The Monkees Album: “Greatest Hits”

Description :

The Monkees: Michael Nesmith (vocals, electric & 12-string guitars); Mickey Dolenz (vocals, drums, tympani, wood block); Davy Jones (vocals, tambourine, chimes, tree); Peter Tork (guitar, electric guitar, piano, harpsichord, organ, background vocals). Additional personnel includes: Gerry McGee, Louie Shelton (acoustic & electric guitars); Bill Chadwick (acoustic guitar); John London (acoustic 12-string guitar, bass); Keith Allison, Wayne Moss (electric guitar); Tommy Boyce (guitar, background vocals); Wayne Erwin, James Burton, Glen Campbell, Al Casey, Michael Deasy, Don Peake, Al Gorgoni, Hugh McCracken, Don Thomas, Al Hendrickson, Ken Bloom, Danny Kortchmar, Harold Bradley, Billy Sanford, Laurence Juber, Mark Christian; Henry Diltz, Robert Thompson (banjo); Lloyd Green (steel guitar); Buddy Spicher (fiddle); Bonnie Douglas, Paul Shure, Nathan Kaproff, George Kast, Alexander Murray, Erno Neufeld, Sam Freed, Marvin Limonick (violin); Myra Kestenbaum (viola); Fred Saykora, Marie Fera, Jacqueline Lustgarten, Kurt Reher, Aller Slatkin, Gregory Bemko, David Filerman, Jan Kenny (cello); Buddy Collette, Bill Hood, Plas Johnson, Jim Horn, Jay Migliori, Martin Berman (saxophone); John Lowe (bass saxophone); Bobby Helfer (trumpet, bass clarinet); Bud Brisbois (trumpet, horn); Pete Candoli, Al Porcino, Manuel Stevens, Virgil Evans, Uan Rasey, Thomas Scott, Roy V. Caton, Oliver Mitchell, Carroll Lewis, Stuart Williamson, Buddy Childers, Jack Sheldon (trumpet); Vincent De Rosa, Dave Duke, Richard Perissi (French Horn); Richard Nash (trombone, horn); Richard Noel, Louis Blackburn, Lewis McCreary, Herbert Harper (trombone); Richard Leith, Philip Teele (bass trombone); William Hinshaw, Jules Jacob, Marion Childers, John Kitzmiller, Don McGinnis, Michael Saluzzi, Ray Triscari (horns); Michael Cohen, Stan Free, David Briggs, Jim Cox (piano); Michael Melvin (piano, celeste); Michael Rubini (harpsichord, tack piano, organ); Bobby Hart, Arthur Butler (organ); Leon Russell, Ralph Shuckett, Mike Egizi (keyboards); Clyde "Whitey" Hoggan, James Hughart, Jerry Scheff (acoustic bass); Max Bennett (acoustic & electric basses); Larry Taylor, Larry Knechtel, Bob West, Louis Mauro, James Tyrell, Chip Douglas, Douglas Lubahn, Norbert Putnam, Dennis Belfield, Dean Parks, George Hawkins, Joe Osborne (bass); Billy Lewis, Hal Blaine, Jim Gordon, Herb Lovelle, "Fast" Eddie Hoh, Earl Palmer, Mike Ney, Jerry Carrigan, Paul Leim, Curly Smith (drums); Thomas Cerone (tambourine); Larry Bunker (glockenspiel); Gene Estes, David Walters, Henry Lewy, Gary Coleman, Gene Pello, Bill Martin, Brendan Cahill, Milt Holland, Jerry Williams (percussion); Michael Lloyd (synthesizer, background vocals); Matt Harris (background vocals); John R. Hoenig. Producers include: Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Jack Keller, Jeff Barry, Michael Nesmith. Compilation producers: Andrew Sandoval, Bill Inglot. Includes liner notes by Ken Barnes. This Deluxe Limited Edition (20,000 pressings) of GREATEST HITS comes in a four-color tin package with a raised photo image as well as computer screensavers of the Monkees' 18 album covers and logo. The Monkees: Davey Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz. This deluxe, repackaged, remastered, and expanded edition of The Monkees' GREATEST HITS is a superlative Monkees anthology. It focuses on singles mixes of classics like "Words," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," and "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone," many of which appear here on CD for the first time. This collection also features interesting album tracks like Micky Dolenz's "Randy Scouse Git," and the gorgeous, ultra-psychedelic "Porpoise Song," the theme to the band's underrated commercial-suicide film HEAD. This version of the disc ends with the two best tracks from the band's mid-'80s reunion, "That Was Then, This Is Now," and "Heart and Soul." As good a single-disc introduction as you're likely to find.

This is an odd collection to call "Greatest Hits". It doesn't contain a complete collection of singles... Its debatable whether an album-only track like 'I Wanna Be Free' deserves inclusion over say, 'For Pete's Sake', or 'Cuddly Toy'. Likewise, 'D.W. Washburn' -- which was assuredly never a hit -- stands out from the rest of the tracks like a pothole in the road.

If you?re a completist, you may want to buy this if only because its the only single disc that contains 'Washburn' and 'Its Nice To Be With You'.

If you?re looking for a single-disc collection of the best Monkees songs, go for 'Best of The Monkees" which has 25 songs on one disc, and a much more balanced selection of songs that represented The Monkees's best work from their original run.

The Monkees had an incredibly good sound and their musical legacy is a fine one. This CD gives us twenty tracks by The Monkees that proves their capability as musicians. They were one awesome group!

The CD starts with the theme from "The Monkees." This catchy tune has them harmonizing and the guitars, drums and percussion work very well. The beat shifts from time to time to make the song bouncy and energetic; it's a great song to start off the album. "Last Train To Clarksville" follows and again The Monkees never cease to amaze me. They harmonize so well on this song as they sing of a woman taking a train to Clarksville to be with her sweetheart. The electric guitars on "Last Train To Clarksville" really help this number rock!

"I'm A Believer" is good rock even though the first few bars have that "bubblegum" flavor. They sing this with style and the guitars, percussion and drums carry the bulk of the musical arrangement. "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" is a great song about a relationship between a man and a woman when the man wants to try patch up their love affair. The background harmonizing is flawless and the guitars and even the handclapping make "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" a very strong number. Great!

The single version of "Pleasant Valley Sunday" continues the big hits and The Monkees make great use of the modulations between major and minor keys; and listen also for "Daydream Believer" with an awesome spoken intro. "Daydream Believer" is my very favorite tune by The Monkees; this sweet love ballad also rocks well and the musical effects are very nicely done.

The single version of "The Porpoise Song" is a somewhat lesser known tune by this group; but it has a stunning beginning and the melody is beautifully arranged and performed. Listen for some great guitars on "The Porpoise Song;" and The Monkees also sing this flawlessly. "Listen To The Band" starts with great percussion and the singing is stupendous. "Listen To The Band" rocks a bit harder than some of the other tunes by The Monkees; but it all works very well and I predict that you will enjoy "Listen To The Band" very much.

The CD ends with "Heart And Soul;" this tune rocks really well and I really like this number. "Heart And Soul" makes a strong ending for this album and the band performs this number without a superfluous note!

The artwork is very nicely done; and Ken Barnes contributes a fine, informative essay about the group and their recordings. We also get the song credits.

The Monkees were a remarkably talented group but they don't get their due recognition these days; hopefully in our times more people will soon pick up this album and realize just how special The Monkees really were.

No matter how much musical "credibility" the Monkees have now, you can't deny that they sang some of the most fun and catchy songs to come out of 1960's pop (and if cedibility is a problem to you, then don't look too hard at some of the "artists" today then, either). Most of their hits are here, and it's not a bad place to start looking at Davey Jones and co.

Instantly recognizable hits like "(Theme From) The Monkees", "I'm a Believer", "Daydream Believer", "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone)", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", and "Last Train to Clarksville" are all here. Other real standouts are the lesser known "Porpoise Song", "The Girl That I Knew Somewhere", That Was Then, This is Now", "Words", and "Listen to the Band". Overall it's a load of great music at a very reasonable price, and you definitely get your money's worth on this compilation.

Also of note, is that this collection contains a lot of B-sides and alternative versions of songs that are unavailable on their other discs (I know, I know, possibly a scheme by Rhino), and it is essential to complete any Monkees collection. Even though it's a great set of music, I'm giving it 4 stars because I really don't think it's quite up to snuff as a replacement for the Arista label release "Then and Now... The Best of the Monkees", which is currently out of print (definitely pick it up on Ebay or a used CD store if you can find it). Still, it's a lot of fun to listen to, and a great glimpse into one of the most misunderstood bands in rock/pop history.

This is a band who hit it big in the 60's with some massive hits.Their TV series was very popular,and they seemed to do no wrong earlier in their careers.But a combination of things lead to this groups downfall.Changing times was one of them,and people found out the did not play their own instruments on the recordings.These days thats common,and even back then alot of bands had outside help to make their albums.But they struggled to produce the hits after a while,their show ended,band members left till there was only 2 left.

But in those years some excellent songs were made.The Monkees Theme,Last Train To Clarksville,I'm A Believer,(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone,A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,,Pleasant Valley Sunday,Daydream Believer,as well as many other hits on this cd.Another song i like which is not here called Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow is a favorite of mine.

They had some great songwriters helping them such as Neil Diamond and the Boyce and Heart team.They also had writing credits to alot of songs of their own.This group was one of the best 60's bands.

When Rhino Records issued this version of The Monkee's greatest hits, they did their diehard fans a disservice because the far superior Arista Records version "That Was Then - This Is Now: The Best Of The Monkees" from 1986, which is no longer in print, included 25 of their greatest hits, which included the new songs "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere" and "Kicks" which were recorded specifically for this compilation by Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork along with the hit "That Was Then - This Is Now" included on the Rhino release. "Greatest Hits" is a good start, but the Arista version from 1986 is a far superior collection of Monkee music, should you find a used copy somewhere. It does not however include the minor Monkees hit from 1987 from the "Pool It" release.