MICKY DOLENZ PUTS YOU TO SLEEP @ 30

 

October 22nd marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Micky Dolenz Puts You To Sleep, his debut solo album, which hit the shelves on this day in 1991.

Considering Dolenz was one of the best pop vocal talents of the the late 1960s, it’s somewhat surprising it took over two decades for him to finally get around to doing a solo album after leaving The Monkees. He’d done a few solo singles throughout the 1970s and been involved in a couple of collaborative projects like the soundtrack for Harry Nilsson’s The Point (1977) with Davy Jones & the Monkees reunion albums: Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart (1976) & Pool It (1987), but a true solo effort remained off the table while his career shifted into TV production as a director, mostly in the UK.

For his solo debut, Micky came up with the idea of doing a collection of songs that would be adaptable to being sung as “lullabies”, something that could have been incredibly saccharine had it been handled by a lesser talent. But Dolenz manages to pull it all together in a manner that delivers on the “sweetness” without becoming insufferable. This comes down to two key factors: song selection and arrangements.

With the first factor, Micky went with some classics by great composers like Lennon & McCartney, Harry Nilsson and even a remake of the psychedelic Monkees masterpiece, Porpoise Song by Goffin & King. It’s territory that was always successful for The Monkees and is no less so here. The arrangements on the album are gorgeously elegant and understated. Each one snuggles comfortably into the laid-back twilight vibe the album seeks to inhabit with its goal of sending the listener off to dreamland. It does so with gentle ease, while never being boring. Micky is in perfect voice for the album and delivers every song with a sincerity and softness that is as comforting as a cup of hot chocolate.

In terms of a legacy, I don’t think a lot of people really know about this album, which is a shame. I didn’t discover it until very recently and was blown away when I finally heard it. It deserves to be appreciated far more than it has been as it offers up a fully realized concept, elevated by first rate songs, tasteful performances and production which holds up three decades after its release. Nothing sounds dated or is weakened by trendy production techniques. This could easily have been created at any time in the last 50 years, so it truly deserves to be called “timeless”.