Music

Another Videoranch exclusive. Nez recorded it in 1967. It came out in 1968 on Dot Records, and then was reissued on the Pacific Arts Record label in the early 70's. After that, Nez decided he didn't want to put it out again and the album was shelved. After years of Videoranch receiving emails from people asking us to put it out on CD, we got permission from Nez to make a small amount of them. The art is adapted from the original Dot LP. The master for this recording was created from playback of a vinyl LP.

"Contrary to popular belief, I did not record "The Wichita Train Whistle Sings" (the title was onomatopaeic and seemed to fit the mood I was in) as a tax write-off..."

--Opening sentence in Wichita liner notes written by Nez in July 2007

The first album of the National Band series features Red Rhodes, John Ware, John London and a few un-named Nez friends. Contains Joanne, and Beyond the Blue Horizon, the first of many sound tableaus Nez has done on his albums.

The second album in the National Band series. Nez by this time had "Joanne" as a semi-hit and had turned into a semi-celebrity in his own right and began getting uppity. One of the songs on this album is in Spanish and English! But when he played it for one of his literate Spanish-speaking friends she ran screaming from the room. Nez thought he was singing "I have much love for you" but he was really singing, well... nobody knows fer sure and that was the problem. "Silver Moon", turned into some teeny-tiny hit in some teeny-tiny country and Nez became insufferable. He even began ridiculing "The Rolling Stones" which he does to this day.

This, the third and final album in the First National Band series sees Nez, while not completely over the side, at least hangin' off the edge. For one, thing it's Elvis' band, the one he took to Vegas, but playin' serious Country Rock.. For another thing, Nez is using words like "ennui" in his songwriting now. Ennui, in case you don't know, is hyper-critical, super-catastrophic boredom. Eor died of ennui. Eor... from "Winnie-the-pooh"? Did I spell that right? Anyway, did ya' ever see Nez' suit of lights? The one with the American flag made of rhinestones on the back ? That was made by Nudie's Rodeo Tailors out on Lankershim in the Valley. So Nudie calls Nez up, tells him Elvis is in the shop, saw the Napoleon collar on that suit, and wanted one like it on his. Now you know. This album didn't have one hit on it. Not one. We listen to it all the time around here. Probably the best of the whole FNB lot.

On the back cover of the LP, there is a recipe for the Papa Nes Home Brew.

I assume that anyone who listens to any album doesn’t need liner notes to tell them whether or not the music made them feel something…so that’s that. Therefore, I would like to use this space to tell you how to make home-brewed beer.

THE PAPA NES HOME-BREW RECIPE:
INGREDIENTS:
BARLEY MALT…ABOUT THREE POUNDS
WATER…ABOUT FIVE GALLONS
HOPS…ABOUT A CUP (Washington Hops, if available)
CORN…TO TASTE (It has to be processed rice)
BREWER’S YEAST…ONE BLOCK (It must be fresh and non-flocculant*)

Now then, you’re gonna need a bunch of big pots (obviously big enough to hold five gallons of home brew.) In the first pot make a porridge-like mash of the water and the barley malt. (The water has to be between one-hundred-and-fifty and one-hundred-and-seventy degrees Fahrenheit before adding it to the barley malt.) O.J. “Red” Rhodes: Pedal Steel Guitar. Stir the mixture well for about twenty minutes. (If you get tired, sometimes friends will help you if you tell ‘em what you’re doing.) Michael Cohen: Keyboards and Moog Synthesizer. Strain this mixture into another kettle; add the corn, rice and hops; slow boil for about two hours. (It really smells good at this stage.) Jack Ranelli: Drums. Staring slow-boiled mixture into another pot and allow to cool to room temperature. Add the block of yeast. Johnny Meeks: Bass. Put it in the refrigerator. Do not allow the temperature of the mixture to rise over sixty degrees from this point on, because if you do… you got the world’s worst soup. You are now in attendance of a miracle of nature in the capacity of midwife. Jose Feliciano: Congas. The first day some white stuff will appear at the top; by the second day it will really start bubbling and forming lots of that white stuff. As midwife your job is to constantly scrape off the top of the brew. At the end of the third day, it will stop. You now have a green beer - a potent potable drunk by maniacs and people from Farmers Branch, Texas. Assuming that you are neither, I suggest we go to the bottling stage. In bottling, make sure you use only those bottles designed especially for carbonated beverages. These can be purchased at any Sears or Montgomery Ward. (If you don’t, I would remind you o the great natural explosion that took place near Tempe, Arizona in 1927.) You also need a crown capper which is also available from the above-named stores. Pour the brew into the bottles. Cap the bottles. Keep those bottles at thirty-two degrees until you can’t stand it anymore and you got BEER. There will probably be some sediment at the bottom of each of the bottles; that shouldn’t bother you, but at the same time don’t drink it…IT TASTES TERRIBLE. This recipe misses as often as it hits… if it hits, your popularity will be assured… if it misses, it makes sensational ferilizer… or hair spray. Good luck…

*Non-flocculant…that means it doesn’t get lumpy. Producer: M. Nesmith who also played guitar and sang.
Warning: Michael Nesmith’s Home-Brewed Beer may be hazardous to your health.

The Ranch Hands recommend this album because it really shows off Nez' great songwriting ability. Fantastic lyrics, particularly with "Roll With The Flow" and "Harmony Constant". Beautiful melodies,excellent playing, and a soulful version of the Nez-penned "Different Drum", made famous by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Ponies.

The entire Hits album is just Nez on vocals and guitar and Red Rhodes on pedal steel, but it's anything but thin. Nez layered on both Red's steel and his guitars so the sound is rich and deep. Nez says the reason he named the album "...and the hits just keep on comin'" is because his record company told him he needed to record more hits. When the art department got hold of the title they left off the ellipsis at the front. Figures.

The point just may be that it doesn't make any difference... This is my sixth album since the whole Monkees trip went down, and I think I'm beginning to finally understand that it doesn't make any difference at all. It's because of the framework... Once that superstructure is built, it's very difficult to get past it and into substance... the framework that it's all relative to. Mine has been built on logic, which is probably one of the subtlest traps going... that whole 2+2 trip... the logical development that leads to fear of anything outside itself... "If it doesn't compute, man, then it can't be good." How many times have I told myself that? And if there was never anything there to base everything on, then it was instant dip-into-the-past time... Pull out some obscure, meaningless piece of a foundation, and use it to prop things up. Music was always the gum in those works... All that thinking went to hell when the music came. I'd be sitting around, immersed in this bubble-bath serenity of having figured something out... put right into its nice little orderly spot, and then - WHAMO - I've got to deal with music... no reason... no basis other than just its purest expression. And it always came right out of left field... tapping me on the shoulder. There was a long period of time when I used to respond very positively... or at least it seemed positive at the time... by being super- responsible... really getting out and putting everything together behind it. Lots of study and quiet muse. Communion of some sorts. I never could understand why, just about the time I would get it together, all of a sudden the whole thing would vanish... just disappear... leaving me exactly where it found me... peering out from a column of numbers. Looking for the 6 that followed the 5 that followed the... Finally I bailed. Just packed it in. No more fuss. Simple. That's when it began to take on a whole different complexion. It began to be its own thing... have its own identity. Instead of shadows dancing on the wall, it became an old friend, always greeted with a warm embrace and a certain casualness that wasn't usually a part of it. Me and the music ...we began to talk... Hey, man, how you doin'...? You O.K.? What you been up to... that kind of talk. Pal talk. Trouble was, I wasn't sure how much I liked this new guy that walked in... I couldn't put my finger on it... maybe that was the problem ... The music was just the music. Not really earthshattering, mind- blowing, brilliant... none of that. Just music. This whole album was one of those conversations me and the music had. Don't get fooled by the lyrics... Lyrics aren't really the communicative part... Lyrics are just the logical part for people who are into that... Seem to always be there, the lyrics... but they aren't really the meat. The real stuff is what makes it different from a fire bell, or an air- conditioner hum, or sleep, or whatever ... bust down the framework, the incarnation, and it is still music... Urging one on to places only hinted at ... no ending, no beginning... so you can really see past the car payment, and the laundry, and the other paper claims. I'm not that good about paying attention yet. Fortunately, there is the band. Six or seven people conversing within a medium unlike any other... Pushing at the walls all the time... trying to break the barriers of harmony and melody... examining that other dimension beyond the senses that peeks out from the cracks through the plain musicalness of it all. We'd be playing along... wandering in and out, and someone would shout, "hey, look over here, man; check out the color; dig the texture." Taking only a piece at a time... and finally realizing that each piece was not part of a puzzle... but that each piece was all there was... Each one was whole... and uniquely different from the other ... And based around the oneness was the music. It really freaked me out a little. I kept waiting for the song which would correct our foreign problems with Paraguay, cure cancer, or make everybody dress and talk like me. Instead I got love songs... I love you, loved you, will love you, was to have loved you, maybe won't love you... Couple a nice country tunes. I was sure this would be the album that would catapult me right up there with Dylan and Cole Porter... or at least right in there with the ethnomusicologists saying things about my beautiful poetry, sensitivity... intensely personal, blah, blah, blah. Nope... just music... and an expression of the joy... pure exuberance at having encountered it. What fun... what a total gas to have such an experience, and what peace when I finally realized that it didn't make any difference... Of course there was always the why... I was always a good one for that... Yeah, I can see it man; I can observe the phenomena as well as the next... but why...? I mean there must be a reason. A reason. What the hell is a reason... a goal, an achieved end... that point in logic that will accept at least the existence of music. Very dangerous, this whole point... good excuse for doing one of those... Well, what the heck, if there's no reason and it doesn't make any difference, then just don't do it ... get a job, make something of yourself... as if yourself weren't something... Why go through the thousands of dollars and aggravation of making a record to sell. I've thought about that a lot... I'm sure there's an answer, but it beats me. At least I'm prepared to accept anything... waxed fruit, tree surgery, whatever. And if I come to a fork in the road, I don't panic anymore, I just assume that one is the road and the other is a road off to the side.

Nez has this idea that reading and listening at the same time combine to make a third medium, inside your head. Since we tend not to read while listening to music, we wouldn't know, but the people who do, say The Prison and/or The Garden are wonders. Like so many things, the people who love these, LOVE them, and the people who don't, write for the British press.

"The Prison is nothing short of a quiet revolutionary occurence" -- All Music Guide

A Review Of "The Prison" By One Reader/Listener Who Loved It

For those unfamiliar with the art form, a book with a sound track is a medium of expression Nez introduced in 1974 with the release of The Prison. In his live performances of the work and his interviews from the time, he explained that the idea was inspired by his own personal habits. He often soundtracked books in his mind like films are soundtracked on screen. Well, why not do that? Why not make a sound track for the film created in our mind while reading a book? So he did. There's more going on than that but -- that comes after you've listen/read a few times.

One of Nez' finest works. Recorded in 1976, the quality of the recording sounds state of the art today. It includes the international hit "Rio", a timeless song full of Nez whimsy. The video for "Rio" won him the first video Grammy and is available for sale in the Flicks section on either Elephant Parts or Nezmusic.

"The inspiration behind the songs was the same as everything else I write about: what is on my mind at the time."

--From the Radio Engine liner notes.

After thousands of emails from people pleading with Nez to put Live at the Palais out on CD, he finally caved. Palais may not be Nez' favorite recording, but we've added four songs from two other concerts he's very proud of, so we think he's happy. We ranchhands like the whole album.

We're gonna leave this up for a while for those of you who want to download the commercial and the little sound sample of "Roll with the Flow". They're both copyrighted, so personal, non-commercial use only; no copies, no posting please. They can get it here. Thanks.

Nez made a gag commercial with this album that made it seem like a food processor of some kind. It's really funny but lovers of this album say Nez is being too tough. Some Nezheads agree this is the best performance of "Roll with the Flow" period.

These few cassettes are all there are and they are in pristine condition. These are 1978 issue. We opened one and it played OK, but cassettes being what they are we can't guarantee yours will. You have to think of this as a pure collectors piece.

The show was a performance November 10, 1977 in Melbourne, Australia at the Palais Theatre by Nez and a one time band which consisted of the First National Band drummer, John Ware; legendary guitarist Al Perkins, who also plays steel and bottleneck; David MacKay on bass, who played on Photon Wing; and James Trumbo on keyboards.

"I adopted a much 'heavier' sound on this record because the band had those capabilities and we went exploring. The sound was driven by their skill more than anything else. It was a conscious decision to abandon the country stylings."

--From the Infinite Rider liner notes.

The Newer Stuff is a compilation album by Michael Nesmith, released in 1989. The album was released on vinyl, cassette and CD. The Newer Stuff was the first Nesmith album to be released on compact disc. The album contains eight new tracks (all recorded in 1980, according to Nesmith's comments in the CD booklet), two tracks from From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing, and four from Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma.

As a follow-up to The Newer Stuff, this release includes tracks from the albums released on RCA records from 1970-1973.

An entirely acoustic album with some of this country's best session players (including John Jorgensen of The Desert Rose Band, percussionist Luis Conte, and pedal steel player Red Rhodes). Nez sings some original tunes as well as covers of "In the Still of the Night", "Brazil", and "Begin the Beguine". After this recording many of the songs were performed with the same band for "Live at the Britt", a festival which was videotaped in Oregon. Nezheads usually list this album in their top three.

All three First National Band albums in a boxed, two CD set. Most of the songs are on one CD since Nez wanted the whole set to play un-interrupted and this is as close as he could get on a CD. Oddly enough on the cassette the whole set will play through (if you have an auto reversing deck). We got to thinkin' about this and decided we'd make the cassette available for an extra five bucks if you buy the CD. At least you can play the whole thing non-stop in your car. Fer my money this is Nez at his finest.

"...Nez created some of the best music country rock has to offer..." - A review in RoadStar Magazine, for America's Professional Trucker (our favorite recommendation for this CD set).

"The greatest music never heard" - Rolling Stone

Nez has this idea that reading and listening at the same time combine to make a third medium, inside your head. Since we tend not to read while listening to music, we wouldn't know, but the people who do, say The Prison and/or The Garden are wonders. Like so many things, the people who love these, LOVE them, and the people who don't, write for the British press. Nominated for a Grammy.

A great live 2 CD set from the 1992 outdoor concert that took place on a beautiful summer evening in Jacksonville, Oregon.

Band includes Nez on vocals and guitar, John Jorgensen on guitar and mandolin, Red Rhodes on pedal steel, Joe Chemay on bass, John Hobbs on piano, and Luis Conte on percussion.

"Killer Soundtrack" -- Aerostich/RiderWarehouse, the coolest motorcycle outfitter around "The first piece we recorded was the last piece on the album - the reprise - because it had a taste of everything in the score. We did it real time, so it took on a concert performance feel."

--From the Timerider Soundtrack liner notes written by Nez in July 2007

April 3, 2006 - Michael Nesmith has just released his latest album Rays; a cinematic journey of sound with elements of swing, jazz and instrumental funk that come together to form what he calls "New Century Modern". Once again, Nesmith pioneers a new genre, contributing fresh, inventive and timeless dimensions to our current musical landscape. This beautifully packaged album comes with a 9 X 14 inch poster of the Drew Friedman Art Nez had commissioned for the album!

“For a time I thought Rays had come together differently than any other project I had worked on, until it dawned on me all the various works I had been involved in had happened the same way and doing Rays was simply the first time I had seen it. Rays was my own personal Copernican Shift. For years Rays laid around in bits and pieces, and there were long periods when I would put them all away, like disparate parts of disparate building blocks. As if one was a recipe, another was a blueprint, another was a map. I couldn’t see how they fit together. I kept going, as much for not having anything else to do as for the curiosity of how it would all turn out, but I did keep going, and I’m glad I did. It was when I was putting on the horn parts, dreaming of Memphis and Stax Volt that it all came together. It was as if I had come into the garage one evening, and was looking at the detritus of a failed effort laying all over the floor, when suddenly there was this array, a kind of order to it that I had never imagined. That was exciting. It felt new, and gave me the inspiration I needed to finish. This after four years of wandering in darkness --- which actually happened to be one of the lines from Rays. I had always imagined “emergence” as the gradual appearing of something that already exists but was just unseen. Rays was the first time I ever actually saw that happen. And now that I’ve seen it I am aware that all the past works have happened the same way.”

"I love to put Henry Mancini’s music on in a convertible with the top down. He’s one of my favorite composers the theme from “Mr. Lucky,” or you know, those great movie and TV theme songs he did. I put the top down on the convertible on a nice sunny day and drive along a country road somewhere, and I am literally and figuratively transported to another place. That’s what I hope will happen when people listen to Rays. That it's evocative, it’s transporting. The listener will find themselves in a place they can’t get to any other way. And they’re really happy to be there, and the next thing you know, they move in, they plant a garden, they start hanging out there, and they got a little second home there, in Raysland."

– Michael Nesmith

Michael Nesmith brought his pedal steel guitarist Red Rhodes with him and quickly established a rapport with the audience, playing "the storytelling troubadour" with thoughts, asides, and introductions. Tony Stratton Smith tempted Nesmith to travel to the UK for the concert by asking him to produce Bert Jansch's album L.A. Turnaround, on which Nesmith and Rhodes also play.

[*I want to note that this album was actually not featured on the original Videoranch]

The best of Nez' live set from the 2013 tour on a single audio CD.

The Ocean completes Infinitia. Written in verse and accompanied by the ocean, synth, and Bo Diddley, Michael Nesmith's final book with a soundtrack is the fruitage of a life spent studying metaphysics. Nez returns the listen/reader to Jason in the garden to follow him on a quest to the ocean -- continuing his exploration of the Infinite. It is a culmination of his artistic work, delivering previously addressed ideas with maturity of thought and expression.

The work is presented in two audio tracks -- one with Nez reading the poem and one without -- and a booklet of the poem's complete text and nine full-color artworks by Katsushika Hokusai.

The soundtrack samples the beat from "Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley. In Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff, Nez describes the song as "a seminal record" for him. "Once one feels the bones of [Bo Diddley's] rhythm," he writes, "it becomes commanding and contains everything from metabolism to metaphysics." When asked about the use of Diddley's rhythm to complement ocean waves in The Ocean, Nez shared:

"The question is answered by there being continuity of Mind and this rhythm connects through large plains and panoramas of that. It seems basic to me -- and I think to most beings. That is why it is foundational to The Ocean and really to all of Infinitia. A kind of irregular ticking -- like a heart murmur -- but without the disease reference of it.

"As I play ["Bo Diddley" rhythm] there is something so fundamental that it almost plays itself. There are people that can't play it -- good musicians usually try to square it to math or the math of music. And it won't work that way. There is an unplayed and unspoken part of it that Bo and his ilk play that sets the rhythm as the heartbeat of Nature herself. And it can't be parsed or understood by any formal system I know of. It can be mapped of course. But cannot be played according to that map or found on it. It is very very high stuff.

"Physiologically I feel it in my loins, some shoulders, but I don't wag my head to it, and I don't count it, and I can hardly dance to it. So it stays mysterious. A player can get a boost from a machine -- like a drum machine -- that sets a tight repeating pattern but leaves a space for the wiggle -- or murmur -- and the musician can insert that. This is a reason for Lady Bo and the others Bo played with -- it really does take two to 'tango' so to speak. There is a pulse rolling under the strikes. The pulse is continuous but syncopated and the strikes are all syncopated and continual -- not continuous.

"The Bo Diddley 'beat' is a distilled essence of all motion in life -- Life. Moving water is a huge part of it. As is wind and rain -- and so on.

"It is the golden rectangle of sound -- but without the math confining it. It can safely be called the Diddley Set -- as in the Mandelbrot Set -- again with much less math -- so much of the pulse depends upon the unfolding context. When an ensemble plays -- especially with a machine -- it unfolds like the Mandelbrot Set."

Michael Nesmith tells the story of his eclectic life in his upcoming book, Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff (Crown Archetype). Rhino is releasing an audio companion that showcases 14 of Nez's best songs from his days with The Monkees, The First National Band, and solo.

The set flows in mostly chronological order, beginning in 1965 when Nesmith recorded "The New Recruit" using the pseudonym Michael Blessing. Monkee-mania took over a year later and he spent the next four years making history and music with the quartet. Two songs by the Monkees included here neatly bookend Nesmith's tenure in the group, with "Papa Gene's Blues" from the band's 1966 self-titled debut, and "Listen To The Band" from The Monkees Present (1970), Nesmith's last album with group for more than 20 years.

The collection focuses mainly on the numerous solo albums that Nez recorded during the Seventies. He started in 1970 with Magnetic South and Loose Salute, country-rock albums that featured Nez and The First National Band. INFINITE TUESDAY features a song from each album: "Silver Moon" from Loose Salute and "Joanne" from Magnetic South, Nez first Top 40 hit as a solo artist.

Nez embraced a multimedia approach to making music in 1975 to create The Prison, an album that was to be played as the "soundtrack" to a novella that came with the music. Represented on this set by "Opening Theme - Life, The Unsuspecting Captive," that album was also the first released on Nez' record label, Pacific Arts.

Then in 1979 Nez created "PopClips," the first-ever music-video program, which aired years before the dawn of MTV. That same year, Nez recorded Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma, which featured "Cruisin'" and "Light," which also appear on this set. Nez made videos for those songs and others and released them in 1981 as Elephant Parts (available at Videoranch on DVD). A mix of comedy sketches and music videos, this "video album" won the very first Grammy Award for Music Video.

INFINITE TUESDAY ends with a pair of tracks from albums released after Nesmith returned from an extended recording hiatus: "Laugh Kills Lonesome" from ...Tropical Campfires... (1992), and "Rays," the title song from his 2005 album.

This 180g vinyl picture disc is limited to only 1,000 copies. It includes liner notes written by Michael Nesmith on his cosmic partnership with Red Rhodes. Side Two's picture features Nez and the nymphs of Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash's gatefold sleeve. We didn't paint out the tits like RCA -- but we'd like to be clear that we're still not interested in appealing to anyone's prurient interests, even if we could.

Recorded at McCabe's in Santa Monica, CA, on August 18th, 1973, Cosmic Partners - The McCabe's Tapes is a rare and previously unreleased concert recording featuring Michael Nesmith and a small coterie of fellow musicians, including long time recording partner and pedal steel player Red Rhodes.

This recording is from a mini concert tour that was in support of what was to be Nesmith's final record on the RCA label, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash. The dates would reunite him with the remnant players from Nesmith's Countryside label, under Elektra. Consisting of a rhythm section featuring Danny Lane on drums and Colin Cameron on bass, and the legendary O.J. "Red" Rhodes on pedal steel, this would be the last performance of its kind and the beginning of an almost Homeric journey for Nesmith.

On the heels of an inordinately successful Monkees TV show, the hangover from overnight celebrity, and the disappointments that so often follow such ascents, this forgotten and almost lost board mix in all its unvarnished glory (remastered here by Christian Nesmith, Michael's oldest son) stands as a ready witness to the spirit of a man full of heartache, a performer bruised by the claws of the star-maker machine, and an artist whose songs have become touchstones for our lives. What you hear is exactly as it happened with no overdubs or audio mumbo jumbo. The perfection you hear is totally for real.

"Michael Nesmith was thrown into the pop spotlight, the poplight if you will, as a member of The Monkees. But upon leaving the group in 1970, he started his own innovative musical project The First National Band (FNB). The FNB released three groundbreaking, genre defining albums (Magnetic South/Loose Salute/Nevada Fighter) that sold very little on their initial release, but have since been heralded as absolute classics that helped shape country rock.

With the passing of original members John London and Red Rhodes, it was thought the FNB would never perform again. But the internet went into meltdown late last year when Nez announced he was assembling a new posse of musicians to honour this music and take it out on the road again. Dipping a toe in the water, a handful of select venues were booked, in case history repeated itself and no one came! But come they did, in droves. The shows sold out almost immediately and made for one of the most memorable and surprising comebacks in musical history -- The First National Band back on tour.

The album 'Michael Nesmith And The First National Band Redux Live at the Troubadour' is probably the most historically important release from 7a Records, the British label that specializes in Monkees related releases. The concert presented on this double LP (with bonus track Rio) and single CD was 50 years in the making and is a must have for any music fan. The love and affection for songs like 'Different Drum', 'Joanne' and 'Grand Ennui' is infectious -- you can feel the good vibes and warmth emanating from the record! 7a Records have been working with Christian Nesmith who recorded, mixed and produced this album. He has managed to make one of the most exciting live albums of 2018. Michael, who is now 75 years old, still sounds like that 20 something kid who punched a hole in a hotel wall when Don Kirshner was bossing him around. Sure, he’s aged a little in tone, but man, that voice is just incredible. You want to sink into it. Eat it like cake.

Papa Nez himself has been raving about this record, and it has to be said that this quote from the legend had us at 7a wiping a little something from our eyes:

'I've never been happier with a record. I've never been more proud and pleased to get it out in front of people, and play it and leave it with the people, in their care. It's at the top of my form. It's the best I can do. So if I die now, that was it, guys.'

The album is released with previously unseen photos and extensive liner notes by Michael Nesmith, written in his own unique style as a limited edition 2LP gatefold set on 180g opaque gold vinyl. The vinyl features a special bonus performance of the song 'Rio'."

Nez's performance at the BBC Paris Theatre in 1975 was highly unique for the time because he performed alone without his musical partner Red Rhodes. His guitar playing shines as he reimagines his beautiful songs, most notably Silver Moon with its extended musical introduction.

If you're a Nezhead, we guarantee that The Mike and Micky Show is close to your dream Monkees concert.

The show focuses on the music and songwriting. Unlike the Monkees live shows of the past, this is a concert rather than a performance. Some argue that country rock began at Nez's Nashville sessions for the Monkees. It was only appropriate that a pedal steel guitarist and banjo player be included in The Mike and Micky Show band to accompany Nez's songs.

Over half the setlist contained on The Monkees Live: The Mike and Micky Show double album is written or co-written by Michael Nesmith. The show travels the full terrain of Nez's time with the Monkees from singles to album tracks to unreleased songs.

All our Headquarters favorites are covered: You Told Me, Sunny Girlfriend, You Just May Be The One, and single The Girl I Knew Somewhere. There's also early cuts that were featured on the TV show -- Papa Gene's Blues, Mary, Mary, and Sweet Young Thing. But it gets better.

We hear two of Nez's experimental tracks from The Birds, The Bees, and The Monkees -- Tapioca Tundra and Auntie's Municipal Court! And amazingly -- one of our favorite Nashville cuts we thought we'd never hear live -- St. Matthew! But the highlights of the show for us every night were Circle Sky and Listen to the Band.

Here they are collected in a gatefold, two-record set. They are joined by 12 other Monkees favorites, including The Door Into Summer and the critically-acclaimed duet Me and Magdalena.

Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings features 22 tracks on CD drawn from the RCA Victor vaults, every one of which is previously unreleased in any physical format. These songs were originally released to digital platforms in 2018 as bonus tracks to Nesmith's six RCA albums – solo and with The First and Second National Bands.

Different Drum premieres on CD some of Nesmith's most remarkable musical explorations from this vivid period including cosmic reimaginings of Monkees-era favorites such as Tapioca Tundra, Magnolia Simms, Circle Sky, and Listen to the Band; unheard outtakes like American Airman and Six Days on the Road; vastly different alternate takes of Different Drum, Dedicated Friend, and Tengo Amore; and even an early version of Marie's Theme from his cult classic multimedia project The Prison.

The mind-altering music on Different Drum has been mixed from the original multitracks by The Monkees' longtime associate Andrew Sandoval and mastered by Vic Anesini at Sony's Battery Studios. Another longtime collaborator of The Monkees and Nesmith, John Sellards, has designed the deluxe, full-color 24-page booklet. Papa Nez himself has shared insightful new commentary to the extensive liner notes by The Second Disc's Joe Marchese, while rare photos by renowned photographer Henry Diltz and previously unseen images from the Sony Music Archives round out this landmark package.

Different Drum is a freewheeling, widescreen journey through the world of one of rock's greatest iconoclasts. Don't take our word for it. As Michael Nesmith observes in the liner notes, "[There's] something else which pins it all down...…the songs themselves, and the way they begin to tell the story of their own times and their own poetries. They became real easy to sing except for those times I break into tears. Because I wrote them from my own heart. It's hard to just do it, but if I can, it's paydirt. We all come to a place that we know very well." Now you can get to know these fascinating recordings very well, too.

A wonderful Nesmith sampler put together by Demon Music out of the UK. The Pacific Arts Box Set was created in 2012 and is a five disc (four CDs + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) collection. The albums contained in this box were originally released on Nesmith's own Pacific Arts' label in 1977, 1979 and 1992, and have been digitally remastered by Nesmith from the original multi-track tapes. The booklet features extensive and revealing annotation by Nez himself. Amongst the many stand-out songs featured across the four albums are the Top 30 UK hit 'Rio', 'Magic', 'Laugh Kills Lonesome' and fabulous live versions of 'Different Drum', 'Silver Moon', 'Papa Gene's Blues', 'Propinquity', 'Some Of Shelly's Blues' and 'Joanne'. The five promo videos on the bonus DVD appeared in the Grammy Award-winning Elephant Parts, although the film for Rio was originally made to promote the UK single release.This box set is in stock at Videoranch and ships from our warehouse here in the USA.

Infinitia (infin-EE-sha) by Michael Nesmith is complete.

The Infinitia Box Set includes The Prison, The Garden, and the newly released album The Ocean. The trilogy began with The Prison, a book with a soundtrack, which was released in 1974. In 1994 Michael released the Garden, the second addition to the trilogy. The Ocean has now been released to complete the trilogy, Infinitia.

Already a collector's item, The Blossom Special is a CD made especially for you. It is an objet d'art, worthy of being placed on your coffee table, like a lovely book. Nez did a beautiful job on the art, the songs are your choice, and the entire package is personalized.

This Unique, one-off, especially made CD and Package, is personalized with your name, and Signed to you and Dated by the Artist.

Choose 12 Nez songs from any of his albums. Choose the order you want them to be in. We'll create your special CD. The Limited Edition "Blossom Special" custom Nez CD has a special Nez-created graphic, and Nez signs and dates the CD for you. The CD and jewel case graphics have your name and your song list. An unbelievable amount of time and care is put into creating each "Blossom Special". The Blossom special makes a wonderful gift for any Nez fan, or a special treasure for your own collection from Michael Nesmith's body of musical work.

Here's how you do it:

First, type your list of songs into the box provided. If you want the CD personalized to someone other than yourself, please put that name in the box as well. You can also email us your list if you need a little time to plan it. Or, fax it to 831-394-8804. You can also call us at 1-831-394-8800 to order by phone.

Note:

We are making these CDs here at Videoranch on our own CD burner. Nez has signed off on the quality of our CDs. They sound great. They work on any CD player, CD-Rom Drive, and most but NOT all DVD players. So, if this is a potential problem for you, please contact us by phone or email before ordering. Thanks.

Choose up to 12 Nez songs from any of his albums. Choose the order you want them to be in. We'll burn you a CD. The Custom CD comes in the generic packaging above and will have your song list on the back tray. The Custom CD does NOT come signed. If you're interested in something extra special, we've got the signed, Limited Edition "Blossom Special" custom Nez CD.

Here's how you order your Custom CD:

Type your list of songs into the box provided. You can email us your list if you need a little time to plan it. Or, fax it to 831-394-8804. You can also place your order over the phone by calling 831-394-8800.

Note:

We are making these CDs here at Videoranch on our own CD burner. Nez has signed off on the quality of our CDs. They sound great. They work on any CD player, CD-Rom Drive, and most but NOT all DVD players. So, if this is a potential problem for you, please contact us by phone or email before ordering. Thanks.