The Monkees

Nov 26, 2018 | Celebrity Friends, Radio Show | 0 comments

The Monkees Christmas Party

Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees stops by to chat with Jim all about their new Christmas album!

Monkees Christmas Party

Listen to Jim’s interview with Mickey by clicking here!

JB: Music, of course, is so much a part of the season, and nostalgia! We want to hear songs that sound familiar and are comfortable, and when you do that, you think of supergroups like…the Monkees, huh? Mickey Dolenz is here, talking with me! How ya doin, Mickey?

 
MD: Very good, and you?
 
JB: I’m so happy to talk with you! This is exciting! You’ve got The Monkees Christmas Party! 
 
MD: And it’s our first Christmas album!
 
JB: And you are in it with Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, and some of the recordings of Davey Jones, which is really cool! Tell me a little bit about that. 
 
MD: We had sound, these couple of tunes, “Silver Bells,” which is a wonderful song that Davey had done back in the day, and uh… his crazy Hawaiian song, “Mele Kalikimaka”…I never know how to pronounce that!…who, of course, Bing Crosby [sung] very famous[ly]… Davey had done these really wonderful vocals on these tracks, and all of the sudden, we’re getting Andy Partridge, and Rivers Cuomo, and then Peter Buck of REM says “I wanna write one.”
 
JB: That’s awesome…the Monkees Christmas party is a brand new holiday album, and the song is called “Unwrap You at Christmas”… kind of a provocative title, Mickey, I mean, come on… 
 
MD: It depends where your mind is at!
 
JB: Well you are the Monkees, I mean, come on… think of all those posters you were on!
Click here to check out the Monkees new album on iTunes!

More about the Monkees Christmas Party 

The Monkees will celebrate the season with their first holiday album, featuring new vocals by Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. The late Davy Jones’ unmistakable voice – taken from vintage recordings – also appears on two songs. CHRISTMAS PARTY will be available on CD, digital download, and streaming services on October 12.

On CHRISTMAS PARTY, The Monkees put their unmistakable vocal stamp on a wide array of classic Christmas tracks, from the R&B holiday standard “Merry Christmas, Baby,” to Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” and Wizzard’s yuletide classic “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.”

After helming The Monkees’ critically acclaimed studio album Good Times! in 2016, Grammy® and Emmy®-winning songwriter Adam Schlesinger reprises his role as producer on CHRISTMAS PARTY. All of the album’s 13 songs were recorded this year, with “Silver Bells” and “Mele Kalikimaka” using classic Davy Jones vocals from the archives combined with newly recorded music.

Much like GOOD TIMES!, CHRISTMAS PARTY features songs newly written for the band by a group of talented songwriters, including Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (“What Would Santa Do”) and Andy Partridge of XTC (“Unwrap You At Christmas”). Schlesinger and celebrated author Michael Chabon teamed up to write “House Of Broken Gingerbread.” Guitarists Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 play on two songs – a cover of Big Star’s “Jesus Christ” and the album’s title track, which they wrote together.

CHRISTMAS PARTY also includes two songs with Michael Nesmith on lead vocals, with each track being produced by one of his sons.His take on the yuletide classic “The Christmas Song” was produced by Christian Nesmith while “Snowfall” was helmed by Jonathan Nesmith.

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