Podcast appearances and mentions of Andy Partridge

Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with music luminary Thomas Dolby. We talk about his breakout success in the 80's, From his side projects, his hits like Hyperactive and She Blinded Me With Science, chilling with Michael Jackson, friendships with XTC's Andy Partridge, working with Todd Rundgren, and so much more.

This week on the Rockonteurs podcast we welcome singer, song-writer, producer and XTC frontman Andy Partridge to the show. He chats to Guy Pratt and Gary Kemp about his early influences, his difficult childhood and how he thinks the Monkees are underrated! He also talks about how those early influences helped shape the sound of XTC. Find out more at: https://www.ape.uk.net/Instagram @rockonteurs @guyprattofficial @garyjkemp @gimmesugarproductions Listen to the podcast and watch some of our latest episodes on our Rockonteurs YouTube channel.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rockonteursFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/RockonteursTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@therockonteursProduced for WMG UK by Ben Jones at Gimme Sugar Productions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the Rockonteurs podcast we welcome singer, song-writer, producer and XTC frontman Andy Partridge to the show. He chats to Guy Pratt and Gary Kemp about his early influences, his difficult childhood and how he thinks the Monkees are underrated! He also talks about how those early influences helped shape the sound of XTC. Find out more at: https://www.ape.uk.net/Instagram @rockonteurs @guyprattofficial @garyjkemp @gimmesugarproductions Listen to the podcast and watch some of our latest episodes on our Rockonteurs YouTube channel.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rockonteursFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/RockonteursTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@therockonteursProduced for WMG UK by Ben Jones at Gimme Sugar Productions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is epic. XTC guitarist Dave Gregory returns to the podcast to give us all the scoop on the creation of XTC's 1986 masterpiece Skylarking. The album almost can't be listened to without an understanding of the behind the scenes stories - the animosity between Andy Partridge and producer Todd Rundgren chief among them. This essential album was recently given the Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos treatment enhancing it even more. Joining us for this conversation is our friend Brad Page of the I'm In Love With That Song podcast for an even richer experience. Dave was extremely gracious with his time, you won't want to miss this.  www.amazon.com/Skylarking-Blu-Ray-Audio-Steven-Wilson/dp/B0D9P39NYH www.patreon.com/c/thehustlepod

Steve Conte became lead guitarist in one legendary band, the New York Dolls, and co-wrote half of his latest album, The Concrete Jangle, with the main singer-songwriter of another one: Andy Partridge of XTC. Conte is a longtime New York working musician who has played with such artists as Paul Simon, Peter Wolf, Phoebe Snow and, in a great story, Chuck Berry. Now he has released two solo albums on Stevie Van Zandt's Wicked Cool label and has two songs vying for the Coolest Song of the World 2024 on Little Steven's Underground Garage. Here he recalls what it was like to join the New York Dolls and to work with David Johansen—and with guitar in hand, he tells how he got connected with Partridge and demonstrates how the two of them wrote some very catchy songs together. (Photo by Anja van Ast.)

In this edition of What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, we go behind the scenes to see how deals get signed, press releases get written and records get released. Joining us are Ronnie Gurr, who went from producing a punk fanzine to working in the Virgin press office; Mike Smith, who signed Andy Partridge to Warner Chappell Music as a songwriter; Ben Wardle, who paved the way for one of the collaborations between Andy and Stephen Duffy; and Youie Mourra, who got tantalisingly close to releasing a series of XTC retrospective collections. Music from Jordan Cooper  XTC photos in Hanging Around Books   What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. Illustration of Andy Partridge by Mike Smith ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer Andy Partridge sits down with host Frank Mackay on this episode of The Frank Mackay Show!

The Armistice Of 1918, Andy Partridge, Dennis Coffey & Vampire BatsPlaylist: J.G. Thirlwell - No VacancyD.O.A - WarThee Oh Sees - A Foul FormForbidden Dimension - Pardon My Goulish LaughterThunderthighs - Dracula's DaughterXTC - Radios In MotionDel Shannon - Move It On OverThe Surfdusters - Danger Beat49th Parallel - Citizen FreakNanette - Peint En NoirSoup Activists - Boys With PlantsFashionism - Come On My BabyThe Avengers - The Amerikan In MeThe Dream Dates - Tallahassee LassieTheee Bat - I Feel GoodZR04 - BloodFocus - Hocus Pocus IIThe Real Losers - Totally NutzoidThe Flamin' Groovies - Second CousinTeenage Head - Disgusteen

In the second of a special two-part edition of What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, supporters on Patreon ask questions they had always wanted Andy Partridge to answer that he never gets asked.  The challenge was to come up with questions that would surprise, delight and generally intrigue the XTC frontman. They do not disappoint! The results take us on a fascinating journey from the Beatles to broccoli, from Fireball XL5 to The Last Balloon – and beyond. Music from Chris Badley and Foolish Men.  What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In the first of a special two-part edition of What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, supporters on Patreon ask questions they had always wanted Andy Partridge to answer that he never gets asked.  The challenge was to come up with questions that would surprise, delight and generally intrigue the XTC frontman. They do not disappoint! The results take us on a fascinating journey from the Beatles to broccoli, from Fireball XL5 to The Last Balloon – and beyond. Music from Terry Arnett and Planet Sunday.  What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

From handing a tape to John Peel to encouraging Colin Moulding to write songs, Steve Warren is a key part of the XTC story. In a fascinating interview, he recalls befriending Andy Partridge as a child, working as a roadie for the Helium Kidz and touring the world with XTC. Also in this episode, Gaz Barrett describes how he commissioned a mural of English Settlement in the centre of Swindon. Artist Dayna Baxter on Instagram  Music from Garry Perkins on Soundcloud  What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In South West England, in a town called Swindon, a group of disaffected youth would come together in the early 70s and create a body of songs over the next few decades whose indelible melodies and incisive lyrics would root themselves in your brain and never leave. Today's guest, Colin Moulding, shook off XTC's early affection for dissonance and composed their first breakthrough hit, “Making Plans for Nigel” - instantly becoming a worthy creative foil for the band's primary singer and songwriter, Andy Partridge. Colin's bass lines alone - serpentine, song-friendly but always memorable - would qualify him for the four string pantheon, but the fact that he has also crafted and sang some of the band's best-loved tunes makes him a unique triple threat.  Speaking with us from his garden shed studio, Colin opines on everything from the band's circuitous route from touring act to studio wizards, their adventures with some of rock's best-known knob twiddlers, and his process for letting good musical ideas wash over him vs. forcing them out. XTC (https://open.spotify.com/artist/2qT62DYO8Ajb276vUJmvhz?si=2i_RljmPT7GW7PNw-9Yb8w) The Dukes of Stratosphear (https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ilhXoWIlGxz3fM4B24mNo?si=cujLrBZhQzmOeTy97OBJmw) TC&I (https://burningshed.com/artists/tcandi) Colin's recent solo release “The Hardest Battle” (https://burningshed.com/colin-moulding_the-hardest-battle_cd) XTC: This is Pop (2018) - Documentary trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjPenjuPZhM)

This week, I'm joined by JASON P. WOODBURY (of Aquarium Drunkard) and filmmakers BRIAN LINDSTROM & ANDY BROWN to discuss their incredible new film LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL. We talked about Judee Sill's gnostic relationship to her music and how she backed it up in her lifestyle, what our introductions to her music were like, Sill's disdain of being lumped in with Christian Rock & opening for rock bands, her influence on Andy Partridge of XTC, how the filmmakers shaped the film over the past ten years, Tooth & Nail Records, the mythologizing of a subject's life in documentary filmmaking, Asylum Records and her ups and downs with David Geffen, Some Kind Of Monster, Sill's vulnerability and ego in her diary writings and drawings, how they chose to animate Sill's artwork and found her voice, Sill's influence on a new generation of musicians, her iconic Old Grey Whistle Test performance of “The Kiss,” how the film addresses childhood trauma, addiction, and resilience, what parts of Sill's life didn't fit into the film, and the power of Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Guided By Voices & SST Records, So join us as we talk about one of the greatest songwriters to ever be part of the cosmos, Judee Sill, on this week's Revolutions Per Movie.WATCH LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILLhttps://greenwichentertainment.com/film/JASON P. WOODBURY:https://jasonpwoodbury.comREVOLUTIONS PER MOVIE:Host Chris Slusarenko (Eyelids, Guided By Voices, owner of Clinton Street Video rental store) is joined by actors, musicians, comedians, writers & directors who each week pick out their favorite music documentary, musical, music-themed fiction film or music videos to discuss. Fun, weird, and insightful, Revolutions Per Movie is your deep dive into our life-long obsessions where music and film collide.Revolutions Per Movies releases new episodes every Thursday. If you like the show, please subscribe, rate, and review it on your favorite podcast app.The show is also a completely independent affair, so the best way to support it is through our Patreon at patreon.com/revolutionspermovie. There, you can get weekly bonus episodes and exclusive goods just for joining.SOCIALS:@revolutionspermovieX, BlueSky: @revpermovieTHEME by Eyelids 'My Caved In Mind'www.musicofeyelids.bandcamp.comARTWORK by Jeff T. Owenshttps://linktr.ee/mymetalhand Click here to get EXCLUSIVE BONUS WEEKLY Revolutions Per Movie content on our Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stage left! It's time for Strong Songs to talk about XTC. Stage right! Now the song is picked, analysis can begin. Stand up! If we listen close, we'll hear some lovely notes...On this episode, Kirk takes the stage alongside "Easter Theatre," the first single off of XTC's 1999 experimental symphono-pop album Apple Venus: Vol. 1. Bring on the bassoons and power up the mellotron; we've got some shapes to stack.Written by: Andy PartridgeProduced by: Haydn Bendall & Nick DaviesAlbum: Apple Venus Vol. 1, 1999 and Instruvenus, 2002Listen/Buy via SongwhipALSO REFERENCED/DISCUSSED:“Senses Working Overtime” by Andy Partridge from English Settlement, 1982“Dear God” by Partridge (eventually) from Skylarking, 1986“Mayor of Simpleton” from Oranges & Lemons, 1989“River of Orchids,” “I'd Like That,” “Greenman,” “Frivolous Tonight,” and “Fruit Nut” by XTC from Apple Venus, Vol. 1, 1999"Easter Theatre (Demo Version)" and "How Easter Theatre Came to Be" released with the UK single, 1999Partridge's 1999 Guitar Player interviewComplicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC by Andy Partridge with Todd BernhardtA subsequent behind the song interview published by XTC“Killer Queen” by Freddie Mercury from Sheer Heart Attack, 1974“Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens from Illinoise, 2005“I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton as sung by Whitney Houston on The Bodyguard Soundtrack, 1992----LINKS-----SUPPORT STRONG SONGS!Paypal | Patreon.com/StrongsongsMERCH STOREstore.strongsongspodcast.comSOCIAL MEDIAIG: @Kirk_Hamilton | Threads: @Kirk_HamiltonNEWSLETTERnewsletter.kirkhamilton.comJOIN THE DISCORDhttps://discord.gg/GCvKqAM8SmSTRONG SONGS PLAYLISTSSpotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicSHOW ARTTom Deja, Bossman Graphics--------------------MAY 2024 WHOLE-NOTE PATRONSRobyn MetcalfeBrian TempletCesarBob TuckerCorpus FriskyBen BarronCatherine WarnerDamon WhiteKaya WoodallJay SwartzMiriam JoySEAN D WINNIERushDaniel Hannon-BarryChristopher MillerJamie WhiteChristopher McConnellDavid MascettiJoe LaskaKen HirshJezMelanie AndrichJenness GardnerPaul DelaneyDave SharpeSami SamhuriJeremy DawsonAccessViolationAndre BremerDave FloreyMAY 2024 HALF-NOTE PATRONSDanielle KrizMichael YorkClint McElroyMordok's Vape PenInmar GivoniMichael SingerMerv AdrianJoe GalloLauren KnottsDave KolasHenry MindlinMonica St. AngeloStephen WolkwitzSuzanneRand LeShayMaxeric spMatthew JonesThomasAnthony MentzJames McMurryEthan LaserBrian Johan PeterChris RemoMatt SchoenthalAaron WilsonDent EarlCarlos LernerMisty HaisfieldAbraham BenrubiChris KotarbaCallum WebbLynda MacNeilDick MorganBen SteinSusan GreenGrettir AsmundarsonSean MurphyAlan BroughRandal VegterGo Birds!Robert Granatdave malloyNick GallowayHeather Jjohn halpinPeter HardingDavidJohn BaumanMartín SalíasStu BakerSteve MartinoDr Arthur A GrayCarolinaGary PierceMatt BaxterLuigi BocciaE Margaret WartonCharles McGeeCatherine ClauseEthan BaumanKenIsWearingAHatJordan BlockAaron WadeJeff UlmDavid FutterJamieDeebsPortland Eye CareCarrie SchneiderRichard SneddonDoreen CarlsonDavid McDarbyWendy GilchristElliot RosenLisa TurnerPaul WayperBruno GaetaKenneth JungAdam StofskyZak RemerRishi SahayJeffrey BeanJason ReitmanAilie FraserRob TsukNATALIE MISTILISJosh SingerAmy Lynn ThornsenAdam WKelli BrockingtonVictoria Yumino caposselaSteve PaquinDavid JoskeBernard KhooRobert HeuerDavid NoahGeraldine ButlerMadeleine MaderJason PrattAbbie BergDoug BelewDermot CrowleyAchint SrivastavaRyan RairighMichael BermanLinda DuffyBonnie PrinsenLiz SegerEoin de BurcaKevin PotterM Shane BordersDallas HockleyJason GerryNell MorseNathan GouwensLauren ReayEric PrestemonCookies250Damian BradyAngela LivingstoneDiane HughesMichael CasnerLowell MeyerStephen TsoneffJoshua HillGeoff GoldenPascal RuegerRandy SouzaClare HolbertonDiane TurnerTom ColemanDhu WikMel DEric HelmJonathan DanielsMichael FlahertyCaro Fieldmichael bochnerNaomi WatsonDavid CushmanAlexanderChris KGavin DoigSam FennTanner MortonAJ SchusterJennifer BushDavid StroudBrad CallahanAmanda FurlottiAndrew BakerAndrew FairL.B. MorseBill ThorntonBrian AmoebasBrett DouvilleJeffrey OlsonMatt BetzelNate from KalamazooMelanie StiversRichard TollerAlexander PolsonEarl LozadaJustin McElroyArjun SharmaJames JohnsonKevin MorrellColin Hodo

XTC fans were out in force at the Neo-Ancients festival in Stroud, Gloucestershire on Saturday 4 May 2024 when producer Hugh Padgham joined festival co-director Ben Wardle to talk about XTC's English Settlement. Your dedicated podcast host, Mark Fisher, was on hand with his trusty tape recorder to share it with you. Hugh talks about drunken jam sessions, Andy Partridge as a sumo wrestler and creating the flange effect on Jason and the Argonauts, as well as taking questions from the audience. Music courtesy of Knight in Shining Karma Robert Lawlor.  What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

With wonderful Andy Partridge...

In the 50th episode of What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, we go back to the formative years of XTC in the company of Ian Doeser and Lee Moulding. As well as being front man with the Hamsters from Hell, Ian was in Swindon's first punk band, the Aggravators, and has been sharing his memories of XTC and others in a book, A Big Fish in a Small Puddle. As well as being Ian's drummer, Lee has a lifetime of memories growing up as a child of XTC. Music courtesy of Beth Link. A Big Fish in a Small Puddle available on Amazon  What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Andy Partridge (part 2) - The ProgCast with Gregg Bendian

Andy Partridge (part 1) - The ProgCast with Gregg Bendian

Hey we're WEEKLY now! This week, we continue to ramp up to Record Store Day (April 20) with another look at two special releases coming out on that special day. RSD's Rick Johnson has put together a live recording of last November's tribute concert, Lenny Kaye & Friends: Live At The Cat's Cradle, a 50th Anniversary Celebration of Nuggets. We'll hear from Rick and then hear from the drummer from the star-studded event itself, Jon Wurster (Bob Mould Band, Mountain Goats, Superchunk). Then ex-New York Dolls guitarist Steve Conte unveils his RSD release, The Concrete Jangle, most of which was co-written with friend of the show, Andy Partridge (XTC). The Record Store Day Podcast is written, produced, engineered, and hosted by Paul Myers who also composed the theme music and selected interstitial music. Executive producers for RSD: Michael Kurtz and Carrie Colliton. For the full RSD 2024 list and other RSD related news and events, go to RecordStoreDay.com. Sponsored by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Tito's Handmade Vodka, RSDMRKT.com, and Furnace Record Pressing (the Official Vinyl Pressing Plant of Record Store Day). Please consider subscribing to our show wherever you get podcasts, and by all means tell your friends about us. This episode is dedicated to the late Karl Wallinger (Waterboys, World Party).  

On today's show, guitarist and singer/songwriter Steve Conte reminisces with Joseph over all the popular spots in New York City they've each played gigs and provides his assessment about just how much the NYC music scene has changed. Steve also plays a few licks on his guitar, including a full live version of his song (co-written with Andy Partridge) FOURTH OF JULY. GUEST OVERVIEW: Steve Conte is an American musician; guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer & music educator – both on tour and in studios around the world. His most recent album, Bronx Cheer was released on Little Steven Van Zandt's label, Wicked Cool Records in the fall of 2021 to great critical acclaim. The album spawned 5 singles, 3 of which were featured as “Coolest Songs In The World” on the Underground Garage Radio Program. Steve is currently working on a new release for Wicked Cool Records on which he has written 5 of the album's 10 songs with his songwriting hero – the incomparable Andy Partridge of XTC. Besides a rich solo-career, Conte has recently been instrumental in helping some legendary artists like the New York Dolls get their groove back. After 6 years, 4 albums and a never-ending World Tour with the Dolls, he joined up with former Hanoi Rocks front man Michael Monroe as guitarist, songwriter and backing vocalist to release 5 albums of new original material. On the Horns And Halos album (2013 Spinefarm) Conte wrote the lion's share of the songs and it was nominated for “Album Of The Year” by the Finnish “Grammys” as well as The Nordic Music Prize. In addition to playing in the USA, Steve has toured extensively in UK, Holland, Belgium and France with his Netherlands-based band as well as playing solo shows in Spain, Italy, Finland & Sweden. https://stevecontemusic.com/

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of XTC's landmark album Apple Venus Volume I, producer Haydn Bendall talks to What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast about the fraught recording sessions that nonetheless resulted in such majestic songs as River of Orchids, Easter Theatre and Greenman.“The songs were fabulous,” he says. “I loved the songs.”Fellow producer Guy Sigsworth joins Mark Fisher to ask the questions.The Real Numbers Haydn Bendall Guy Sigsworth What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Our Colin Moulding conversation picks up with XTC working in Woodstock, N.Y., on what would become one of their most beloved albums, Skylarking. Moulding appreciated that producer Todd Rundgren chose to include five of his songs, though the recording experience was a bit of a minefield. XTC built on its newfound momentum with Oranges & Lemons, a bright, lively album that features Moulding's hit single “King for a Day.” Moulding continued to be a keen observer of everyday life, but financial issues plagued the making of Apple Venus Volume 1 and Wasp Star and precipitated Dave Gregory's departure. Moulding reveals what prompted his final split from singer-songwriter Andy Partridge as well. Moulding has since reunited, briefly, with original XTC drummer Terry Chambers as TC&I, and he continues to make music in the band's collective hometown of Swindon, England. Might the four of them ever share a stage, a studio or just a night out again?

Bassist Colin Moulding wrote, played on and sang some of the XTC's greatest songs, including the breakthrough singles “Life Begins at the Hop” and “Making Plans for Nigel” plus “Ten Feet Tall,” “Generals and Majors,” “Runaways,” “Ball and Chain,” “Wonderland” … and those are just in the period covered in Pt. 1 of this fun, insightful conversation. Speaking from his home outside Swindon, England, Moulding tells of his musical beginnings; his and the band's evolutionary leap when guitarist Dave Gregory joined for Drums and Wires; the weird vibes as Moulding, and not primary singer-songwriter Andy Partridge, was writing the band's early hits; his reaction to the abrupt end of XTC's touring days; the jaw-dropping moment when drummer Terry Chambers quit; the joyous psychedelic side project, the Dukes of Stratosphear; and that time David Gilmour asked him to replace Roger Waters in Pink Floyd.

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Henning Ohlenbusch (Gentle Hen, the Fawns, solo) makes a return appearance to You, Me and an Album to discuss XTC's 1986 album, Skylarking. Henning talks about why he loves Skylarking and why XTC is one of his favorite bands. He gets into the aspects of XTC's songwriting that are especially appealing and how the album reminds him of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Kinks. Henning also talks about the new Gentle Hen album, The Whole Point of the Trip, and why it took four years to make.Henning was previously on YMAAA on Ep. 72, discussing Ha! Ha! Ha! by Ulltravox.Be sure to follow Henning on Instagram and Threads at @henningo!To learn more about Gentle Hen, visit their website at gentlehen.com or find their music at https://gentlehen.bandcamp.com/.Al is on Bluesky at @almelchior.bsky.social. This show has accounts on Instagram and Threads at @youmealbum. Subscribe for free to You, Me and An Album: The Newsletter! https://youmealbum.substack.com/1:10 Henning joins the show1:37 Henning explains why he chose Skylarking—and not English Settlement—for this episode4:28 Henning and Al talk about the impact Todd Rundgren had on the album7:08 Henning and Al discuss “Dear God”'s eventual placement on Skylarking11:23 Al summarizes his reaction to the album12:10 Henning identifies what makes Skylarking a special album for him15:10 Why did Al have a different reaction to Skylarking than he did to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society?17:23 XTC changed the way that Henning listens to albums22:22 Henning talks about what he likes about XTC's songwriting26:00 Al reveals a pet peeve he has about a certain style of songwriting29:10 All appreciates that Andy Partridge's songwriting has a subtle side31:33 Henning thinks of the album as being divided into chunks33:20 Henning highlights some of his favorite parts of the album40:01 Henning points out a couple of interesting rhythms from Skylarking44:12 Henning and Al talk about the “Dear God” controversy46:08 Henning discusses the vocal similarities of Partridge and Colin Moulding50:02 Al compares the new Gentle Hen album with XTC and Peter Gabriel53:02 Henning talks about how The Whole Point of the Trip developed54:43 When does Henning know it's time for a Gentle Hen album?56:30 Henning talks about his near-term plansOutro is from “Birds of Massachusetts” by Gentle Hen.Support the show

What's your most loved and least favorite song on XTC's Oranges & Lemons album?! In the middle of our so-called hiatus, Jim again chose to rank Swindon's finest by selecting their fine 11th export. We were graced by not one but two guest rankers who witnessed the band recording the album in Los Angeles: Mike Keneally, a former Frank Zappa guitarist who played guitar on one of the album's outtakes and Gary Helsinger, the Green Jello singer and then-Tower Records employee who got to hang with the band at Summa Studios and KROQ's studios during this era. Listen at WeWillRankYouPod.com, Apple, Spotify and your favorite garden of podcast delights. Follow us and weigh in with your favorites on Facebook, Instagram & Threads and Twitter @wewillrankyoupod . Acoustic tour, Across This Antheap, AGAIN?! The Beatles, Boy George, bridge, David Byrne, Chalkhills and Children, Elvis Costello, Cynical Days, Depeche Mode, Dukes of Stratosphear, ecstasy, eighties, fake horns, Paul Fox, Garden of Earthly Delights, Green Jello, Green Jelly, Dave Gregory, Happy Families, Gary Helsinger, Here Comes President Kill Again, Hold Me My Daddy, Mark Isham, Jellyfish, Mike Keneally, King for a Day, KROQ, Jim Laspesa, Love on a Farmboy's Wages, The Loving, Pat Mastelotto, Mayor of Simpleton, Merely a Man, Miniature Sun, Mister Mister, Colin Moulding, musical masturbation, new wave, Ocean Way Studios, Oingo Boingo, One of the Millions, Oranges & Lemons, Andy Partridge, Pink Thing, Poor Skeleton Steps Out, psychedelic rock, Scarecrow People, Science Friction, She's Having A Baby, shillings, sixties, Skylarking, sophisti-pop, Take This Town, They Might Be Giants, Tower Records Sunset, XTC, Frank Zappa, 1989.                US: http://www.WeWillRankYouPod.com wewillrankyoupod@gmail.comhttp://www.facebook.com/WeWillRankYouPodhttp://www.instagram.com/WeWillRankYouPodhttps://www.threads.net/@WeWillRankYouPodhttp://www.twitter.com/WeWillRankYouPo http://www.YourOlderBrother.com(Sam's music page) http://www.YerDoinGreat.com (Adam's music page)https://open.spotify.com/user/dancecarbuzz (Dan's playlists)

XTC Legendary Guitarist Talks Remix Of Classic Album, "The Big Express"#xtc #guitarist #classicalbum #remixalbum #thebigexpress “‘The Big Express' is the closest we ever came to recording a ‘concept' album. It's full of Swindon and deep seams of life there, that run through myself, Colin, and Dave, (Terry too of course). It's populated by members of our families, our hopes and dreams. The things we wished for, or feared, a stew of memories.” – Andy Partridge – excerpted from the book “Popartery”, 2023XTC's seventh album, “The Big Express” was virtually ignored on release, much as its immediate predecessor “Mummer” had been. If “Mummer” was XTC's quiet album, this was its polar opposite: bright, brash, noisy – even cluttered on occasion if the song demanded it – as it became a concept album of sorts, a partly autobiographical reflection on growing up in an industrial town, Swindon, with its history of engineering and railway accomplishments.Perhaps in keeping with that tradition of technical innovation, the album also made extensive use of (at the time) new technology with Linn-Drum programming (alongside drummer Peter Phipps), E-mu Emulator and other synths claiming space among the more traditional guitars, bass and drums mix under-pinning the vocals. This technology was juxtaposed with technology of a slightly earlier pop/rock era as phasing, backwards tapes and the inclusion of a mellotron hinted at a psychedelic influence that would move more center-stage with the band's next project – “The Dukes of Stratosphear”.With XTC no longer touring, the sound radically different to any previous XTC album, in a musical climate where the upper end of the charts reflected national radio, producing the most mainstream result for years: Lionel Richie, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Howard Jones, Tina Turner, Queen – Frank Sinatra's final solo studio album… the space for a metallic, post-punk concept album about growing up amidst the ghosts of Swindon's industrial heritage proved non-existent.Purchase: https://burningshed.com/xtc_the-big-express_cd_blu-rayFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dave.gregory.520/ Thanks for tuning in, please be sure to click that subscribe button and give this a thumbs up!!Email: thevibesbroadcast@gmail.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/listen_to_the_vibes_/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thevibesbroadcastnetworkLinktree: https://linktr.ee/the_vibes_broadcastTikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeuTVRv2/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheVibesBrdcstTruth: https://truthsocial.com/@KoyoteFor all our social media and other links, go to: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_vibes_broadcastPlease subscribe, like, and share!

Legendary XTC frontman Andy Partridge guests on this brand new Fake Show podcast with host Jim Tofte...enjoy!!!

On this week's show, we... spin fresh tracks by Sleater-Kinney & Hurray for the Riff Raff  spend quality with new records from The Mountain Goats, The Gaslight Anthem, A. Savage & Mayer Hawthorne  wish a very happy birthday to Andy Partridge & Neil Young  All this & much, much less! Debts No Honest Man Can Pay started in 2003 at WHFR-FM (Dearborn, MI), moved to WGWG-FM (Boiling Springs, NC) in 2006 & Plaza Midwood Community Radio (Charlotte, NC) in 2012, with a brief pit-stop at WLFM-FM (Appleton, WI) in 2004.ys

Peter Pumpkinhead proclaims that "Any kind of love is alright" and gets nailed to a chunk of wood for saying so. What does that tell us about XTC's attitude to love and human relationships? In particular, how welcoming does this heterosexual band seem to those who aren't heterosexual themselves? This episode of What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast looks at XTC from an LGBTQI+ perspective. Guest host Darryl Bullock is joined by Keeley Moss, Tim Kendrick and Soizic De St John Rosse to talk about everything from The Loving to Towers of London. Music by Tim Pike and Slowrush. Darryl Bullock Keeley 2025 XTC Fans Festival, Friday 20–Sunday 22 June 2025 Slowrush What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Tonight we have a very special episode, Bob and I are joined by the amazing Matthew Smith of the Marvelous Old World YouTube page. Matthew's work on the old world is unparalleled by any other researcher, as he is an architect with a very keen eye bullshit in the architecture narrative. Matthew came on during what must be a very difficult time in his life, but showed us how even battling cancer is all in the eye of the beholder. Special thanks to Negativland for the intro, Peter Blegvand and Andy Partridge with a song reminding us to "love without measure" for the outro. Be sure to send positive thoughts and prayers to Matthew and check out his amazing work at: https://www.youtube.com/@MarvelousOldWorld Follow his amazing round house building on IG: https://www.instagram.com/yurtdesigns And please support him in these difficult time by contributing to his Gofundme: https://gofund.me/66ad1486

It's the 200th episode of Baxie's Musical Podcast! This time we welcome back one of the greatest songwriters alive--Thomas Walsh (formerly of Pugwash and the Duckworth Lewis Method). Thomas has just released his first album in six years---the insanely wonderful "This Rest is History" on Curations Records. Thomas talks about the making of the album, recording at the Abbey Road Studios, and about getting help from people like Joe Elliott from Def Leppard, Michael Penn, Neil Hannon from the Devine Comedy, and Dave Gregory from XTC! The music of Pugwash has been praised by the likes of Brian Wilson, Ray Davies from The Kinks, Jeff Lynne from ELO, and Andy Partridge from XTC. This is an incredibly gifted artist that well deserves your attention! Just amazing! Listen on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, and on the Rock102 website!

It's pretty safe to say Steve Conte has played with everyone. No, really. From the New York Dolls to Bernard Purdie. It's impressive. And now, with his most recent solo work, he's collaborating with Andy Partridge from XTC to make some really wonderful rock music. His most recent single, “Girl with No Name,” is available right now. For more information, check out his website or follow him on Facebook.

The 3 Clubmen is a project comprised of Andy Partridge of the legendary English rock band XTC, Jen Olive and Stu Rowe . They released their eponymous debut EP on June 30, 2023 on Burning Shed Records. The first taste is "Aviatrix," an avant-pop delight offering a strange, seductive blend of experimental pop, jazz and sci-fi cinema excellence.Best known as co-founder of XTC, Andy Partridge is known as the “godfather of Britpop". His most recent solo releases include 'My Failed Songwriting Career, Volumes 1 & 2'. Apart from various XTC re-releases, he also released the 'Planet England' EP with Robyn Hitchcock, the 'Powers' collection of sound pieces, and the 'Gonwards' album with Peter Blegvad, in addition to writing songs for The Monkees, Miles Kane and others.Native to Los Angeles, musician-songwriter Jen Olive has a series of albums to her name, in addition to writing and recording for A&M Records and contributing music to various American Film Institute projects. Her latest solo release was 2022's Stu Rowe-produced single "Two Futures." A key player on Swindon's music scene, Stu Rowe has supported many artists as a guitarist, bassist and producer. Apart from Andy Patridge and Jen Olive, these include Shriekback (Barry Andrews), Paul Weller, Colin Moulding, Future Sound of London (The Amorphous Androgynous), and so much more. https://burningshed.comWatch the interview on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/f-ZVcUvvCRM?si=SRt8OJdP7y47TSWNPlaylist and podcast: https://djnocturna.com QUEEN OF WANDS with DJ Nocturna  Every Saturday on ModSnap Radio KMOD: San Antonio 2pm (HST), 5pm (PST), 6pm (MST), 7pm (CST), 8pm (EST)Listen : http://modsnapradio.com

Steven Wilson, Roland Orzabal, Lucy Rose and Andy Partridge talk about the effect of fan expectations on the creative process, whether the world needs any more new music, and if “retro mania” is stopping rock music from evolving. Born in London and raised in Hemel Hempstead in the UK, Steven Wilson developed an interest in music as a child and was heavily influenced by Pink Floyd. His dad built him a multi-track tape machine when he was 12, which allowed him to start experimenting with sound. He formed two bands in 1986, No Man and Porcupine Tree, both of which came to define much of his career. His music covers everything from rock, to ambient, to electro pop, and he's worked with Elton John, Guns N' Roses, XTC, Pendulum, Yes, Marillion, and Black Sabbath. He's just released his seventh solo album, The Harmony Codex. Roland Orzabal is a British musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and author. He is best known for co-founding of one of the most influential bands from the 80s, Tears for Fears. British singer-songwriter Lucy Rose started out performing with indie act Bombay Bicycle Club before becoming a successful solo artist in her own right. More recently she's worked with Paul Weller, and she's just finished her new album. Andy Partridge is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who, as a founding member of cult rock band XTC, many call the godfather of Britpop.

Season 4, Episode 70Andy Partridge may have disbanded XTC years ago, but that doesn't mean he hasn't kept busy.  On this episode we take a listen to his two EPs, My Failed Songwriting Career, Vol 1 and 2, as well as a side project he's doing entitled The 3 Clubmen. Not to be outdone, Cindy Wilson of the B-52s also has a brand new album called Realms. We'll find out what she's up to now that the B-52s have decided to pack it up. In music news, we have a single from Modern English, more from the collaboration of Lol Tulhurst (The Cure) and Bungie (Siouxsie and the Banshees), OMDs new album and Micky Dolenz giving REM the Monkees treatment.  In addition, we talk about Vice Clark's upcoming solo album and  two EPs from The Ocean Blue. Enjoy the podcast?  How about buying us a cup of coffee? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newwavemusicSupport the show

This week, we kick off our most ambitious series yet – it's the music of New Wave.  We dove deep into the archives for classic interviews that encompass the “twitchy, but tuneful” music of the early ‘80s.  And for this episode, Christopher and Tom welcome former Spoons keyboardist (and Broadway music director) Rob Preuss!  Rob is a New Wave geek who was not only in the middle of the explosion of new music, but he worked with, toured with and talked with some of the biggest names of the genre.  And he has GREAT stories to tell! Among this week's crop of New Wave artists… John Taylor talks about the original formation of Duran Duran and how fashion was an important part of the band's image. Deborah Harry talks about the pushback she got for her onstage image. She also explains the genesis of the song “Rapture” (the first song with rap vocals to go to number 1) The guys from Devo explain how they were once paid 75 dollars to STOP playing their music! And on “When Rock Stars Attack – it's Elvis Costello vs Led Zeppelin… and Andy Partridge of XTC vs Todd Rundgren! Our podcast listeners will hear bonus segments with The Boomtown Rats (Bob Geldof talks about the creation of their biggest hit) and Paul Young (who fights a battle between fame and artistry) So many synths!  So little time!  Enjoy part one of our celebration of New Wave! Special shout-out to our friend Rob Wells, who created a synth-y version of our theme music.  Thanks Rob!  Check out Rob's podcast - "Women In The Music Industry" Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

The Sound Chaser Progressive Rock Podcast is on the air. On the show this time we have new music from Jaymz Dare, an In Memoriam segment honoring drummer John Marshall, plenty of prog from several decades and points around the globe, and the Symphonic Zone. All that plus news of tours and releases on Sound Chaser. Playlist1. String Driven Thing - Starving in the Tropics, from Keep Yer 'and on ItIN MEMORIAM JOHN MARSHALL2. Soft Machine - Hazard Profile Parts 1-4, from BBC Radio: 1971-1974END IN MEMORIAM3. Aera - Jonas Schläft, from Humanum Est4. Magma - Spiritual, from Attahk5. Nektar - Prelude, from Journey to the Centre of the Eye6. Nektar - Astronaut's Nightmare, from Journey to the Centre of the Eye7. Nektar - Countenance, from Journey to the Centre of the Eye8. Nektar - The Nine Lifeless Daughters of the Sun, from Journey to the Centre of the Eye9. Nektar - Warp Oversight, from Journey to the Centre of the Eye10. Nektar - The Dream Nebula Part 1, from Journey to the Centre of the Eye11. The Muffins - Courtesy of Your Focal Interest Span, from Chronometers12. The Muffins - Please Do Not Open Dr. Fischer, from Chronometers13. Pink Floyd - Let There Be More Light, from A Saucerful of Secrets14. Ramases - Life Child, from Space HymnsTHE SYMPHONIC ZONE15. The Moody Blues - Higher and Higher, from To Our Children's Children's Children16. The Moody Blues - Eyes of a Child I, from To Our Children's Children's Children17. The Moody Blues - Floating, from To Our Children's Children's Children18. The Moody Blues - Eyes of a Child II, from To Our Children's Children's Children19. The Moody Blues - I Never Thought I'd Live to Be a Hundred, from To Our Children's Children's Children20. Sky - Fayre, from "cadmium..."21. Thieves' Kitchen - The Voice of the Lar, from Genius Loci22. Strawbs - The Reckoning, from The Ferryman's Curse23. Strawbs - The Ferryman's Curse, from The Ferryman's Curse24. IQ - Merry Xmas Everybody, from Tales from a Dark Christmas25. La Maschera di Cera - Viaggio Nell'oceano Capovolto Parte 2, from Il Grande LabirintoLEAVING THE SYMPHONIC ZONE26. Jaymz Dare - Gravitate, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1hmJf-mCRk27. Wendy Carlos - Iapetus, from Digital Moonscapes28. Mike Dickson - Vortex, from Six Consequences29. John Abercrombie Quartet - Blue Wolf, from Abercrombie Quartet30. Midnight Sun - B.M., from Midnight Sun31. Frank Zappa - The Illinois Enema Bandit, from Zappa in New York32. Obscured by Clouds - Faiths' Soul, from Psycheclectic33. Andy Partridge & Harold Budd - Hand 22, from Through the Hill34. Mabel Greer's Toyshop - Images of You and Me, from New Way of Life35. The Kentish Spires - The Long Goodbye, from Sprezzatura

Baxie talks to graphic artist Aaron Tanner from Melodic Virtue Publishing. Aaron's an incredibly talented artist who has compiled the second volume in a series of coffee table books celebrating The Residents, “A Sight for Sore Eyes, Vol. 2”. This is a band that has spent the last 50 years as perhaps the most mysterious and visually astonishing band in recorded history. This is an incredible story about how Aaron was given unprecedented access to the members and visual archives of a band that has NEVER publicly revealed their identities. He also talks about how he was able to obtain stories and quotes from some The Residents biggest fans like Les Claypool of Primus, Andy Partridge from XTC, Penn Gillette, Danny Elfman, Devo, Weird Al, the late Paul Ruebens, and dozens more. Coming soon to every podcast platform in the universe and to the Rock102 website. Brought to you by Z&M Home Buyers!

Steve Conte Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson What a great time, as always, when old pal Steve Conte sits down to chat and sing. That voice! Those songs! The stories! Steve played his latest Coolest Song in the World, Fourth of July, co-written with Andy Partridge of XTC, which was a dream come true for Steve and anyone fortunate enough to hear it. He opened the show with that tune, and then almost at the close, after hearing the back story of his admiration, their meeting, growing friendship, and how it bloomed into co-writing 5 of the songs on Steve's upcoming LP coming soon from Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records, and the particulars of this one in particular, after a bit of coaxing, we got to hear it again, with new meaning and appreciation. It's not oft such an opportunity presents. Worthy. And rockin' fun! Steve, who started out on drums, courtesy of his obsession with The Beatles, and Ringo, had a couple of great tales about that, how he switched to guitar, bouncing brother John to bass, exactly where his gift belonged, Steve's first album, first concert, and how that led to his greatest onstage experience. No spoilers here… Nor to his second, third, well, his top five. Suffice it to say, he covered playing with Chuck Berry, singing with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle, the Everly Brothers, opening for Alice Cooper, getting huge gigs without auditions… joining The New York Dolls, and Michael Monroe, whom after 13 years, he still tours with today, being produced by Todd Rundgren… and the songs that keep pouring out of him, many of which have garnered Coolest Song in the World on Little Steven's Underground Garage. Steve Conte is one of the coolest guys in the world, with one of the greatest rock voices I've ever heard. Steve was a rotating regular at every club I booked and was part of my After Midnight Rock Jam for years. I just can't get enough. Fortunately, I don't have to, and neither do you. For all things Conte, including his latest single go to: https://stevecontemusic.com/ You can check out his latest Coolest Song in the World here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6PB0I5jkLg&ab_channel=SteveConteNYC Steve Conte Live on Game Changers with Vicki Abelson Wednesday, Sept 6th, 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET Streamed Live on my Facebook Replay here: https://bit.ly/48ifSWb

Chris Braide, one of the most successful songwriters of his generation, talks to What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast about his collaborations with Andy Partridge, including Goodbye to You (Sister Shame) on Celestial Songs, the latest album by the Downes Braide Association, and the six-track Queen of the Planet Wow! EP expected out in 2024.Chris BraideMusic courtesy of Chris Carry What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

“Dynamic, Kinetic and Unexpected” So a quick introduction to the principal members of the 3 Clubmen will give you a foundational understanding of what this band is all about. Or will it? It won't, because their sound is so unexpected and fresh and inventive, that a little background can't prepare you for what they sound like, but introductions are part of our job, so let's get that out of the way. Andy Partridge is one of the greatest songwriters to ever walk the planet. His work with XTC pretty much cements that statement, but his work outside of XTC with Robyn Hitchcock and Martin Newell just give further evidence that Partridge is a first-rate talent whose discography is comprised of classic upon classic. The Swindon-Based producer/musician and Professor Stu Rowe has played with everyone from Paul Weller to Future Sound Of London to Shriekback and the L.A.-born Jen Olive has an extensive resume, including writing and recording for A&M Records, putting out her own albums and contributing music to various American Film Institute projects. Okay, so what about the 3 Clubmen? Well, the 3 Clubmen are an energizing and kinetic blend of experimental pop, jagged and racing percussion, bent jazz and inventive production. What does this add up to? Putting it simply, one of the most refreshing EPs of the year. Or, any year. This self-titled four song effort is filled with the unexpected and it keeps delivering pop surprise after pop surprise. The sonic angles of The 3 Clubmen are sharp and dynamic and although the arrangements are textured blasts of idiosyncratic beats and rhythms, there's a shimmering pop center to these songs that makes them utterly irresistible. We feel the same way about this chat. The 3 Clubmen: Instagram: @the3clubmen https://burningshed.com/the-3-clubmen_the-3-clubmen-ep_cd Stereo Embers Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.embersarts.com www.bombshellradio.com

As Steve Conte releases his Fourth of July single, the guitarist and singer talks about writing songs with his XTC hero, joining the New York Dolls and playing on stage with Chuck Berry. He also gives tantalising pointers to his forthcoming album of co-writes with Andy Partridge. This episode of What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast also includes comments from Andy Partridge himself, plus sad news about Ian C Stewart. Music courtesy of Don Kerr and Communism. Steve Conte Limited edition Fourth of July on 7" blue vinyl Communism XTC fan tribute compilations by the late Ian C Stewart: https://archive.org/details/TheXtcFansTribute-Skylacking https://archive.org/details/TheXtcFansTribute-ObsceneCollection https://archive.org/details/TheXtcFansTribute-BeastsIveSeen/ What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

On this week's show, we...  spend quality time with new records from Protomartyr, Bettye Lavette & Queens of the Stone Age  spin fresh tracks from Lydia Loveless, Dawes & Wille Nelson  celebrate Independence Day with even more musical fireworks from X & Laura Veirs  All this & much, much less! Debts No Honest Man Can Pay started in 2003 at WHFR-FM (Dearborn, MI), moved to WGWG-FM (Boiling Springs, NC) in 2006 & Plaza Midwood Community Radio (Charlotte, NC) in 2012, with a brief pit-stop at WLFM-FM (Appleton, WI) in 2004.

Andy Partridge and Stu Rowe have been working together  since the recording of Monstrance in 2006. Andy then produced Jen Olive's album Warm Robot in 2009 and Stu produced Jen's album The Breaks in 2013. Somewhere in between all that they laid down a series of  improvisatory ideas that have become The 3 Clubmen EP. In this third episode, XTC's Andy Partridge talks about the unexpected joys of collaboration, the secret origins of Meccanik Dancing and his latest songwriting partnerships. The 3 Clubmen EP is released 30 June 2023 and available from Burning Shed  The 3 Clubmen  Stu Rowe  Jen Olive  Andy Partridge's Ape House on Burning Shed  Music courtesy of Mario Rodríguez Centeno, from La Jvnta  What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Tomorrow's exceptionally entertaining episode of Electronically Yours features a legendary artist from the post-punk era Andy Partridge. As a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer he founded the rock band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Andy writing and singing about two-thirds of the group's material. His many and varied coillaborations include Peter Blegvad, Harold Budd and Robyn Hitchcock. He also runs his own label APE House, and beyond music, he is a graphic illustrator, toy soldier hobbyist, and designer of board games. Ladies and gentlemen, get your senses working overtime, sometimes known as the Godfather of Britpop, XTC's Andy Partridge... If you can, please support the Electronically Yours podcast via my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/electronicallyours

Ten years ago Stu Rowe, Jen Olive and XTC's Andy Partridge started working on material which, after all these years, is finally – and gloriously seeing the light of day. To celebrate the arrival of The 3 Clubmen, we're talking to each of the brilliant musicians in turn. This week, Jen Olive talks about the genesis of the 3 Clubmen EP as well as working with Andy Partridge on her album Warm Robot and with Stu Rowe on The Breaks. The 3 Clubmen EP is released 30 June 2023 and available from Burning Shed https://burningshed.com/the-3-clubmen_the-3-clubmen-ep_cd The 3 Clubmen https://www.facebook.com/the3clubmen Stu Rowe https://www.facebook.com/stu.rowe.3 Jen Olive https://www.facebook.com/jen.olive.5 Andy Partridge's Ape House on Burning Shed https://burningshed.com/store/ape Music courtesy of Mark Sander and Cone of Silence whose album Sixty-Grit Sandpaper and Other Delights can be streamed on major platforms including Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/2NScWtLyNgLkSzsOddYCCC What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

It's the music we've been awaiting for a decade – and now it's out! Stu Rowe, Jen Olive and Andy Partridge have gone public with The 3 Clubmen and their very wonderful eponymous four-track EP is released at the end of June. But with three such gifted musicians to choose from, what's a humble podcaster to do? There can be only one answer: three weekly podcasts!In the first episode, Stu Rowe talks about working with XTC's Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Terry Chambers, Barry Andrews and Dave Gregory, as well as Jen Olive and most musicians in Swindon.The 3 Clubmen EP is released 30 June 2023 and available from Burning Shed https://burningshed.com/the-3-clubmen_the-3-clubmen-ep_cd The 3 Clubmen https://www.facebook.com/the3clubmen Stu Rowe https://www.facebook.com/stu.rowe.3 Jen Olive https://www.facebook.com/jen.olive.5 Andy Partridge's Ape House on Burning Shed https://burningshed.com/store/ape  Music courtesy of Joel Bell https://soundcloud.com/joel-bell-4/sets/limelight-fuzzy-warbles-for-mark-f What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com  If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Episode 162 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Daydream Believer", and the later career of the Monkees, and how four Pinocchios became real boys. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud this time, as even after splitting it into multiple files, there are simply too many Monkees tracks excerpted. The best versions of the Monkees albums are the triple-CD super-deluxe versions that used to be available from monkees.com , and I've used Andrew Sandoval's liner notes for them extensively in this episode. Sadly, though, none of those are in print. However, at the time of writing there is a new four-CD super-deluxe box set of Headquarters (with a remixed version of the album rather than the original mixes I've excerpted here) available from that site, and I used the liner notes for that here. Monkees.com also currently has the intermittently-available BluRay box set of the entire Monkees TV series, which also has Head and 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. For those just getting into the group, my advice is to start with this five-CD set, which contains their first five albums along with bonus tracks. The single biggest source of information I used in this episode is the first edition of Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees; The Day-By-Day Story. Sadly that is now out of print and goes for hundreds of pounds. Sandoval released a second edition of the book in 2021, which I was unfortunately unable to obtain, but that too is now out of print. If you can find a copy of either, do get one. Other sources used were Monkee Business by Eric Lefcowitz, and the autobiographies of three of the band members and one of the songwriters — Infinite Tuesday by Michael Nesmith, They Made a Monkee Out of Me by Davy Jones, I'm a Believer by Micky Dolenz, and Psychedelic Bubble-Gum by Bobby Hart. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript When we left the Monkees, they were in a state of flux. To recap what we covered in that episode, the Monkees were originally cast as actors in a TV show, and consisted of two actors with some singing ability -- the former child stars Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz -- and two musicians who were also competent comic actors, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork.  The show was about a fictional band whose characters shared names with their actors, and there had quickly been two big hit singles, and two hit albums, taken from the music recorded for the TV show's soundtrack. But this had caused problems for the actors. The records were being promoted as being by the fictional group in the TV series, blurring the line between the TV show and reality, though in fact for the most part they were being made by session musicians with only Dolenz or Jones adding lead vocals to pre-recorded backing tracks. Dolenz and Jones were fine with this, but Nesmith, who had been allowed to write and produce a few album tracks himself, wanted more creative input, and more importantly felt that he was being asked to be complicit in fraud because the records credited the four Monkees as the musicians when (other than a tiny bit of inaudible rhythm guitar by Tork on a couple of Nesmith's tracks) none of them played on them. Tork, meanwhile, believed he had been promised that the group would be an actual group -- that they would all be playing on the records together -- and felt hurt and annoyed that this wasn't the case. They were by now playing live together to promote the series and the records, with Dolenz turning out to be a perfectly competent drummer, so surely they could do the same in the studio? So in January 1967, things came to a head. It's actually quite difficult to sort out exactly what happened, because of conflicting recollections and opinions. What follows is my best attempt to harmonise the different versions of the story into one coherent narrative, but be aware that I could be wrong in some of the details. Nesmith and Tork, who disliked each other in most respects, were both agreed that this couldn't continue and that if there were going to be Monkees records released at all, they were going to have the Monkees playing on them. Dolenz, who seems to have been the one member of the group that everyone could get along with, didn't really care but went along with them for the sake of group harmony. And Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the production team behind the series, also took Nesmith and Tork's side, through a general love of mischief. But on the other side was Don Kirshner, the music publisher who was in charge of supervising the music for the TV show. Kirshner was adamantly, angrily, opposed to the very idea of the group members having any input at all into how the records were made. He considered that they should be grateful for the huge pay cheques they were getting from records his staff writers and producers were making for them, and stop whinging. And Davy Jones was somewhere in the middle. He wanted to support his co-stars, who he genuinely liked, but also, he was a working actor, he'd had other roles before, he'd have other roles afterwards, and as a working actor you do what you're told if you don't want to lose the job you've got. Jones had grown up in very severe poverty, and had been his family's breadwinner from his early teens, and artistic integrity is all very nice, but not as nice as a cheque for a quarter of a million dollars. Although that might be slightly unfair -- it might be fairer to say that artistic integrity has a different meaning to someone like Jones, coming from musical theatre and a tradition of "the show must go on", than it does to people like Nesmith and Tork who had come up through the folk clubs. Jones' attitude may also have been affected by the fact that his character in the TV show didn't play an instrument other than the occasional tambourine or maracas. The other three were having to mime instrumental parts they hadn't played, and to reproduce them on stage, but Jones didn't have that particular disadvantage. Bert Schneider, one of the TV show's producers, encouraged the group to go into the recording studio themselves, with a producer of their choice, and cut a couple of tracks to prove what they could do. Michael Nesmith, who at this point was the one who was most adamant about taking control of the music, chose Chip Douglas to produce. Douglas was someone that Nesmith had known a little while, as they'd both played the folk circuit -- in Douglas' case as a member of the Modern Folk Quartet -- but Douglas had recently joined the Turtles as their new bass player. At this point, Douglas had never officially produced a record, but he was a gifted arranger, and had just arranged the Turtles' latest single, which had just been released and was starting to climb the charts: [Excerpt: The Turtles, "Happy Together"] Douglas quit the Turtles to work with the Monkees, and took the group into the studio to cut two demo backing tracks for a potential single as a proof of concept. These initial sessions didn't have any vocals, but featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on piano, Dolenz on drums, Jones on tambourine, and an unknown bass player -- possibly Douglas himself, possibly Nesmith's friend John London, who he'd played with in Mike and John and Bill. They cut rough tracks of two songs, "All of Your Toys", by another friend of Nesmith's, Bill Martin, and Nesmith's "The Girl I Knew Somewhere": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (Gold Star Demo)"] Those tracks were very rough and ready -- they were garage-band tracks rather than the professional studio recordings that the Candy Store Prophets or Jeff Barry's New York session players had provided for the previous singles -- but they were competent in the studio, thanks largely to Chip Douglas' steadying influence. As Douglas later said "They could hardly play. Mike could play adequate rhythm guitar. Pete could play piano but he'd make mistakes, and Micky's time on drums was erratic. He'd speed up or slow down." But the takes they managed to get down showed that they *could* do it. Rafelson and Schneider agreed with them that the Monkees could make a single together, and start recording at least some of their own tracks. So the group went back into the studio, with Douglas producing -- and with Lester Sill from the music publishers there to supervise -- and cut finished versions of the two songs. This time the lineup was Nesmith on guitar, Tork on electric harpsichord -- Tork had always been a fan of Bach, and would in later years perform Bach pieces as his solo spot in Monkees shows -- Dolenz on drums, London on bass, and Jones on tambourine: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (first recorded version)"] But while this was happening, Kirshner had been trying to get new Monkees material recorded without them -- he'd not yet agreed to having the group play on their own records. Three days after the sessions for "All of Your Toys" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", sessions started in New York for an entire album's worth of new material, produced by Jeff Barry and Denny Randell, and largely made by the same Red Bird Records team who had made "I'm a Believer" -- the same musicians who in various combinations had played on everything from "Sherry" by the Four Seasons to "Like a Rolling Stone" by Dylan to "Leader of the Pack", and with songs by Neil Diamond, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Leiber and Stoller, and the rest of the team of songwriters around Red Bird. But at this point came the meeting we talked about towards the end of the "Last Train to Clarksville" episode, in which Nesmith punched a hole in a hotel wall in frustration at what he saw as Kirshner's obstinacy. Kirshner didn't want to listen to the recordings the group had made. He'd promised Jeff Barry and Neil Diamond that if "I'm a Believer" went to number one, Barry would get to produce, and Diamond write, the group's next single. Chip Douglas wasn't a recognised producer, and he'd made this commitment. But the group needed a new single out. A compromise was offered, of sorts, by Kirshner -- how about if Barry flew over from New York to LA to produce the group, they'd scrap the tracks both the group and Barry had recorded, and Barry would produce new tracks for the songs he'd recorded, with the group playing on them? But that wouldn't work either. The group members were all due to go on holiday -- three of them were going to make staggered trips to the UK, partly to promote the TV series, which was just starting over here, and partly just to have a break. They'd been working sixty-plus hour weeks for months between the TV series, live performances, and the recording studio, and they were basically falling-down tired, which was one of the reasons for Nesmith's outburst in the meeting. They weren't accomplished enough musicians to cut tracks quickly, and they *needed* the break. On top of that, Nesmith and Barry had had a major falling-out at the "I'm a Believer" session, and Nesmith considered it a matter of personal integrity that he couldn't work with a man who in his eyes had insulted his professionalism. So that was out, but there was also no way Kirshner was going to let the group release a single consisting of two songs he hadn't heard, produced by a producer with no track record. At first, the group were insistent that "All of Your Toys" should be the A-side for their next single: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "All Of Your Toys"] But there was an actual problem with that which they hadn't foreseen. Bill Martin, who wrote the song, was under contract to another music publisher, and the Monkees' contracts said they needed to only record songs published by Screen Gems. Eventually, it was Micky Dolenz who managed to cut the Gordian knot -- or so everyone thought. Dolenz was the one who had the least at stake of any of them -- he was already secure as the voice of the hits, he had no particular desire to be an instrumentalist, but he wanted to support his colleagues. Dolenz suggested that it would be a reasonable compromise to put out a single with one of the pre-recorded backing tracks on one side, with him or Jones singing, and with the version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" that the band had recorded together on the other. That way, Kirshner and the record label would get their new single without too much delay, the group would still be able to say they'd started recording their own tracks, everyone would get some of what they wanted. So it was agreed -- though there was a further stipulation. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" had Nesmith singing lead vocals, and up to that point every Monkees single had featured Dolenz on lead on both sides. As far as Kirshner and the other people involved in making the release decisions were concerned, that was the way things were going to continue. Everyone was fine with this -- Nesmith, the one who was most likely to object in principle, in practice realised that having Dolenz sing his song would make it more likely to be played on the radio and used in the TV show, and so increase his royalties. A vocal session was arranged in New York for Dolenz and Jones to come and cut some vocal tracks right before Dolenz and Nesmith flew over to the UK. But in the meantime, it had become even more urgent for the group to be seen to be doing their own recording. An in-depth article on the group in the Saturday Evening Post had come out, quoting Nesmith as saying "It was what Kirshner wanted to do. Our records are not our forte. I don't care if we never sell another record. Maybe we were manufactured and put on the air strictly with a lot of hoopla. Tell the world we're synthetic because, damn it, we are. Tell them the Monkees are wholly man-made overnight, that millions of dollars have been poured into this thing. Tell the world we don't record our own music. But that's us they see on television. The show is really a part of us. They're not seeing something invalid." The press immediately jumped on the band, and started trying to portray them as con artists exploiting their teenage fans, though as Nesmith later said "The press decided they were going to unload on us as being somehow illegitimate, somehow false. That we were making an attempt to dupe the public, when in fact it was me that was making the attempt to maintain the integrity. So the press went into a full-scale war against us." Tork, on the other hand, while he and Nesmith were on the same side about the band making their own records, blamed Nesmith for much of the press reaction, later saying "Michael blew the whistle on us. If he had gone in there with pride and said 'We are what we are and we have no reason to hang our heads in shame' it never would have happened." So as far as the group were concerned, they *needed* to at least go with Dolenz's suggested compromise. Their personal reputations were on the line. When Dolenz arrived at the session in New York, he was expecting to be asked to cut one vocal track, for the A-side of the next single (and presumably a new lead vocal for "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"). When he got there, though, he found that Kirshner expected him to record several vocals so that Kirshner could choose the best. That wasn't what had been agreed, and so Dolenz flat-out refused to record anything at all. Luckily for Kirshner, Jones -- who was the most co-operative member of the band -- was willing to sing a handful of songs intended for Dolenz as well as the ones he was meant to sing. So the tape of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", the song intended for the next single, was slowed down so it would be in a suitable key for Jones instead, and he recorded the vocal for that: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"] Incidentally, while Jones recorded vocals for several more tracks at the session -- and some would later be reused as album tracks a few years down the line -- not all of the recorded tracks were used for vocals, and this later gave rise to a rumour that has been repeated as fact by almost everyone involved, though it was a misunderstanding. Kirshner's next major success after the Monkees was another made-for-TV fictional band, the Archies, and their biggest hit was "Sugar Sugar", co-written and produced by Jeff Barry: [Excerpt: The Archies, "Sugar Sugar"] Both Kirshner and the Monkees have always claimed that the Monkees were offered "Sugar, Sugar" and turned it down. To Kirshner the moral of the story was that since "Sugar, Sugar" was a massive hit, it proved his instincts right and proved that the Monkees didn't know what would make a hit. To the Monkees, on the other hand, it showed that Kirshner wanted them to do bubblegum music that they considered ridiculous. This became such an established factoid that Dolenz regularly tells the story in his live performances, and includes a version of "Sugar, Sugar" in them, rearranged as almost a torch song: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Sugar, Sugar (live)"] But in fact, "Sugar, Sugar" wasn't written until long after Kirshner and the Monkees had parted ways. But one of the songs for which a backing track was recorded but no vocals were ever completed was "Sugar Man", a song by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer, which they would later release themselves as an unsuccessful single: [Excerpt: Linzer and Randell, "Sugar Man"] Over the years, the Monkees not recording "Sugar Man" became the Monkees not recording "Sugar, Sugar". Meanwhile, Dolenz and Nesmith had flown over to the UK to do some promotional work and relax, and Jones soon also flew over, though didn't hang out with his bandmates, preferring to spend more time with his family. Both Dolenz and Nesmith spent a lot of time hanging out with British pop stars, and were pleased to find that despite the manufactured controversy about them being a manufactured group, none of the British musicians they admired seemed to care. Eric Burdon, for example, was quoted in the Melody Maker as saying "They make very good records, I can't understand how people get upset about them. You've got to make up your minds whether a group is a record production group or one that makes live appearances. For example, I like to hear a Phil Spector record and I don't worry if it's the Ronettes or Ike and Tina Turner... I like the Monkees record as a grand record, no matter how people scream. So somebody made a record and they don't play, so what? Just enjoy the record." Similarly, the Beatles were admirers of the Monkees, especially the TV show, despite being expected to have a negative opinion of them, as you can hear in this contemporary recording of Paul McCartney answering a fan's questions: Excerpt: Paul McCartney talks about the Monkees] Both Dolenz and Nesmith hung out with the Beatles quite a bit -- they both visited Sgt. Pepper recording sessions, and if you watch the film footage of the orchestral overdubs for "A Day in the Life", Nesmith is there with all the other stars of the period. Nesmith and his wife Phyllis even stayed with the Lennons for a couple of days, though Cynthia Lennon seems to have thought of the Nesmiths as annoying intruders who had been invited out of politeness and not realised they weren't wanted. That seems plausible, but at the same time, John Lennon doesn't seem the kind of person to not make his feelings known, and Michael Nesmith's reports of the few days they stayed there seem to describe a very memorable experience, where after some initial awkwardness he developed a bond with Lennon, particularly once he saw that Lennon was a fan of Captain Beefheart, who was a friend of Nesmith, and whose Safe as Milk album Lennon was examining when Nesmith turned up, and whose music at this point bore a lot of resemblance to the kind of thing Nesmith was doing: [Excerpt: Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, "Yellow Brick Road"] Or at least, that's how Nesmith always told the story later -- though Safe as Milk didn't come out until nearly six months later. It's possible he's conflating memories from a later trip to the UK in June that year -- where he also talked about how Lennon was the only person he'd really got on with on the previous trip, because "he's a compassionate person. I know he has a reputation for being caustic, but it is only a cover for the depth of his feeling." Nesmith and Lennon apparently made some experimental music together during the brief stay, with Nesmith being impressed by Lennon's Mellotron and later getting one himself. Dolenz, meanwhile, was spending more time with Paul McCartney, and with Spencer Davis of his current favourite band The Spencer Davis Group. But even more than that he was spending a lot of time with Samantha Juste, a model and TV presenter whose job it was to play the records on Top of the Pops, the most important British TV pop show, and who had released a record herself a couple of months earlier, though it hadn't been a success: [Excerpt: Samantha Juste, "No-one Needs My Love Today"] The two quickly fell deeply in love, and Juste would become Dolenz's first wife the next year. When Nesmith and Dolenz arrived back in the US after their time off, they thought the plan was still to release "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" with "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" on the B-side. So Nesmith was horrified to hear on the radio what the announcer said were the two sides of the new Monkees single -- "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", and "She Hangs Out", another song from the Jeff Barry sessions with a Davy vocal. Don Kirshner had gone ahead and picked two songs from the Jeff Barry sessions and delivered them to RCA Records, who had put a single out in Canada. The single was very, *very* quickly withdrawn once the Monkees and the TV producers found out, and only promo copies seem to circulate -- rather than being credited to "the Monkees", both sides are credited to '"My Favourite Monkee" Davy Jones Sings'. The record had been withdrawn, but "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" was clearly going to have to be the single. Three days after the record was released and pulled, Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork were back in the studio with Chip Douglas, recording a new B-side -- a new version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", this time with Dolenz on vocals. As Jones was still in the UK, John London added the tambourine part as well as the bass: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] As Nesmith told the story a couple of months later, "Bert said 'You've got to get this thing in Micky's key for Micky to sing it.' I said 'Has Donnie made a commitment? I don't want to go there and break my neck in order to get this thing if Donnie hasn't made a commitment. And Bert refused to say anything. He said 'I can't tell you anything except just go and record.'" What had happened was that the people at Columbia had had enough of Kirshner. As far as Rafelson and Schneider were concerned, the real problem in all this was that Kirshner had been making public statements taking all the credit for the Monkees' success and casting himself as the puppetmaster. They thought this was disrespectful to the performers -- and unstated but probably part of it, that it was disrespectful to Rafelson and Schneider for their work putting the TV show together -- and that Kirshner had allowed his ego to take over. Things like the liner notes for More of the Monkees which made Kirshner and his stable of writers more important than the performers had, in the view of the people at Raybert Productions, put the Monkees in an impossible position and forced them to push back. Schneider later said "Kirshner had an ego that transcended everything else. As a matter of fact, the press issue was probably magnified a hundred times over because of Kirshner. He wanted everybody thinking 'Hey, he's doing all this, not them.' In the end it was very self-destructive because it heightened the whole press issue and it made them feel lousy." Kirshner was out of a job, first as the supervisor for the Monkees and then as the head of Columbia/Screen Gems Music. In his place came Lester Sill, the man who had got Leiber and Stoller together as songwriters, who had been Lee Hazelwood's production partner on his early records with Duane Eddy, and who had been the "Les" in Philles Records until Phil Spector pushed him out. Sill, unlike Kirshner, was someone who was willing to take a back seat and just be a steadying hand where needed. The reissued version of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" went to number two on the charts, behind "Somethin' Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra, produced by Sill's old colleague Hazelwood, and the B-side, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", also charted separately, making number thirty-nine on the charts. The Monkees finally had a hit that they'd written and recorded by themselves. Pinocchio had become a real boy: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] At the same session at which they'd recorded that track, the Monkees had recorded another Nesmith song, "Sunny Girlfriend", and that became the first song to be included on a new album, which would eventually be named Headquarters, and on which all the guitar, keyboard, drums, percussion, banjo, pedal steel, and backing vocal parts would for the first time be performed by the Monkees themselves. They brought in horn and string players on a couple of tracks, and the bass was variously played by John London, Chip Douglas, and Jerry Yester as Tork was more comfortable on keyboards and guitar than bass, but it was in essence a full band album. Jones got back the next day, and sessions began in earnest. The first song they recorded after his return was "Mr. Webster", a Boyce and Hart song that had been recorded with the Candy Store Prophets in 1966 but hadn't been released. This was one of three tracks on the album that were rerecordings of earlier outtakes, and it's fascinating to compare them, to see the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches. In the case of "Mr. Webster", the instrumental backing on the earlier version is definitely slicker: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (1st Recorded Version)"] But at the same time, there's a sense of dynamics in the group recording that's lacking from the original, like the backing dropping out totally on the word "Stop" -- a nice touch that isn't in the original. I am only speculating, but this may have been inspired by the similar emphasis on the word "stop" in "For What It's Worth" by Tork's old friend Stephen Stills: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (album version)"] Headquarters was a group album in another way though -- for the first time, Tork and Dolenz were bringing in songs they'd written -- Nesmith of course had supplied songs already for the two previous albums. Jones didn't write any songs himself yet, though he'd start on the next album, but he was credited with the rest of the group on two joke tracks, "Band 6", a jam on the Merrie Melodies theme “Merrily We Roll Along”, and "Zilch", a track made up of the four band members repeating nonsense phrases: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Zilch"] Oddly, that track had a rather wider cultural resonance than a piece of novelty joke album filler normally would. It's sometimes covered live by They Might Be Giants: [Excerpt: They Might Be Giants, "Zilch"] While the rapper Del Tha Funkee Homosapien had a worldwide hit in 1991 with "Mistadobalina", built around a sample of Peter Tork from the track: [Excerpt: Del Tha Funkee Homosapien,"Mistadobalina"] Nesmith contributed three songs, all of them combining Beatles-style pop music and country influences, none more blatantly than the opening track, "You Told Me", which starts off parodying the opening of "Taxman", before going into some furious banjo-picking from Tork: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "You Told Me"] Tork, meanwhile, wrote "For Pete's Sake" with his flatmate of the time, and that became the end credits music for season two of the TV series: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake"] But while the other band members made important contributions, the track on the album that became most popular was the first song of Dolenz's to be recorded by the group. The lyrics recounted, in a semi-psychedelic manner, Dolenz's time in the UK, including meeting with the Beatles, who the song refers to as "the four kings of EMI", but the first verse is all about his new girlfriend Samantha Juste: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The song was released as a single in the UK, but there was a snag. Dolenz had given the song a title he'd heard on an episode of the BBC sitcom Til Death Us Do Part, which he'd found an amusing bit of British slang. Til Death Us Do Part was written by Johnny Speight, a writer with Associated London Scripts, and was a family sitcom based around the character of Alf Garnett, an ignorant, foul-mouthed reactionary bigot who hated young people, socialists, and every form of minority, especially Black people (who he would address by various slurs I'm definitely not going to repeat here), and was permanently angry at the world and abusive to his wife. As with another great sitcom from ALS, Steptoe and Son, which Norman Lear adapted for the US as Sanford and Son, Til Death Us Do Part was also adapted by Lear, and became All in the Family. But while Archie Bunker, the character based on Garnett in the US version, has some redeeming qualities because of the nature of US network sitcom, Alf Garnett has absolutely none, and is as purely unpleasant and unsympathetic a character as has ever been created -- which sadly didn't stop a section of the audience from taking him as a character to be emulated. A big part of the show's dynamic was the relationship between Garnett and his socialist son-in-law from Liverpool, played by Anthony Booth, himself a Liverpudlian socialist who would later have a similarly contentious relationship with his own decidedly non-socialist son-in-law, the future Prime Minister Tony Blair. Garnett was as close to foul-mouthed as was possible on British TV at the time, with Speight regularly negotiating with the BBC bosses to be allowed to use terms that were not otherwise heard on TV, and used various offensive terms about his family, including referring to his son-in-law as a "randy Scouse git". Dolenz had heard the phrase on TV, had no idea what it meant but loved the sound of it, and gave the song that title. But when the record came out in the UK, he was baffled to be told that the phrase -- which he'd picked up from a BBC TV show, after all -- couldn't be said normally on BBC broadcasts, so they would need to retitle the track. The translation into American English that Dolenz uses in his live shows to explain this to Americans is to say that "randy Scouse git" means "horny Liverpudlian putz", and that's more or less right. Dolenz took the need for an alternative title literally, and so the track that went to number two in the UK charts was titled "Alternate Title": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The album itself went to number one in both the US and the UK, though it was pushed off the top spot almost straight away by the release of Sgt Pepper. As sessions for Headquarters were finishing up, the group were already starting to think about their next album -- season two of the TV show was now in production, and they'd need to keep generating yet more musical material for it. One person they turned to was a friend of Chip Douglas'. Before the Turtles, Douglas had been in the Modern Folk Quartet, and they'd recorded "This Could Be the Night", which had been written for them by Harry Nilsson: [Excerpt: The MFQ, "This Could Be The Night"] Nilsson had just started recording his first solo album proper, at RCA Studios, the same studios that the Monkees were using. At this point, Nilsson still had a full-time job in a bank, working a night shift there while working on his album during the day, but Douglas knew that Nilsson was a major talent, and that assessment was soon shared by the group when Nilsson came in to demo nine of his songs for them: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "1941 (demo)"] According to Nilsson, Nesmith said after that demo session "You just sat down there and blew our minds. We've been looking for songs, and you just sat down and played an *album* for us!" While the Monkees would attempt a few of Nilsson's songs over the next year or so, the first one they chose to complete was the first track recorded for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones, Ltd., a song which from the talkback at the beginning of the demo was always intended for Davy Jones to sing: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "Cuddly Toy (demo)"] Oddly, given his romantic idol persona, a lot of the songs given to Jones to sing were anti-romantic, and often had a cynical and misogynistic edge. This had started with the first album's "I Want to Be Free", but by Pisces, it had gone to ridiculous extremes. Of the four songs Jones sings on the album, "Hard to Believe", the first song proper that he ever co-wrote, is a straightforward love  song, but the other three have a nasty edge to them. A remade version of Jeff Barry's "She Hangs Out" is about an underaged girl, starts with the lines "How old d'you say your sister was? You know you'd better keep an eye on her" and contains lines like "she could teach you a thing or two" and "you'd better get down here on the double/before she gets her pretty little self in trouble/She's so fine". Goffin and King's "Star Collector" is worse, a song about a groupie with lines like "How can I love her, if I just don't respect her?" and "It won't take much time, before I get her off my mind" But as is so often the way, these rather nasty messages were wrapped up in some incredibly catchy music, and that was even more the case with "Cuddly Toy", a song which at least is more overtly unpleasant -- it's very obvious that Nilsson doesn't intend the protagonist of the song to be at all sympathetic, which is possibly not the case in "She Hangs Out" or "Star Collector". But the character Jones is singing is *viciously* cruel here, mocking and taunting a girl who he's coaxed to have sex with him, only to scorn her as soon as he's got what he wanted: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Cuddly Toy"] It's a great song if you like the cruelest of humour combined with the cheeriest of music, and the royalties from the song allowed Nilsson to quit the job at the bank. "Cuddly Toy", and Chip Douglas and Bill Martin's song "The Door Into Summer", were recorded the same way as Headquarters, with the group playing *as a group*, but as recordings for the album progressed the group fell into a new way of working, which Peter Tork later dubbed "mixed-mode". They didn't go back to having tracks cut for them by session musicians, apart from Jones' song "Hard to Believe", for which the entire backing track was created by one of his co-writers overdubbing himself, but Dolenz, who Tork always said was "incapable of repeating a triumph", was not interested in continuing to play drums in the studio. Instead, a new hybrid Monkees would perform most of the album. Nesmith would still play the lead guitar, Tork would provide the keyboards, Chip Douglas would play all the bass and add some additional guitar, and "Fast" Eddie Hoh, the session drummer who had been a touring drummer with the Modern Folk Quartet and the Mamas and the Papas, among others, would play drums on the records, with Dolenz occasionally adding a bit of acoustic guitar. And this was the lineup that would perform on the hit single from Pisces. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who had written several songs for the group's first two albums (and who would continue to provide them with more songs). As with their earlier songs for the group, King had recorded a demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] Previously -- and subsequently -- when presented with a Carole King demo, the group and their producers would just try to duplicate it as closely as possible, right down to King's phrasing. Bob Rafelson has said that he would sometimes hear those demos and wonder why King didn't just make records herself -- and without wanting to be too much of a spoiler for a few years' time, he wasn't the only one wondering that. But this time, the group had other plans. In particular, they wanted to make a record with a strong guitar riff to it -- Nesmith has later referenced their own "Last Train to Clarksville" and the Beatles' "Day Tripper" as two obvious reference points for the track. Douglas came up with a riff and taught it to Nesmith, who played it on the track: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] The track also ended with the strongest psychedelic -- or "psycho jello" as the group would refer to it -- freak out that they'd done to this point, a wash of saturated noise: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] King was unhappy with the results, and apparently glared at Douglas the next time they met. This may be because of the rearrangement from her intentions, but it may also be for a reason that Douglas later suspected. When recording the track, he hadn't been able to remember all the details of her demo, and in particular he couldn't remember exactly how the middle eight went. This is the version on King's demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] While here's how the Monkees rendered it, with slightly different lyrics: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] I also think there's a couple of chord changes in the second verse that differ between King and the Monkees, but I can't be sure that's not my ears deceiving me. Either way, though, the track was a huge success, and became one of the group's most well-known and well-loved tracks, making number three on the charts behind "All You Need is Love" and "Light My Fire". And while it isn't Dolenz drumming on the track, the fact that it's Nesmith playing guitar and Tork on the piano -- and the piano part is one of the catchiest things on the record -- meant that they finally had a proper major hit on which they'd played (and it seems likely that Dolenz contributed some of the acoustic rhythm guitar on the track, along with Bill Chadwick, and if that's true all three Monkee instrumentalists did play on the track). Pisces is by far and away the best album the group ever made, and stands up well against anything else that came out around that time. But cracks were beginning to show in the group. In particular, the constant battle to get some sort of creative input had soured Nesmith on the whole project. Chip Douglas later said "When we were doing Pisces Michael would come in with three songs; he knew he had three songs coming on the album. He knew that he was making a lot of money if he got his original songs on there. So he'd be real enthusiastic and cooperative and real friendly and get his three songs done. Then I'd say 'Mike, can you come in and help on this one we're going to do with Micky here?' He said 'No, Chip, I can't. I'm busy.' I'd say, 'Mike, you gotta come in the studio.' He'd say 'No Chip, I'm afraid I'm just gonna have to be ornery about it. I'm not comin' in.' That's when I started not liking Mike so much any more." Now, as is so often the case with the stories from this period, this appears to be inaccurate in the details -- Nesmith is present on every track on the album except Jones' solo "Hard to Believe" and Tork's spoken-word track "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky", and indeed this is by far the album with *most* Nesmith input, as he takes five lead vocals, most of them on songs he didn't write. But Douglas may well be summing up Nesmith's *attitude* to the band at this point -- listening to Nesmith's commentaries on episodes of the TV show, by this point he felt disengaged from everything that was going on, like his opinions weren't welcome. That said, Nesmith did still contribute what is possibly the single most innovative song the group ever did, though the innovations weren't primarily down to Nesmith: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Nesmith always described the lyrics to "Daily Nightly" as being about the riots on Sunset Strip, but while they're oblique, they seem rather to be about streetwalking sex workers -- though it's perhaps understandable that Nesmith would never admit as much. What made the track innovative was the use of the Moog synthesiser. We talked about Robert Moog in the episode on "Good Vibrations" -- he had started out as a Theremin manufacturer, and had built the ribbon synthesiser that Mike Love played live on "Good Vibrations", and now he was building the first commercially available easily usable synthesisers. Previously, electronic instruments had either been things like the clavioline -- a simple monophonic keyboard instrument that didn't have much tonal variation -- or the RCA Mark II, a programmable synth that could make a wide variety of sounds, but took up an entire room and was programmed with punch cards. Moog's machines were bulky but still transportable, and they could be played in real time with a keyboard, but were still able to be modified to make a wide variety of different sounds. While, as we've seen, there had been electronic keyboard instruments as far back as the 1930s, Moog's instruments were for all intents and purposes the first synthesisers as we now understand the term. The Moog was introduced in late spring 1967, and immediately started to be used for making experimental and novelty records, like Hal Blaine's track "Love In", which came out at the beginning of June: [Excerpt: Hal Blaine, "Love In"] And the Electric Flag's soundtrack album for The Trip, the drug exploitation film starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and written by Jack Nicholson we talked about last time, when Arthur Lee moved into a house used in the film: [Excerpt: The Electric Flag, "Peter's Trip"] In 1967 there were a total of six albums released with a Moog on them (as well as one non-album experimental single). Four of the albums were experimental or novelty instrumental albums of this type. Only two of them were rock albums -- Strange Days by the Doors, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd by the Monkees. The Doors album was released first, but I believe the Monkees tracks were recorded before the Doors overdubbed the Moog on the tracks on their album, though some session dates are hard to pin down exactly. If that's the case it would make the Monkees the very first band to use the Moog on an actual rock record (depending on exactly how you count the Trip soundtrack -- this gets back again to my old claim that there's no first anything). But that's not the only way in which "Daily Nightly" was innovative. All the first seven albums to feature the Moog featured one man playing the instrument -- Paul Beaver, the Moog company's West Coast representative, who played on all the novelty records by members of the Wrecking Crew, and on the albums by the Electric Flag and the Doors, and on The Notorious Byrd Brothers by the Byrds, which came out in early 1968. And Beaver did play the Moog on one track on Pisces, "Star Collector". But on "Daily Nightly" it's Micky Dolenz playing the Moog, making him definitely the second person ever to play a Moog on a record of any kind: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Dolenz indeed had bought his own Moog -- widely cited as being the second one ever in private ownership, a fact I can't check but which sounds plausible given that by 1970 less than thirty musicians owned one -- after seeing Beaver demonstrate the instrument at the Monterey Pop Festival. The Monkees hadn't played Monterey, but both Dolenz and Tork had attended the festival -- if you watch the famous film of it you see Dolenz and his girlfriend Samantha in the crowd a *lot*, while Tork introduced his friends in the Buffalo Springfield. As well as discovering the Moog there, Dolenz had been astonished by something else: [Excerpt: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Hey Joe (Live at Monterey)"] As Peter Tork later put it "I didn't get it. At Monterey Jimi followed the Who and the Who busted up their things and Jimi bashed up his guitar. I said 'I just saw explosions and destruction. Who needs it?' But Micky got it. He saw the genius and went for it." Dolenz was astonished by Hendrix, and insisted that he should be the support act on the group's summer tour. This pairing might sound odd on paper, but it made more sense at the time than it might sound. The Monkees were by all accounts a truly astonishing live act at this point -- Frank Zappa gave them a backhanded compliment by saying they were the best-sounding band in LA, before pointing out that this was because they could afford the best equipment. That *was* true, but it was also the case that their TV experience gave them a different attitude to live performance than anyone else performing at the time. A handful of groups had started playing stadiums, most notably of course the Beatles, but all of these acts had come up through playing clubs and theatres and essentially just kept doing their old act with no thought as to how the larger space worked, except to put their amps through a louder PA. The Monkees, though, had *started* in stadiums, and had started out as mass entertainers, and so their live show was designed from the ground up to play to those larger spaces. They had costume changes, elaborate stage sets -- like oversized fake Vox amps they burst out of at the start of the show -- a light show and a screen on which film footage was projected. In effect they invented stadium performances as we now know them. Nesmith later said "In terms of putting on a show there was never any question in my mind, as far as the rock 'n' roll era is concerned, that we put on probably the finest rock and roll stage show ever. It was beautifully lit, beautifully costumed, beautifully produced. I mean, for Christ sakes, it was practically a revue." The Monkees were confident enough in their stage performance that at a recent show at the Hollywood Bowl they'd had Ike and Tina Turner as their opening act -- not an act you'd want to go on after if you were going to be less than great, and an act from very similar chitlin' circuit roots to Jimi Hendrix. So from their perspective, it made sense. If you're going to be spectacular yourselves, you have no need to fear a spectacular opening act. Hendrix was less keen -- he was about the only musician in Britain who *had* made disparaging remarks about the Monkees -- but opening for the biggest touring band in the world isn't an opportunity you pass up, and again it isn't such a departure as one might imagine from the bills he was already playing. Remember that Monterey is really the moment when "pop" and "rock" started to split -- the split we've been talking about for a few months now -- and so the Jimi Hendrix Experience were still considered a pop band, and as such had played the normal British pop band package tours. In March and April that year, they'd toured on a bill with the Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, and Englebert Humperdinck -- and Hendrix had even filled in for Humperdinck's sick guitarist on one occasion. Nesmith, Dolenz, and Tork all loved having Hendrix on tour with them, just because it gave them a chance to watch him live every night (Jones, whose musical tastes were more towards Anthony Newley, wasn't especially impressed), and they got on well on a personal level -- there are reports of Hendrix jamming with Dolenz and Steve Stills in hotel rooms. But there was one problem, as Dolenz often recreates in his live act: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Purple Haze"] The audience response to Hendrix from the Monkees' fans was so poor that by mutual agreement he left the tour after only a handful of shows. After the summer tour, the group went back to work on the TV show and their next album. Or, rather, four individuals went back to work. By this point, the group had drifted apart from each other, and from Douglas -- Tork, the one who was still keenest on the idea of the group as a group, thought that Pisces, good as it was, felt like a Chip Douglas album rather than a Monkees album. The four band members had all by now built up their own retinues of hangers-on and collaborators, and on set for the TV show they were now largely staying with their own friends rather than working as a group. And that was now reflected in their studio work. From now on, rather than have a single producer working with them as a band, the four men would work as individuals, producing their own tracks, occasionally with outside help, and bringing in session musicians to work on them. Some tracks from this point on would be genuine Monkees -- plural -- tracks, and all tracks would be credited as "produced by the Monkees", but basically the four men would from now on be making solo tracks which would be combined into albums, though Dolenz and Jones would occasionally guest on tracks by the others, especially when Nesmith came up with a song he thought would be more suited to their voices. Indeed the first new recording that happened after the tour was an entire Nesmith solo album -- a collection of instrumental versions of his songs, called The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, played by members of the Wrecking Crew and a few big band instrumentalists, arranged by Shorty Rogers. [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith, "You Told Me"] Hal Blaine in his autobiography claimed that the album was created as a tax write-off for Nesmith, though Nesmith always vehemently denied it, and claimed it was an artistic experiment, though not one that came off well. Released alongside Pisces, though, came one last group-recorded single. The B-side, "Goin' Down", is a song that was credited to the group and songwriter Diane Hildebrand, though in fact it developed from a jam on someone else's song. Nesmith, Tork, Douglas and Hoh attempted to record a backing track for a version of Mose Allison's jazz-blues standard "Parchman Farm": [Excerpt: Mose Allison, "Parchman Farm"] But after recording it, they'd realised that it didn't sound that much like the original, and that all it had in common with it was a chord sequence. Nesmith suggested that rather than put it out as a cover version, they put a new melody and lyrics to it, and they commissioned Hildebrand, who'd co-written songs for the group before, to write them, and got Shorty Rogers to write a horn arrangement to go over their backing track. The eventual songwriting credit was split five ways, between Hildebrand and the four Monkees -- including Davy Jones who had no involvement with the recording, but not including Douglas or Hoh. The lyrics Hildebrand came up with were a funny patter song about a failed suicide, taken at an extremely fast pace, which Dolenz pulls off magnificently: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Goin' Down"] The A-side, another track with a rhythm track by Nesmith, Tork, Douglas, and Hoh, was a song that had been written by John Stewart of the Kingston Trio, who you may remember from the episode on "San Francisco" as being a former songwriting partner of John Phillips. Stewart had written the song as part of a "suburbia trilogy", and was not happy with the finished product. He said later "I remember going to bed thinking 'All I did today was write 'Daydream Believer'." Stewart used to include the song in his solo sets, to no great approval, and had shopped the song around to bands like We Five and Spanky And Our Gang, who had both turned it down. He was unhappy with it himself, because of the chorus: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] Stewart was ADHD, and the words "to a", coming as they did slightly out of the expected scansion for the line, irritated him so greatly that he thought the song could never be recorded by anyone, but when Chip Douglas asked if he had any songs, he suggested that one. As it turned out, there was a line of lyric that almost got the track rejected, but it wasn't the "to a". Stewart's original second verse went like this: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] RCA records objected to the line "now you know how funky I can be" because funky, among other meanings, meant smelly, and they didn't like the idea of Davy Jones singing about being smelly. Chip Douglas phoned Stewart to tell him that they were insisting on changing the line, and suggesting "happy" instead. Stewart objected vehemently -- that change would reverse the entire meaning of the line, and it made no sense, and what about artistic integrity? But then, as he later said "He said 'Let me put it to you this way, John. If he can't sing 'happy' they won't do it'. And I said 'Happy's working real good for me now.' That's exactly what I said to him." He never regretted the decision -- Stewart would essentially live off the royalties from "Daydream Believer" for the rest of his life -- though he seemed always to be slightly ambivalent and gently mocking about the song in his own performances, often changing the lyrics slightly: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] The Monkees had gone into the studio and cut the track, again with Tork on piano, Nesmith on guitar, Douglas on bass, and Hoh on drums. Other than changing "funky" to "happy", there were two major changes made in the studio. One seems to have been Douglas' idea -- they took the bass riff from the pre-chorus to the Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda": [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Help Me Rhonda"] and Douglas played that on the bass as the pre-chorus for "Daydream Believer", with Shorty Rogers later doubling it in the horn arrangement: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] And the other is the piano intro, which also becomes an instrumental bridge, which was apparently the invention of Tork, who played it: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] The track went to number one, becoming the group's third and final number one hit, and their fifth of six million-sellers. It was included on the next album, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees, but that piano part would be Tork's only contribution to the album. As the group members were all now writing songs and cutting their own tracks, and were also still rerecording the odd old unused song from the initial 1966 sessions, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees was pulled together from a truly astonishing amount of material. The expanded triple-CD version of the album, now sadly out of print, has multiple versions of forty-four different songs, ranging from simple acoustic demos to completed tracks, of which twelve were included on the final album. Tork did record several tracks during the sessions, but he spent much of the time recording and rerecording a single song, "Lady's Baby", which eventually stretched to five different recorded versions over multiple sessions in a five-month period. He racked up huge studio bills on the track, bringing in Steve Stills and Dewey Martin of the Buffalo Springfield, and Buddy Miles, to try to help him capture the sound in his head, but the various takes are almost indistinguishable from one another, and so it's difficult to see what the problem was: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Lady's Baby"] Either way, the track wasn't finished by the time the album came out, and the album that came out was a curiously disjointed and unsatisfying effort, a mixture of recycled old Boyce and Hart songs, some songs by Jones, who at this point was convinced that "Broadway-rock" was going to be the next big thing and writing songs that sounded like mediocre showtunes, and a handful of experimental songs written by Nesmith. You could pull together a truly great ten- or twelve-track album from the masses of material they'd recorded, but the one that came out was mediocre at best, and became the first Monkees album not to make number one -- though it still made number three and sold in huge numbers. It also had the group's last million-selling single on it, "Valleri", an old Boyce and Hart reject from 1966 that had been remade with Boyce and Hart producing and their old session players, though the production credit was still now given to the Monkees: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Valleri"] Nesmith said at the time he considered it the worst song ever written. The second season of the TV show was well underway, and despite -- or possibly because of -- the group being clearly stoned for much of the filming, it contains a lot of the episodes that fans of the group think of most fondly, including several episodes that break out of the formula the show had previously established in interesting ways. Tork and Dolenz were both also given the opportunity to direct episodes, and Dolenz also co-wrote his episode, which ended up being the last of the series. In another sign of how the group were being given more creative control over the show, the last three episodes of the series had guest appearances by favourite musicians of the group members who they wanted to give a little exposure to, and those guest appearances sum up the character of the band members remarkably well. Tork, for whatever reason, didn't take up this option, but the other three did. Jones brought on his friend Charlie Smalls, who would later go on to write the music for the Broadway musical The Wiz, to demonstrate to Jones the difference between Smalls' Black soul and Jones' white soul: [Excerpt: Davy Jones and Charlie Smalls] Nesmith, on the other hand, brought on Frank Zappa. Zappa put on Nesmith's Monkee shirt and wool hat and pretended to be Nesmith, and interviewed Nesmith with a false nose and moustache pretending to be Zappa, as they both mercilessly mocked the previous week's segment with Jones and Smalls: [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith and Frank Zappa] Nesmith then "conducted" Zappa as Zappa used a sledgehammer to "play" a car, parodying his own appearance on the Steve Allen Show playing a bicycle, to the presumed bemusement of the Monkees' fanbase who would not be likely to remember a one-off performance on a late-night TV show from five years earlier. And the final thing ever to be shown on an episode of the Monkees didn't feature any of the Monkees at all. Micky Dolenz, who directed and co-wrote that episode, about an evil wizard who was using the power of a space plant (named after the group's slang for dope) to hypnotise people through the TV, chose not to interact with his guest as the others had, but simply had Tim Buckley perform a solo acoustic version of his then-unreleased song "Song to the Siren": [Excerpt: Tim Buckley, "Song to the Siren"] By the end of the second season, everyone knew they didn't want to make another season of the TV show. Instead, they were going to do what Rafelson and Schneider had always wanted, and move into film. The planning stages for the film, which was initially titled Changes but later titled Head -- so that Rafelson and Schneider could bill their next film as "From the guys who gave you Head" -- had started the previous summer, before the sessions that produced The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees. To write the film, the group went off with Rafelson and Schneider for a short holiday, and took with them their mutual friend Jack Nicholson. Nicholson was at this time not the major film star he later became. Rather he was a bit-part actor who was mostly associated with American International Pictures, the ultra-low-budget film company that has come up on several occasions in this podcast. Nicholson had appeared mostly in small roles, in films like The Little Shop of Horrors: [Excerpt: The Little Shop of Horrors] He'd appeared in multiple films made by Roger Corman, often appearing with Boris Karloff, and by Monte Hellman, but despite having been a working actor for a decade, his acting career was going nowhere, and by this point he had basically given up on the idea of being an actor, and had decided to start working behind the camera. He'd written the scripts for a few of the low-budget films he'd appeared in, and he'd recently scripted The Trip, the film we mentioned earlier: [Excerpt: The Trip trailer] So the group, Rafelson, Schneider, and Nicholson all went away for a weekend, and they all got extremely stoned, took acid, and talked into a tape recorder for hours on end. Nicholson then transcribed those recordings, cleaned them up, and structured the worthwhile ideas into something quite remarkable: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Ditty Diego"] If the Monkees TV show had been inspired by the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, and by Richard Lester's directorial style, the only precursor I can find for Head is in the TV work of Lester's colleague Spike Milligan, but I don't think there's any reasonable way in which Nicholson or anyone else involved could have taken inspiration from Milligan's series Q.  But what they ended up with is something that resembles, more than anything else, Monty Python's Flying Circus, a TV series that wouldn't start until a year after Head came out. It's a series of ostensibly unconnected sketches, linked by a kind of dream logic, with characters wandering from one loose narrative into a totally different one, actors coming out of character on a regular basis, and no attempt at a coherent narrative. It contains regular examples of channel-zapping, with excerpts from old films being spliced in, and bits of news footage juxtaposed with comedy sketches and musical performances in ways that are sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes distasteful, and occasionally both -- as when a famous piece of footage of a Vietnamese prisoner of war being shot in the head hard-cuts to screaming girls in the audience at a Monkees concert, a performance which ends with the girls tearing apart the group and revealing that they're really just cheap-looking plastic mannequins. The film starts, and ends, with the Monkees themselves attempting suicide, jumping off a bridge into the ocean -- but the end reveals that in fact the ocean they're in is just water in a glass box, and they're trapped in it. And knowing this means that when you watch the film a second time, you find that it does have a story. The Monkees are trapped in a box which in some ways represents life, the universe, and one's own mind, and in other ways represents the TV and their TV careers. Each of them is trying in his own way to escape, and each ends up trapped by his own limitations, condemned to start the cycle over and over again. The film features parodies of popular film genres like the boxing film (Davy is supposed to throw a fight with Sonny Liston at the instruction of gangsters), the Western, and the war film, but huge chunks of the film take place on a film studio backlot, and characters from one segment reappear in another, often commenting negatively on the film or the band, as when Frank Zappa as a critic calls Davy Jones' soft-shoe routine to a Harry Nilsson song "very white", or when a canteen worker in the studio calls the group "God's gift to the eight-year-olds". The film is constantly deconstructing and commenting on itself and the filmmaking process -- Tork hits that canteen worker, whose wig falls off revealing the actor playing her to be a man, and then it's revealed that the "behind the scenes" footage is itself scripted, as director Bob Rafelson and scriptwriter Jack Nicholson come into frame and reassure Tork, who's concerned that hitting a woman would be bad for his image. They tell him they can always cut it from the finished film if it doesn't work. While "Ditty Diego", the almost rap rewriting of the Monkees theme we heard earlier, sets out a lot of how the film asks to be interpreted and how it works narratively, the *spiritual* and thematic core of the film is in another song, Tork's "Long Title (Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?)", which in later solo performances Tork would give the subtitle "The Karma Blues": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Long Title (Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?)"] Head is an extraordinary film, and one it's impossible to sum up in anything less than an hour-long episode of its own. It's certainly not a film that's to everyone's taste, and not every aspect of it works -- it is a film that is absolutely of its time, in ways that are both good and bad. But it's one of the most inventive things ever put out by a major film studio, and it's one that rightly secured the Monkees a certain amount of cult credibility over the decades. The soundtrack album is a return to form after the disappointing Birds, Bees, too. Nicholson put the album together, linking the eight songs in the film with collages of dialogue and incidental music, repurposing and recontextualising the dialogue to create a new experience, one that people have compared with Frank Zappa's contemporaneous We're Only In It For The Money, though while t

Hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot welcome our crate-digging Kris Kringle, Andy Cirzan to share great holiday songs that aren't played-out. This year's collection is called "The Reindeer Sessions... Further Adventures in Holiday Obscura." Join our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/3eEvRnGMake a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/3dmt9lUSend us a Voice Memo: Desktop: bit.ly/2RyD5Ah  Mobile: sayhi.chat/soundops Featured Songs:Lenny Dee, "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," Happy Holi-Dee, Decca, 1961Andy Claus, Santa's Singing Cousin, "Andy's Reindeer Song," (Single), Snowflake, unknownAnn Bennett, "Another Christmas Rolls Around Again," (Single), Bertlen, unknownTommy Hester, "Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas," (Single), Luck, unknownLeonard Feather and Friends, "Comet (the Reindeer)," Winter Sequence, MGM, 1954Lenny Dee, "Sleigh Ride," Happy Holi-Dee, Decca, 1961Cristy Lane, "Jesus Is A Soul Man," (Single), Extremely Brave, 1971Jimmie Dale, "There Are Reindeer Running (Down The Christmas Trail)," (Single), Original, 1953Modern Jazz Quartet, "Variation No. 1 On "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen"," The Modern Jazz Quartet At Music Inn, Atlantic, 1956Unknown, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," unknown, unknown, unknownMartin Newell (w/ Andy Partridge), "Christmas In Suburbia," The Greatest Living Englishman, Pipeline, 1993Tom Waits, "New Years Eve," Bad As Me, Anti-, 2011Prince, "Another Lonely Christmas," (Single), Warner Bros, 1984Old Musicbox Melodies, "Auld Lang Syne," (Single), unknown, unknown