Michael Nesmith & The First National Band Magnetic South (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1970) ***** Michael Nesmith & The First National Band Loose Salute (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1970) *****
Michael Nesmith & The First National Band Nevada Fighter (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1971) ***
Michael Nesmith And The Hits Just Keep On Comin' (Vinyl, 7a Records, 1972) *****
Michael Nesmith The Prison (Vinyl, Pacific Arts Records, 1972) *****
Michael Nesmith From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing (Vinyl, Stetson Records, 1977) ***
Michael Nesmith Live At The Palais (Vinyl, Pacific Arts Records, 1978) ****
Michael Nesmith Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma (Vinyl, Pacific Arts Records, 1979) ***
Genre: Country rock, country, pop
Places I remember: A secondhand shop in Santa Monica (California); Real Groovy Records, Amoeba Records (Los Angeles), record fair, Spellbound Wax Company (Photon Wing), a Melbourne record shop (Live at The Palais).
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Joanne (Magnetic South)
Gear costume: Rainmaker (Nevada Fighter), Two Different Roads, Different Drum (And The Hits...)
They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5
Active compensatory factors: I have a deep admiration for Mike/Michael Nesmith (as a person and a musician) and The Monkees, of course. It was a fantastic night seeing him with Micky Dolenz with my close friends in Auckland a few years ago. What a songwriter. What a singer. What a great guy!
His solo career got off to an obscure start with an instrumental album in 1968 with an L.P. credited to The Wichita Train Whistle (which I don't have). His second album was a fresh start with The First National Band - Magnetic South. It's the one with Joanne.
Five of he eleven songs came from his time in The Monkees, but by this time he'd embraced country rock to spectacular effect. 'Red' Rhodes emerges as a star on his pedal steel and he'd be joining Nez for a fair while to come.
It's brilliant, relaxed, funny, and I even love his yodeling on Mama Nantucket!
Loose Salute was his second album of 1970. This is the one with Silver Moon and the retooled Listen To The Band. There's also a cover version of I Fall To Pieces that sounds like a Nez original.
The country rock sound continues unabated on Loose Salute, although it's a rockier version than on Magnetic South.
It's another complete stunner of an album. 'Red' Rhodes continues to deliver some brilliant pedal steel and Nez sings with complete confidence.
Nevada Fighter is the third and final album Nez recorded with The First National Band, but lineup changes during its recording mean it is augmented with session players. There are a lot of cover songs on side 2 - most notable being The Rainmaker - a song I've always loved by Harry Nilsson and Bill Martin.
I haven't yet found a copy of his next album Tantamount To Treason (1972) with The Second National Band, so next up is the sparkily titled And The Hits Just Keep On Comin' (ha ha), which is just Nesmith on guitar/vocals and Rhodes on pedal steel. It's a beautiful country rock record, with the sparse instrumentation meaning that the lyrics become more important (because they are clearly delineated yunnerstan).
There are many highlights - Two Different Roads is a beautiful song and this is the one with Different Drum (a hit for Linda Ronstadt of course).
My copy, procured from Amoeba Records in Los Angeles, is a 50th anniversary edition on coloured vinyl and with four bonus tracks that are cool to have for a change - I'm generally not a fan of bonus tracks.
I have another gap to fill (1973's Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stack) before my next album - The Prison. I have the vinyl album and inner sleeve but not the full packaging that went with it (a novella and a cover), so that's something I'm also looking for in my wanderings.
The Prison (a.k.a. The Prison: A Book with a Soundtrack) is the first part of a trilogy made up of a companion novella/album entitled The Garden (1994) and I believe there is a third installment titled The Ocean. I have neither of those albums but I'm keen to find them.
Although 'Red' Rhodes again appears, The Prison moves away from Nez's country rock sound. In fact, I struggle to hear the pedal steel, instead the album features some beautiful, at times lush, and jazzy, instrumentation that makes the songs float along as Nez sings very calmly about existential matters. I think it's a work of genius! Way better than Astral Weeks!
Next up is From A Radio Engine To A Photon Wing. Say what? Nez moves to a decidedly more poppy style for this cryptically titled album. This is the one with Rio. How typically Nesmith - to go from the deliberately non-hits The Prison (the whole album is like one song) to the pop masterpiece of Rio!
Live At The Palais was recorded in Australia, Melbourne to be precise. As the liner notes by Nez say, like capturing lightning in a bottle, "Live albums are tough". In this case he "just decided to pick a date at random and take what I got".
In this case - what he got was an excellent set of live versions of his songs. I don't even mind the silent gaps between songs! He returns to his country rock sound as he manages to include some terrific versions of his songs like Calico Girlfriend, Joanne, Silver Moon and Some Of Shelly's Blues.
The final album on my list is his studio follow up to Photon Wing - Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma. This is the one with Cruisin'.
It's a very different Nez who fronts up on Infinite Rider. More playful, more rocky, more eclectic, but the same dry wit is in evidence and the same ease of delivery. The man was a marvel!
Where do they all belong? So, a few missing pieces of the Nez puzzle to track down - hopefully when I least expect it I'll stumble upon them - that seems to be how I've found the ones I own.
.jpg)