The Monkees, after being puppets at the mercy of Don Kirshner's hit-producing factory process for Colgems, evetually overthrew their own music supervisor, winning creative control of their own music - the result was May of 1967's Headquarters, an album that contained significantly more group-written music, as well as every song being played by the group. It was, yet again, a hit, peaking at number one... for one week. Four days after Headquarters released to an unsuspecting public, The Monkees were immediately one upped when The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - everything else that released around it seemed poultry in comparison. Sessions for a fourth album began while season two of their television show was in the midst of being recorded, so the group ended up employing session musicians for sessions. The resulting fourth album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. became the fourth consecutive album to chart for the group - their fourth number one album in one year, as well. Much like its predecessor, Headquarters combines plenty of ideas from the various Monkees members into a concise, singular statement and sound - confident sunshine pop with elements of baroque leanings, country, and an even heavier influence from psychedelia. The result is quite possibly The Monkees' most fine-tuned endeavor.
Probably due to the use of session musicians, particularly with drumming, the resulting album sounds even more tight and steady then on Headquarter - Michael Nesmith on guitar, Peter Tork on organ, Chip Douglas on bass, and Eddie Hoh on drums makes up the majority of instrumentation on the album, and the results are incredibly clean, snappy pop-rock numbers. Strong example is opening track "Salesman," a thumping, bluesy romp with a particularly good bass riff courtesy of Douglas - Chip had previously produced Headquarters and had been a member of The Turtles. You also have the top-10 hit "Pleasant Valley Sunday," courtesy of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, which is The Monkees' pop stylings in a perfected micro-chasm - a memorable guitar riff, driving rhythm, and some of the cleanest vocals to ever fly and bloom out of Micky Dolenz's mouth. These more straightforward rock songs can also harbor the best of the album's psychedelia - "Love is Only Sleeping" is a top-tier Monkees track, easily one of their best, built off a 7/4 guitar riff, swirling sound effects, and an incredibly good Mike Nesmith vocal performance - it was initially considered as a non-album single, before pressing errors resulted in "Daydream Believer" b/w "Goin' Down" releasing instead. It would've made a damn-good single, but "Daydream Believer" was a number one hit, and the B-Side was better, too.
Yet again, the fluidity of genre influence knows no bounds on the brave Pisces, although you can generally fall along a few lines. Davy Jones yet again leans heavily into pop, although it's far more sunshine-y than on Headquarters - "Hard to Believe" is essentially "Daydream Believer" sound-wise, but it just may be superior - an excellent, hooky melody complete with what may very well be the best vocal performance of his Monkees career. "She Hangs Out" is standard Davy pop, re-cut from earlier sessions for a planned third Kirshner album - all I can say is that this re-recording blows that version out of the water. Closing track "Star Collector" is a mix of Davy and Micky's influence, primarily with Micky's fascination with the Moog Synthesizer - it appears twice on this album, most notably with the drone-y, rich psychedelia of Nesmith's "Daily Nightly," sung by Micky - one of the richest Monkees song sound-wise, and it shows that Mike can do a whole lot more than just write country tunes. Of course, "What Am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round?" while not a Mike tune, is effectively the closest we've gotten to country rock from the group up to this point - a year before The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo, no less.
The masterfully produced and played "The Door into Summer" is yet another micro-chasm of The Monkees - pure, sparkling pop rock with beautifully clean Mike vocals, and a growing wall of background vocals. The still unknown Nilsson even sings backup on that song - speaking of Nilsson, he has a song on here with "Cuddly Toy." I initially called the song bad in my original review, but I'm no longer so sure. While it may pale in comparison to more ambitious pop numbers like "Love is Only Sleeping" or the following "Words," it's the ideal helping of upbeat, slightly sugary Davy Jones pop - if you think this is bad, you have no idea what you're in for on later albums. Peter doesn't really have his own song, but he has a rendition of "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky," exploiting the hard "P" sound to create a decisively bizarre spoken-word segment. From the ridiculous to the eloquent, "Don't Call on Me" may very well be the triumph of Mike Nesmith - a beautiful, almost haunting ballad that completes the Monkees artistic ascent, putting them on the same level as other great pop groups like The Zombies and the Millennium. Even the upbeat juxtaposition of "Star Collector" following can't ruin this stunning, beautiful moment - like the sharp transition from "Yesterday" into "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" on Help!, but done better somehow.
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. represents the peak of The Monkees, both musically and commercially - paired with the excellent "Daydream Believer" single and a second TV season, the group would ride high - they even won an Emmy for the show by the end of '67. By the end of '68, the show would be cancelled, their movie a flop, and Peter gone. For now, though, they could rest easy knowing that their boldest, most beautiful pop statement was complete - accusations of bubblegum be damned.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
Comments
Post a Comment