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Rating:  -
As an album, "Birds, Bees, etc" is a mixed
bag: some hits, some misses, nothing too
embarassing, but definitely not "conceptual."
None of that matters though, because this
recording contains one of Mike Nesmith's
most haunting compositions, and a very daring
one for the Monkees to undertake. This would
be the last studio album from all four members,
which makes the psychedelic implosion known
as "Writing Wrongs" all the more prophetic. It
blends Nesmith's abstract poetry with a Byrds-
inflected electrified-folk dirge anchored by
Peter Tork's omnious piano coda before the
tune careens into a post-minimalist free for
all jam session that rivals the work of Can,
Soft Machine and even Captain Beefheart! I've
played just the "instrumental bridge" for
people, and had them name the above-cited
groups as well as other well-respected acts
of the era, and not one of them guesses it was
the Monkees. If you are a true audiophile,
whether you dig The Monkees or not, you must
check out this track!
Rating:  -
I bought this CD because I used to have the tape and I needed to replace it. It has some of the lesser well-known but excellent songs that the Monkees did, especially the song Zor and Zam.
Rating:  -
Released in May of 1968, this, their fifth album, was released just over a year after their debut album. These days, it is practically unheard of to release albums in such rapid fire manner, but I guess the Monkees wanted to strike while the iron was hot, so strike they did. Given the relatively short timeframe between this album and their debut, this album is a quantum leap ahead for the band, both as artists and musicians. This album is also a departure from their previous albums in that it attempts to re-make the band as a more mature and "legitimate" band, with a majority of the songs on the album either written or co-written by members of the group. As would be expected, Michael Nesmith leads the way with writing credits on 4 songs. Davey Jones follows up with two songs to his credit.
Although the music is tight, the production of the album seems to be less than a group effort. The album lists production credit to "The Monkees", but the liner notes tell a different story. It appears that the individual members of the band separately produced 3 songs each. While this may have contributed to the overall creativity of the individual songs on the album, the overall seems to have suffered, as the album appears to have been pasted together at the last minute. This results in a quite uneven album, with psychadelic songs like "Tapioca Tundra" and "Writing Wrongs" interwoven between somewhat bubblegum songs such as "Daydream Believer" and "P.O Box 9847" (the worst song on the album, in my opinion). While for the most part the songs are great ("Valleri", Tapioca Tundra", and "Writing Wrongs" are my personal favorites), there are a few songs that seem to be reminiscent of their earlier albums, and seem to undercut the Monkees attempts to be seen as a more mature band. These songs; "The Poster" and P.O. Box 9847" don't do the Monkees any favors, and one of the songs "P.O. Box 9847" was written by the team of Boyce and Hart, who wrote most of the groups early material.
In addition to the individual production of the album, there appears to have been significant use of studio musicians on the album. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of debate, but personally, I like the finished product.
A few notes on the CD re-issue, the bonus material on this reissue is a step above some of the other CDs, as all of the bonus material is of pretty good quality, with the exception of "Alvin", which is a Peter Tork throwaway, akin to "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky". However, the relatively short length of the song makes it a little more bearable. The remaining songs are previously unreleased songs, and only one is a remix of a song on the album, so the overall bonus material tends to add to the album, instead of detract. An issue that may only be of interest to me, all of the re-issued CD's have only a band picture on the CD, and no other identifiable markings, other than the obligatory inventory #. I purchased all of the re-issues, and listen to them as a group. However, finding out which CD goes in which case is a harder task than I would like.
Rating: -
Here's a run down of the original Birds, Bees & Monkees LP (4/22/68).
01. Dream World - a good opener, w/ it's harpsichord & Broadway rock overtones.
02. Auntie's Municipal Court - this song would be one of the Byrd's best.
03. We Were Made For Each Other - a production that fell from the heavens.
04. Tapioca Tundra - wouldn't the Stones have killed for something this strong?
05. Daydream Believer - simply a CLASSIC!
06. Writing Wrongs - Powerful and haunting. It sounds like early Deep Purple.
07. I'll Be Back Upon My Feet - It's kind of a Motown hoedown nugget.
08. The Poster - Mr. Kite gone "pop" catchy.
09. P.O. Box 9847 - Boyce & Hart go groovy.
10. Magnolia Simms - a great roaring 20's ditty...but even better in MONO!
11. Valleri - by the sound of this rocker, Valleri must have looked really fine!
12. Zor & Zam - A timeless track don't you think...George?
If you love the Monkees, you'll love this album from the spring of '68.
Oh, sweet, sweet memories.
Rating: -
The only thing I could think of to say about this album is "strange". This album was the in-between point of when the Monkees went from being on top of the world to the bottom of the pile. The previous Monkees album (Pisces Aquarius Capricorn and Jones) was #1, and the album that followed this one (Head) was a disaster, sales wise anyway. This was also the first album to be released after their TV show was cancelled. The Birds The Bees and The Monkees really reflects their in-between period, as there are huge hits such as Daydream Believer, and Valleri, then there's a lot of odd songs not typical of the Monkees style at the time, such as Magnolia Simms and Writing Wrongs. It's not one of my favorite Monkees albums, but it's still very good. Here are my reviews of the songs:
1. Dream World - Not a very good way to start the album. It's not a horrible song, but it's definitely not one of Davy's best efforts. 5/10
2. Auntie's Municipal Court - They pick it back up here with a very good Mike song. All of Mike's songs on this album are very different sounding and experimental. He puts on a great showing. Micky on vocals and Mike backing always sounds great. 8/10
3. We Were Made For Each Other - Sometimes I don't mind the sappy Davy songs, but I'm just not a big fan of this one.
3/10
4. Tapioca Tundra - Interesting choice to go with this as the flip side of Valleri. It's an excellent song, but I don't think that the young Monkees fans of the time were in to this stuff. However, I think this is yet another great Mike song, with some great lyrics, and actually really catchy after a while. 9/10
5. Daydream Believer - I won't really say much about this. Obviously one of their biggest hits. 10/10
6. Writing Wrongs - Once again Mike comes with a great song, and one which sounds different from his previous two. Some people may get bored with this, considering it's a little over 5 minutes long, with about 3 minutes being instrumental. I think it's amazing, although I'm partial to Nesmith's songs. 8/10
7. I'll Be Back Upon My Feet - Classic Monkees song that they brought back and re-recorded from the early days. Personally I like the original version (which was on the TV show) better. This one's real good too, just a little faster, and some horns added in. 9/10
8. The Poster - All I could say is that I just can't get into the songs that Davy writes. This song is kind of catchy, but the lyrics are just so dumb. There's only about 1 or 2 songs Davy wrote that I like. 6/10
9. PO Box 9847 - Well it's not exactly a Boyce/Hart masterpiece, but it's not bad. I think it grows on you after time. 7/10
10. Magnolia Simms - The worst of the four Nesmith songs, in my opinion and not one of my favorites of his. This is another one that kind of grows on you after a while. Either that or the fake record skipping in the middle of the song will drive you nuts after a while.
11. Valleri - Another big hit for the Monkees and a very cool song. I actually like this better than the original version they used for the TV show.
9/10
12. Zor and Zam - For some reason I just love this song. It's just some intense vocals from Micky, and it tells a story. I've always liked it since I was a little kid.
Nothing really stands out too much on the bonus tracks. I like the version of Lady's Baby with the sounds effects of a baby crying at the beginning.
So with the mixture of pop hits, and experimental songs, this album gets a strange, but good review.
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