With Davy Jones dead and Michael Nesmith refusing to tour, it’s hard not to admire Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork’s enthusiasm to keep the Monkees’ flag flying.
Their first new album in 20 years is an intriguing idea, part unfinished songs from the Sixties, part new ones from surprising sources: XTC’s Andy Partridge, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo.
Most surprising is Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller’s intriguing Birth Of An Accidental Hipster which serves as a reminder that the outer reaches of Monkeesworld were strange places indeed.
For all that Gibbard’s slinkily downbeat Me & Magdalena shows a potential way ahead, Good Times! doesn’t quite work as it’s let down by a flat production and the lack of anything approaching their more magical moments. For all that, though, it’s no disgrace.
(Rhino)
