Monkee Man

The only mitigating factor surrounding the news about Davy Jones, who died last week of a heart attack at the age of 66, was that he at least lived long enough to be appreciated as a legitimate rock and roll performer.  Jones became famous as a member of the Monkees, a group often derided as the "Pre-fab Four" because they were an artificially assembled copy of the Beatles. Authenticity is a persuasive argument for credibility in rock and roll, but if a group assembled by a pop impresario (like, say, Peter, Paul and Mary, put together by Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan's original manager) has a special chemistry that creates a solid, enjoyable sound, then that same argument falls apart.

The Monkees would likely have foundered if pop mogul Don Kirshner had gotten the wrong guys, and guys with marginal talent, to form the group. As it turned out, the choices for the Monkees were perfect. Both Jones and Micky Dolenz were excellent singers, and the presence of the more serious Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, both accomplished musicians, made for a nice counterpoint to the goofy Dolenz and the cute Jones. (Even if Nesmith and Tork didn't play their instruments on most Monkees tracks, they had their own  dynamic going; they would get into heated discussions about the philosophers they were reading.)

As the only British member of an otherwise American ensemble, Jones provided the necessary cultural relevance in the midst of the British Invasion but also provided the cheek and charm that a dour type like Nesmith simply couldn't generate. Also, Jones's Manchester accent gave songs he sang lead on a distinctive sharpness unmatched by anyone except the Hollies, also from Manchester. But then, Jones had been a stage musical performer as a teenager, so he was as much a consummate pro as a singer as Nesmith was as a songwriter. Dolenz was a fine singer in his own right, having provided the urgency that made "Last Train To Clarksville" and "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" hits, but when Jones took the lead vocal on "Daydream Believer," he turned a minor song in to a pop masterpiece.

With the advent of more artistically inclined bands in the seventies, it may have been easy then to write off the Monkees as a sixties bubblegum relic. So it may not have been a surprise when no one paid any attention to the 1976 formation of Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart - the latter two performers being Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the composers of "Last Train To Clarksville" and other Monkees hits. The formation of such a "supergroup" may have seemed like desperate pining for old glories. But that's not what Allmusic's Steve Schnee heard in reviewing Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart's only album. "Though lightweight and fluffy," he writes, "this album ended up being the most consistent Monkees-related release since Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, the fourth Monkees album from 1967. With top-notch songs from the pens of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and even a few outstanding tracks from Micky Dolenz, this album was destined to be a cult classic." Schnee added that while most folks ignored this record back in 1976, "it was most certainly their loss."

Just like Davy Jones's death is our loss today. :-(

(Schnee's full review of the Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart album is here.)