Anniversaries are a funny thing, at least music-related anniversaries.

Practically every day of the week the anniversary of some album or another comes up but sometimes it’s well worth taking the time in looking back on a particular album or event.

On May 29th, one such anniversary came about and to me it’s well worth celebrating; the 10th anniversary of The Monkees 50th anniversary release “Good Times!” (wrap your head around that). The album is being celebrated with a new 2 CD deluxe edition with bonus tracks plus a Rhino Reserve 180-gram single vinyl version available online at https://monkeesstore.warnermusic.com/ or at indie record stores.

The 2 CD Deluxe edition features the original “Good Times!” album on CD 1 and CD 2 contains four bonus tracks issued at the time on various specialty releases (“Terrifying”, “Me & Magdalena (Version 2)”, “A Better World” and “Love’s What I Want”) but collected here on CD for the first time plus the whole “Good Times!” album in instrumental form newly remixed in 2026.

The Rhino Reserve 180-gram single vinyl contains a wonderfully newly remastered version of the “Good Times!” album sans any bonus tracks or instrumentals.

It took me a bit to get both of these items as they were ordered from Warner Brothers online Monkees store and boy they sure take their time to ship but it was worth the wait.

Here are my thoughts on both:

2 CD Set:

I love the new 2 CD version of this album. I’d say the mastering is a bit hot but overall very enjoyable. I especially love the bonus tracks being made available on CD as they are probably four of my favorite songs on the entire record. I think this mastering is a bit more detailed than the original but also a tad louder.

My two nitpicks that I do have are one, where is the Spanish version of “Me & Magdalena” that Mike Nesmith himself mentioned recording and two, I would have loved the bonus tracks on Disc 1 and just the instrumentals on Disc 2 but those are small things as overall I love having this new 2 CD version.

I actually enjoyed listening to the instrumentals a lot which is something I wasn’t expecting. I think the new remix of these instrumentals is a bit more dynamic than the regular album and a fun listen. I will definitely give it a spin again in the near future that’s for sure.

I’ve read online that come fans are just meh about this new CD set but having the bonus tracks on CD in one place is enough for me to make purchasing this new set a must.

The Rhino Reserve 180-gram Vinyl Reissue:

Now this one surprised me. I think that the mastering on this new vinyl version of the album is superb; very dynamic, great sound on the vocals and listening to it through the first time was almost like hearing the album for the first time it was that good.

It’s much more dynamic sounding and less loud than the CD version and my pressing was dead quiet and sounded as good as I’ve heard any recent vinyl reissue sound. If you were only going to buy one of these two new incarnations of “Good Times!” and you aren’t interested in the CD bonus tracks this is the best I’ve ever heard this album sound.

All I can say is that this new mastering sounds very analog; very warm and detailed and makes it sound more like a record of the 1960s than it even sounded before – which a good thing in my book.

Even if you own the previous vinyl versions of this album it’s well worth tracking this one down as to me it’s the clear winner sound wise. I also love the care in which this new vinyl version is packaged especially the nice inner and outer sleeves – a nice touch.

Well that’s all for now. Just a quick look at these new 10th Anniversary version of The Monkees “Good Times!” and as usual you can check out photos of both above and below.

Until next time be well and Happy Monkeeing around if you so chose to do so!