Maps of Music

Good Times! (2016)

Where the lyrics of Good Times! take you, and where it was really made.

Released fifty years into the band's career, this is the first Monkees studio album since 1996 and the first since Davy Jones died, and it includes a posthumous vocal from him.

Key places

Recording location in Los Angeles (2016)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Lucy's Meat Market is listed as a recording location for this album. The point is set at the Los Angeles city centre, not at the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording location in New York City (2016)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — Omelette Station is listed as a recording location for this album. The point is set at the New York City centre, not at the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Good Times!: twelfth studio album by the American pop rock band the Monkees
• Released 2016 by Rhino Records; Italian Wikipedia gives the release date as 27 May 2016
• Produced primarily by Adam Schlesinger
• Recorded to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary
• First Monkees studio album since Justus (1996), the band's longest gap between releases
• First studio album since the death of Davy Jones
• Features surviving members Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork
• Includes a posthumous contribution from Davy Jones

Background

• Project initiated by Rhino executives John Hughes and Mark Pinkus
• They wanted the Monkees to record a new album for the 50th anniversary
• Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne produced the album
• Schlesinger asked bandmate Jody Porter for a song, but it was not used because it was too similar to the title track
• Each Monkee contributed one composition or co-write
• Older material by Harry Nilsson, Neil Diamond, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and Jeff Barry and Joey Levine
• New songs by Schlesinger, Andy Partridge, Rivers Cuomo, Ben Gibbard, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller
• Title track written by Nilsson and first attempted in a session in January 1968

Recording

• Dolenz sang new vocals on the title track, a posthumous duet with Nilsson
• Nilsson had performed a guide vocal in the original session
• Diamond-penned Love to Love was recorded in 1967 in a Don Kirshner-supervised session
• In August 1969 Brendan Cahill supervised a new double-tracked lead vocal by Jones
• The 1969 version appears on the album with new backing vocals by Dolenz and Tork
• Guest musicians include Fountains of Wayne members Schlesinger, Jody Porter and Brian Young, plus Mike Viola
• Dolenz was uncomfortable with some of Cuomo's original lyrics in She Makes Me Laugh
• Cuomo added new lyrics about Scrabble and a canoe trip

Cover

• Cover art by Jonathan Lane
• Photos by Henry Diltz
• Art direction and design by Rory Wilson

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s.
• The group was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the NBC sitcom of the same name, which aired from 1966 to 1968.
• Casting drew 437 applicants; Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz were chosen.

Members

• Micky Dolenz: lead and backing vocals, drums, guitar, keyboards.
• Davy Jones: lead and backing vocals, percussion, bass; died in 2012.
• Michael Nesmith: lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards, vocals; died in 2021.
• Peter Tork: bass, guitars, keyboards, banjo, vocals; died in 2019.

Career

• Early music was largely performed by session musicians such as the Wrecking Crew under Don Kirshner's supervision.
• The band had four consecutive No. 1 albums in 1966–1967: The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
• They had three No. 1 singles: "Last Train to Clarksville", "I'm a Believer", and "Daydream Believer".
• The members gained control over their recordings in 1967 after a conflict with Kirshner.
• The film Head (1968) was a commercial failure; the group broke up in the early 1970s.
• A revival in 1986 led to intermittent reunions, new albums, and tours until 2021.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Independent gave the album 4 out of 5 and called it probably the band's best album after their hits compilation
• New York Times summed up the release as still endearing fifty years later
• Herald-Standard said that if this is the group's swan song, it is a joyous finale
• Mojo gave four stars and named it album of the week
• Record Collector gave four stars and said the band had pulled it off
• Rolling Stone gave 3.5 out of 5 and said the wait for fans was long but worth it
• Rolling Stone Australia gave full marks and said producer Adam Schlesinger turned the mix of old and new into something beyond an embarrassing heritage act
• Ultimate Classic Rock called it nothing short of a masterpiece
• RTÉ called it a joy and said this reunion does not besmirch the legacy
• RTÉ criticised the Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller track as bloated next to the earlier songs
• ABC News said it is mandatory listening for any Monkees fan
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave 4 out of 5 and called it a joyous revival of the cheerful jangle of the group's 1960s hits
• The Times's Will Hodgkinson gave 3 out of 5
• Evening Standard gave three stars and said the flat production let the album down
• Irish Times's Tony Clayton-Lea said the songs reference the 1960s glory days well but the whole project is less cohesive
• Metacritic metascore 79, indicating generally favorable reviews

Records

• Reached number 14 on the Billboard 200
• Highest-charting Monkees album in 48 years
• Highest-charting Monkees album in the US since The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees in 1968
• Highest-charting Monkees album in the UK since Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. in 1967

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Schlesinger asked bandmate Jody Porter for a song, but it was dropped for being too close to the title track
• Nilsson's title track features a posthumous duet with Dolenz, after Nilsson sang a guide vocal in the 1968 session
• Cuomo added lyrics about Scrabble and a canoe trip after Dolenz felt the original draft suited a man much younger than his age
• The lyric directing traffic in the mall was improvised by Dolenz
• Jones's 1969 version was issued in full after a poor quality copy appeared on the 1979 compilation Monkeemania
• Four bonus tracks appeared on different retail versions and all four were issued on the 2016 Record Day ten-inch EP Good Times! Plus!

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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