, CA, February 2016
*Additional recording and mixing at Omelette Station, NYC, and The Pool, North Hollywood, CA
"Love's What I Want"
*Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
*Andrew Sandoval - acoustic six-string & electric 12-string guitars, backing vocals, drums, handclaps
*Coco Dolenz - backing vocals
*Erik Paparozzi - bass, electric guitar, backing vocals, handclaps
*Bobby Hart - organ, handclaps
*Pete Thomas - drums, percussion, handclaps
*Produced by Andrew Sandoval
*Recorded at Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, March 2016
*Additional recording at Picture Studios, Los Feliz, CA
"A Better World"
*Peter Tork - lead vocals, guitar, percussion
*Micky Dolenz - backing vocals
*Coco Dolenz - backing vocals
*Joe Boyle - lead guitar, bass, backing vocals
*Sturgis Cunningham - drums, percussion, backing vocals
*Katlin Wolfberg, Corinne Olson, Emily Elkins, Eliza James - strings
*Produced by Peter Tork and Andrew Sandoval
*Basic track recorded at Studio Wormwood, Mansfield Center, CT, March 2016
*Additional recording at Lucy's Meat Market, March 2016
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2016 albums
The Monkees albums
Rhino Records albums
Albums produced by Adam Schlesinger
Albums produced by Andrew Sandoval