Michael Nesmith - Rays
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Free Music Notes for Rays
Free Music Review: Got "Burnt" By Rays
Hit: 1 Stars
This entire album sounds like it was rather cheaply recorded via nothing but sequencing on keyboards that really don't sound that great anyway.
It reminds me of those keyboards you used to buy where you could push one key and it would play a song for you.
I really don't understand why he released this. I've been a Nez fan for years, but this one left me feeling quite ripped off.
I feel he's taking his fans for gullible idiots with this half hearted attempt at an album; thinking we'll buy anything he puts out.
Free Music Review: Usual Brilliance
Hit: 5 Stars
33 years later Michael Nesmith has lost his mind again and the results are breathtaking. Why are you reading reviews for God's sake? It's Michael Nesmith! Everything we do should be governed by this giant amongst men.Free Music Review: Nesmith Continues To Amaze
Hit: 5 Stars
Michael Nesmith's latest CD "Rays" seems to blend all of the best creative music attempts he has recorded since his first album in 1970.
He graced the music scene with country/pop tunes during his First/Second National Band albums with popular hits like "Joanne" and "Silver Moon" to less-known recordings like "I Looked Away" and "Rainmaker". His next two albums "And The Hits Just Keep On Coming" and "Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash" were solid, country and western recordings. As usual, Nesmith took chances that few artists would attempt. Nesmith was joined by only one other artist on the album "And the Hits...", something that is almost duplicated on his new hit album "Rays". Nearly 35 years later, Nesmith is the only artist to play on some of the songs on "Rays".
There is also a little bit of "From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing" on the new CD "Rays". Nesmith tinkered with a Brazilian sound that really worked on several songs from that 1976 album and he has brought a similar sound with him into the new century. There are even some remnants of "Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma" on the new CD "Rays", the purely rock-n-roll album that deserved much more airplay than it received.
As a former DJ who played Nesmith's music through the 1970's and 1980's, I felt that he always seemed ahead of his time. He was the first to record country/pop, the first to create the music video, and the first artist to release a country album one year and have no problem releasing a hard rock-n-roll album on the next release. He even took the step of releasing an edited version of the hit recording "Rio" to radio stations who were hesitant to play the entire seven minute cut from the album. That edited version should have been included as an extra on the CD release of "From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing". To date, it is only available on used 45 rpm vinyl.
Michael Nesmith is very creative and very versatile. His latest work, "Rays", clearly reflects that. He even does something he hasn't done since "Magnetic South" in 1970, he allows one song to flow into another; very much like Paul McCartney's Red Rose Speedway finale on side two. The downside to Nesmith is his lack of acknowledgement to fans who truly appreciate his work. During the 1990's, he toured with The Monkees in Japan but refused to tour in the US. It would be appropriate for Nesmith to share his journey of accomplishment with the people who gave him encouragement through the years to venture into new creative areas.
Free Music Review: Genius!
Hit: 5 Stars
Michael Nesmith does it again! I love every song on Rays. They're all so beautiful and inspiring, especially Friedrider. Play this song after a long, hard day, and it will totally relax you. Free Music Review: A real gem that deserves to be heard and appreciated...
Hit: 5 Stars
At this point, I've played "Rays" five times in a row. It didn't take more than a few songs to convince me that this album is wonderful! Is it like anything else Mike has ever released? Nope, but that's what I'd expect from him. "From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing," was nothing like his early albums. "Tropical Campfires" is quite unlike his work with the Monkees or The First National Band. Needless to say, if you're a fan of the NEZ, give this more than one listen before comparing it to anything else he's released. Thank you, Papa Nez! (By the way, this is an excellent album!)
Here's the info on Rays from Videoranch. (And I quote...)
GRAMMY AWARD WINNING ARTIST
MICHAEL NESMITH
'RAYS' LIMITED EDITION
USA - This April, 2006, Michael Nesmith releases his latest album Rays; a cinematic journey of sound with elements of swing, jazz and instrumental funk that come together to form what he calls "New Century Modern". Once again, Nesmith pioneers a new genre, contributing fresh, inventive and timeless dimensions to our current musical landscape.
"For a time I thought Rays had come together differently than any other project I had worked on, until it dawned on me all the various works I had been involved in had happened the same way and doing Rays was simply the first time I had seen it. Rays was my own personal Copernican Shift. For years Rays laid around in bits and pieces, and there were long periods when I would put them all away, like disparate parts of disparate building blocks. As if one was a recipe, another was a blueprint, another was a map. I couldn't see how they fit together. I kept going, as much for not having anything else to do as for the curiosity of how it would all turn out, but I did keep going, and I'm glad I did. It was when I was putting on the horn parts, dreaming of Memphis and Stax Volt that it all came together. It was as if I had come into the garage one evening, and was looking at the detritus of a failed effort laying all over the floor, when suddenly there was this array, a kind of order to it that I had never imagined. That was exciting. It felt new, and gave me the inspiration I needed to finish. This after four years of wandering in darkness --- which actually happened to be one of the lines from Rays. I had always imagined "emergence" as the gradual appearing of something that already exists but was just unseen. Rays was the first time I ever actually saw that happen. And now that I've seen it I am aware that all the past works have happened the same way."
- Michael Nesmith
Grammy Award-winning artist Michael Nesmith has had a successful, multifaceted career as a songwriter, musician, actor, filmmaker, novelist, businessman and philanthropist. Born in Texas, he moved to Los Angeles in the early '60s where he began writing and performing songs in local clubs. In 1966 he landed a lead roll in the The Monkees, now a pop legend. In the early '70s he signed a solo record deal with RCA Records, and recorded six landmark country-rock albums. In the mid-'70s he started his own record company, Pacific Arts, that released numerous albums through the '80s. In 1981 he won the first Grammy Award for Best Video of the Year for Elephant Parts, a ground-breaking long-form video. That same year he created the concept of MTV which he sold to Warner-Amex. He produced four films in the early '80s, including the punk classic Repo Man. In the early '90s he released "...tropical campfire..." and toured the US. In 1994 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album of the Year, for The Garden. His critically acclaimed first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora, was published by St. Martins Press in 1998. Over the years Nesmith has built a large catalog of songs that have appeared in movies and commercials, and been recorded by many artists including Linda Ronstadt, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Butterfield Blues Band, and Run DMC. He's based in Northern California where he continues to write and record music.