Theme From The Monkees/Saturday’s Child/I Wanna Be Free/Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day/Papa Gene’s Blues/Take A Giant Step/Last Train To Clarksville/This Just Doesn’t Seem To Be My Day/Let’s Dance On/I’ll Be True To You/Sweet Young Thing/Gonna Buy Me A Dog
The Monkees were the best boy band ever and the hottest teen idols during 1966-68 thanks to their zany TV series. Dismissed as manufactured by the music pundits, they nevertheless had access to some of the best songwriters of the period. Their debut album includes the US No. 1 hit single Last Train To Clarksville. (US:1 UK:1)
"The Monkees were ‘manufactured’ in order to capitalize on the void The Beatles were creating. I’m sure in 1966 if you were 16 years old and listening to Cream’s Fresh Cream, The Monkees seemed really lame. After all, these guys didn’t even play their own instruments; much less write their own songs. These were musically progressive times. What would your friends say? Fast forward to today and the legend seems near irrelevant. If anything, it makes The Monkees legacy that much more intriguing."
"What I find truly uncanny is not only that they were 'fabricated' but that they got away with a whopping amount of what you might call 'further and more sophisticated fabrication'. Many songs, outside of their hits, cleverly but blatantly imitated important artists of the day - not a complete song, not a specific riff, but more intelligently, the overall sound or atmospheric idea. Credit must be given to their various songwriters for copying so masterfully but also, and very eerily, for 'predicting' music that was right around the corner but hadn't arrived yet."
"Whoever wrote this album, and whoever played on it, The Monkees is a 60s pop classic. It’s jammed packed with fun, catchy tunes led by The Monkees unique sense of humour and personality. Surprising, unlike other ‘boy-bands’ of the day, The Monkees experimented with psychedelia."
"People can talk all they want about how these guys were manufactured, talentless, Beatles rip-offs. I'll just enjoy the catchy lyrics, nice vocals and fun groove."
"Overall, The Monkees' debut holds up as one of the better pop rock albums of its era, mainly due to the strength of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart as writers and producers, and to the individual talents of the four Monkees themselves."
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