Hey hey, a live album from the latest tour from Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees is coming from Rhino Records - and more live dates are on the way, too! The triumphant third (but who's counting?) act of The Monkees has been a treat for classic pop and rock fans. In 2016, the three surviving members of the beloved group - Dolenz, Nesmith and Peter Tork - came together for Good Times!, an improbably great record to mark their 50th anniversary. Part archival exercise (with songs
And what does Rhino have planned for this year's Record Store Day Black Friday festivities? Warner's catalog music arm has eight vinyl titles coming to indies on November 29. Expect a few vinyl debuts, some stalwarts of the label (The Monkees, Devo, The Doors) and some newly-available holiday material, appropriate for the end of the year! Learn all about it ahead. Alice Cooper, Billion Dollar Babies Live (Warner) Originally released on a deluxe edition of Alice Cooper's bestselling 1973
Everyone's familiar with the initial wave of Monkeemania that swept America in the 1960s, not to mention the second wave spurred on by MTV's reruns of The Monkees' classic sitcom in the 1980s. But 7a Records - that tireless label dedicated to all things Monkee - has trained a well-deserved spotlight upon a lesser-known chapter of the Monkees phenomenon. The time was 1981 and the place was Japan. The late Davy Jones seized upon the popularity of a Kodak commercial there featuring "Daydream
On the heels of their announcement of the expansive Woodstock 50 campaign, Rhino has announced a new series celebrating The Summer of '69: Peace, Love, and Music. Beginning on July 9, the campaign will feature a three-week-long roll-out of limited-edition vinyl releases of classic recordings from the Woodstock era by the likes of Van Morrison; The Monkees; Grateful Dead; Crosby, Stills & Nash; and many more. These LPs will be available in participating brick-and-mortar stores only. Online
Real Gone Music has recently given soundtrack lovers and vinyl aficionados something to talk about with two new color vinyl reissues of turn-of-the-millennium soundtracks: Music from Vanilla Sky (on "blue cloud" vinyl) and Orange County: The Soundtrack (on orange vinyl). The plots of both films are tied to the music within. The soundtrack for the far-out Vanilla Sky shifts moods and tones while maintaining some sense of cohesion as it takes listeners from classic rock to folk, trance and
And the Hits Just Keep On Comin'. Michael Nesmith titled his 1972 RCA album ironically - when it "bubbled under" the Billboard 200 at No. 208, it actually bested its predecessor by three slots - but the LP did feature the former and future Monkee's rendition of one major favorite, "Different Drum." The 1965 tune became an enduring hit for the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt in 1967, establishing Nesmith outside of The Monkees. Since 1968, he's released 16 albums. Now, 12 of them -
Rhino's popular "Start Your Ear Off Right" vinyl reissue campaign is returning to local independent record stores and Barnes & Noble locations beginning next Tuesday, January 8, and continuing through Tuesday, January 29, with a new batch of limited (and often colorful) vinyl reissues arriving each week. Each group features an eclectic line-up drawn from the Rhino archives. January 8 will see compilations from Aretha Franklin, Alice Cooper, and The Monkees, as well as a 1978 post-punk
Welcome to another Release Round-Up. Here's a look at what's coming out today, December 14! Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen on Broadway [2CD] (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Springsteen on Broadway captures songs and selected stories from The Boss' acclaimed, Tony Award-winning engagement on the Great White Way. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig, the album arrives one day before the closing show, and also just before it's broadcast in full on
Last month, Real Gone Music announced the release of seven Christmas-related goodies, including a pair of joint releases with Second Disc Records. But, as temperatures fall, Real Gone plans to bring more than just holiday melodies to keep listeners warm this winter. On December 14, the label will release limited-edition, two-disc colored vinyl sets of two cult film soundtracks: Music From Vanilla Sky and Orange County: The Soundtrack. Vanilla Sky was Cameron Crowe's seventh film. Based
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! David Bowie, Loving the Alien (1983-1988) (Parlophone) 11CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 15LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The fourth annual volume of Parlophone's ongoing series of box sets dedicated to the late David Bowie, Loving the Alien (1983-1988), arrives on 11 CDs or 15 vinyl LPs. This lavish set is filled with more exclusive material than any of its predecessors, as only three studio albums are
The Monkees are throwing a Christmas Party, and you're invited! On October 12, the group's first-ever Christmas album will be released via Rhino on CD, digital download, and streaming. Following in the acclaimed footsteps of 2016's Good Times!, Christmas Party will feature production by Adam Schlesinger, new vocals by Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, and classic vocals from the late Davy Jones. On this festive set, The Monkees bring their distinctive sound to yuletide
Michael Nesmith always traveled to the beat of a different drum. While serving as one-fourth of The Monkees, Nesmith was expanding his musical horizons beyond the group's infectious Brill Building pop stylings. "I wanted beautiful music wherever I could find it," he writes in the liner notes to his new release on 7a Records. "But if I wanted to sing it myself and write it myself, I had to have an understanding of what that music was, and how to get to it. So, the first place I looked was in
Before embarking with Micky Dolenz on the acclaimed, currently-playing The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show, Michael Nesmith staged another remarkable event earlier this year. For five performances only in January, Nesmith reformed his pioneering country-rock group, The First National Band. The FNB didn't venture out of California, but the sold-out concerts attracted worldwide attention. Now, everyone will have a chance to hear what they missed when 7a Records - the label dedicated
Though it's been over six years since his untimely passing at the age of 66, the music of Davy Jones still endures. 7a Records, the U.K.-based label devoted to all things Monkees-related, has just delivered another treat for longtime fans of the band and its charismatic, perennially boyish singer with the mop top. "Rainbows" b/w "You Don't Have to Be a Country Boy to Sing a Country Song" is a limited edition (500 units) 7-inch, 45 RPM single pressed on red vinyl. Both sides of the single
January is barely over yet, but 2018 is already shaping up to be another banner year for The Monkees. Davy, Peter, Michael, and Micky have just met The Archies in a zany time-travelling comic book adventure, and fans have had the perfect soundtrack: the new, 3-CD/1-45 RPM single super deluxe box set edition of sophomore album More of The Monkees (Rhino Handmade R2 560125) - in time to mark 51 years since the LP was first released, in January 1967. This sixth installment of the long-running
Welcome to this end-of-year Release Round-Up! The Monkees, More of The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (Rhino) Rhino delivers a 3-CD Super Deluxe Edition of The Monkees' 1967 sophomore album with mono and stereo versions of the album and a plethora of alternate takes, never-before-heard rarities, and a recently-discovered live recording! With 91 tracks (55 previously unreleased!), this set greatly expands upon the 2-CD iteration from 2006. Read all about it here! Herbie Mann,
Micky Dolenz always attracts a crowd whenever he's performing one of his hits-packed shows. Whether Dolenz is playing a large theatre or an intimate nightclub, the consummate entertainer brings the goods. Now, the Monkees specialists at 7a Records are unveiling a particularly exciting treat: a brand-new live album from Micky, and his first to be recorded with an orchestra. Micky Dolenz & The American Metropole Orchestra: Out of Nowhere will hit stores on November 17 in the U.K. (and one
There's more on the way from The Monkees - More of The Monkees, in fact! The long-awaited Super Deluxe Edition of the band's classic 1967 sophomore album has been confirmed for arrival from Rhino on December 15, with 91 tracks on three CDs - 55 of which are previously unreleased! This collection lives up to its Super Deluxe description with a plethora of alternate takes, new and vintage mixes, and perhaps most excitingly, newly-discovered live concert material from 1967. This new edition
By 1975, Michael Nesmith's bona fides as a groundbreaking pioneer of country-rock were well established. After his first solo LP, 1968's orchestral The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, the once and future Monkee had released six well-received albums and yielded a pair of hit singles, "Joanne" and "Silver Moon"- not to mention "Different Drum," a major hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. On November 27, 1975, Nesmith recorded an intimate set in London at the BBC Paris Theatre, during which
Randy Newman once observed of his friend Harry Nilsson, "The records Harry made, and the first records I made, it was like The Rolling Stones never existed." Indeed, before his famously chronicled lifestyle as a Hollywood hellraiser threatened to overshadow his reputation as a talent nonpareil (and left his once-angelic voice in tatters), Nilsson had carved out an artful niche of wit and whimsy. He expressed his musical muse in gentle psychedelia, baroque pop, folk rock, vaudeville
With its latest project, 7a Records has invited Monkees fans to Listen to the Bands - yes, plural. This recent 25-track collection features modern, independent artists all tackling Davy, Micky, Mike, and Peter's classic songbook - and making it even more special, all profits from the limited edition album will be donated by the label to the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation. Appropriately, curators Glenn Gretlund and Iain Lee of 7a have made sure that many of the famous songwriting names
Late in 2015, Ace Records released the compilation Jon Savage's 1966: The Year The Decade Exploded to coincide with the publication of the author-historian's book of the same name. Now, Ace and Savage have followed that CD release with another volume - 1967: The Year Pop Divided. The 2-CD collection's mission statement is clearly set out: "MOR ballads were rife in the U.K. charts in 1967, but thankfully not on this dynamic collection of rock, soul, pop, and incipient funk and psych the teenage
Five decades ago, in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, a social movement was growing. Young people, with heads full of progressive ideas and evolving attitudes toward sex, drugs and rock and roll, were converging on the area to celebrate their personal freedom--an extension of that January's "Human Be-In" in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The "Summer of Love," as it was called, was the birth of the modern counterculture, and music played an integral role in the shaping,
Tomorrow, April 28, Varese Vintage will reissue one of the most delightfully unexpected Monkees-related titles in recent memory with the compact disc premiere of Stu Phillips Presents The Monkees Songbook, as played by The Golden Gate Strings. The 1967 Epic Records release featured ten favorites from the height of Monkeemania, all rendered in lushly orchestral "easy listening" style. Veteran composer-arranger Stu Phillips (Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider) spearheaded the project.
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Michael Nesmith, Infinite Tuesday: Autobiographical Riffs - The Music (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino Records offers a 14-track companion CD to Michael Nesmith's memoir Infinite Tuesday - An Autobiographical Riff (due on April 18). This collection has tracks from Nesmith solo as well as The Monkees and The First National Band, charting his singular and often-trailblazing work over the decades. Read more here! The