Sometimes you can tell things are really off, just by looking at the album cover. And Changes, the ninth album from The Monkees, is clearly no exception to that particular manifesto. Where is everyone, and why is everyone decked out like Variety Show extras? And did I say The Monkees? I meant What Was Left…
By 1968, The Monkees had passed their zenith as a commercial entity. Their April album release The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees earned considerable success (although less successful than their previous five albums), selling over a million copies and featured their hits “Valleri” and “Daydream Believer”. From that point on? Things weren’t quite so rosy. NBC…
The Monkees are celebrating their 50th anniversary (!) this year. Zowie. We’re rolling into the summer of 2016 as of this writing, and I’m currently 45 years old, which is depressing enough, but never mind all that. Obviously I wasn’t around during the first wave of “Monkeemania”, and remained blissfully unaware of the group until…
Delving into an album like Instant Replay is a really strange exercise for Monkees faithful, and I’m specifically using the phrase “Monkees faithful”, because heck knows, nobody else would be ostensibly interested in this record. That’s not a criticism, either. Just an exercise in outright pragmatism. The album has no big hits on it, no…
So Boots and I loaded up the family truckster last Saturday and made the drive up to Orlando. Our rationale for going up there was the “free” Micky Dolenz concert at EPCOT’s Flower and Garden Festival. I say “free” in “quotes” because if you “factor in” gas, tolls, hotels, and our Annual Passholder payments we…