This weekend marked ten years since the release of the Monkees' brilliant 2016 album Good Times!, and I wish I'd had the presence of mind to commemorate the anniversary on this week's show. We do play the Monkees here almost every week, and Dana happened to program a track from 1967's More Of The Monkees for this week's extravaganza, but I regret that I forgot to properly recognize my favorite album of 2016 as it reaches its tenth birthday.
Even without Good Times! representation, this week's show was pretty flippin' fabulous, and its playlist can speak confidently and eloquently on its own behalf--see below! But let's take a moment to celebrate Good Times!
2016 was not a good year. It was marked by the passings of so many of our pop heroes, from David Bowie to Prince to Muhammed Ali, and punctuated in November by...yechh. Just yechh. We're still suffering from the ongoing tsuris of America's all-time worst self-inflicted wound (well...its worst until 2024). 2016 was not a good year? Man, 2016 sucked.
In bad times, we rummage for whatever good we can find. My unexpected feeling of depression when Bowie died compelled me to get back into writing; writing had always been central to my sense of self, but I'd all but given up writing. In 2016, I refocused and returned to writing, first by starting a daily blog and eventually by beginning the process that would get me to write my first two books (with a third due out this month) and even to start writing and selling short fiction.
Amidst bad times: Good times.
The Monkees' comeback album Good Times! embodied the promise of its title, reuniting Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith for an exquisite new work, produced under the direction of the great Adam Schlesinger. The late Davy Jones was represented on the album by an archival track from '67. A few of the other tracks were built upon material dating to the original flourish of Monkeeshines in the '60s, but most of it was brand new.
And it was exciting. The first advance single "She Makes Me Laugh" was underwhelming but still pretty good, second single "You Bring The Summer" was terrific and radio-ready, and third single "Me & Magdalena" was flat-out astounding, providing an unexpected depth and gravitas. We played the hell out of them, and the Good Times! album track "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" was TIRnRR's # 3 most-played individual track in 2016.
When I was a freelance writer (1984-2006), I wrote a ton of record reviews. I came to dislike doing them and stopped, cold turkey. I made one exception to my otherwise strict NO MORE RECORD REVIEWS!! policy: Good Times! review. It was worth it. And in the playlist commentary for the Dana & Carl show that aired ten years ago this weekend, I wrote:
"Good Times!, the new album from the Monkees, was released last week. I can't remember the last time I felt as much anticipation and enthusiasm for a new album release, and I'm so happy to say that the album lives up to all hopes and expectations. I know 2016 isn't even half over yet, but I can't see how any forthcoming release could possibly prevent Good Times! from being my Album Of The Year. Nothing can erase the toll this year's parade of mortality has taken on our collective pop psyche, but it's nice to finally have something to celebrate--wholeheartedly!--in this dismal year."
Good times. We'll take 'em if we can get 'em. And this is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO.
You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). You can follow Carl's daily blog at Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).
TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
Carl's new book Guitars Vs. Rayguns! Short Stories And Other White Lies will be available...soon. Definitely soon. Read about it here. Autographed copies of Carl's previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) are available here, and you can still get Carl's previous previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment