14 September 2023

Put it in the ground where the flowers grow

Thursday music corner: Micky Dolenz (b.1945), the last surviving member of the Monkees, got his start in show-business as a child actor on the children's TV programme Circus Boy (1956-57). With his Monkees bandmates he attained global fame that endured long after the two-year initial run of the TV musical comedy programme from 1966 to 1968, and he appeared on all nine of the Monkees studio albums issued in the band's heyday from 1966 to 1970.

Following on from Dolenz's 2021 solo covers album Dolenz Sings Nesmith, in which he performed songs written by his former bandmate Michael Nesmith, and produced by Nesmith's son Christian, Dolenz has been working on a new covers project. Dolenz Sings R.E.M. will be released as an EP on the UK record label 7A Records on 3 November. R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe is definitely keen on the idea:

Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M. Monkees style, I have died and gone to heaven. This is really something. ‘Shiny Happy People’ sounds incredible (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It’s wild.

R.E.M.'s Shiny Happy People appeared on the band's 1991 album Out Of Time, and featured guest vocals from the B-52s' Kate Pierson. Dolenz's version was released on 14 September 2023. 

Micky Dolenz - Shiny Happy People (2023)    

See also:
Music: Micky Dolenz - Little Red Rider (Nesmith cover, 2021)
Music: The Monkees - Do You Feel It Too (1970)
Music: R.E.M. - Moon River / Pretty Persuasion (live, 1984)

No comments: