Monkees - Instant Replay

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Free Music Notes for Instant Replay

Free Music Review: UNDERRATED UNEVEN EFFORT FROM THE PRE FAB....THREE?
Hit: 5 Stars

If anything the music on 'Instant Replay' shows that the Monkees were maturing musically despite the fact that this album was a hodge podge of recordings from different times. 'Instant Replay' is unfortunately vastly underrated. Many have dubbed it as the Monkees weakest 60's album. Ok so it's no 'Pisces' or 'Headquarters' or even 'Present' nonetheless in my opinion it surpasses the bulk of other Monkees records (particularily the Kirshner era albums). Michael Nesmith really came out on his own on this album. His songwriting just seemed to be getting better and better as time went on. Here we see some of the material form his legendary Nashville sessions. WHILE I CRY is one of the most beautiful country ballads ever. This song should have been a single. Another nice country ballad here is DON'T WAIT FOR ME showing Nez's further journey into the country rock genre. The last Nez track here is Goffin/King's I WON'T BE THE SAME WITHOUT HER a funky rocker left over from 1966 however it strangely fits well in 1969 and doesn't sound dated. Davy Jones kinda stepped out of his role as a songwriter and let the other producers experiment with his sound(trying to make it more adult contemperary). His best song here is his own YOU AND I. Somewhat of a 'rocker shocker' especially coming from Davy. This track features some great Neil Young guitar. Most of Davy's other tracks are love songs. DON'T LISTEN TO LINDA is a schmaltzy pop ballad but well produced and a great improvemnet over the bouncy early version. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME is also a leftover from 'The Birds The Bees And The Monkees'. Like DON'T LISTEN TO LINDA, this track is sickly sweet but the production values are great and it's an excellent improvement over the previous version. The best of Davy's ballads here though is the almost funky R&B feel of A MAN WITHOUT A DREAM which has an almost Motown sound to it. The last Jones track is the Beatles 'Your Mother Should Know' rip off ME WITHOUT YOU which is probably his worst trakc here but still this is pretty darn catchy. Micky Dolenz takes his hand a songwriting for a change. The first two songs are Boyce And Hart tunes though. The albmu opener THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS had been done before but was very choppy. This version is an improvement and is a good album opener. Micky also trys to make a hit out of the Clarksville-clone single TEARDROP CITY. Despite the resemblence this song has an excellent guitar riff that stands out on it's own. When it came ot songwriting Dolenz went very experimental here. His beautiful ballad JUST A GAME is an excellent track proving that he was quite a good songwriter. The overblown epic SHORTY BLACKWELL however shows how self indulgence can ruin good music. This song is the album's worst track with mediocre vocals by Dolenz and his sister, Coco; singing about Micky's cat and the other Monkees. The bonus tracks for 'Instant Replay' are the best in the Rhino reissue series though. Despite the fact it probably should have been on 'The Monkees Present', SOMEDAY MAN finally makes an appearance on an album. This great track was the b-side to 'Listen To The Band'. Two Nesmith tracks also appear here for the first time the excellent CARLISLE WHEELING (this is the best version) and ST.MATTHEW which hailed from the Nashvile sessions. Dolenz' funky ROSEMARIE is an intresting jam but not really a song. A wonderful ballad called SMILE written by Davy also appears here for the first time. The last two tracks are merely alternate versions of THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS and ME WITHOUT YOU both are weaker than the originals but still worth a listen.

Overall 'Instant Replay' is vastly underrated. Yeah yeah it's uneven and it's not the best Moknees album out there. However the majority of songs on her are some of The Monkees finest recordings. This album has quite a variety and was the first Monkees album I bought. Although it might not be the best intro to the group this is the record that got me hooked on the Monkees. Highly recommended.

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