Description
Label Review.
Recorded 1982. Limited to 800 copies. 7a Records. Also available on CD+DVD.
Our Overview.
Micky Dolenz travelled to Japan in early 1982 to give his first ever tour as a solo performer, towards the end of a massive Monkees resurgence that had sparked there in the fall of 1980. Dolenz’s Japanese concerts marked the closest thing he had ever done (up to that point) to a solo concert tour. While he had toured extensively in 1975 and 1976 with Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart, he had seldom set foot on the concert stage post-Monkees ‘on his own’.
Dolenz employed a Japanese group of musicians for his backup band, hiring an outfit called Marlboro. The tour provides a revealing look into what he himself, only fifteen years removed from the original Monkees phenomenon, may have considered the crème-de-la-crème of their catalogue. While the practice of playing deep cuts for diehard fans has become more common in recent years, at this early juncture Dolenz makes some captivating choices, including: 1969’s “Pillow Time”, written by his mother Janelle Scott and two killer Nesmith compositions from Headquarters, “Sunny Girlfriend” and “You Just May Be The One”.
Also included are the Davy Jones staple “I Wanna Be Free”, “Shades Of Gray” and what might be the first ever concert performance of “Zor And Zam”. The CD + DVD version includes five bonus tracks, including the first ever release of “I’m Your Man” from 1978s World Popular Song Contest in Tokyo, and the first ever reissue of “Tomorrow” from the West End play Bugsy Malone, which Dolenz directed.
Tracklisting: Sunny Girlfriend / Last Train To Clarksville / You Just May Be The One / I’m A Believer / Randy Scouse Git / Zor And Zam / Mary, Mary / I Wanna Be Free / Pillow Time / Shades Of Gray / No Time / Daydream Believer / (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone / Goin’ Down / Pleasant Valley Sunday / Beverly Hills / To Be Or Not To Be