So the Monkees had wrestled back control of their music from Kirschner and Michael Nesmith takes centre stage with lead vocal on roughly half the tracks (he also wrote a couple of them). This was The Monkees 4th studio album and was released in the same year as their 3rd album – Headquarters. This was some terrific output, but whereas on Headquarters the guys played most of the instruments, on this album they relented and asked for the cavalry to be sent in, except in the guitar and percussion areas. In terms of writing, they called in some songs from real big hitters such as Nilsson, Goffin & King, Boyce & Hart and Jeff Barry.
Overall, this is a really well balanced album with hits such as ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ with Carol King slating American suburbia and ‘Words’. They also gave a nod to the prevailing psychedelic era with tracks such as ‘Love is only sleeping’, ‘Daily nightly’ and ‘Star collector – in fact they were one of the first bands to use a Moog synthesiser on some of these tracks. Also Nesmith shows his fondness for Country music with the track ‘What am I doing hanging around’ which he takes in the country rock direction, which eventually became quite popular. Some say he actually invented country rock, so he has got a lot to answer for. But if you like the fun and excitement of 60’s pop music, then this album is a must have.
