The Monkees - Live Summer Tour
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DVD details
Actor: The MonkeesDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 75 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-11-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
DVD Reviews of The Monkees - Live Summer Tour
DVD Review: Not enough Monkees, too many outsiders
Summary: 3 Stars
I actually thought the sound and picture quality were fine on this DVD, no complaints from me there. But I was disappointed in the performance, in that instrument-wise the songs are mostly performed by unknown outside musicians, rather than the Monkees themselves. Actually Peter really does play a variety of instruments here (and quite well), but otherwise it's mainly a Monkee sing-along to the sounds of a large generic backup band. There is one song where Micky plays the drums - ironically it's one written by Mike (the only missing Monkee at this show), "Mary, Mary". And Micky's drumming is great on that song, for me it's one of the highlights of this DVD. I'd have loved to have Micky playing drums on all or most of the songs here, rather than just the one. Also the band is too big with all the outsiders, turning the traditional crisp Monkee sound into more of a "Las Vegas style" revue.
I realize that on most of the Monkees albums, the Monkees just sang and outside musicians did the instrumentation. So in putting on a show like this, the Monkees may have felt they were performing in similar fashion to the albums. However, my favorite Monkees album is "Headquarters", and there the Monkees themselves play virtually all the instruments, sounding great. Also, when the four Monkees performed live together in 1997 in the UK, they showed that they sound fine with only the four of them (there they did about 1/2 of their songs with just the 4 Monkees, the other 1/2 with the aid of backup musicians). In fact, I prefer the more "spare" sound they get with just the four alone, than the bloated sound they have with the big band of slick professionals. It's more of a clean, crisp, jangly "Monkees" sound, very much like the albums they put out in the 60's. So other than Peter's instrumental role, and Micky drumming on one song, this DVD is more like a "tribute to the Monkees" than the real thing, even though it's obviously the real Monkees singing. Would have been so great to have the original 4 Monkees (only) on this DVD, but if Mike wasn't going to be here then I'd rather have Micky on drums, Peter on bass/guitar/keyboards, Davy on tambourine/acoustic guitar/keyboards(?), and just one more musician to fill in for the absent Mike.
As to the Monkees singing here...it's ok. They can do better. Peter again does really well with his vocal role; he doesn't have the voice of Micky or Davy, but he's very much up to the task here and gives fans a good show. But Micky, who's a truly great rock/pop singer, basically walks through this show without the passion we know he can give. Very disappointing there, and very different from some of his other live performances. Ok he does well on some songs, so you do get something there. As for Davy, his voice is fine, though he seems to be trying too hard to be "cool" or something. He even does some lame dancing on a song or two (just be yourself Davy, no need to dance).
So on this DVD you mainly get the Monkees singing in front of an overly large, overly slick backup band, "Las Vegas revue" style. That may appeal to some people, but it's not what I wanted. However, you do get to hear Peter playing on most of the songs, and Micky drumming on one song, a little bit of tambourine and guitar from Davy, so for those portions this DVD was enjoyable to me, along with most but not all of the singing. Whether that's worth the asking price is up to the individual fan, but again this could have been so much better. Maybe some day the 4 will re-unite for one more show, do it right, and put it on film. Meantime there's this, inadequate though it may be for fans like myself.
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