The Monkees first album was a huge success, following on the number one single "Last Train to Clarksville." The Monkees spent 78 weeks on the Billboard chart including an astonishing 13 weeks at number one. The record wasn't only a commercial success, but it also stands as one of the great debut LPs of all time, and it stands the test of time perfectly well, sounding as alive and as much fun 40+ years later. Prefabricated? Perhaps. After a fast buck? For sure (why not)? Exciting? Yes! Groovy? Yeah baby! The music may have been "created by the record company" instead of the band itself, but the pros weren't slacking off. Listen to the guitars on "Saturday's Child," the raw power of "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day," or the intricate wall of guitars and suthren' fiddles on "Sweet Young Thing," and you know they weren't just stacking up the hundreds in their vault. They played real rock & roll on this LP, and you can probably credit producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart for it. They may not be Phil Spector (who was actually approached to produce the band but probably laughed the Monkees' team right out the door), but they knew how to craft exciting pop tunes with hooks and a touch of groovy. Most of all, they knew how to get great vocals from the group. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better pop/rock vocalist than Micky Dolenz; his work on "Take a Giant Step" and "Last Train to Clarksville" is thrilling and bursting with life. Boyce and Hart weren't the only great producers involved with the record, as a listen to "Papa Gene's Blues" and "Sweet Young Thing" show that our friend Michael Nesmith also knows how to produce great pop music, despite what Don Kirshner may have thought. We wonder about him sometimes. Anyway, the various producers, supervisors, and coordinators were also genius savants when it came to both writing (in Boyce, Hart, and Nesmith's case) and picking songs for the group. Indeed, the only songs that feel like filler are the rudimentary rocker "Let's Dance On" and the silly "Gonna Buy Me a Dog," but even these songs are charming and stand up to repeated listens. It's easy to see why kids were buying this record as fast as the label could press them up. Despite the origins of the group and the behind-the-scenes machinations, the music itself is young, exciting and free. Who cares who did what and who didn't do what when the results are as rock-solid as "Last Train to Clarksville" or "Sweet Young Thing"? You could stack The Monkees up against almost any record of 1966 and the competition would be fierce, with this record coming out on top except in only a few cases.

(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
I Can't Get Her Off My Mind* (prev. unissued early version)
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
I Don't Think You Know Me* (prev. unissued alt. version)
*BONUS TRACKS