The Monkees - Good Times!
THE MONKEES - Good Times! (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
2CD Set Arriving May 29 Features Unreleased Instrumental Version Of The Album Plus Several Rare Outtakes
Good Times! Rhino Reserve Audiophile Edition Available The Same Day
Micky Dolenz Launches “60 Years Of The Monkees” U.S. Tour To Celebrate The Group’s 60th Anniversary
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The Monkees’ 60th anniversary shifted into high gear this week as Micky Dolenz kicked off his “60 Years of The Monkees” tour, a 27-date run through the U.S. that headlines a year-long celebration of the band’s enduring legacy. Grab tickets here.
“Working on Good Times! was an extraordinary experience. None of us could have imagined that nearly 50 years after our last Top 20 record, we’d be back there again with a new Monkees album. That meant a lot. It was also a joy to work with the incredibly talented Adam Schlesinger, who understood exactly how to honor our history while still making something fresh. Mike, Peter, and I had a wonderful time making that record, and I have no doubt Davy’s spirit was right there with us. We really did have a good time.” - Micky Dolenz
To help celebrate, Rhino is releasing Good Times! (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), a new 2CD version of the band’s acclaimed 2016 studio album. The set arrives on May 29 and includes unreleased instrumental versions of every album track, plus four rare session outtakes. The album will also be made available digitally for the first time. The collection joins the growing list of Rhino’s special releases honoring The Monkees’ diamond anniversary, with more to come soon. Available now for the first time digitally is “A Better World”, released previously on the EP physically called "Good Times! Plus!" Listen here
Also on May 29, an audiophile vinyl edition of the original album will be released through the Rhino Reserve series. The 180-gram pressing was cut from the original analog masters by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, California. The LP will be available exclusively through indie retailers in the U.S. and via Rhino.com.
A decade after its debut, Good Times! stands as a late-career triumph for The Monkees, both critically and commercially. It debuted at #14 on the Billboard 200—the group’s highest-charting studio effort in 48 years—and earned widespread acclaim. Rolling Stone noted at the time: “Monkees freaks have waited far too long for this album. But it was worth it.”
To record the album, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork teamed with producer Adam Schlesinger to follow the same collaborative blueprint that defined the band’s early albums. Like those, Good Times! features tracks written specifically for the group by some of the world’s best songwriters, including Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Andy Partridge (XTC), Noel Gallagher (Oasis), and Paul Weller (The Jam). Nesmith and Tork also wrote songs for the new album: “I Know What I Know” and “A Better World” respectively.
The group also went back to the 1960s for a trio of demos, updating those vintage recordings with new performances. These included the Carole King and Gerry Goffin-penned “Wasn’t Born To Follow,” featuring a 1968 backing performance by the legendary Wrecking Crew. Additionally, the Neil Diamond-penned “Love To Love” was built around a vocal by the late Davy Jones, while the Harry Nilsson-written title track was transformed into a duet, pairing Nilsson’s original 1968 vocal and piano with a new performance by Dolenz.
The 10th anniversary edition of Good Times! honors a legacy that began with one of the most successful runs in music history. Between 1966 and 1967, The Monkees sold more than 16 million albums and established a Billboard chart record by becoming the first and only group to have four #1 albums in a single calendar year (1967). During that peak, the group’s first two albums held the #1 spot for a combined 31 weeks, cementing Monkeemania as a definitive force in American pop culture.
Micky Dolenz will return to the leading ecommerce video platform TalkShopLive due to popular demand. On Wednesday, May 20th at 7:00pm Eastern Time, Micky will join TalkShopLive host Steve Harkins to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Rhino Records release of “Good Times.” They will discuss the process of recording the album and each track on the album. Fans will have an opportunity to ask questions and purchase exclusively autographed inserts with the newly reissued vinyl release. Only 500 copies autographed will be available. The last show nearly 30,000 fans viewed the exclusive event and Micky’s signing completely sold out! To order your copy and to follow the event visit talkshop.live or click the link here.
Good Times! (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
CD Track Listing
Disc One: Original Album
“Good Times”
“You Bring The Summer”
“She Makes Me Laugh”
“Our Own World”
“Gotta Give It Time”
“Me & Magdalena”
“Whatever’s Right”
“Love To Love”
“Little Girl”
“Birth Of An Accidental Hipster”
“Wasn’t Born To Follow”
“I Know What I Know”
“I Was There (And I’m Told I Had A Good Time)”
Disc Two: Bonus Tracks
“Terrifying”
“Me & Magdalena” (Version 2)
“A Better World”
“Love’s What I Want”
Instrumentals
“Good Times”
“You Bring The Summer”
“She Makes Me Laugh”
“Our Own World”
“Gotta Give It Time”
“Me & Magdalena”
“Whatever’s Right”
“Love To Love”
“Little Girl”
“Birth Of An Accidental Hipster”
“Wasn’t Born To Follow”
“I Know What I Know”
“I Was There (And I’m Told I Had A Good Time)”
