Audio By Carbonatix
For a group that was famously manufactured, the Monkees have outlived vast swaths of their supposedly more “serious” musical counterparts of the late ’60s. Perhaps that’s because the foursome was always more musically gifted than its initial TV-show origins might have let on. After all, though the group’s effervescent, lightly British-inflected pop rock was originally created for them, eventually the members wrested back creative control and played much of the material on their later albums. In fact, it was during this period that they released arguably their biggest hit, “Daydream Believer.”
In latter days, though, intragroup relations have been more fraught. Original members Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones reunited in 1997 and 2001 — outings that largely ended in acrimony. Over the past decade, however, the tensions have softened, and the three — notably without original guitarist Michael Nesmith — have hit the road this year to mark the band’s 45th anniversary.
