The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (Memorable Music Classic Albums)

The story in brief: the Monkees, an artificial Beatles-style group composed to an English singer, a American folk guitarist, and two actors that was concocted to star in a TV show, already had recorded four #1 albums in a row, not to mention an amazing five gold singles in just two years. Their amazing success depended,
however, on weekly TV appearances and musical preening by outside producers, songwriters, and instrumentalists. By the time this album came out, the show had been cancelled, the group had won some control in the studio (briefly experimenting with playing their own instruments on the last record), and teenage musical tastes had been irrevocably altered by albums like Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band and Are You Experienced?. But the record shot to #3 anyway, on the strength of a leftover monster hit single (John Stewart's marvelous "Daydream Believer," with Davy Jones and producer Chip Douglas on bass). It also includes two later single sides: Boyce and Hart's primitive surf rocker/Jones vehicle "Valleri," the Monkees' last major hit, and Michael Nesmith's B-side "Tapioca Tundra," which climbed into the Top 40 for one week. Elsewhere there's a pile of sappy Jones tunes;
several Micky Dolenz spotlights; and a string of highly experimental original Nesmith creations. Peter Tork barely appears, and on almost every track save "Daydream Believer" the only Monkee in attendance is the lead vocalist. It's mostly awful, but there's some entertainment value anyway, including Nesmith's
joyful 20's sendup "Magnolia Simms." The encyclopedic list of studio players includes Max Bennett, Hal Blaine, Milt Holland, Jim Horn, Harry Nilsson, and Don Randi; the Rhino release includes Peter Tork's famous, first-rate, early Springfield-like out-take "Lady's Baby," featuring Steve Stills, Buddy Miles, and a real baby.