Growing up, rarely a weekday afternoon passed without a Monkees re-run on the boob tube. Sure, I hadn't been old enough to appreciate them, or the Beatles, during their initial run, but having them there in our living rooms throughout the 70s made it feel like they were still a going concern, still young, and that life itself wasn't quite so bad as Watergate and the violence in the Middle East made it out to be.
Even so, if you'd have told me that in the year 2016, we'd still have no flying cars, but we'd be celebrating the release of a great new Monkees album and that the best new song on said album would be co-written by the Jam's Paul Weller, I'd have probably hung up the landline on you, but now that its 2016 and all of the above has become a reality, I must say that the future is fucking amazing.
 |
| Left to right, Mike, Micky and Peter |
Granted, it's the only new album of the 21st century, so perhaps calling it the best reunion album is more fitting, not that there's a whole lot of competition in that regard. 1987's Pool It and 1996's Justus were reasonably ambitious, of course, but didn't boast nearly the star-power that was assembled for Good Times.
While the album features writing contributions from the likes of Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, XTC's Andy Partridge, and many others, it is the pairing of Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller that yields the best results and is today's Song of The Day.
Let's just hope the fine folks at Rhino release it as the next single!