*Here we come walkin' down the street...*

The Monkees have long been a part of my music collection, but until fairly recently, they have been strictly a “greatest hits” band to me – meaning, I never delved into their non-singles. As I believe I stated elsewhere, I got into The Monkees in my early teens and bought a greatest hits album. Unfortunately, I never really moved beyond those hit songs.

 

I feel like The Monkees kind of got a bad rap when they first came out in the mid-60s and it’s kind of stuck with them. The Pre-Fab Four. A manufactured band who didn’t write their own music and don’t play their own instruments. Never mind the fact that there are a number of groups from that time (and since) that don’t write music and use studio musicians on their albums – particularly the latter. The Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas, The Temptations were all basically vocalists in the studio. Even so, that wasn’t entirely true. Maybe they didn’t play or write much on their first album or two, but Mike and Peter were both decent musicians before they were cast as Monkees. And I think a certain amount of props has to be given to Micky – who initially only played guitar – for learning to play the drums so quickly. And they were expected to do an awful lot – not only acting in a television show, but recording albums and making personal appearances and doing live performances. All in all, I find what they were able to accomplish very impressive.

 

The early songs were often composed by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and are amazingly catchy – like “Last Train to Clarksville”, the fast-paced “Let’s Dance On”, the sweetly sung “I Wanna Be Free”, and rocking “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone” (which has always been a favorite of mine). Neil Diamond contributed a few tunes as well like “I’m A Believer” and “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)”. Then of course, the exceptionally accomplished Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote some great Monkees hits like “Pleasant Valley Sunday”. And yes, The Monkees themselves did write a number of their own tunes. Mike Nesmith wrote “Mary, Mary”, “Tapioca Tundra” , “Sweet Young Thing”, “The Girl I Knew Somewhere”, “Listen to the Band” (a personal favorite of mine) and a number of others. Peter Tork wrote the appealing “For Pete’s Sake” that was featured as the closing theme for the 2^nd season of the TV show. Micky, inspired by a party thrown for them by The Beatles, wrote the tune “Randy Scouse Git”. Davy even co-wrote a few songs like “Hard to Believe”. Oh, and if you want to check out a definite lyric challenge, look up the song, "Goin' Down", written by all four band members. Crazy fast lyrics!

 

As I’ve been checking out more Monkees albums, I’m finding that my favorite of their albums is the 1967 released Headquarters. It’s really an exciting album. It’s the first album made after producer, Don “The Man With The Golden Ear” Kirshner was dismissed and you can hear the amount of enjoyment, excitement, and energy the band put forth into making it. Upon its release, it raced up the charts to number one, only to be bumped firmly into the number two spot by The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper.

 

The album kicks off with the country-tinged rocker written by Mike, “You Told Me”, featuring some excellent banjo playing by Peter. Boyce and Hart’s “I’ll Spend My Life With You” is a lovely ballad sung by Micky and is followed by the catchy “Forget That Girl” with Davy providing the vocals. Mike takes the duty as lead singer on the fantastic song, “You Just May Be The One” – and Micky provides excellent harmonies. “Shades of Gray” is more of a grown-up song for the band, lyrics reflecting on the uncertainty of the mid-1960s – and features

superb vocals by Davy and Peter. “For Pete’s Sake” is a fantastic tune with an addictive guitar riff and very “Summer of Love” lyrics that I love. “Mr. Webster” is a slower song that tells the sad story of Mr. Webster and features a lot of tambourine by Davy. Another Nesmith penned song follows with “Sunny Girlfriend” and then a classic 1950s rock and roll inspired song, “No Time” (and there’s a Beatles reference in this song!). “Early Morning Blues and Greens” is another lovely Davy sung ballad. And the album ends with Micky’s excellent “Randy Scouse Git” – I love the piano part and the contrast between the verses and the chorus. Though, I think my favorite song (at least of the moment) is one of the bonus tracks, “All Of Your Toys”. That song is fantastic and very addictive. It’s a bit Beatle-esque, but I love that tune and the use of harpsichord and piano. Micky does a great job on the vocals and I also thoroughly enjoy the background vocals. It was written by Mike’s friend, Bill Martin and the tune was slated to be a single originally, but couldn’t be released due to copyright issues.

 

Like I mentioned, I never thoroughly explored the band’s full catalogue of songs – and while I still have a bit more to peruse, I think I’m beginning to fully appreciate how remarkable this band was. In fact, the more I’m getting to know them, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to pick a favorite member. It was originally Davy, because of his adorable face and British accent (I got to see him live in ’04!), but now… I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just go watch some more of them and I’ll be able to decide… Until then, I’ll leave you with this.

 

Ticklin' The Ivories

I’ve been trying to write a post about piano solos for the last few weeks and somehow, the number of songs I discuss keeps getting way out of control. There are just too many awesome piano dominated songs to talk about in just one post, so I’ve forced myself to limit myself to just a few songs that I’ve been more partial to recently.

Piano is a very versatile instrument.  It works with a number of different genres and rarely sounds out of place. Also, I love how you can get such a full sound with just the one instrument. While I don't have the same infatuation with piano solos as I do with guitar solos, I do love listening to a really great piano part. There are tons of piano dominated music ranging from the classical pieces, to ragtime (Scott Joplin was pretty awesome, by the way), to jazz, to early rock ‘n’ roll. The Beatles used it constantly in their songs (and there are a number of great Beatle-piano songs). Queen and Elvis Costello are no strangers to piano music – and Billy Joel and Elton John are known for it. Fiona Apple has a large amount of piano driven songs, as well. There just doesn’t seem to be an end to artists that feature great piano parts, which is why I had to take a step back and re-evaluate before writing this post! But here are a few of my favorites:

 

I’ve still been on an Elliott Smith kick as of late. I mentioned in my last post about Elliott’s talent as a songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, but he also was pretty decent behind the keyboard. (If you don’t believe me, search on youtube for Elliott Smith playing Rachmaninoff). One song that I’ve been going back to lately is off of the album Figure 8, “In the Lost and Found”. It has a pretty nice ragtime-y piano riff that I enjoy listening to. It’s not the most impressive solo, but it’s catchy as hell.

 

The Carpenters also had a ton of piano songs – Richard is an exceptional pianist with an inclination towards jazz influenced solos, though, he’s no stranger to classical composers (the arrangement of “From This Moment On” accompanied by Bach’s “Prelude in C Minor” proves that). And there are quite a few Richard solo songs featured on various Carpenters albums, but one of my favorite solos is from “This Masquerade”. As is Richard’s style, his excellent technique is showcased with jazzy runs and a lovely variation of the melody. Though, the tune “Flat Baroque” is a lot of fun to play – and his tribute to Karen, “Karen’s Theme” is exquisite.

 

I have already mentioned that The Beatles often featured the piano in their music – and after the band called it quits, the instrument continued to consistently be featured in their solo efforts. I suppose the most popular of these songs is John’s “Imagine” – and while it is gorgeous song – I’m more than a little partial to the piano solo in the song “Out the Blue” from Mind Games. (I find this album is quite underrated, but that is best saved for another post). While the piano isn’t performed by John, but rather jazz pianist Kenny Ascher, it is fantastically performed. Wonderful mixture of rock and jazz combine into this love song. And the solo is amazing. Love the tremolo moments and the arpeggios at the end of the solo. As for Paul, he constantly uses piano in his songs as well – and though (again) there are a number of songs I’d love to mention, my favorite is probably “Maybe I’m Amazed.”  While Paul was never classically trained as a pianist, he definitely can hold his own – and the chromatic runs are so much fun to play! (Of course, the guitar is great as well!).

 

Jumping ahead in time a bit, Ben Folds is a rather impressive pianist. He has a rather distinctive style that I enjoy listening to. Since he is a pianist, you’re going to find some pretty remarkable piano work in all of his songs. My favorites, however, may be the songs “Philosophy” and “Landed”. Both include captivating intros and catchy melodies and lovely solo work. In “Philosophy”, I really enjoy the ending – particularly when he launches into a bit of “Rhapsody in Blue”. And I always love glissandos on the piano and how the very end it finishes with a crash of chords. “Landed” is really just a really beautiful song so I wanted to mention it here. (Though, he also has an Elliott Smith tribute song, “Late”, which I have learned to play on the piano!)

 

It seems that there are quite a few women in pop music who have a talent at the piano and Carole King is one of my favorites. She obviously has significant talent for songwriting – since she co-penned dozens of chart topping hits through the ‘60s, but she can really rock on the piano. The song, “I Feel the Earth Move”, off of Tapestry, has a great, driving piano part and pretty rocking solo.

 

Another female who rocks the piano is from one of my favorite bands, The Dresden Dolls. The Dresden Dolls is a “Brechtian punk cabaret” band out of Boston. There are just 2 members of the band, Amanda Palmer on piano and Brian Viglione on drums. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them live and they are both amazing to watch perform. Amanda, as a pianist, is forceful and theatrical. I highly recommend the album, Yes Virginia, particularly if you like piano driven rock – or women who play their instruments with an uninhibited passion. The song with one of my most favorite piano solos is “Necessary Evil”. I feel like that solo just builds to a wonderful climax.

 

The last piano soloist I’m going to talk about here is Billy Preston. He’s well-known for his work on The Beatles album, Let It Be, but he had a few hits during his solo career as well. “Nothing From Nothing” is a song that never fails to put a smile on my face. It has a great swingy piano groove that is a bit reminiscent of the ragtime saloon style of the 1890s. The intro and solo are both amazing – and like I’ve mentioned in other solos, I adore the tremolo part. The other solo of his that just astounds me is during his performance of “Isn’t It A Pity” at the tribute Concert for George. What I find so impressive about his organ solo is that he seems to be able to bend the notes the way a guitarist or vocalist can do – a technique you don’t hear all that often on the keyboard. It’s really a fantastic performance. (Of course, Eric Clapton’s solo is up there too!)