The year 1966 was an interesting time in pop music. The Summer of Love hadn't yet made the youth revolution — and its inevitable commercialization and polarization — official, but the good vibes were already there to be enjoyed by anyone who was paying attention. Following the Beatles' cue, musicians were savoring a climate of experimentation within the new paradigm of self-contained performing and songwriting units — a business model that the big labels hadn't yet figured out how …showed first 75 words of 1085 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1085 total…reunions), playing their own songs and instruments, and even if it's well past the point of relevance, it has a certain wistful sweetness. Indeed, there's a fundamental decency, wit and charm in evidence throughout this collection that so completely transcends the Monkees' prefab origins, and those of their modern-day counterparts — New Kids on the Block, anyone? — that it's a pleasure to be able to recognize them as their own men. They deserve it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**