writing – Records, CDs and Music:

Last Friday, Paul McCartney released his much anticipated new solo album called "The Boys of Dungeon Lane".

To say I was excited to hear it is an understatement. After reading a lot of pre-release buzz and glowing reviews I was practically giddy when I finally had a CD copy in my hands by noon on Friday.

And that's when something strange happened. I popped the CD in my player and gave it a spin. I enjoyed the first listen but was left with a feeling of being underwhelmed - initially.

A couple of the tracks - "As You Lie There" and "Mountain Top" - grabbed me on the first go but others left me feeling that yeah, it's a good but not great album. As is the case with many a McCartney album sometimes my first impressions change. And with "The Boys of Dungeon Lane" they certainly did - A LOT.

Since so many people had so many good things to say about the this album I decided to give it a few more spins over the weekend and see where I landed on the album by Monday.

Like many of McCartney's solo albums the songs on "The Boys of Dungeon Lane" snuck up on me gradually. By the fourth time through the little nuances in arrangement like the mellotron popping up every so often or the orchestration or the vocal effects began to make even the simplest song seem dreamlike and interesting.

For example, the song "Ripples in the Pond" seemed just okay the first time through but the subtle instrument choices and languid feel to the song won me over and by the fourth time through it just really gelled with me.

I was really surprised by how much the album blossomed for me with each new listen. By the second time through many songs jumped out to me when they had seemed so low key the first time through. I've definitely felt this way about some of McCartneys other solo albums and honestly those albums that this has happened with have ended up being some of my favorite McCartney albums in his canon.

I have a sneaky suspicion that this will be one of those McCartney albums for me that will stand the test of time.

I also feel that McCartney is at his best when writing about the common man in simple ways and making them sound extraordinary through the music and arrangement of the song. He has a way with making a simple song shine by how he arranges and performs the song. I'm glad producer Andrew Watt has managed to make McCartney sound like McCartney yet gives the songs a sonic edge that sounds vintage and modern at the same time.

Also, McCartney's vocals on this record are much stronger than on his last two solo albums. Older sounding for sure but that suits the songs and is not distracting in the least. Very well done and well performed songs on this set!

There are a lot of Beatles influences as well as Wings to give these songs not only a lyrically reflective tone but a musically reflective tone as well. A really nice combo that makes this album shine.

My thoughts on each track of the album:

As You Lie There - what a great opening track! On the first listen I thought it was good. On the second listen I thought it was very good and by the third and fourth listen I thought it was superb. A lot of twists and turns in this track but McCartney's vocal is wonderful which really made me excited to hear the rest of the album. Love all the textures in the music. This first track alone is one of the best tracks he's done since the "Flaming Pie" album.

Lost Horizon - this is a solid track which I really enjoy. Not my favorite on the album but a good track with nice vocals

Days We Left Behind - I'd have to say this is one of my all-time favorite McCartney songs of recent years. Poignant, well executed and his older voice suits it to a T. Great song.

Ripples in a Pond - this is another one of the highlights of the album for me. This song to me is "Chaos" meets "New" as far as McCartney albums go. Bouncy with a Wings feel this track would make a great single if radio would play it. The production and arrangement choices really enhance the song

Mountain Top - another highlight of the album for me. This song about a girl from Glastonbury who was tripping on mushrooms really evokes The Beatles, Wings and McCartney's most recent work; a terrific blend of all his work to date and is a superb track. This one is a wild ride and one of the more interesting tracks he's made since going solo.

Down South - a fun track, this is a very simple song which I enjoy, not my favorite on the album but very solid.

We Two - Another solid track, very reminiscent of McCartneys "New" era, a very low-key love song. Lovely pop song which McCartney excels at.

Come Inside - I absolutely love this song another highlight of the album for me. This is very reminiscent of a Wings song mixed with his early 2000s work; fast-paced, rocky with great vocals. Terrific. Love, love the vocals on this one. McCartney is really pulling off the rock vocals on this album more so than his last two albums for sure.

Never Know - love this track. It features a slight psychedelic edge with the instrumentation. Low-key love song that really evokes the "Magical Mystery Tour" era. Lovely song with great backing vocals. Love the flutes near the end.

Home to Us (with Ringo Starr) - I like the song a lot. It took a while to grow on me. The first couple listens I thought it was okay. But by the fourth listen it's really grown on me. Love the lyrics, very reflective in a fun way and Ringo's voice is terrific along with Paul's.

Life Can Be Hard - another absolute highlight of the album for me. To me it's very reminiscent of one of my favorite recent McCartney tracks "English Tea" but with a mix of Beach Boys backing vocals along with a slight psychedelic feel, terrific. Bouncy and positive with a great arrangement.

First Star of the Night - One of my favorite songs on the record. Features a great bass line and soothing lyrics with lovely backing vocals. A sweet and comforting song. Very languid and beautiful.

Salesman Saint - I absolutely adore this song. The salesman and saint in the lyrics are about his mom and dad. I absolutely love the '40s instrumental bursts near the end of this song. Such a great track. It took a couple of listens to really get this song into my veins but I really like it a lot now.

Momma Gets By - this song is the perfect ending to the album. To me it sounds like "My Valentine" from the "Kisses" album of recent years but with an absolutely wonderful arrangement of strings near the end of the song and wonderfully reflective lyrics. Superb.

Well there's my two cents on Paul McCartney's "The Boys of Dungeon Lane". It really is a wonderful record. Moving, reflective, rocking, languid and dreamlike are the words that sum this album up for me.

Now that I've gotten acquainted with these songs and they have made a home in my heart and brain I look forward to listening to it often. My criteria for a good album is one that I want to listen to again and again and this album fits that criteria in spades.

Until next time be well and see you soon!

Today I thought I’d do a different sort of blog post than my norm.

Instead of highlighting a record or some sort of great vinyl find, I thought it might be fun to take a look through the way back machine once again and showcase some groovy Monkees dolls that I own. Yes, you heard right dolls.

You see back in late 1966/1967 The Monkees were not only a hit on television with their ground-breaking show “The Monkees” they were also, and some say more importantly, an absolute sensation as a recording act.

In the short span of a year and a half from August 1966 to December 1967 the group not only managed to have five million selling Top Ten US hits (“Last Train to Clarksville”, “I’m a Believer”, “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You”, “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and “Daydream Believer”) but they also managed to have four number one multi-million selling albums (“The Monkees”, “More of the Monkees”, “Headquarters” and “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.”) that also stayed an astonishing 37 weeks at the number one position between the four of them.

Even in the heady days of Beatlemania and the mid-sixties British invasion of the American airwaves sales like that were quite an impressive feat.

Of course with that level of fame and popularity naturally there followed a boatload of memorabilia featuring The Monkees image and likeness including bubble gum cards, plastic guitars, board games, comic books, Halloween costumes and yes my friends dolls.

There were two types of dolls featuring The Monkees released in 1966/67.

Probably the most famous and most memorable doll was the four-headed hand puppet made by Mattel that not only featured fairly accurate doll heads of each Monkee (see photos above) but this particular doll was a talking hand puppet.

This somewhat weird looking but fun doll featured the actual voices of the group saying short phrases that were supposed to conjure up some typical Monkee humor that would have been featured on their television show.

(Note: Below I have actually recorded five of the phrases from my puppet which is still working. It’s not he best quality and there seems to be a skip on the disc inside but if you’ve never heard these snippets they’re a lot of fun. I wonder where these were recorded and if the tapes for the puppet still exist? I’m guessing a hard no but you never know!)

The other dolls to come out were a part of a series of musical groups that were featured in doll form called Show Biz Babies by Hasbro. I believe The Mamas and The Papas, Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, Bobbie Gentry and Spencer Davis were among some of the other dolls made available.

All the Show Biz Babies were sold on a backing card that contained a real life photo on the back and a plastic record tucked inside that I think featured information about the person that the doll represented.

I managed to track down all four Monkees Show Biz Babies (no easy feat) several years ago and all of them have their backing cards as well as their plastic floppy records though Mike’s record looks a bit sun warped unfortunately.

(Note 2: I’ve never actually played these records. I should try someday (floppy records are a pain, ahhhh) and if I do I’ll record what they contain and post it here.)

I actually think these dolls are pretty cool looking and love the packaging as well as it just screams the 1960s and totally takes me back to my childhood.

I was too young at the time they were released (I had never heard of Show Biz Babies until about twenty-five years ago) so even though I never owned them as a child they are super fun and I would love to find some of the other Show Biz Babies that were made but they are really hard to find.

I did however get the talking hand puppet as a gift as a very young child and amazingly it has survived all these long years and still manages to talk which is really amazing to me as I remember beating this thing around a lot as a toddler.

Strike that, I was told by a family member the talking box in my Monkee puppet was repaired along with my sister’s Chatty Katy doll. Maybe the skip comes from when the box was broken. I have no memory of the repair but at least you can still here most of the phrases – I think lol.

Anyway, take a gander at the photos above, If you’ve never seen or heard of these dolls they are a lot of fun and if you locate one of the puppets that still talks then you’re in for a treat. Now that I think of it, these really are a part of The Monkees recording history – long stretch as it is. So it’s not that weird a post here after all LOL.

Take a listen below and you’ll hear what they sound like; these are the ones I could get to play at least: