All four Monkees doing "Pleasant Valley Sunday" live in Birmingham, England 3-18-97. This includes Mike Nesmith who joined the group for a tour of Europe in the spring of '97.
I'm sorry, but this is GREAT!!!! Micky Dolenz has a great voice and i will always love the Monkees, watched them in the 60s and still listen to them Thanks
From this 50 year old, this is DEFINATELY one of the 60s great songs. It captures the era perfectly, has a good vibe and shows that the Monkees CAN and DID sing and play their own songs.
If you ask these guys what their fave song is this is the one I hear them say most often; and to me they play it so wonderfully together - how could ya sit still (LOL). I sure do miss them together. LOVE YA MONKEES!!!!
Mickey Dolenz is one of the doesn't get the credit he deserves for being one of the classic rock vocalists of all times. Over the years he's taken the time to become a reasonably accomplished multi-instrumentalist. Mike Neismith is a first class songwriter. It's not like the Monkees were the only band to be formed by auditions. Lots of other bands didn't perform their instrumental tracks as well. As individuals and as a group, the Monkees are wondeful entertainers, and they always have been.
I Wish there was a better copy of this,,I'll ALWAY'S love these guy's ,old or young,,they were a pisser,and Headquarter's was the first album i ever bought...Boyce & Hart were on most of the songs,and should NOT be forgotten ,either !!
We all know that The Monkees were a manufactured product for a TV show that piggy-backed musical out-put. I always loved this song and let me tell you - that guitar riff ain't no easy feat coz its way out on the off-beat. Really enjoyed this. SEE- they can do it. Well done guys.
Hey Bruh ☺ The Fellas Could Always Play... It Was Just The Machine and How Things Were Done Back Then.. You Know... Get Glen Campbell Barney Kessel Roy Clark The Wrecking Crew Boyce and Hart Ect. Ect. ..But Eventually Shorty Before Mike Split They Started Doing Their Own Tracks and Compositions as Well... I Have Alot of Respect For Em as a Musician Myself... I Live in The Town Jimi Hendrix Got (Happily.. Lol) Removed From Their 67' Tour.. Tho.. He Remained Great Friends With Them All From Those Days On... Especially Peter... It was Peter Who Held Jimi's 27th and Final Birthday at His House... You Can't Make This S**t Up Bruh.
McCartney played drums on Back In The USSR and Dear Prudence. Ringo lost his temper a couple of days before and said I quit, but came back soon after these first two numbers were recorded. Yes, absolutely true.
Funny how Mickey D.was imvited into the studio for the Beatles 'All You need is love' (Check out the official video) and sat with Mick Jagger for the broadcast. Respect all round.
This is priceless! I only wish I could have seen them live. Mickey actually learned to play the drums and Davy learned the guitar. Man, what memories those guys bring to mind.
I'm a huge Monkees fan. Mickey was never a "great drummer", but he pulled it off. He can play. The Monkees are staple in my repeat 70's childhood. love 'em!
Let's not forget that after Headquaters ,the monkees themselves went back to an augmented form of the Don Kirshner method in that the would have studio musicians record their songs & then come in & do their own voices except this time they were the songwriters & co-producers
I totally agree! Especially with that new extended segue, it just makes one want to say, "Go Nez, go Nez!" At one point, when the camera went to the big screen, the look on Peter's face was one of total concentration, like he was contemplating a killer chess move! Awesome!
This is too good. Thanks so much for posting this! Great playing, great singing. I just wish they could have continued this way. I remember a radio interview about a year later where Mike said he just couldn't put on the Monkee suit anymore> He felt there was no creativity in covering the oldies.
that opening riff was mike playing his black beauty les paul through a superbeatle vox 150 can u imagine what it would of sounded like if he had played through a marshall stack with a distortion pedal damn
im pissed at hell that they got slammed by the critics than mike quit they didnt even tour the states, here we are now nearly 12 years after this was done they are all in good health and i feel they should do what cream did before one of them passes on
@bennygoods Hal and the Wrecking Crew are on some of the early Monkees recordings for sure but they weren't on even a majority of the tracks. I'm a huge fan of Hal and the Wrecking Crew. Boyce and Hart and their band played the backing on virtually the entire first album. The second was a real grab bag of sources and different backing groups. The liner notes of the Rhino reissues are very complete and we can check out who is what using that source (which utilized the union session sheets).
and the critics said they couldn't play, yeah right. What they won't tell you is that the Beatles didn't play a lick on the White album. Nothing against the the Beats but let's be honest, the Monkees could kick it with the best of em. I saw them live, outstanding!
there was some truth to their musicianship or lack of, but as Mickey joked in an interview, it was "on the job Training" for them & that is pretty accurate, as they really had little experience & Mickey did not play the drums, when they started, but grew to become a good drummer, what a great way to get into that, getting a paying gig, before knowing how to play, usually we musicians, go a long way to hone our craft before making any if ever decent return of $ for our dedication & time put in.
Nice recovery... Nesmith was blowing the intro and Tork pulled his rump out of the oven with his keys. To his credit, nice improv by Nesmith chopping those chords and making it sound like it was intentional. Fair musicianship I would say.
Wow there is real magic in the air when Micky Mike Peter and Davy are groovin together. Pity Mike was left all that money. He might played his heart out with the rest of the Band on all the Tours otherwise. Maybe it's the Texan in him. Likes to do his own thing.
This GREAT...they sound real GOOD! I like this song and one of my favorites from this time. Glad they got together again (all of them) and someone caught it on tape. Thanks for the post..nice!
Read where one of the Monkees (Peter?) said that if based on actual ability, Micky would've been lead singer, Davy would've been on drums (for the show, he 'tested' better but was 'lost' behind the kit), Mike would've played bass, Peter would've been on guitar. I've got a (late) concert DVD of them (minus Mike)--it's even better than this...really high energy and right on the money. Blows me away. GREAT DVD! And yes, they're all playing.
i know, but i said everything on the white album, i didn't say they didn't switch instruments or something like that, i mean if i remember it right george plays lead on helter skelter but the solo is paul and so on.
Yeah just look at the video from the TV show you can tell Micky and David Jones were not mimicking their instruments very well at all. I guess in all the time they had they did finally learn how so they could go on tour but a huge chunk of their recorded studio catalog is not them playing..
i think mike used his black beauty les paul on the studio version blasting through a superbeatle vox 100 watt amp can u imagine what it would of sounded like through a 500 watt marshall they had just put on the market i believe in oct 66
I have no idea why you got so many negative votes. Yeah, Carole King and her then husband Gerry Goffin wrote Pleasant Valley Sunday. On Pleasant Valley Sunday, Peter played piano and Chip Douglas played bass. He was cast as the bassist on the show and he did play bass on a few Monkees tunes but he mainly played keyboards.
Way too much has been made of the first recordings. They've been playing on their own for decades, no Blaine needed. They were naturals. Only needed to have a few months to practice together.
blackmore4: too slow? It works OK for me. PVS is the closest thing to an anthem The Monkees had -- no need to rush through it. I like the alternate feel, plus it makes it easier to sing (none of us are getting any younger...). I'm not qualified to comment on the guitar sound, but thanks davyo for putting this up...great sound considering the circumstances!
@DoofsterDan Don Kirshner actually fired the first producer because he wanted to make Davy Jones the lead singer. Micky was always considered to be the lead singer because of his unusual voice, And he did have to take lessons just to learn to appear to be playing. He did learn to play though.
You go GardenGirl. If you recognize the tween machine, you can avoid it. I hate to say "listen to the '60s" because you've got your own path to forge, but there really was great music then -- and now, too, if you reject the "here today, gone tomorrow" junk they put out there to make quick bucks. Keep looking for music you can believe in for a lifetime. My lifeline was The Who, and I DO recommend all their music...good luck finding yours. (Loved the Monkees at 10, stlil do at 53.)
@meandemjay Bands rarely play a song exactly the same way on stage as they do recording it. Why are people making an issue of that here? Other bands speed up or slow songs down too. Sometimes a song sounds better played a different way LIVE.
god i wish nez would of broke the old black beauty les paul and had two vox superbeatle 150s and full blast with high treble to get that classic opening riff
