Countdown to 30: My Favorite Album From 2016

2016

We're coming into the home stretch with only five years left to go, including this one. In 2016, I settled into my life as a general manager and moved to Delaware, Ohio. I didn't post as much on this blog, but there were a few albums that stood out to me a great deal. 

In the last article I talked about Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow, who worked extensively with Mark Ronson on Uptown Special. In 2016, Swedish band Miike Snow released one of my favorite albums of the year, iii. iii is my favorite Miike Snow album to date. It is somehow more than the previous two albums. It's more full of pop, more full of electronic sounds, more disco. The production brings the vocals to the front. The songwriting is stronger. Andrew Wyatt's vocals are better on iii than the previous albums because he decided to go for a stronger studio sound rather than something that could be applied to a performance setting. 

"My Trigger" opens the album with a grooving electronic track that samples J Dilla's "The Diff'rence," which in turn samples "Fruitman" by Kool & the Gang. Wyatt had to add his own piano chords in order to complete the otherwise incomplete loop, but the songwriters of both sampled songs receive songwriting credit as well as the men in Miike Snow. 

Charlie XCX contributes vocals to a couple of songs on the record, namely "For U" and the second track of the album "The Heart of Me," on which she provides backing vocals. 

"Genghis Khan" has been the band's most successful single to date here in the U.S. It's an earworm of a song about jealousy. Wyatt based the song on his own feelings of intense jealousy during a long-distance relationship with a girl he refused to commit to, but nonetheless felt jealous at the thought of her seeing anyone else. 

A perfect use of sampling comes on "Heart is Full," in which Miike Snow use Marlena Shaw's version of the Bob Hilliard and Burt Bacharach-penned "Waiting for Charlie to Come Home." The sample receives just the right amount of use and filtering, and is mixed to great effect with the band's original material. Miike Snow did not create the original backing track, however. Another, unnamed producer created it but didn't complete it or clear the sample, and thus gave it to the band to use.

 The remainder of the album is all upbeat electro-pop. It's catchy and fun, with an element of wistfulness to it.

Speaking of wistfulness, Regina Spektor's 2016 album Remember Us To Life is also loaded with it. The title of the album is actually a perfect representation of what can be found on it. Spektor weaves stories throughout the album that have nostalgic qualities. This one had to grow on me a bit, but after I saw her support it live, I was sold. 

The opening track and lead single from the album "Bleeding Heart" seems to be Spektor's letter to her misunderstood younger self. Again, her lyrics are open to a great deal of interpretation as she will rarely reveal much about her songs. 

That said, there is another song that I imagine has a personal element to it. Spektor gave birth to a son in 2014, and "The Light" seems to be addressed to him (and possibly about post-partem depression? Probably not. Don't want to make any leaps). 

Spektor's lyrics might be obtuse, but there are beautiful lines found in them, particularly, "Older and Taller," which features lines like, "enjoy your youth/sounds like a threat/but I will anyway." "You're alone 'til you're not alone/And that's all you need to know" is another meaningful line, made all the better by Spektor's unusual melody. I have to mention one more line which is gorgeous and drives home the theme of reminiscence: "And the things that you never did/Have become your youth, somehow."

The most overall powerful song is "The Grand Hotel," which tells the story of a fancy hotel centered just over the gates to Hell. The lyrics are rich and full, with a mild humor to them. The story is, of course, a little tough to parse, so I'll let you make your own interpretation as to whether it's a metaphor or not. I'm inclined to think not, but I would also love to see an animated or stop-motion literal interpretation of the story. 

Spektor in Columbus, Ohio in 2017.

When I saw her live, the most interesting song to watch her perform was "Small Bill$," a track that is close to being rap or hip-hop, but isn't quite there. The chorus is just a melodic series of "la"s and acts as the perfect vehichle for Spektor's voice. The plot of the song seems to center around someone who has a great deal of potential but squanders it away. Then, either the same person or another main character has been engaging in some form of embezzlement and is about to have to pay for their misdeeds. 

"Black and White" fits the theme of memories, as does "Obsolete" and "The Visit." "Sellers of Flowers" has a retrospective plot, discussing flower sellers and visiting the market with her father. Spektor's piano work is excellent on "Sellers of Flowers."

"The Trapper and the Furrier" addresses the disparity of power and success in the world, from the cruel hunting of animals to the wealth disparity in business, to the unfair practices in the pharmaceutical industry. The chorus wraps the three verses together each time by saying: "What a strange, strange world we live in//Where the good are damned and the wicked forgiven//What a strange, strange world we live in//Those who don't have lose, those who got get given//More, more, more, more."

I didn't think upon my first listen to this album that it was much of anything, but I was very wrong. It's almost tied with Far as my favorite Regina Spektor album.

My favorite band are The Monkees, and that could easily be used as an excuse for why I identify Good Times! as my favorite album of 2016, but that's not it. It's genuinely a very good album.

Adam Schlesinger was brought on board to produce. Schlesinger had a knack for making tracks sound both retro and original as he did when he wrote "That Thing You Do." For Good Times!, that meant he was able to keep the sound similar to the music The Monkees were known for in the '60s without making it into Dad rock. Monkees historian and music archivist Andrew Sandoval was also brought on board to help produce existing tracks. 

Conceptually, Good Times! is a mix of songs by the artists that wrote for The Monkees in the '60s, songs composed by modern artists who take inspiration from The Monkees, and a couple of original tunes by the living Monkees themselves. 

The title track kicks off the album, a duet with Micky Dolenz and his late friend and occasional songwriter for The Monkees, Harry Nilsson. An unused demo was utilized and completed to make for a perfect title track. After all, the album is all about recapturing the "good times."

The second track on the album is one of the strongest, "You Bring the Summer" by Andy Partridge (XTC). For "You Bring the Summer," Partridge is able to tone down some of his more unusual melody choices to make it more palatable, but there is still enough uniqueness to pair with the sunny lyrics and make for a one-of-a-kind sunshine jam. Rivers Cuomo of Weezer wrote "She Makes Me Laugh." Evidently, Cuomo had been playing with the opening line of the song since 1998. Cuomo's mind seemed to be on the creation of sunny pop tunes as his album with Weezer from the same year, the self-titled White Album is the most sunshine-ey Weezer album (it was inspired by beach music but is most congruent with the music of The Monkees of anything Weezer has done). Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie wrote the album's ballad, which received a great deal of praise from critics and Monkees fans alike. Michael Nesmith appreciated it so much that he ended up becoming acquainted with Gibbard, even having him appear as a guest on the West coast dates of his First National Band tour. "Me & Magdalena" is a perfect song for a drive in late spring/early summer. There's something soothing and calming about it. The unlikely duo of Noel Gallagher (Oasis, Noel Gallagher's High-Flying Birds) and Paul Weller (The Jam, The Style Council) wrote "Birth of an Accidental Hipster" a song with a distinctly different verse and chorus which come together to form the most psychedelic accomplishment present.

Adam Schlesinger himself wrote "Our Own World," which is of course a '60s/early '70s pastiche that works out perfectly as sung by Micky Dolenz. It serves as a bridge into the second '60s song by composers, Jeff Barry and Joey Levine, "Gotta Give it Time." The guitar in "Gotta Give it Time" is incredibly throwback in the most positive way. It's actually one of the more classic-sounding tracks.

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were frequent Monkees collaborators, with Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz even releasing an album with them in the '70s. Their contribution of "Whatever's Right" also features a heavy throwback sound with a new intro to worn its way into your head. Neil Diamond's "Love to Love" as performed by Jones has been floating around for years as it was issued on Missing Links. The Good Times! version is different though, remixed and produced for this album specifically. Peter Tork takes lead on the Gerry Goffin and Carole King track, "Wasn't Born to Follow," a song recorded by The Byrds and included on the Easy Rider soundtrack. The song is about the freedom of hippies in the late sixties, and it finds a perfect home on the album with Tork's vocals.

Unfortunately, Peter Tork's involvement on the album was somewhat limited, but he did write "Little Girl," a song that fits Tork's voice and the overall rambling summer feel of the album. Nesmith offered up "I Know What I Know." It's a soft, self-effacing love song. Dolenz collaborated with Schlesinger for the closing song, "I Was There (And I'm Told I Had a Good Time)." The title is a reference to a joke Dolenz likes to make about his partying days. It makes the song all the more effective as a closer.

2016.

I started to get excited about this project as soon as it was announced. Not just because it was The Monkees, but because of all the names attached to it, the plans to use existing audio of the late Davy Jones (and even the late Harry Nilsson) to ensure that no member was left out. After Davy's death, Michael Nesmith seemed to really snap out of his disbelief that The Monkees still meant something to people. He became far more involved in Monkees work, touring again and involving himself in whatever shenanigans. I was thrilled of course that Andy Partridge, Rivers Cuomo and most of all Benjamin Gibbard were attached to the project. If you'll notice, all three of those songwriters wrote for at least one of my other albums of the year. I knew Gibbard was a Monkees fan, as he covered "Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow" at a solo show and I've caught other references in the past. I became a much bigger fan of Adam Schlesinger in the last few years as I learned more about him and watched Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Schlesinger was an incredibly talented songwriter and producer.

Good Times! is a floating summer album. It's a picnic. It's proof that old acts don't have to make an album with dated sounds. It's proof that The Monkees specifically still had it fifty years later.

Let's go to that leaderboard!

Join me tomorrow for my favorite album from 2017.

Album Review: Good Times by The Monkees

It's been almost 50 years since The Monkees was released, and 20 years since The Monkees most recent album, Justus was released. They've overcome Don Kirshner, seen Peter Tork leave the group, seen Michael Nesmith leave the group, completely disbanded, reunited (minus Nesmith), reunited with Nesmith, reunited without Nesmith, faced the passing of the great David Jones, and regrouped as Micky Dolenz, Tork, and Nesmith. Good Times serves as not only an anniversary celebration, but an attempt to bring back the "good times" feel of the group. 

Good Times has already received mostly positive reviews, and apart from reviewing it myself, I'd like to discuss for a moment what sets Good Times apart from their other post-1970 projects. 

Pool It!, released in 1987 featured Dolenz, Jones, and Tork. The Monkees had been seeing a massive popularity spike since their shows started rerunning on MTV, and a new generation of young fans had been created. However, while Pool It! is not entirely without merit, the album failed chart significantly, despite, as I mentioned, a pretty big fanbase considering they'd originally been popular twenty years prior. The songs on the album were neither written by the band, nor by the famed songwriters they'd worked with in the sixties (with a couple of exceptions). The backing was once again done by studio musicians, and for some reason, they chose to use an album cover that completely ignored what twenty years of aging had done to them. That said, the studio musicians and producer Roger Bechirian did a great job of making the album sound current. It's just that much of the charm the group had originally cultivated was missing. The musical integrity they'd fought so hard for was also out for the day, and this combination of factors really didn't make the album a great success. 

Flashing forward nine years to Justus, we see all four men reunited. As a condition of working on the project, Nesmith made sure The Monkees once again wrote and performed their own material. He also took over the majority of the production responsibility. Early work on the album was said to include tunes penned by various other writers, although it's still tough to know if those writers would have done any better or much worse than what the boys managed. As I've said in reviews before, it's tough to hold a reunion album or an album by an older artist to the same standards as you would a new "hip" band. With or without that information though, Justus did not turn out as a terrible album. What it lacks is the fun they seemed to be having on Headquarters, and the upbeat, yet often poignant songs of the sixties work they did. The album is very much a rock album, which is forgetful of the fact that the band's bread and butter was being a pop group, and what made their records special in the original era was the fact that many genres peeped their head in. Justus also suffered from strange and terrible promotion. The TV special designed to go along with it was released months later, and aired just once, never to be released on VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray. 

The point I'm taking forever to get to here is that Good Times is basically the third attempt to make a post-1970 album good and to make it work commercially. I got excited for the project immediately, and not just because it's The Monkees. Big names whose songwriting I've been a fan of for years started to get attached immediately, and that really made me much more enthusiastic for what was to come.

Good Times begins on a high note (figuratively), with the title track, "Good Times." Harry Nilsson recorded a very short version of this song during the two years he spent on the Tower Records label (available on Spotlight on Nilsson), and had been working on a version with Nesmith in 1968, which got shelved. Dolenz picked the session tape up for Good Times, and sings a duet with the late, great Nilsson, a good friend of Dolenz. The resulting track sounds as vintage as one might expect, but with a few modern touches courtesy of producer Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne).

Longtime Monkees fan and untraditional melodist Andy Partridge (XTC) provides the sunshine-pop tune "You Bring the Summer." "You Bring the Summer" brings to mind "Sunny Girlfriend" conceptually, as well as any 60s beach tune in terms of overall feel. All three living Monkees perform on it vocally, with Nesmith on guitar and Tork on organ.

Meanwhile, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo penned another summer anthem with "She Makes Me Laugh." Cuomo must have been channeling a lot of 60s sound, because you can hear it in Weezer's White Album (released in April) as well. I only bring this up because I could imagine Dolenz (or even the late Jones) singing the Weezer track "(Girl We Got a) Good Thing." All that said, "She Makes Me Laugh" comes out fantastically and also features contributions by the other two remaining Monkees.

By the time producer Adam Schlesinger's track "Our Own World" rears its head, it has become clear that the album definitely has a theme of sunny days running through it. Although "Our Own World" didn't receive as much press as some of the tracks with other names attached, it's really a great track for the group as well. If I have one complaint about it, it's that Schlesinger slipped a little more into his Fountains of Wayne roots for the production of this song than for the rest of the album.

Bringing in another of the composers that worked so closely with the band in the 60s, the group finished work on "Gotta Give it Time," a Jeff Barry and Joey Levine piece with elements that were recorded in 1967 (I'm thinking the backing track by the Wrecking Crew). The backing gives it an authentic vintage feel, but with it being less catchy than most other tracks on the album, one might be able to guess why it wasn't used before (or it may have been because of Headquarters, I'm not speaking in absolutes).

One of the most relaxed tracks on the record, and by far the most popular track has to be "Me and Magdalena." Written by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie, "Me and Magdalena" is totally congruent with Gibbard's work (particularly on Former Lives and the soundtrack to Arthur), while still being a perfect fit for Nesmith to sing. Gibbard is another longtime Monkees fan, and has been known to perform "Cuddly Toy" and "Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow" in concerts. Nesmith vocalises the song with the sincerity he would give one of his own tracks while displaying a well-preserved voice.

A Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart tune "Whatever's Right" has an authentically retro vibe. Boyce and Hart originally recorded a version of "Whatever's Right" as the final track for The Monkees, but lead vocals were never added, and the song appears for the first time on a Monkees album here. Dolenz' sister Coco Dolenz and Bobby Hart both contribute backing vocals to the final 2016 recording.

One of the first obstacles that had to be overcome for Good Times was the fact that David Jones is no longer with us. There has never been a Monkees album without Jones and Dolenz, despite the varying degrees of Tork and Nesmith throughout history. Inclusion of Jones was achieved by digging up a semi-rare "Love To Love," formerly featured only on rarities albums or as a bonus track. Dolenz and Tork added new backing vocals and Schlesinger polished it up a bit. While I've been hearing "Love To Love" for years, I'm glad it was given a new feel for the new album.

Tork brings "Little Girl" to the table. Tork says he originally wrote the song with Jones in mind, as a follow-up to "I Wanna Be Free." Jones had wanted to sing it, but as fate would have it, never got the chance. The charming and sincere tune is a perfect fit for the album, and a great piece of work by Tork.

Paul Weller (The Jam) and Noel Gallagher (Oasis) collaborated on "Birth of an Accidental Hipster," a dreamy track that blends the voices of Nesmith and Dolenz together for a sound that could have been found on the Head soundtrack. Once again, Coco Dolenz contributes vocals, and Schlesinger provides impeccable production.

On "Wasn't Born to Follow," Tork again shows off an excellent voice as he leads a Gerry Goffin and Carole King tune. Much of the backing track was recorded in 1968, which can definitely be heard in the harpsichord, but modern touches have been placed on it.

The minimalistic "I Know What I Know" serves as the only Nesmith-penned track. His cryptic blurb in the liner notes could be taken to mean that he sees this song as something of a reunion song, or at the very least, that he dedicates this song to the reunion. Either way, the slow-paced song is moving, and a great song to be placed near the end of the album.

"I Was There (And I'm Told I Had a Good Time)" closes Good Times. Written by Schlesinger and Dolenz, the song title is a nod to a comment Dolenz frequently makes about his partying days of the late 60s and 70s. The track begins with something of a "Sgt. Pepper" sound. As hokey as the track could have been with the premise the title presented, it turned out very nicely. "I Was There" serves as a fantastic closer, as well as being the only track on which Dolenz performs drums.

Overall, Good Times provides a clean, sunshine pop sound. It's consistent in substance, without losing the variety in style that the original albums had. The decisions made for the album by Andrew Sandoval are near-perfect. They hit a great ratio of classic-era composers, modern composers who have drawn inspiration from the group, and songs written by the three living Monkees. The art direction of the album is a massive improvement over the last two as well, featuring illustrations reminiscent of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, but with a very modern-looking cover nonetheless. My primary complaints with the album involve the high-concentration of songs on which Dolenz sings lead at the front of the album, and the scarcity of Nesmith songwriting and vocalisation on the album, the latter of which can easily be excused by the careful choice of a variety of songwriters chosen for the album, which I think keep each track new and exciting.

I personally, wouldn't be displeased if this were the final Monkees album, so that they might celebrate their 50th anniversary, but end their production of new music on a high-note. That said, getting another Gibbard composition, or something by Sam Means or Elvis Costello wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

I have this theory that certain albums are best listened to in particular seasons. Good Times was released at the perfect time, because it is a summer album if ever I heard one. It might not be a perfect record, but it's definitely the best since The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees. Totally worth a listen.

The Monkees in their heyday.

Good Times can be purchased here.

Interview: Micky Dolenz

When The Monkees sang the line "we may be coming to your town," I'd always assumed it was just lyricism, seeing as I live in one of the smaller cities in Ohio. But Marion, Ohio has seen a lot of bigger names in the past few years, such as Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Peter Noone, Boys II Men, and even Weird Al Yankovic. This Saturday, Micky Dolenz joins the list, performing at Marion's historic Palace Theatre. Luckily, I had a chance to speak with Mr. Dolenz prior to the show on Saturday.

No More Blood From a Clone: So what brings you to the Marion Palace Theatre this Saturday?

Micky Dolenz: They booked me there for a show with my band called "Micky's Monkees Christmas," which basically is a Christmas show, but it also includes all of the Monkees hits that I sang, most of them. So, it's kind of a rock and roll Christmas show with some classic Christmas songs for the whole family, but also a lot of kind of contemporary rock and roll Christmas songs too. For instance, I do The Eagles cover version of "Please Come Home For Christmas."

NMBFC: What made you decide to do Christmas-themed shows?

Micky Dolenz: I've been doing them for years. Every year I get booked to do a few. If I recall correctly, it's been like the last five, ten years. Something like that.

NMBFC: You recently released Remember, which is a beautiful album with re-imagined versions of older songs. Where did the idea for Remember come from?

Micky Dolenz: It's kind of an audio scrapbook of my life through music. The songs are particularly the songs that meant a lot to me or had some influence on me or were milestones in my life. For instance, I do a Beatles tune called, "Good Morning Good Morning" off of the Sgt. Pepper album. And the reason I do that song is because I was there at that session with The Beatles in the 60s. So that left a big impression, obviously. And I do, for instance "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry, which was my audition piece for The Monkees. That's the song that got me the gig. And [Remember includes] songs like that, that had some influence on me, or were milestones. I call it "Remember," it's a bit of a trip down memory lane. The title song is "Remember" by an artist named Harry Nilsson. I was there when he wrote it, he was a very dear friend of mine. All the songs have a story attached.

NMBFC: What I found very interesting about the album is the songs are originally all very different songs, but they have a very cohesive feel on the album. Where did you find that sound?

Micky Dolenz: Well, it was a combination of myself and my producer, David Harris, who had an enormous influence, like producers do. That's traditionally one of the main responsibilities [of producers], to [give an album], like you said, a very cohesive sound. So that was, like I say, myself doing arrangements, and David Harris doing arrangements and also producing. When we discussed doing the album and the songs we were gonna do, we didn't want to just cover a song, just do the exact same version that was done originally, just with me singing- a typical kind of cover version. We kind of wanted to re-envision the songs. A lot of that was down to him, because songs that I'd already sung a lot and performed a lot, like "Randy Scouse Git," which I wrote, I don't know that I could come up with a really different way to do that because I'm just so close to it. On the other hand, I did come up with the different sort of feeling on "Good Morning Good Morning" and I came up with the different feeling on "Johnny B. Goode" and a couple of the other ones too. "I'm a Believer," I came up with the country kind of feel on that. But a lot of it was down to, like I say, David Harris and his vision of it.

NMBFC: Now obviously we can expect some of the Monkees songs on Saturday, but are there any of the other songs that we'll hear from Remember?

Micky Dolenz: Not off that album, no. Well, I do "I'm a Believer," but I do that in the traditional way. And I do a lot of other Monkees songs. I may be doing "Sometime in the Morning," it's one of my favorite Carole King songs.

Wayne Avers and Micky Dolenz perform live.

NMBFC: What can you tell me about your live DVD from B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City?

Micky Dolenz: I haven't heard it yet, they're mixing right now. It's in the studio. We recorded it on the night of course, but then we've been touring, my whole band. My band is the same band that was on the Monkees tour, besides Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith. John [Billings], my bass player, and Wayne [Avers], my lead guitar player, they're the ones that put together and had it recorded, and they have it in Nashville, where they live, and they're working on it and mixing it right now.

NMBFC: You mentioned the recent Monkees tour. How do you feel that went, like the sound and the way the three of you interacted?

Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork performing in Cleveland, Ohio.

Micky Dolenz: I was very, very pleased. It was great playing with Michael again after years and singing some of his songs that he originally wrote and performed. The band was wonderful, I have a great band. Christian Nesmith also was there, and my sister Coco. So it was like a family affair, like a rock and roll circus show. It was wonderful. We all had a great time. It was very successful as you may have heard, and we got some really incredible reviews.

NMBFC: Do you think that was the final tour with The Monkees?

Micky Dolenz: I don't know. We don't know. Obviously, it was discussed, but I think kind of the general consensus was, "let's get through this tour and see how we feel, see how everybody feels." It wasn't a very long tour, it was only twelve dates. [We wanted to] see how the audiences like it, see how we like it, see what kind of reviews we get, you know, all of that.

NMBFC: Do you personally ever plan to retire from live shows, or just keep going?

Micky Dolenz: I tried to retire once, it was a big mistake. I was bored stupid. I was living in England at the time, and I sold off my investments and my properties and stuff, and I was just living in this big country mansion in the English countryside and I had nothing to do and was bored silly. No, I probably won't retire. I mean, I don't do as much as I used to, I have to pick and choose a little bit more. Because, you know, doing shows in rock and roll, it's hard work.

NMBFC: Just to bring it back around to the Christmas show on Saturday, what's the ratio of Christmas songs to your regular material?

Micky Dolenz: I haven't counted them up. I wanna say maybe kind of 50/50 or something like that. It will definitely be all the big Monkee hits.

NMBFC: About how long does the show run?

Micky Dolenz: Around seventy-five minutes.

NMBFC: Well, thank you very much.

There's still time to catch Micky Dolenz at the Historic Palace Theatre in Marion, Ohio this Saturday, December 15th at 8pm. Tickets can be purchased at the box office at 276 West Center Street in Marion, Ohio, or online at the Marion Palace Theatre website. Just click the ticket-shaped link beside the price listings.

And if you're interested in buying Micky's album, Remember, it's available as a physical CD or digital download.