The Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.

The Monkees. These guys were my musical heroes. Accept no substitutes. As a kid I had no idea they were a manufactured band, and that the TV ran for only 2 years between 1966 - and 1968 and broadcast 58 episodes. I grew up on reruns in the early '70s and while I loved the show, it was the concert and performance parts of the show that I really loved.

The songs were so good and even back then I found Davy Jones to be a little (ha, because he was short) irritating, and his contributions were limited to the cute songs and playing maracas. even if he could play four of them at a time ... which admittedly is harder than it looks - so is playing the tambourine but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

By 1967 The Monkees were a pretty big deal, and by golly they were busy. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. was their third album in that year, and the second one where the boys were in charge. Often dismissed as inconsequential artists they had enough sense to bring in good songwriters and studio musicians, but by all accounts the boys were playing and singing the songs. Heck Micky had one of the first Moog synthesizers, and it was featured on the album. Too bad the pictures on the back, especially the ones of Peter and Davy make them look like they've never seen a guitar before. Davy I get, as I'd almost expect him to hold it by the neck and shake it like a maraca. Peter though was just a bad picture ... it was supposed to look contemplative I guess.

Of course, the songs I'm partial to are the ones I remember from the show and even the Harry Nilsson penned "Cuddly Toy" is more fun than I remembered. Mike Nesmith killed it on "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?" and his voice on "Don't Call on Me" was quite surprising, in a good way. It was "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by Goffin and King that is still the centrepiece of the album. The album is short, just over half an hour with most of the songs clocking in under three minutes.

It's an odd album in many ways. It was a little silly at times but mostly it was really quite good. 1967 was the year The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper and frankly if you do an A / B against the serious acts of the day it wasn't hard to tell which band was going to be taken seriously. No doubt this didn't sit well with Michael and Peter. 

Of course, impact and influence are tricky things and over time. It's hard to describe the influence these guys had and how many people picked up guitars and started a band because they were fans of The Monkees. They may have started out as the brainchild of Don Kirshner but soon the little wooden puppets figured they wanted to be real boys, and for a while they were. However, they're dismissed as being prefabricated and soulless. It's weird that when Malcolm McLaren helped shape The Sex Pistols, they were viewed as the real deal, and even made it to the Hall of Fame in 2006, an honour they shit on staying true to form.

Who knows, one day after the dust settles The Monkees will get their due based on the music and the influence they had on a generation of musicians who took them at face value.