''Stranger Things Have Happened'' is a 1994 album by former

Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees'' television series, they were one o ...

member

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 bass guitarist and keyboardist of the Monkees and co-star of the NBC ...

. Although he had been performing since the 1960s, this was his first and only solo release. The album includes several original compositions, and covered a range of styles from folk ("Giant Step") to hard rock ("Miracle") to pop ("MGB-GT").

Reception

Bruce Eder of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

wrote "No one's going to believe it, but this is a good album, from Peter Tork no less. Most of the songs are sung with passion and the voice is much better than it was on, say, '

Shades of Gray Variations of gray or grey include achromatic grayscale shades, which lie exactly between white and black, and nearby colors with low colorfulness. A selection of a number of these various colors is shown below. Chart of computer web color ...

' 28 years earlier. What's more, Tork reveals himself as a solid rocker, starting from a folk idiom but working with lots of wattage on the instruments and no trace of wimpy singer/songwriter affectation in the playing." He singles out the track, "' Higher and Higher', a folk/gospel song on which Tork mostly plays acoustic banjo, and which is so beguiling that one wishes he'd do an entire album in that idiom, style, and sound."

Reissue

In December 2020, British label 7a Records reissued ''Stranger Things Have Happened'' on CD and vinyl with new artwork and nine bonus tracks.monkeeslivealmanac.com
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Track listing

Original 1994 release

2020 reissue

Tracks 15–17 not included on 2020 vinyl reissue.

Personnel

Credits adapted from 1994 release. *

– vocals, guitar, banjo, producer, liner notes *

James Lee Stanley James Lee Stanley (born April 30, 1946) is an American folk singer-songwriter. Stanley was also a regular extra on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' for six seasons. Biography Stanley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of Italian, German, C ...

– acoustic guitar, backing vocals, producer, engineering, programming *

Tommy Mars Tommy Mars (born Thomas Mariano on October 26, 1951) is an American keyboard player known for his work with Frank Zappa. Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars ...

– keyboards *Pat Holloway – bass *Darren Elpant – drums *

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the Monkees and co-star of their The Monkees (TV series), TV series of the same name (1966–1968) ...

– backing vocals ("Milkshake", "MGB-GT") *

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. ( ; born March 8, 1945) is an American musician and actor. He was the drummer and one of two primary vocalists for the pop rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and reunions until 2021), and a co-star of the TV series ''T ...

– backing vocals ("Milkshake") * Timothy B. Schmit – backing vocals ("Stranger Things Have Happened") * Mel Vasquez – backing vocals ("Sea Change") *

Mackenzie Phillips Mackenzie Phillips (born November 10, 1959) is an American actress. Her best-known roles include Carol Morrison in the film ''American Graffiti'', Julie Cooper Horvath on the sitcom '' One Day at a Time'', Molly Phillips on Disney Channel’s su ...

– backing vocals ("Giant Step") *Owen Elliott – backing vocals ("Giant Step") *Anita Sherman – backing vocals ("Gettin' In", "Higher and Higher") *Deborah Van Valkenburgh – backing vocals ("Tender Is") *Marc McClure – lead guitar ("Get What You Pay For") *

Laurence Juber Laurence Ivor Juber (born 12 November 1952) is an English musician, fingerstyle guitarist and studio musician. He played guitar in the rock band Wings (band), Wings from 1978 to 1981. Biography Early life Born in Stepney, East London, Juber w ...

– electric guitar ("Milkshake") ;Additional: *Nick Thorkelson – artwork *Joseph L. Steiner, III – mastering

References

{{Authority control 1994 debut albums Peter Tork albums