Blessed or cursed (depending on your point of view) with his reputation as the "Smart
Monkee
,"
Michael Nesmith
was the member of the group who made the strongest impression as a musician and songwriter, and deservedly so. While
Davy Jones
,
Peter Tork
, and
Micky Dolenz
had greater teen appeal,
Nesmith
was the first of
the Monkees
to write and produce material for the group when
Don Kirshner
was still calling the shots.
had far and away the most satisfying solo career of
, cutting some outstanding country-rock sides when the genre was still establishing itself. And
had the most eclectic body of work; if he seemed little concerned with the commercial appeal of his music, ultimately his cult following and D.I.Y. approach allowed him to produce a larger and better respected catalog than his former colleagues. In 2017,
published a memoir, Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff, and
Rhino Records
compiled the album
Infinite Tuesday: Autobiographical Riffs - The Music
as a companion piece.
Infinite Tuesday: Autobiographical Riffs
is one of the few
collections that includes material from his years with
(three tracks) as well as his solo work, and it even tacks on "The New Recruit," a rare 1965 folk-rock single he cut under the name
Michael Blessing
. The collection is divided roughly in half between the country-accented material he cut with
, in his solo work, and his albums with
the First National Band
, and the slicker pop-oriented albums he released from 1975 onward via his own
Pacific Arts
label. As a thumbnail sketch of the arc of
's musical career,
Infinite Tuesday
is reasonably accurate, and the collection includes the minor hits of his solo era, including "Joanne," "Silver Moon, "Rio," and "Cruisin'." However, at only 14 tracks, this is an awfully skimpy career retrospective for a man who has been making music for more than half a century. As a soundtrack to
's book,
serves its purpose well enough, but it does raise the question: When is
going to get the career-spanning box set he clearly deserves? ~ Mark Deming