After a Monkee marathon on MTV, renewed interest in The Monkees prompted Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork to go back on tour and record a new album called 'Pool it'. When the same MTV declined to air their new music video's, Rhino released this tape, labeled 'The Official Monkee Videography'. Unfortunately, Rhino had not yet acquired the rights to either the original series or music, so they cobbled together everything else they could find. There are only a few snippets of footage from the sixties, mostly from home movies. The longest and most interesting of these are two very funny 1967 commercials for Kellog's Rice Krispies.
The new music videos 'Heart and Soul' and 'Every step of the way' are nicely produced, even if though it is a shock to see The Monkees with eighties hairstyles and clothes. A Nickelodeon/ Nick Rocks interview shows the three remaining Monkees huddled together on a couch still trying to 'out Monkee' each other. Footage of the 1987 tour looks like it was shot by fans with video cameras. We see the forty-something Monkees recreate images from their TV show, like pushing a bed onto stage, doing the Monkee walk and dressing up as gangsters. Somehow it all seems a lot more childish now that the Monkees are no longer in their early twenties.
To stretch this out to minimum length, we get a clip recorded for a Monkees convention in New Jersey and also The Monkees' night out with a little girl who won the 'Nick Rocks Meet The Monkees sweepstakes'. Then there are a lot of street interviews. Only one lady mentions the absent Monkee Mike Nesmith, who declined to participate in this tour and certainly did not want anything to do with this video.
This mess of a video can only receive my lowest rating, but both the Kellog's commercials deserve at least a point, bringing it up to a grand total of 3 out of 10
The new music videos 'Heart and Soul' and 'Every step of the way' are nicely produced, even if though it is a shock to see The Monkees with eighties hairstyles and clothes. A Nickelodeon/ Nick Rocks interview shows the three remaining Monkees huddled together on a couch still trying to 'out Monkee' each other. Footage of the 1987 tour looks like it was shot by fans with video cameras. We see the forty-something Monkees recreate images from their TV show, like pushing a bed onto stage, doing the Monkee walk and dressing up as gangsters. Somehow it all seems a lot more childish now that the Monkees are no longer in their early twenties.
To stretch this out to minimum length, we get a clip recorded for a Monkees convention in New Jersey and also The Monkees' night out with a little girl who won the 'Nick Rocks Meet The Monkees sweepstakes'. Then there are a lot of street interviews. Only one lady mentions the absent Monkee Mike Nesmith, who declined to participate in this tour and certainly did not want anything to do with this video.
This mess of a video can only receive my lowest rating, but both the Kellog's commercials deserve at least a point, bringing it up to a grand total of 3 out of 10
