 Eric Goulden, also known as Wreckless Eric, is an English rock/new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single "Whole Wide World." More than two decades after its release, the song was included in Mojo magazine's list of the best punk rock singles of all time. Monkees fans surely are familiar with this classic track as in 1987, the group covered the song on Pool It!, their first album of new material since 1970. Earlier this week on "Ericland," Goulden reminisced about his Monkees fandom, expressed appreciation to The Monkees for covering "Whole Wide World," and shared his thoughts on the current "Monkees Farewell Tour" after attending a recent show in Tarrytown, New York. You can read Eric's entry below:
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Peter Mills is the author of the exceptional 2016 book, The Monkees, Head, and the '60s, and a friend of the Live Almanac. A while back, Peter relayed that he had to leave an abundance of material for his book on the cutting room floor, including an examination of Michael Nesmith's work with Ian Matthews in the early 1970s. And now, Peter is sharing more of his shelved research, this time focusing on one of The Monkees' most iconic songs, "Goin' Down." Enjoy Peter's essay, linked below:  (Click image above to watch video)  (Ad from the November 11, 1967 issue of Billboard / Courtesy of Monkee45s.net) 'Bound Down in a Whirl' - Celebrating the classic Monkees track "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"4/3/2021  "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" has long been considered one of the most significant songs in The Monkees' canon. It was first attempted at RCA Hollywood on January 16, 1967, a significant day in Monkees history as it marked their first true "group" recording session and helped fuel an already bourgeoning internal power struggle between The Monkees and Don Kirshner. Written by Michael Nesmith, and featuring Peter Tork's whimsical harpsichord performance, the song went through different iterations in the recording studio, including lead vocals from both Nesmith and Micky Dolenz. On its own merits, it reached the Billboard Top 40 as the flipside of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" and was featured prominently on The Monkees' television show. Check out this recent piece by Stephen Lewis where he examines what is probably the Live Almanac's favorite Monkees song, and enjoy a few different versions of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" in the videos below!
(Master backing track)
Take a look at this fascinating video just published on YouTube where Andrew Sandoval takes us inside the recording session of a classic Davy Jones track from The Monkees' 1969 album, Instant Replay. And, don't forget to reserve your copy of Andrew's upcoming book! Peter Tork's "Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again" was one of the many highlights found on the soundtrack to The Monkees' 1968 feature film, Head. Originally recorded and intended for release on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, "Long Title" featured contributions from Peter's longtime friend Stephen Stills, Buffalo Springfield's Dewey Martin, and Greenwich Village pal Lance Wakely. Peter's guitar work on this track stands as some of his finest.  (Courtesy of Andrew Sandoval's liner notes from the "Listen to the Band" box set) The track appeared in the film Head during the Michael Nesmith birthday party scene: Song of the Day: Micky Dolenz recalls "Last Train to Clarksville" with Rolling Stone magazine7/13/2018 In an August 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Micky Dolenz spoke about The Monkees' first single and #1 hit, "Last Train to Clarksville": "It's about a guy going off to war. Frankly, it's an anti-war song. It's about a guy going to Clarksville, Tennessee, which is an army base if I'm not mistaken. He's obviously been drafted and he says to his girlfriend, 'I don't know if I'm ever coming home.' Considering that it was a Monkees song and the first one, I was always surprised that the record company even released it unless it just went right over their head. "I don't recall recording it because there was just so much going on at that time. I was recording two or three songs a night after filming the TV show all day. [Co-writer] Bobby Hart tells me I went in to sing one night. He says that I'd learned the song and routined it. We'd done the keys and all that stuff. There was a bridge part of that song. You know the bit where I go 'di da di di da di da?' Well, there were words to that. I said, 'Bobby, I just can't sing that.' I just couldn't learn it in time. He said okay. 'Well, we need to get it done so just go, 'di da di di da di da.' "I have a very fond memory of hearing it on the radio for the first time on KHJ, a big station out here at the time. Davy [Jones] and I were renting a house up in the Hollywood Hills. We were pulling up to this big, beautiful rented house in Beverly Hills when they went, 'Here they are, the Monkees' 'Last Train to Clarksville.' We pulled over and just had the biggest grins on our faces."  In an August 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Michael Nesmith spoke about his composition "Circle Sky," a key song from the soundtrack of The Monkees' 1968 feature film, Head: "I also wrote this one when we were performing. I wanted to explore the power trio of us. In a strange way, we were actually pretty good. Micky was a real garage-band drummer. I was a real scream-and-shout guitar player and Peter was a very precise player. He could play interesting lines and fills on the bass. The power trio that existed between us was seldom explored. The lyrics are about television and the corporate man."  Salt Lake City / May 1968 (Screenshot courtesy of Sunshine Factory) In an August 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Peter Tork spoke about his composition "Can You Dig It," a highlight from the soundtrack of The Monkees' 1968 feature film, Head: "This started as a set of changes I wrote in college and didn't know what to do with. Then one afternoon on the set of The Monkees we were making the TV show and I had my guitar in my dressing room. The basic lyrics came to me and these changes I had stored in the back of my brain spring forth and dictated that kind of vaguely Spanish/North African harmonic sense. I was writing about the great unknown source of all. It was perfect for the Head soundtrack." Here's "Can You Dig It" as it appeared in Head: Micky Dolenz sang the officially released version of the song, but Peter also recorded a vocal for it that finally saw the light of day in 1994 on Rhino's CD release of the Head soundtrack: Peter demoed the song, without vocals, during sesssions for The Monkees' third LP, Headquarters: "Can You Dig It" made its first live appearance in a Monkees concert during the group's 1987 summer tour with Peter handling lead vocals and Micky on drums: Here, Peter, Micky, and Michael perform "Can You Dig It?" at the State Theatre Regional Arts Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey on November 30, 2012: In an August 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Peter spoke about the origins of The Monkees' 1996 album, Justus, and one of the tracks he wrote for it: "Michael was becoming involved with [his future wife] Victoria [Kennedy] at the time. He played her the soundtrack to Head. She asked who was playing bass and he said, 'That's Peter.' Then she said, 'Who wrote that part?' And he went, 'Oh, that was Peter too.' Then he had the idea that the theme song to Friends sounded exactly like Headquarters. He just caught a charge and wanted to see it through, so he asked me and Micky to come jam with him. It was the first time we'd played together like that since 1969. "I played bass. Micky was on drums and Michael was on guitar. We sounded just the same. It was really amazing. We had a jam, and as a result we brought in Davy and did Justus. I think the whole album is entirely under-appreciated. Nobody else was in the studio besides us and the engineer. I wrote 'Run Away From Life.' It's about fantasists. It's sarcastic as all hell, really pretty nasty. But with the album, I think we were operating under some limits we didn't need to. Mostly, I think it was a big mistake for me to not play more guitar. Micky's drumming is just ferocious on that record though." |
Recap: Monkees Farewell Tour
Dolenz sings Nesmith
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