50
years ago this month, in May of 1971, Michael Nesmith released his
third post-Monkees solo LP and the last with his “First National”
backing band, Nevada Fighter. The album continued his journey into the
freshly plowed furrows of the “country-rock” genre he’d helped pioneer.
The album is evenly split between original songs on the first side and
covers on the second. The most well known of the originals is
Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care), which was originally demoed for
The Monkees in 1966. It was then recorded by them properly in 1968, but
remained unreleased until many years later on one of their “Missing
Links” collections. While the First National Band mostly dispersed
after this album, replaced by the “Second National Band” for one album,
pedal steel guitarist, Red Rhodes, would remain and continue to be an
indispensable component of Mike’s solo work until Red’s passing in 1995.
Like most of his post-Monkees work during the first half of
the 1970s, this album was largely ignored at the time of its release.
With the Monkees having been such a massive phenomenon at their peak,
there was the inevitable backlash against them after their fall from
grace at the end of the 1960s. That was a shame because Nesmith
produced some of the most amazing music during this time, but history
has vindicated his efforts all these decades and generations later.
Now, serious popular music aficionados rightfully acknowledge the craft
and quality of these albums and they have taken their place among the
essentials of the American song book.
Personally, while I was a
Monkees fan from childhood, appreciating their music’s true value came
much later in my life and I didn’t seriously begin to delve into Mike’s
solo albums until the beginning of the 21st century, though I do
remember my mom having singles of Joanne and Silver Moon when I was a
kid. When I did open the door to his solo career, it didn’t take long
for me to be awestruck by the breadth and scope of what he’d achieved
while no one was paying him much attention. So do yourself a favor and
do some digging and discover this man’s music for yourself.
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