In the mid-1980s, something incredibly odd happened with The Monkees - there was a second, massive wave of Monkeemania. Stranger things have happened, sure, but it's one of those things you'd never expect to happen. Due to reruns of the show on MTV, the group was exposed to an all-new audience who found themselves falling in love with the music and the show all again. The opportunity for reunion immediately followed, including a tour and a new album - Mike Nesmith wasn't able to participate due to his own projects, but expressed support of the reunion (he even joined the group on stage at the Greek Theater for an encore, marking the first time the group had been completely back together in nearly 20 years). Anyways, how was that reunion album? Pure 80s cheese - just look at the cover! Pool It! effectively killed the 80s era of The Monkees before it could truly begin, and after listening to the album, you might think that's for a good reason.
So what sinks Pool It!? Surely it wasn't the album cover, which I bet had people lining up to buy the damn thing. It's really no different from earlier Monkees albums in structure - Davy and Micky sing most of it, and the songs are either covers or written outside of the group, with a few originals thrown in for good measure. Maybe it's the production, headed by Roger Bechirian. To his credit, Bechirian had previously had experience in engineering for the likes of Elvis Costello on albums like This Year's Model and Armed Forces, so he clearly wasn't incompetent. This is the part where you can blame it on the 80s excess that took every artist - from Elton John to Billy Joel to Paul McCartney, nobody escaped the decade unscathed. Don't believe me? Listen to the group's rendition of Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World" and you'll get a sense of things. While that's a rough case, Davy is hit the worst by far, churning out cheesy 80s AOR that would put Steven Tyler to shame. If it's not schlock like "Counting on You," you have "Every Step of the Way," which sounds like Let's Dance-era Bowie gone oh, so horribly wrong - think Never Let Me Down, I suppose.
By far the oddest moments are Peter Tork's track, who effectively serves as this album's Great Value Mike Nesmith. See, in the 1980s, Peter got... really into new wave? His affinity for the genre shows on "Gettin' In," which, while playing like Clover Valley Human League, is probably the best moment on the album - it's got a solid hook, and I can at least give it credit for its earnesty. You get the sense that Peter just really wanted to make new wave, which saves it from sounding like a cash-grab in my mind. His only other song, "Since You Went Away," is a fun enough cover, and one that I have absolutely no shame in saying is one of my favorite on the album. The rest of the album varies pretty heavily in quality - either you have the more okay stuff like "Heart and Soul" or "Secret Heart," as cheesy as the latter is, or you have the absolute failure of "She's Movin' in With Rico," an attempt at ska that must be heard to be believed - brace yourself beforehand.
Pool It! plays like a midlife crisis, as does everything surrounding it. It shouldn't surprise you that this album was not a hit, and neither were the singles. As quickly as it started, the Monkees 80s era was out the door, and while it would be easy to point at Pool It! and leave it with all the blame, MTV was also a bit shady with their dealings, effectively pulling The Monkees from the air over agreements and disputes and other bullshit. Still, Pool It! is probably best left as a bizarre afterthought for the group, with the better moments already rightfully relegated to various Greatest Hits compilations throughout the years - if by chance you ever come across Pool It!, it might be best to just can it.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Pool It!
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