Once upon a time—or possibly twice upon a time—Mike Nesmith was the most highly organised person one could imagine. He used to keep notes about his appointments, a diary about his activities, and every day came and went without a hitch. But then he became a Monkee and, short of inventing his own thirty-six hour day, he found himself forgetting things.
And then he became a highly musical Monkee, too, which meant he spent every spare moment listening to new sounds, some created by himself, in studios, And, as is to be expected, life became even more disorganised.
Which is a rather roundabout way of explaining that Mike’s Trans-Atlantic phone call came in a trifle late. Would you believe a great deal late? Ever so late? But in any case all was forgiven as soon as that dark-brown Texan voice purred into my ear and said:
“Jackie, I sure am sorry. I guess I should have tied a knot in my throat to remind me to call, but what’s happening is this. I’ve been playing over some tapes we made down in Nashville, Tennessee, and the truth is I’ve gotten so interested in trying to create new sounds that when I get into my record-listening clothes I clean forget the time.
“You do understand, don’t you? Well, fine. Say, how are the folks over in London. How’s the gang on Monkees Monthly? I miss the scene there, but I guess I ended up the only one in the group who actually spent the vacation working. I heard about some things from Davy and Micky, who had a groovy time in London.
“I’d have liked to have gone over with them, but I’m really so hung up on the recording scene that I just hadda spend a lot of time in the studio. It was all work down there in Nashville. But I’ve had a bit of a vacation recently—went fishing… I just sat there and switched my mind off. When I kinda came to a few hours later I felt refreshed like after a whole day’s sleep. Maybe I was asleep!”
Me: Were you completely happy with the album “The Birds, Bees and Monkees”? We all thought it was fantastic.
“Well, that’s nice of you to say so. Yes, we felt it was easily the best album yet. Maybe the most thrilling part of it was summed up in the sleeve reference ‘produced by The Monkees’. It meant a break. It meant taking charge of the recording side of things and that’s what we’ve always wanted. Next one will have it split neatly between the four of us… three tracks from each. That way you’ll get a greater variety, we hope, with several different styles and approaches.
“I really do feel kinda immersed in the recording business. The tracks on the ‘Birds’ album I was most closely involved in were ‘Auntie’s Municipal Court’, and ‘Tapioca Tundra’ and ‘Righting [sic] Wrongs’… and what was the other one? Mmm.. Oh I remember, ‘Magnolia’. Well, you’ll ́ hear all kinds of strange noises like surface noises, even a needle swishing across the L.P. It’s kinda horrible I guess. And if you think they’re there by mistake. well, you’re wrong. It’s all part of this deliberate experimenting I feel myself getting into right now.
“I guess on the whole I was happy with ‘Wichita Train Whistle’, too, which is out here. Most of the reviews have been pretty good, which is gratifying. Dot SLPD 516 is the album number—I may have a bad memory for some things, but I’ve got that engraved on my mind. A free plug is a good plug.”
Me: Saw some weirdo pictures of you from the film, Mike. Strung up in the air on the end of wires, like some Monkee-type flying ballet.
Mike: “Oh, yeah. That was kinda scarey. [sic] Looking at that sort of thing, you’d think it was easy. Like flying without a propeller, but in fact it’s only too easy to tip right over and lose control. You have this harness thing round the hips and legs and what you have to do is hold your breath and hope that the guy working the strings doesn’t nip off for a quiet smoke or somthin’. Really there’s quite an art in learning how to balance your body.”
Short pause hereabouts while there was a lot of crackling and sounds that somehow sounded like frogs being strangled, or something. A few seconds of nothing at all, then Mike came back on:
Me: Do you still like chocolate brown?
“Sure. That Radford Mini I had shipped over from England I had painted chocolate brown. And I also have a Jaguar XKE… same colour. Now you’re not going to ask me what is the significance of this chocolate brown thing, are you!”
Me: Yes, I am.
“Uh, huh. Well… I can’t really give you an answer. I just LIKE chocolate brown, that’s all. I went off the bright colours—for cars, specially. I started feeling a bit sombre and I figured that chocolate brown matched my mood. Maybe it’s just that you don’t see too many chocolate brown cars!
“But now I just wanna go back to my recording scene. Down there in Nashville, I produced some pop-country tracks which I thoroughly enjoyed. That’s THE centre for C and W music, as you’ll know. Come to that it is one of the most important recording centres in the world.
“Most of my tracks are basically instrumental, using things like violins and guitars—all kinds of guitars. There’s a new special pedal steel guitar they’ve got in the studios there and it gives a great raw-edged sound to music. The musicians there in Tennessee are quite magnificent. I don’t know too much about British recording techniques, but I’d be interested to compare them one day.”
Me: Does that mean we can REALLY expect a visit from you in the near future?
“Hey, hold on there! Don’t rush me. Seriously, though, I’d like to re-visit old places in London and have a look at the scene. But I’m sure you’ll understand right now that nothing is absolutely certain at our end of the line. We have a few backstage problems to cope with—I guess you’ll have heard a bit about that. But the way we four guys think is this. We hate raising hopes among fans. We know, and appreciate, that you want to meet us again. We’re gonna do what we can to oblige. But to keep making promises… then breaking them. Well! we don’t like to do business that way, Jackie, and we hope you understand.
“But London is high on our list of priorities, believe me. And just as soon as we know when the visit is likely to be, you’ll have me on the phone to you. And I won’t be forgetful like this time, I promise. Because, in any case, news of a return to London would be so exciting that I wouldn’t be able to keep it to myself.”
Me: Just so long as you DON’T forget, Mike.
“Listen, Jackie, don’t think me rude but I must get going now. Some buddies are coming round to hear some tapes and I hate to keep them waiting. I’ve got some great stereo equipment here, you know… sometimes we listen to music halfway through the night. Like it is now! Love and peace to all of you there in Britain. It’s been real nice talking to you again. ‘Bye.”
And mad-keen producer Mike went back to his beloved music. So he was a bit late with the call! So who cares?
