So, obviously the thought is, for a 50-year anniversary they may be planning to do something special. Obviously it could be a tour or 2, with Mike, but Mike has done that a couple of times in the last couple of years. So another thought is, they'll record some new music, something they haven't done in 20 years, since 1996's Justus.
So a few weeks ago my Monkees-aholic fiancee noticed Adam Schlesinger post a pic with Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. And so the idea of The Monkees recording a new album with a producer perhaps, and perhaps it being Adam came up.
And now just today, Andy Partridge of XTC posted the below post about writing songs for The Monkees on twitter.
So, it begs the question or questions, what does this mean? Could they make a new album like they did in the 60's, with top-notch songwriters of today (or recent day, XTC of course was most active/well-known for their work in the 80's. Fountains of Wayne even has been a bit out of the game the last 10 years).
And Andy Partridge likely is someone Mike would be familiar with, at least stylistically, XTC and Andy's stuff is odd and quirky, even if it is still poppy.
I guess we'll see, but as a Monkees fan, and being engaged to a rather fanatical Monkees fan, this is certainly intriguing news. Who else could they be working with? Matt Mahaffey? Ben Folds? Dug Pinnick? (he's also been pictued backstage at 1 a show with Christian and Mike Nesmith) Michael Stipe? (known fan)..my 1st choice might be Casey Crescenzo, although the odds I'm sure are very unlikely.
I also can't help but think if Kevin Gilbert were alive, he would have a chance to work with them, and the results could have been through the roof, at least in potential
XTC's twitter link
The news from the Monkees camp is positive on the songs I wrote for them,will keep you posted on how things go.
per Facebook
Adam Schlesinger with Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz, pic posted on January 17th.
edit: and per progressivears.com, another link was shared in reaction talking about Andy and Andrew Sandoval exchanging twitter posts recently and Andy's love on The Monkees
from monkeesconcerts.com