THE MONKEES

 

You often hear the old saying that pop music is a disposable genre; songs for the moment that you can forget about once the radio stop playing them. This, of course, is arrant nonsense. The Beatles made pop music. The Rolling Stones made pop music. The Who even made pop music. We still listen to them.

 

For me, there are three albums that are pop classics from start to finish; albums where every track is a gem and, more importantly, every track still sounds as great today as they did when first released. One of those albums is a bit of a cheat, for it is the compilation album Motown Chartbusters Volume 3. The other is "A Hard Day's Night" by .... mmmm ..... remind me!

 

The third is this!

 

This lot did not write their own music, although Mike Nesmith does get a part-credit for one track. Hell, they probably didn't even play on the album! It matters not a jot!  What counts is the stuff in the grooves, the absolute perfection of every track (even the comedy track at the end), the fact that you can listen to this album anytime, anywhere, and it is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and, probably, get you singing out loud

 

Couldn't choose which tracks to pick so ... hey ... here's the entire album

 

(Theme From) The Monkees

 

 

Saturday's Child

 

 

 

 

I Wanna Be Free

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day

 

 

 

 

Papa Gene's Blues

 

(very early copies of this album had this track listed as "Papa Jean's Blues. Worth a few bob if you have an album with that spelling)

 

 

 

Take A Giant Step

 

 

 

 

Last Train To Clarksville

 

 

 

 

This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day

 

 

 

 

 

Let's Dance On

 

 

 

 

I'll Be True To You

 

 

 

 

Sweet Young Thing

 

(This is the track Mike Nesmith co-wrote)

 

 

 

 

Gonna Buy Me A Dog