Back then embraced by the younger teen public, but frowned upon by more mature music lovers. They were called fakes and the band just seen as a record company's attempt to cash in on the Beatle boom by constructing a US equivalent. They didn't try to hide any of those facts and by the time their sit-com started to show on Swedish television I was one of the haters. Already a Tom Lehrer fan and just starting to discover Zappa at age thirteen I felt like a grown-up and saw Monkees as something for daft little girls. However fortyeight years brings a huge perspective and I'm not that reluctant today. Checking the credits they were backed by a top notch crowd of songwriters and producers, including Tommy Boyce/Bobby Heart and Gerry Goffin/Carole King. I guess they could have done it more advanced but choosed a naive approach fitting the presumably uncomplicated tastes of the target group. Only Monkees song I liked at the time was "Last Train To Clarksville". Albeit sounding like a less exciting variation of Beatles "Ticket To Ride", it's a good song with true hit quality and still makes me smile. "(Theme From) The Monkees" sounds calculated, made with cash in mind, but also quite irresistable. The rest is medium quality garage pop. I don't think they'd done it without the cute faces or the incredible hype, but they did and the album exists so I can as well enjoy it. Premiere US on Colgems (COM/COS 101). First UK had ridged label as shown here and laminated cover. Label with the correct "Papa Gene's Blues" spelling while the cover has the faulty "Papa Jean's Blues".
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