More of The Monkees can't be bad, right? Monkeemania had swept the US by late 1966, off the back of both a successful television show and a chart-topping album. Immediately, the people behind The Monkees sought to cash in, so a followup album was prepared from previous sessions as the group went on a tour of the United States. The album was surprised released in January of 1967, a release so sudden that The Monkees themselves did not know this album existed until they were in Cleveland during the tour. It was immediately hated by the group, with the late Mike Nesmith even calling it "the worst album in the history of the world." The Monkees felt that music supervisor Don Kirsher would not reciprocate their musical ideas, and by March he was let go as the supervisor - that's a story for another review, though. More of the Monkees is, more or less, a continuance of their debut. The hits hit even harder, the rock a little heavier, and the lows even lower. What more could you want?
In my review of The Monkees, I made a comment that much of the album was trying to sound like "Last Train to Clarksville." That same effect is continued here, but now every song tries to sound like "I'm a Believer," an admittedly catchy Neil Diamond pop song that maybe leans just a bit too closely into bubblegum territory. This syndrome is especially apparent on any tracks produced by Jeff Barry, fitting since he's the one that produced "Believer." "Hold on Girl" and "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" are two bold cases of this, both of which do some things good and others bad - for my money, though "Look Out" is a slightly superior song. This isn't entirely the case, though, as any Nesmith-produced tracks still take home the gold, seen with the rocker "Mary, Mary" and the country-tinged "The Kind of Girl I Could Love." Boyce and Hart still have some input here, seen with song "She" that opens the album - for my money, it also might be the best early Monkees tune, with a slamming instrumental and a powerful Micky Dolenz vocal performance. They also can claim stake to "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," yet another top-tier early Monkees moment, with a similarly thumping rhythm. We also have the beautiful "Sometime in the Morning," which is an essential encapsulation of sunshine pop.
Remember when I said the lows are even lower? When the album duds, it duds. Easy pickings go to "The Day We Fall in Love," which is by a large margin the weakest thing on the album - an embarrassing pop number that makes the poultry "I'll Be True to You" on their debut seem decent in comparison. "Laugh" is nothing more than a pretty weak cut; it's not good, but I wouldn't say it's as offensively bad as "The Day We Fall in Love," - God willing, there won't be another Monkees cut that bad (who am I kidding?). "Hold on Girl," in its efforts to sound like "I'm a Believer" ultimately ends up sounding ho-hum. These lows are, at minimum, balanced out by some decent filler - for every "Hold On Girl," you at least have a "When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)" or a "Your Auntie Grizelda" to make up for it.
When choosing between which of the first two Monkees albums I prefer, it's really about the time of day. These two albums are so similar that they play like companion pieces - perhaps this is both why it did so well, and also why The Monkees hated this thing so damn much. Is it the worse album ever made? Sorry Mike, but far from it - this ain't no Lizard. The group's sophomore album is a fun collection of pop that, at moments, outshines their more consistent debut, but for every mountain there's a valley. Even still, this is another perfectly good pop record, even if it is nothing all too special.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
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