The Monkees - "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" Vinyl, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, 1968/1996 (Sundazed Music)

This past 12-months, I have been slowly and carefully purchasing The Monkees' catalog on vinyl. Never a huge fan, but for sure, an admirer of their complicated work and history. The Monkees seemed to be made for a man like me, due to my age and era as a teenager. I watched every episode of the Monkees show as it was originally broadcast, I believe on NBC Network (this is from memory). Also, I purchased the first two Monkees albums, due to my love of the show. I quickly moved on to other aural pleasures, but alas, The Monkees never left! How a band that had the last grasps of the Brill Building aesthetic working for them, as well as being part of the Hippie world, and then this 'fake' band became a 'real' band. Not only that, they sabotaged their Monkees career by making the most post-punk film of its era "Head." It's laughable that the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, so far, ignored them. Is there anything more rock n' roll and crazed than The Monkees?

"The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees is their fifth album and was made when the TV series was dead in 1968. In such a manner, this album is their version of The Beatles "White Album." In that, each member of the band produced their own songs, in separate studios, away from the others. Peter Tork, I believe, is not even on the album, except for the one song and hit "Daydream Believer." Still, when everything is falling apart, some exciting art does come up. The stronger cuts on the album are contributed by Michael Nesmith. His work here is psychedelic, with traces of drones and wild keyboard playing. There are seconds or maybe a whole minute where one would think that Tony Conrad or La Monte Young showed up at the sessions. The Davy Jones contributions are very Pop (with the capital P).  His head and soul are very much part of the London West-End stages, even as a rock n' roll figure on an American TV show and in real life. I miss Mickey Dolenz's voice on this album. He is singing on three songs, but for my taste, I feel Dolenz is one of the great pop/rock singers of his era and is still fantastic. I suspect that there is no such thing as a bad Mickey Dolenz vocal or track. 

"The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" is very much a transitional work that is between their beginnings and their wandering years. Boyce and Hart contribute to their production (uncredited) and songwriting on two songs, and that reflects on the past. Nesmith is very much the present on this album. A strange record in an appealing manner.