Search - Monkees :: Live Summer Tour

Monkees deliver goods but record label fails

02/22/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"LIVE SUMMER TOUR features three of the original four Monkees, Micky Dolenz, David Jones and Peter Tork, in what turned out to be their last concert together as a trio. It was recorded at the Sun Theater in Anaheim, California on August 31, 2001. Part-time member Michael Nesmith, who last performed with the Monkees during their successful European tour in 1997, was absent from the 2001 activities. Almost immediately after the concert documented on this CD was finished, Tork was removed from the Monkees by Dolenz and Jones as a result of disagreements over the band's future.It will come to nobody's surprise that the Monkees sound fantastic on this live album. The vocals are sharp, strong and confident. Their backing band is tight and polished (over-polished, perhaps?). The individual Monkees shine as musicians on this collection as well, as Tork delivers with ease the lead guitar parts on "Last Train to Clarksville," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," "For Pete's Sake," and "That Was Then, This Is Now," while also providing the main keyboard parts for "Daydream Believer," "I'm a Believer," "Porpoise Song" and "Randy Scouse Git." Honorable mention goes to Dolenz for his solid drumming on "Mary, Mary," as well as his competent rhythm guitar playing throughout the rest of the live album. Jones, as usual, hangs in on percussion. LIVE SUMMER TOUR is also noteworthy for featuring the first official live versions of "Porpoise Song (Theme from HEAD)," two of Tork's best compositions in "Can You Dig It" (also from HEAD) and "For Pete's Sake," as well as the minor 1968 b-side hit "It's Nice to Be With You." And don't be fooled, missing Monkee Nesmith's late-era Monkees classic "Listen to the Band" is also on this collection. Just like in the Monkees' live performance, "Porpoise Song" segues smoothly into "Listen to the Band" on this album, but from the track listing you wouldn't know that the song is part of the album.The powers-to-be responsible for producing this live album committed some regretful mistakes which hinders LIVE SUMMER TOUR from being the ultimate live Monkees document. Providing only 47 minutes of a near 2 hour concert forces many key Monkees songs to be cut, and the missing tracks are glaring omissions. Hit songs played that night, like "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" and "I Wanna Be Free" are absent, as are key album tracks like "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)," "No Time" and "She Hangs Out." "Higher and Higher," highlighting Tork's banjo expertise, is also gone. The label could have also scored if they had given Tork's "Long Title (Do I Have To Do This All Over Again)" its first official live release here. The editing between songs on LIVE SUMMER TOUR also leaves a lot to be desired. The ending of "Randy Scouse Git," which features Dolenz pounding the tympani drum, is completely cut. This edit is particularly noticeable as it is a key part of the song that every Monkees fan expects to hear, and its absence is painful when listening. As the album moves along, and especially towards the end, the songs are right up next to each other, which seems highly unnecessary seeing how much time is left on this disc to fill. Some of the background vocals/harmonies in the songs seemed pushed back in the mix as well, as you can hardly hear the killer harmonies Dolenz most famously provides on "Valleri." And why can we only hear Dolenz on the three part harmony of "Listen to the Band"?Even though tension in the group was at a breaking point at the time of this concert's recording, no noticeable conflict can be detected in the vocal presentation or performance. And LIVE SUMMER TOUR does do a fairly good job representing the different Monkees eras, from the early pop of "Last Train to Clarksville," to the psychedelic experiments of "Porpoise Song," all the way up to the 1986 comeback hit single "That Was Then, This Is Now." However, because of the errors in the mixing of this disc, and due to the absence of Nesmith, LIVE SUMMER TOUR falls short of being the official live concert document Monkees fans have wanted from the recent reunion tours. To hear the full quartet at their live peak in the 1960s, there is the album LIVE 1967 available, as well as a four disc box set chronicling that 1967 tour available. Others will do good searching out the (out of print) live album documenting the Monkees' 1986 arena tour, entitled 20th ANNIVESARY TOUR 1986 (LIVE!), which usually pops up on CD, cassette or vinyl every once in a while on eBay."

Fascinating -- but where's the rest?

Mark S. Reinhart | Columbus, OH United States | 01/31/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This CD marks the latest, and maybe the last chapter of the Monkees' turbulent history. The story so far as I understand it -- in 2001, the Monkees embarked on their first tour in a number of years, and as was the case with most of their reunion projects since their revival in 1986, Mike Nesmith was not a part of it. The tour was not a tremendous success -- the band played to good crowds, but the tour did not bring them the kind of media attention that previous tours had. As usual, infighting broke out between Micky, Davy and Peter -- this time around, Micky and Davy sided with one another, and abruptly fired Peter before the end of the tour. In fact, this CD and the companion DVD of the same name were recorded within a day or two of him being let go! Obviously, Peter was kept in the band to fulfill the obligation of doing the CD/DVD project, and the second that obligation was filled, he was sacked. The tour went on with just Davy and Micky until last year, at which point it just kind of fizzled out. Unbelievably, the CD does not greatly suffer from this backstage drama. The performances and mixes are great -- in fact, I will go so far to say that this is ALMOST the definitive live Monkees "trio" CD us fans have been waiting for. (The truly definitive live CD would be a release of the few shows in which all four Monkees participated in 1996, but a "trio" CD is probably the best us fans can reasonably hope for) The reason I say ALMOST is because the CD is so short, only 15 cuts. The companion DVD contains at least a half dozen more songs than the CD does, and the DVD didn't even give us half of the songs the Monkees performed on the tour! And the songs that are missing from the CD are BIG ones -- most notably the Neil Diamond-penned hit "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You." Why the Monkees and their management chose to include songs like the BRADY BUNCH "Davy episode" ballad "Girl" or the late Monkees single flop "It's Nice to be With You" instead of songs like "Little Bit," "She Hangs Out," or "Girl I Knew Somewhere" is beyond me.There is one interesting song choice tidbit, however -- "Porpoise Song" is included on the CD, and it segues into the late Monkees Nesmith song "Listen to the Band." "Listen to the Band" is not included on the track listing of the CD! Could the Monkees be possibly trying to avoid paying their ex-bandmate some royalties due him?Seriously though, this CD is maybe a perfect summation of the Monkees' long history -- it sounds great, it's got a lot more artistry on it than anyone would give them credit for (quite a few of the songs are ones written by band members), but it's also incomplete, not well thought out, and kind of sad. This band has brought a lot of people a lot of happiness over the years. (I'm a perfect example of that fact -- I've loved them since I was a kid, and the first concert my wife and I got to take our kids to was a Monkees show) But the band members themselves can't seem to share in that happiness for any prolonged period of time -- they try to be comfortable being "The Monkees," they try to get along with one another, but before long they are at each other's throats cursing the day that fate threw them all together. So this CD which should have been a celebration of a great career and great music ends up looking like the last gasp of a group that needs to grow up and make peace with one another.In the final analysis -- if you're a Monkees fan, buy this CD. In the end, no matter what happens between the guys in the band, we've always got the music to enjoy. I just wish we could enjoy 25 or more songs on this CD instead of only 15."

Monkees Fans Will Enjoy This!

Swordfish | Wading River, NY United States | 03/01/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The sound is great, and the Monkees are as entertaining as ever! This CD is lots of fun for Monkees fans! Buy it. Or consider buying the DVD, which is great and has a slightly different song selection. The only way this CD could be better is if they included more songs from the concert -- and if Mike were present. This is a "must have" for fans. Others will enjoy it as well as a "greatest hits" CD."