So this is the 1st official Christmas Album The Monkees will release, which is coming out on October 12th, 2018.
Rivers Cuomo, Andy Partridge, Peter Buck (of REM), Adam Schlesinger (of Fountains of Wayne, and who produced 2016's Good Times! ) Michael Chabon (yes, the author) and Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 (with Peter Buck) all are involved.
Some Davy Jones recordings are included like with Good Times!
I also wonder as far as The Monkees and the Rock Hall, hanging with Peter Buck of REM (who are in the Rock Hall), maybe there could be some push to get them finally on the ballot this year or next?
Anyway, the Preorder is here which is for the digital. The Vinyl is coming out in 2019 I guess, but the digital and CD version will be for sale in a few weeks.
Also, "Unwrap You at Christmas" is the tune Andy Partridge wrote, so that immediately is the one I'm the most excited to hear.
1. Unwrap You At Christmas
2. What Would Santa Do
3. Mele Kalikimaka
4. House Of Broken Gingerbread
5. The Christmas Song
6. Christmas Party
7. Jesus Christ
8. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day
9. Silver Bells
10. Wonderful Christmastime
11. Snowfall
12. Angels We Have Heard On High
13. Merry Christmas, Baby
I've made it through a little over an hour of this 1h 48 minute podcast (I've been interrupted/busy at work of course) and while some topics may not be brought up, like a lot of his own music/songs and even detailed History with sElf. And Apes and Androids/Call Florence Pow; there's still a ton of good insight and information about Matt's history and where he is now. His career for scoring Animated movies and television, and producing work.
Even just his way of producing/recording drums and drum production/sound etc.
Drummers, in other words, would probably enjoy hearing this, along with people who want to produce and engineer recording.
My comparison to Kevin Gilbert and where Kevin might be if he were alive, kind of is even more supported by Matt's career. Although I sense Matt's not really as much of a control freak or even a perfectionist, to the same degree Kevin was.
But the man is prolific and has found a way to make a good living out of doing it, the same thing Kevin was doing back in the 90's. And also the same thing Jason Nesmith (1 of Mike's sons) does. Even Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne (and Stewart Copeland has done as well), have done.
I do hope Matt does have the opportunity to compose/score music for a Live Action movie/(s) given how he said he wants to if for no other reason, it would be less time-consuming and easier per his difficulty/time demands to do them for Animated shows and film.
Anyway, I'll hopefully be able to finish it in the next day or 2, and maybe some insight into what his plans are in the near future outside of Scoring..sElf music or producing perhaps. Would love for him to work with someone like Kimbra or Fjokra. Kimbra oddly enough, I noticed on twitter follows Brian Jacobs (Majestyy) which who knows how she found him (me/my blog? I doubt it, but who knows), but it's very cool to notice that. Maybe Majestyy will do a Kimbra remix? or even work with her someday. She does now live in NYC anyway (Brian and Apes and Androids being from Brooklyn too).
Also I may have to check out more of this podcast now. The host sounds an awful lot like Alex Dandino to me (of The Dear Hunter Graphic Novels and Podcasts with Casey).
5/23/16 7:03PM Friday May 27th Listening Parties at Record Stores
Including Down in the Valley in Golden Valley, Minnesota. It's unclear what TIME it will be at, but I am already planning to head out there as soon as possible after work on Friday.
Video for "Me and Magdalena" also edited below.
5/9/16 9:47PM The Ben Gibbard written folky ballad "Me and Magdalena"..liking the Nesmith vocals, although a little odd with Micky's parts so high in the mix. 5/2/16 8:53PM Andy Partridge written "You Bring the Summer"..verrrry 60's Psych ala Dukes of Stratosphear in some ways. 4/28/16 10:56AM
1st single "She Makes Me Laugh," the Rivers Cuomo penned track "She Makes Me Laugh" sound rather retro, especially the guitar. Early Monkees per my fiancee's observation.
Thumbs up.
Good Times! Has New Release Date Of May 27,
Following The Launch Of An Extensive 50th Anniversary Tour With
Micky Dolenz And Peter Tork On May 18
Track Listing (with songwriters noted)
1. "Good Times" (Harry Nilsson)
2. "You Bring The Summer" (Andy Partridge)
3. "She Makes Me Laugh" (Rivers Cuomo)
4. "Our Own World" (Adam Schlesinger)
5. "Gotta Give It Time" (Jeff Barry/Joey Levine)
6. "Me & Magdalena" (Ben Gibbard)
7. "Whatever's Right" (Tommy Boyce/Bobby Hart)
8. "Love To Love" (Neil Diamond)
9. "Little Girl" (Peter Tork)
10. "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" (Noel Gallagher/Paul Weller)
11. "I Wasn't Born To Follow" (Carole King/Gerry Goffin)
12. "I Know What I Know" (Michael Nesmith)
13. "I Was There (And I'm Told I Had A Good Time)" (Micky Dolenz/Adam Schlesinger)
Tour Dates (of course NO Minnesota, but likely not many with Nesmith anyway)
THE MONKEES Tour Dates
May 18 Fort Myers, FL 19 Melbourne, FL 20 Tampa, FL 21 Atlanta, GA 24 Charlotte, NC 26 Washington, DC 27 Boston, MA 28 Philadelphia, PA 29 Red Bank, NJ
June 1 New York, NY 3 Toronto, ON 4 Windsor, ON 5 Cleveland, OH 7 Fort Wayne, IN 8 Grand Rapids, MI 10 Louisville, KY 11 Hammond, IN 12 Indianapolis, IN 14 Dayton, OH 16 Salt Lake City, UT 28 Dallas, TX 30 Tulsa, OK
July 1 Mayetta, KS 14 Ottawa, ON 16 Hampton Beach, NH 22 Hot Springs, AR 24 Augusta, GA
August 6 Reno, NV Grand Sierra Resort
September 4 Vancouver, BC 14 Tucson, AZ 15 Phoenix, AZ 16 Los Angeles, CA 17 Las Vegas, NV 20 San Francisco, CA 21 Modesto, CA 23 Lincoln City, OR 24 Lincoln City, OR 25 Seattle, WA 29 Austin, TX
October 1 Biloxi, MS 3 Branson, MO 21 Anaheim, CA 22 Paso Robles, CA 29 Shippensburg, PA
2/6/16 10:31AM
The Fiancee just mentioned that some of the track list has been posted on http://monkees.com/
GOOD TIMES! Partial Track Listing (with songwriters noted) Final Version To Be Announced Soon “Good Times!” (Harry Nilsson) “You Bring The Summer” (Andy Partridge) “Terrifying” (Zach Rogue) “Me & Magdalena” (Ben Gibbard) “She Makes Me Laugh” (Rivers Cuomo) “Love To Love” (Neil Diamond) “I Know What I Know” (Michael Nesmith)
2/5/16 1:38PM
Well it's now *official* since the Amazon link "leaked" it early. And Rollingstone.com Micky interviewgets the official cred, lol of course.
The Cover Art is now up too. And the title includes the "!"
And Noel Gallagher of Oasis is also included among the songwriters.
It's not for this specific entry, as this is about this album and The Monkees, but chalk another unfair and huge failure to Social Media and not giving credit to where credit should be due; per I posted this article yesterday, February 4th at 2:16PM.
I passed it along on both Twitter HERE 24 HOURS AGOand on Facebook HERE 23 HOURS AGO, tagging The Monkees and the list of others involved, and yet I didn't receive 1 LIKE, RETWEET nor even a referral that I can tell.
I know the Amazon link was not MY info directly, but the fact is, it read pretty credible, giving a release date and an entire write-up, on a site as huge as Amazon.
But at this point, next to no credit, lol.
Why Social Media sometimes is fucking lame, and unless you're some huge mainstream news site, you can never truly get "1st-to-the-punch" even if you actually deserve some of it.
I very easily could write a longer diatribe about this very thing, as I have in the past. And it's a broken record, I know (see Warpaint, Local Natives, Kimbra). But I guess not now.
What will unfold as far as the interest in this album, very well could be as if not more interesting than the music itself. It's an experiment I suppose, that may really work, or may just end up being luke warm at best.
I guess we'll see. Track list and other details will show up I'm sure relatively soon.
Thealbum is the Monkees' first collection of original material since 1997's JustUs, and it will feature new songs by Noel Gallagher, Rivers Cuomo, Ben Gibbard and many more. Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne serves as producer on the new LP.
Noel Gallagher of Oasis is also included per that article. Nice FACT CHECK RS.
JustUs was released in 1996, not 1997.
The album has a hard release date of June 10th, though right now Schlesinger is busy creating music for the CW show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and formal recording sessions have yet to begin. "We've been talking a lot back and forth and sharing music via Dropbox," says Dolenz. "It's coming together fast, which isn't a bad thing since it forces you to make decisions. My job is just to come in and sing lead vocals. It's no different than the old days when we had to get everything done in three-hour sessions because that was the limit of the musician's union."
Right now, he's focused on wrapping his head around the new songs. "We all agree that the lyrics in the Rivers Cuomo song needed to be aged up a little but," Dolenz says. "It sounds like it's about a little girl and I'm 70 years old, so Rivers is re-writing the lyrics." Noel Gallagher is still crafting lyrics for his contribution, though Dolenz says that Ben Gibbard's song "Me & Magdalena" and Zach Rogue's tune "Terrifying" are both in and ready to go. "They're all keeping with our sensibility," says Dolenz. "I just keep calling it that jangly guitar pop sound, though I used to call it 'progressive bubblegum.'"
Tour Dates, that don't include Nesmith of course. No Minnesota date either.
May 18 - Fort Myers, FL @ Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall
May 19 - Melbourne, FL @ King Center for the Performing Arts
May 20 - Tampa, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall
May 21 - Atlanta, GA @ Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater
May 24 - Charlotte, NC @ Blumenthal PAC - Belk Theater
May 26 - Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre
May 27 - Boston, MA @ The Wilbur Theatre
May 28 - Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theatre
May 29 - Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre
June 1 - New York, NY @ The Town Hall
June 3 - Toronto, ON @ Casino Rama
June 4 - Windsor, ON @ The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor
June 5 - Cleveland, OH @ Hard Rock Live Northfield Park
June 7 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Foellinger Theatre
June 10 - Louisville, KY @ Louisville Palace Theatre
June 12 - Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
June 14 - Dayton, OH @ Rose Music Center at The Heights
June 28 - Dallas, TX @ AT&T PAC – Winspear Opera House
June 30 - Tulsa, OK @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
July 1 - Mayetta, KS @ Prairie Band Casino & Resort
July 16 - Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
July 22 - Hot Springs, AR @ Oaklawn Racing and Gaming
September 15 - Phoenix, AZ @ Mesa Arts Center
September 16 - Los Angeles, CA @ Pantages Theatre
September 17 - Las Vegas, NV @ Primm Valley Casino Resorts
September 20 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
September 21 - Modesto, CA @ Gallo Center For The Arts
September 23 & 24 - Lincoln City, OR @ Chinook Winds Casino Resort
September 25 - Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre
October 1 - Biloxi, MS @ Hard Rock Live
October 22 - Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre
October 29 - Shippensburg, PA @ H. Ric Luhrs PAC
----------------------2/4/16 2:16PM--------------------- Amazon link
That link shows a June 10, 2016 release date.
My fiancee and I were brainstorming about this album after learning about Andy Partridge writing songs for The Monkees last week. I just thought names like: Roger Joseph Manning Jr (Jellyfish), Graham Gouldman (10cc), Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze), AC Newman and/or Dan Bejar or Neko Case even (The New Pornographers), Robert Schneider (The Apples in Stereo).
And I threw out Ben Folds of course and Rivers Cuomo.
Well it turns out Rivers Cuomo was correct, lol.
Ben Gibbard? I'm not a fan of Death Cab for Cutie nor The Postal Service (mainly from his voice), but I don't want to judge a book by its cover.
And the dude from Rogue Wave: I liked 1 or 2 of their songs about 10 years ago, but then blew them off. But again, not wanting to judge. The last Local Natives album was good, and it was produced by that dude from The National, a band I never cared for.
Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne is producing, which the fiancee more or less predicted.
And the previously mentioned Andy Partridge.
And it's good to see Nesmith and Tork involved in the writing, along with the Jones, Diamond and Nilsson showing up.
Do I personally expect a lot? not necessarily, but the list of names involved certainly adds some curiosity.
Monkees? Good Times? Well, dyno-mite! The Monkees are ready to have some fun this year as the iconic band celebrates its 50th anniversary with a tour and the group s first new album in 20 years, appropriately titled GOOD TIMES. Much like The Monkees early albums, GOOD TIMES features tracks written specifically for the band by some of the music world s most gifted songwriters, including Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Andy Partridge (XTC), and Zach Rogue (Rogue Wave). The album also includes songwriting contributions by Nesmith ( I Know What I Know ) and Tork as well as producer Schlesinger. To help bring the anniversary full circle, The Monkees completed songs for GOOD TIMES that were originally recorded & written for group during the 60s, including Love To Love by Neil Diamond, which features a vintage vocal by Jones. Harry Nilsson wrote the title track Good Times, which he recorded at a session with Nesmith in January 1968. The production was never completed, so the band returned to the original session tape (featuring Nilsson s guide vocal) and have created a duet with his close friend Dolenz. Good Times will mark the first time Dolenz and Nilsson have sung together since Dolenz May 1973 single Daybreak. Other vintage 1960 s tracks included on GOOD TIMES feature L.A. s famed Wrecking Crew of session musicians.
1966 was the year The Monkees released their 1st album and the TV Show premiered in September. So, 2016 is the 50th Anniversary of that.
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
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
