Rant #1,682: Good Times!

"Monkees Week" continues, and the past four days have all led us up to this ...

The album has finally arrived!

Yes, "Good Times" is in your local record stores right now, and you can also download it off of iTunes and the other download services.

Me, that is fine, but I want to have the actual album in my hands, and I know that the CD will be knocking at my door soon enough (the vinyl album will take a bit longer to come, but it will be worth the wait, I'm sure).

"Good Times" has won almost universal raves, including everyone from Rolling Stone Magazine to the New York Times. The professional critics say that the album harkens back to a different time and place, yet is as current as a pop/rock album could be in the current musical environment.

But who listens to rock critics anyway? They are all frustrated musicians, and they are finally jumping on the bandwagon after 50 years? Please. Where were they before this?

That being said, I am finding that it is a really good time to be a Monkees fan, especially one who has been with them since day one in the late summer of 1966 when "Last Train to Clarksville" debuted, and then when the show premiered in September of that year.

I remember the dark ages--basically from 1971 to 1985--where seemingly few cared anything about the Monkees. Sure, there was reason to care--Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart, a few solo and reunion tours, and Mike Nesmith's blossoming solo career--but we fans were few and far between during that period.

Heck, it it wasn't for Maggie McManus' late and lamented "Monkee Business" fanzine, which came out a few times each year, I would have felt like a man without a country.

But myself and many others stuck through it, 1986 came, and bang--the Monkees were hot all over again through MTV ...

And during the past 30 years, they have stayed somewhat hot, sometimes lukewarm, but always on at least the back burner.

There have been numerous reunion tours with one conglomeration or another of Monkees, there has been the re-emergence of Nesmith into the Monkees family, and then, there was the turning point, an unfortunate one if there ever was one ...

Davy Jones died on Feb. 29, 2012, and this seemed to bring the Monkees to the fore again, because when Jones died, it seemed like a piece of our own lives went with him.

On the other hand, this energized the peripheral fans, who joined the rabid fans in praising the Monkees for what they were, not what people thought they were, and the press, which had been kind of on the fence about this, started to go on the side of where they should be, and all of a sudden, the Monkees were being praised like they never were in 1966, 1967 and 1968, when they were perhaps the hottest rock and roll band on the planet.

It has taken some time, but even staunch Rolling Stone Magazine has started to see the light, getting behind the new album, praising it, and finally, they are not "Rolling Stain" anymore when it comes to Monkeedom. Can a Hall of Fame nod be in the offing later this year?

Whatever the case, the Monkees are hot as a pistol again, and the wonderful reviews that the new album has garnered are a testament to the original Monkees project--not just the out-front foursome, but all the people that worked to make this machine work--and to the four who were the faces of the operation, who really are smart, talented guys who took what they were given and ran with it as far as they could.

And back to the new album ... it is a pastiche of a lot of different styles, put together by not only the people at Rhino Records, but also by some young songwriters who consider it an honor to write songs for the Monkees.

It is a mix of pop, rock, folk, a little country, maybe even some alternative thrown in there for good measure ... in other words, it is much like the earlier efforts by the foursome, albums which were a real mix of styles but which created a real Monkees sound.

Sure, some say that Peter, Micky, Mike and Davy were given everything on a silver platter, and in some respects, they were, but they had to be able to carry it off ... and they did, musically, emotionally, spiritually, and with a lot of smarts.

The four were talented, but they were also smart, and I think, at least to me, that is what a lot of people miss about this project and why it was so successful. You had to have four guys who could literally think on their feet, and these four guys were no dummies. They pretty much knew the territory, they had to be able to navigate it, and they did, and did it with panache.

So, even if you are a skeptic, at least go onto YouTube and listen to the new songs. If you go there with an open ear as well as an open mind, I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised.

And as a life-long Monkees fan--OK, since I was nine years old, but that was in 1966, when they started, so I was there--the circle has finally been closed.

All is well in the world--at least when talking about the Monkees.

And you know what--the fans were/are/will always be parts of the machine too, and we deserve a lot of credit.

We knew what was good and stuck with it through thick and thin, and now, we are getting our reward for doing so.

Yes, I am a Monkees fan, and darn proud of that fact, too.

Have a great holiday. Next week, I will be in and out of this column. Speak to you again on Tuesday.

EXTRA: Just a little add on, exclusive to those who read the blog directly from this sight.

Here is my observation of the new Monkees album, now that I have heard it loud and clear.

"Good Times!" is a really good album. No, it is not "Headquarters." It is not "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd." It is not "Head."

And I think that that is what the detractors were looking for, an album along those lines.

I respect what they have to say, but I think they were missing the point on this album.

"Good Times!" at least to me is a celebration of the earliest of the Monkees LPs, the first two albums. 

It is a pastiche of different styles, different types of music, 50 years removed from the fact.

And I think that if the detractors look at it that way, they will have a greater appreciation of what this album sets out to do.

"Pool It" tried to do this and failed. "Justus" tried to be "Headquarters" but didn't make the cut.

"Good Times" hits the bull's eye. It is as much a celebration of the earliest of the Monkees LPs as it is a celebration of the Monkees legacy.

Let's go with it from that vantage point, and take it from there.