A Monkee Remembers: Micky Dolenz gets help from some beach cities’ believers on new solo album
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 4:04 pm | Updated: 4:03 pm, Wed Oct 10, 2012.
Michael Hixon |
Music can be the soundtrack to someone’s life and Micky Dolenz and The Monkees played a part in the collective memory of a generation with numerous hit songs and a T.V. show in the 1960s.
In his new solo album, “Remember,” which was released earlier this month on Manhattan Beach resident Rob Christie’s Waterfront Entertainment Group/Robo Records, Dolenz recorded the soundtrack to his life, from Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” which was his audition song for The Monkees, to a new, country-inspired version of the band’s classic “I’m a Believer.”
Christie, who was the creative manager of A&R at Capitol Records, said his first reaction to the project, which was produced and largely arranged in Redondo Beach at the home studio of David Harris, was “wow.”
“Micky’s voice just sounded incredible on this ... and every vocal is by Micky,” Christie said. “He overdubbed his voice for all the harmonies.”
“Rob has done a wonderful job at putting it together ... I’m very proud of it,” said Dolenz during a recent phone interview. “It’s a long time in the making, about three years in the making.”
Christie also praised the musicianship on “Remember,” which included bassist Bob Birch, a long-time Elton John bandmember, who died suddenly on Aug. 15.
With decades of being one of The Monkees, Christie said a big challenge was “making Micky an artist in his own right.”
“He certainly deserves to be, I think in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, at least as a Monkee, but his solo work is so good,” Christie said. “So the challenge is building a brand and a name for Micky Dolenz as a solo artist, instead of just that clown who was on ‘The Monkees’ show in the 60s.”
Christie added, “He feels so fortunate and lucky to have had that career. I just think, here we are 45 years later ... it really is just good music.”
Dolenz Remembers
When Dolenz auditioned for “The Monkees,” he had already starred in the short-lived series, “Circus Boy,” and was in his own rock band. He used Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” a classic that he recorded for his new album.
“That’s the song that got me the gig,” Dolenz said. “I had been singing it in a cover band before The Monkees like everybody else did. That was a very important song to me. I still do it in my solo sets to this day. But I came up with a different kind of version. I didn’t want to just cover the original tune as exactly as it had been done. So that sort of became the theme of the album. It’s an audio scrap book of my life featuring songs that were important to me, but also re-envisioning many of them in a unique way.”
Harris had been a long-time fan of Dolenz and had approached him to do some recording with him.
“I was a fan in the 60s. I remember hearing critics say, ‘Well, they didn’t play their own instruments,” said Harris at a recent record release party hosted by Christie at Capitol Records. “I thought, ‘Neither did Barbara Streisand.’ It didn’t make sense to me. I thought, do you not hear this voice!? I love that voice.”
But Dolenz was a busy man at the time.
“He kept saying you have to come down to my studio and we’ll lay some stuff down, but frankly I was busy doing other stuff, mostly Broadway,” Dolenz said. “Then one day a few years ago, I did go down to the studio and we started talking. I brought my guitar ... we really didn’t have a concept in mind ... then I started telling him stories about some of the songs that I liked and songs that had been important to me in my life. One of the songs was ‘Johnny B. Goode.’”
Dolenz ended up recording the vocals, which are entirely his, for his new album at Harris’ Redondo Beach studio.
“He would drive down the 101, down the 405, to Redondo Beach and it was clicking,” Harris said. “We felt we were on to something. We didn’t know if anybody else would like it, but we were liking it.”
That “audio scrap book” came to life with songs like Harry Nilsson’s “Remember” as its title song. He called it an “obvious title” since Nilsson was a close friend until he died in 1994 of heart failure.
“I was there when Harry wrote that so it couldn’t have been better,” he said.
There was also a memorable meeting with the “Fab Four” at the height of both of the band’s popularity. The first song on “Remember” is a cover, but different arrangement, of “Good Morning Good Morning,” which recounts his first trip to England and when John Lennon called out to him, “Hey Monkee Man!”
“I met Paul McCartney first,” Dolenz recalled. “He invited me to his house for dinner and we had a sort of The Beatles meet The Monkees press op and he invited me down to Abbey Road Studios where they were recording this new album called ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ I was of course thrilled. That was the track they were working on at the time. So of course that got burned in my memory.”
"Hey Hey We’re The Monkees"
Dolenz auditioned for three or four musically inspired shows, including one about an “out of work garage band who wanted to be famous” like The Beatles.
He said the auditions were extensive and challenging.
“We had to be able to sing and play to get into the auditions ... there was an acting screen test and an improvisational screen test,” Dolenz said. “It went on a long, long time.”
The first time Dolenz said he officially met his new bandmates – Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork – was for first wardrobe fitting. They had limited time in the recording studio early in their career as The Monkees, but that quickly changed when the band fought for more creative control of the music. The band recorded a number of hit songs between 1966 and 1968 including “Valleri,” “Words,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” and the No. 1 singles “Daydream Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer,” which was discovered by yet another generation in an animated film about an Ogre.
“Don’t forget, I did it long before Shrek,” Dolenz joked.
But Dolenz said he didn’t realize the frenzy the band caused while they filmed the show 10 hours a day before hitting the studio and recording for hours there as well. At the band’s peak in 1967, they reportedly outsold The Beatles as well as The Rolling Stones.
“I had no sense how big it had become until we were on the road,” he said.
“The first couple of years I was told I had a great time,” he added.
After the group disbanded in 1970, they had solo careers and delved into other fields. The have reunited, in various configurations, on several occasions with great success. But the hope of fans for all four to reunite on stage ended earlier this year with the sudden death of teen idol Jones.
Monkees tour
After Jones’ death from a heart attack in February, The Monkees talked about organizing a memorial concert, but that morphed into a tour that pays homage to their long-time friend. The last time the four had toured together was after the release of the band’s last studio album, “Justus,” in 1997.
Dolenz will be singing with The Monkees as they reunite for a 12-concert tour beginning Nov. 8 in Escondido. They will be at the Greek Theatre in Los Angles on Nov. 10.
“You don’t get over that easily, ever maybe,” said Dolenz. “It’s basically like losing a sibling and that’s something you never really totally get over ... but I’ve known him for 45 years (and) he’ll always be there, certainly in my mind and my heart.
“It’s not a Davy Jones Memorial tour, but he will definitely be remembered.”
The Monkees’ legacy
Dolenz, who will be recording a live album at B.B. Kings Blues Club and Grill in New York City as he embarks on a brief solo tour before hitting the road with The Monkees, feels The Monkees have endured because of the songs written by the likes of Carole King, Neil Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager, the writing duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, as well as the T.V. show’s material and humor that “still stands up.”
“Wisely the producers kept the humor from getting topical or satirical so ... it works across generations. I like to think of course that it had something to do with the four of us,” Dolenz said.
“I think the legacy of The Monkees and Micky in particular, is that it goes way beyond being T.V. stars,” Christie said. “It has endured because of great music, written and performed by top notch composers, musicians and especially singers. Micky got where he is because of talent ... and also personally, I feel he’s just a cool guy.”
Read More
Michael Hixon |
Music can be the soundtrack to someone’s life and Micky Dolenz and The Monkees played a part in the collective memory of a generation with numerous hit songs and a T.V. show in the 1960s.
In his new solo album, “Remember,” which was released earlier this month on Manhattan Beach resident Rob Christie’s Waterfront Entertainment Group/Robo Records, Dolenz recorded the soundtrack to his life, from Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” which was his audition song for The Monkees, to a new, country-inspired version of the band’s classic “I’m a Believer.”
Christie, who was the creative manager of A&R at Capitol Records, said his first reaction to the project, which was produced and largely arranged in Redondo Beach at the home studio of David Harris, was “wow.”
“Micky’s voice just sounded incredible on this ... and every vocal is by Micky,” Christie said. “He overdubbed his voice for all the harmonies.”
“Rob has done a wonderful job at putting it together ... I’m very proud of it,” said Dolenz during a recent phone interview. “It’s a long time in the making, about three years in the making.”
Christie also praised the musicianship on “Remember,” which included bassist Bob Birch, a long-time Elton John bandmember, who died suddenly on Aug. 15.
With decades of being one of The Monkees, Christie said a big challenge was “making Micky an artist in his own right.”
“He certainly deserves to be, I think in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, at least as a Monkee, but his solo work is so good,” Christie said. “So the challenge is building a brand and a name for Micky Dolenz as a solo artist, instead of just that clown who was on ‘The Monkees’ show in the 60s.”
Christie added, “He feels so fortunate and lucky to have had that career. I just think, here we are 45 years later ... it really is just good music.”
Dolenz Remembers
When Dolenz auditioned for “The Monkees,” he had already starred in the short-lived series, “Circus Boy,” and was in his own rock band. He used Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” a classic that he recorded for his new album.
“That’s the song that got me the gig,” Dolenz said. “I had been singing it in a cover band before The Monkees like everybody else did. That was a very important song to me. I still do it in my solo sets to this day. But I came up with a different kind of version. I didn’t want to just cover the original tune as exactly as it had been done. So that sort of became the theme of the album. It’s an audio scrap book of my life featuring songs that were important to me, but also re-envisioning many of them in a unique way.”
Harris had been a long-time fan of Dolenz and had approached him to do some recording with him.
“I was a fan in the 60s. I remember hearing critics say, ‘Well, they didn’t play their own instruments,” said Harris at a recent record release party hosted by Christie at Capitol Records. “I thought, ‘Neither did Barbara Streisand.’ It didn’t make sense to me. I thought, do you not hear this voice!? I love that voice.”
But Dolenz was a busy man at the time.
“He kept saying you have to come down to my studio and we’ll lay some stuff down, but frankly I was busy doing other stuff, mostly Broadway,” Dolenz said. “Then one day a few years ago, I did go down to the studio and we started talking. I brought my guitar ... we really didn’t have a concept in mind ... then I started telling him stories about some of the songs that I liked and songs that had been important to me in my life. One of the songs was ‘Johnny B. Goode.’”
Dolenz ended up recording the vocals, which are entirely his, for his new album at Harris’ Redondo Beach studio.
“He would drive down the 101, down the 405, to Redondo Beach and it was clicking,” Harris said. “We felt we were on to something. We didn’t know if anybody else would like it, but we were liking it.”
That “audio scrap book” came to life with songs like Harry Nilsson’s “Remember” as its title song. He called it an “obvious title” since Nilsson was a close friend until he died in 1994 of heart failure.
“I was there when Harry wrote that so it couldn’t have been better,” he said.
There was also a memorable meeting with the “Fab Four” at the height of both of the band’s popularity. The first song on “Remember” is a cover, but different arrangement, of “Good Morning Good Morning,” which recounts his first trip to England and when John Lennon called out to him, “Hey Monkee Man!”
“I met Paul McCartney first,” Dolenz recalled. “He invited me to his house for dinner and we had a sort of The Beatles meet The Monkees press op and he invited me down to Abbey Road Studios where they were recording this new album called ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ I was of course thrilled. That was the track they were working on at the time. So of course that got burned in my memory.”
"Hey Hey We’re The Monkees"
Dolenz auditioned for three or four musically inspired shows, including one about an “out of work garage band who wanted to be famous” like The Beatles.
He said the auditions were extensive and challenging.
“We had to be able to sing and play to get into the auditions ... there was an acting screen test and an improvisational screen test,” Dolenz said. “It went on a long, long time.”
The first time Dolenz said he officially met his new bandmates – Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork – was for first wardrobe fitting. They had limited time in the recording studio early in their career as The Monkees, but that quickly changed when the band fought for more creative control of the music. The band recorded a number of hit songs between 1966 and 1968 including “Valleri,” “Words,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” and the No. 1 singles “Daydream Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer,” which was discovered by yet another generation in an animated film about an Ogre.
“Don’t forget, I did it long before Shrek,” Dolenz joked.
But Dolenz said he didn’t realize the frenzy the band caused while they filmed the show 10 hours a day before hitting the studio and recording for hours there as well. At the band’s peak in 1967, they reportedly outsold The Beatles as well as The Rolling Stones.
“I had no sense how big it had become until we were on the road,” he said.
“The first couple of years I was told I had a great time,” he added.
After the group disbanded in 1970, they had solo careers and delved into other fields. The have reunited, in various configurations, on several occasions with great success. But the hope of fans for all four to reunite on stage ended earlier this year with the sudden death of teen idol Jones.
Monkees tour
After Jones’ death from a heart attack in February, The Monkees talked about organizing a memorial concert, but that morphed into a tour that pays homage to their long-time friend. The last time the four had toured together was after the release of the band’s last studio album, “Justus,” in 1997.
Dolenz will be singing with The Monkees as they reunite for a 12-concert tour beginning Nov. 8 in Escondido. They will be at the Greek Theatre in Los Angles on Nov. 10.
“You don’t get over that easily, ever maybe,” said Dolenz. “It’s basically like losing a sibling and that’s something you never really totally get over ... but I’ve known him for 45 years (and) he’ll always be there, certainly in my mind and my heart.
“It’s not a Davy Jones Memorial tour, but he will definitely be remembered.”
The Monkees’ legacy
Dolenz, who will be recording a live album at B.B. Kings Blues Club and Grill in New York City as he embarks on a brief solo tour before hitting the road with The Monkees, feels The Monkees have endured because of the songs written by the likes of Carole King, Neil Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager, the writing duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, as well as the T.V. show’s material and humor that “still stands up.”
“Wisely the producers kept the humor from getting topical or satirical so ... it works across generations. I like to think of course that it had something to do with the four of us,” Dolenz said.
“I think the legacy of The Monkees and Micky in particular, is that it goes way beyond being T.V. stars,” Christie said. “It has endured because of great music, written and performed by top notch composers, musicians and especially singers. Micky got where he is because of talent ... and also personally, I feel he’s just a cool guy.”
Read More