Wha??? you’re saying? Dolenz? Micky Dolenz? Of the Monkees? That Micky Dolenz. Yes, not his daughter or anybody. I was both a Monkees and R.E.M. fan and I bet a lot of you are/were too. So I was curious...
Wha??? you’re saying? Dolenz? Micky Dolenz? Of the Monkees? That Micky Dolenz. Yes, not his daughter or anybody. I was both a Monkees and R.E.M. fan and I bet a lot of you are/were too. So I was curious as to how this endeavor came about. Read on…(Much gleaned from Goldmine magazine which I will herewith summarize. Interestingly, not much on Micky’s website,)
The first thing you need to know is that, supposedly, R.E.Ms 1991 song “Shiny Happy People” was supposedly “partly inspired” by the Monkees. If that is actually true, the band kept it a pretty tight secret, maybe because they were cool and the Monkees were the antithesis of cool. Kate Pierson of the B-52s sang on it and thought it was an homage to that band. Either way, frankly, I find it kind of a goofy song that I can take or leave and hardly my favorite of this great band.
As reported in Goldmine, 7a* Records CEO Glenn Gretlund was a fan of both bands and was looking for something for Micky to record. Apparently, this British-based label was started to release Dolenz’s solo output, got successful, and hung around.
Gretlund started putting together a list of tunes for the ex-Monkee to sing and he realized he’d listed a bunch of R.E.M. tunes. He already knew about the “Shiny Happy People” connection and thus an idea was born. (No word on whether Micky was an R.E.M. fan).
Gretlund happened to hear from another industry guy who said – out of the blue – “You should get Micky to record ‘Shiny Happy People.’ Kismet! Gretlund approached Micky who was open to the idea of doing a four-song EP.
Apparently the R.E.M. guys were into the idea as well. (You may or may not recall the Monkees’ 2016 album Good Times! with contributions from Andy Partridge of XTC, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Noel Gallager and Paul Welller who need no introduction. The Monkees are loved by the indie/alternative set!
As to which songs to do, I guess Gretlund listened to them and ‘presented’ them to Dolenz. (Hell if it was me I’d pick my own). It was a combination of what would not sound like R.E.M. karaoke and what producer Christian Nesmith (yes!) felt would work for Micky. One song under consideration was ‘Bang and Blame,’ one of my favorites that frankly, no one should touch.
Ultimately the four songs chosen were “Shiny Happy People,” “Radio Free Europe,” “Man on the Moon,” and “Leaving New York.” I’m able to listen to this list pretty objectively as the only clear favorite here for me is “Radio Free.”
So how is this strange marriage of Sixties pop-rock and Nineties alternative post-punk? (Or however you categorize R.E.M.) “Shiny Happy” reminds me at times of the Gary Jules version of the Tears for Fears song “Mad World.” I would say Dolenz neither improves on the original nor worsens it. Again, I don’t think it’s such a great song. Catchy, yes. Certainly not something I’d have a newcomer to R.E.M listen to as representative of their music.
“Radio Free Europe” was my – and a lot of people’s – introduction to R.E.M. It’s a great driving song with impenetreable lyrics. It’s odd to hear Micky – who was arguably the Monkees’ best singer – singing lyrics like this:
Keep me out of country and the wordWheel of fortune’s leading us absurdPush that, push that, push that to the floorThat this isn’t nothing at allStraight off the boat, where to go
This version of the tune kicks along nicely but again, nothing here that will make you forget Michael Stipe. But you never know with covers, right? Often a new generation picks up a tune and never even knew there was an original. I think Nesmith might have gotten out over his skis (as we say) on this one. At about 3 minutes in the tune slows down to psychedelic fantasyland before it picks back up again. The curse of having to find a different arrangement I suppose.
“Man on the Moon” is, of course, about the late madman comedian/performance artist/whack job/actor Andy Kaufman. A good tune and Micky sounds fine on it but again, I find myself reaching for the original. Anyone who reads this blog knows I’m a fan of reinvention of tunes but I’m not really hearing it here.
“Leaving New York” is a tune I had never heard. As much a fan of R.E.M as I am, by the time they came around I’d been fading away from listening to entire albums as they were released. Apparently this was a UK hit for R.E.M. I purposely stuck to Micky’s version to judge it on its own. Am I the only one hearing early Small Faces influences on this EP?
Overall, this is an OK if lightweight rendering of R.E.M tunes. For whatever we might want to say about Micky, he is a pop singer and this sounds like a pop record. Well-produced, well-played, its main benefit may to be that you will now go dust off your R.E.M records.
On November 3, 2023, Micky and the R.E.M guys celebrated the albums release and the ex-Monkee got a key to the city of Athens, Georgia. So, there’s that. I should note that despite being the last man standing, Micky is still touring although at 78, in a much reduced schedule.
*I kept thinking to myself, what is the significance of 7a? And then it dawned on me. It comes from “Daydream Believer.” As Davy told it, when their engineer wanted to start the seventh take of “Daydream Believer,” Jones was distracted and wasn’t listening on his headphones on the studio floor.
Davy asked producer Chip Douglas what number it was, even though Hank had just told him. In mock exasperation, both Hank and Chip called down from the booth in unison: “SEVEN A!!” That kicked David in gear with his “short” reply, and they got the perfect take.” (Thanks to Quora).