1."(Theme From) The Monkees"
2."Saturday's Child" (David Gates)
3."I Wanna Be Free"
4."Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" (Boyce, Steve Venet)
5."Papa Gene's Blues" (Michael Nesmith)
6."Take a Giant Step" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King)
Well, I hope it gets better. It's all ok for sure, but I would say adequate more than sterling.
The Theme is catchy, no doubt, but the 'we're just trying to be friendly part' is just the chorus again, which makes it six repeats of the chorus in a 2 and a half minute song. Too much is too much, guys. The second part of the solo - with the vaguely Eastern runs - is great.
'Saturday's child' tries for a menacing mood at the beginning - quite tough for the Monkees, but can't keep it up. The song sounds melodically awkward, the segue from verse to chorus, from menace to jolliness and back, I don't know, it sounds wrong. And this song just seems to have too many parts. From 1'00 upto the solo it just seems to run around looking for an exit.
'Tomorrow's gonna be an other day' is too much of a template. I mean, it would be ok if this was a beginning band playing their own instruments, but I'm expecting top sessioneers and songwriters here shamelessly exploiting the fad for popbands. We've heard this song before. People in 1966 had heard this song before.
The Theme is catchy, no doubt, but the 'we're just trying to be friendly part' is just the chorus again, which makes it six repeats of the chorus in a 2 and a half minute song. Too much is too much, guys. The second part of the solo - with the vaguely Eastern runs - is great.
'Saturday's child' tries for a menacing mood at the beginning - quite tough for the Monkees, but can't keep it up. The song sounds melodically awkward, the segue from verse to chorus, from menace to jolliness and back, I don't know, it sounds wrong. And this song just seems to have too many parts. From 1'00 upto the solo it just seems to run around looking for an exit.
'Tomorrow's gonna be an other day' is too much of a template. I mean, it would be ok if this was a beginning band playing their own instruments, but I'm expecting top sessioneers and songwriters here shamelessly exploiting the fad for popbands. We've heard this song before. People in 1966 had heard this song before.
But the good news -
'Papa Gene's blues' is not one of Michael Nesmith's best songs, but it does show a songwriting voice that is his own. I like the mix between country and uptight beatgroup in this performance.
'I wanna be free' just works, for me. A beautiful song (somewhat dodgy lyrics, but who hasn't felt like that at some point), played straight, sung great and with a lovely arrangement. It's not high art, but I go along with it.
The best song, 'Take a giant step', has only one downside. For me it can't live up to Taj Mahal's amazing version of it. But that's no slur on the Monkees who do it just great too.
Here's the Taj Mahal take (probably my favorite Taj Mahal track too):
All ok, but I do hope it gets better the coming days.
'Papa Gene's blues' is not one of Michael Nesmith's best songs, but it does show a songwriting voice that is his own. I like the mix between country and uptight beatgroup in this performance.
'I wanna be free' just works, for me. A beautiful song (somewhat dodgy lyrics, but who hasn't felt like that at some point), played straight, sung great and with a lovely arrangement. It's not high art, but I go along with it.
The best song, 'Take a giant step', has only one downside. For me it can't live up to Taj Mahal's amazing version of it. But that's no slur on the Monkees who do it just great too.
Here's the Taj Mahal take (probably my favorite Taj Mahal track too):
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