Ahhh January. Cold, wet, grey and the holidays are over.

Sounds fun right? Well, not all is lost. I’ve been catching up on some new CD releases, something that always cheers me up, and I thought I’d share some thoughts about a really wonderful new CD from one of my favorite boutique music labels 7a Records.

Peter Tork’s 1994 solo album “Stranger Things Have Happened” has recently been reissued by 7a and I have to say that the results not only meet the label’s previous high standards but this CD/vinyl release may be one of their all-time best discs.

For those who don’t know, 7a Records has been around for about six years and have released a series of fantastic CD and vinyl compilations of solo work from members of The Monkees or releases from people associated with the group like Monkees writer and producer Bobby Hart.

I’ve posted about some of 7a Records previous work including some terrific solo albums by ex-Monkees Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith but the one Monkee who always came up on the short-list of reissues was Peter Tork. That is until now.

Peter Tork, who died in February 2019, did not release a ton of solo music during his post Monkees career. In fact, “Stranger Things Have Happened” was his first full-length album release outside of The Monkees.

Strange as it may seem (no pun intended) while Peter Tork was a fixture on the live stage he didn’t feel the need or possibly didn’t get the support to make many solo recordings.  What recordings he did issue were pretty darn good and this CD is, in my opinion, the cream of the crop of his solo work.

The musicianship, singing and song selection on  “Stranger Things Have Happened” are all first-rate and may surprise quite a few people who only think of Peter Tork as the lovable goof from The Monkees who sang novelty songs like “Your Auntie Grizelda” from The Monkees’ second album the mega-selling “More of the Monkees”.

Not only does “Stranger Things Have Happened” contain some fine songwriting by Tork with “Get What You Pay For”, “Miracle” and “Sea Change” but it also contains some stellar covers including “Giant Step” (a remake of The Monkees own “Take a Giant Step”) plus solo versions of two of his self-composed Monkees songs “MGBGT” and “Gettin’ In” as well as a superb take on “Higher and Higher” (a hit for both Jackie Wilson and Rita Coolidge).

The other highlight of the album is the song “Milkshake” (written by Martin Briley) which really could be considered a true Monkees track as it features very distinctive background vocals by none other than fellow Monkees Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith making this a more collaborative song than anything on The Monkees 1987 comeback album “Pool It”.

While the production of the original 1994 “Stranger Things Have Happened” songs may sound a tad dated, the album is nonetheless quite good and full of some really great performances.

The real jewel of this reissue though, and what makes it so worth tracking down even if you do own the original 1994 version of the album are the nine bonus tracks.

With this new reissue you get lovely acoustic versions of four songs from the album (“Milkshake”, “MG-BGT”, “Miracle” and “Pirates” – all with James Lee Stanley) as well as a live version of “Get What You Pay For” plus truly stunning solo versions of The Monkees “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” and “Higher and Higher” both which feature Tork’s short-lived group The New Monks and both from a 1981 single release.

(Note: I think the 1981 version of “Higher and Higher” is quite terrific and really should have been a hit – it’s that good.)

But the true highlight of this disc, in fact one of the highlights of Peter Tork’s entire recorded output, is the lovely song “I Truly Understand” from 1982 which features Tork on banjo. Really to me this song completely captures Peter Tork as a musician and performer and is a sweet gem of a folk song that really touches the heart.

In fact I’ve owned a low-fi copy of “I Truly Understand” for years on an old bootleg cassette and it has always been one of my favorite Tork performances either with or without The Monkees. It’s so nice to finally have it in great quality. 

Add in the lovely solo demo of the song “Easy Rockin'” and you have basically two excellent Peter Tork albums in one!

And the liner notes in this reissue are both detailed and informative and really put this album and Tork’s solo career into perspective and give great insight into what made him tick as a solo performer.

What can I say, if you’re a fan of The Monkees or just a fan of good rock/pop/folk music then you really owe it to yourself to track this release down. I don’t own the vinyl but the CD version with the bonus tracks is a real treat and frankly probably the best document you can find of Peter Tork as a songwriter and performer.

It’s too bad that Tork really was brushed aside as far as his musical ability was concerned. Yes vocally he could be hit or miss but he was a multi-instrumentalist and a solid and engaging performer with extreme charisma. This new reissue of “Stranger Things Have Happened” really gives Peter Tork his due as it’s a really wonderful album and showcases his talents well.

As usual check out photos of this new reissue above.

Until next time be safe and well and I hope your new year is a good one so far!

 

 

Okay, here we go again …

Last month I spotlighted the regular CD version of the new Paul McCartney album “McCartney III” with a review of the album in which I stated I thought it was quite good. I then followed that post up with a look at a special Target store CD version of this same album as well as four different colored dice variations of the CD each with a bonus track (available only at paulmccartney.com).

At the end of that post I mentioned there would be more to come. True to my word, I was right.

“McCartney III” has been out less than a month and yet there seems to be a never ending stream of variations of this album available in several different formats. Believe it or not there are over eight different colors of vinyl alone to choose from plus a cassette version as well as a Japanese SHM-CD pressing with four bonus tracks, the same tracks as the four colored CDs from paulmccartney.com but all on one disc this time.

Whew, got it so far? I know, believe me I know.

Each of the various colored vinyl records of “McCartney III” were pressed in limited quantities (some smaller than others) and as tempted as I am even I’m not crazy enough to buy every color that’s available.

As far as vinyl is concerned I decided to stick with the groovy green vinyl pressing, which is also a Target exclusive, as well as a pink colored pressing which has a very limited run of 1500 copies and was only available to purchase from Newbury Comics.

(Note: I know, I know, why even buy two colors but if you’ve spent any time reading this blog at all you’ll know the answer.)

Anyway, to make matters worse, or better depending on your perspective, I also ordered a cassette (yes I said cassette) version of “McCartney III” and the crème de la crème CD version of the album, the SHM-CD pressing that contains the four bonus tracks all together.

As I’ve said before I think the SHM-CD version of this album sounds a tad cleaner with more separation but the addition of the four bonus tracks makes this the must buy version of this album as the bonus tracks are very good and a fun listen for sure.

Unfortunately it’s not too easy to get a hold of the Japanese SHM-CD but if you look on Amazon or try importcds.com you may be able to track a copy down. It’s well worth it if you a McCartney fan and want the one-stop shopping best version of this album.

Why oh why all these different version of the same album you may say? Because, I will answer, it’s Paul McCartney. Seriously I’m just as amazed sometimes at the collector mentality but sine I’ve got it and I like to share it feast your eyes above and below on these new and most excellent variations of “McCartney III”.

I will say that since I posted my review of the album I’ve grown quite a bit more fond of the record and now I see it as one of the high points of McCartney’s remarkable last career renaissance. While “McCartney III” may not be McCartney’s best solo record I find that much like his ’70’s studio work this album is a grower and indeed it lodges itself in your brain until you fall in love with each and every song.

Too bad the song “Slidin” wasn’t released in 1979 as I’m sure it would have been a huge hit. This song so reminds me of the 1979 “Back to the Egg” Wings era and I would have loved to see it included on that album.

Anyway, this is my last dip in the “McCartney III” pool for now at least.Those Macheads out there will certainly enjoy seeing the various editions. I enjoy that there are three different back cover photos between the different variations as well as different inner cover photo spreads.

Until next time be well and if you haven’t given “McCartney III”  a listen, you must. It’s really a fun record and oh so every drop Paul McCartney.

TTFN until I stumble across some more juicy “McCartney III” nuggets to share.