Friday, March 17, 2023

The Monkees: Pool It! (1987)

 

+

For some reason, “She’s Movin’ In With Rico” just popped into my head, where it had been hiding for about 35 years, so I figured I would give this little nugget a spin. Pool It! was a totally contrived 1987 reunion album where the Monkees updated their brand by lending their vocals to a collection of slick, safe, shiny pop songs that were written and performed behind the scenes. It does what it intends to do and there certainly are some decent moments here but mostly, this is plastic. It could be anyone singing these songs (except for Peter Tork’s lone original, “Gettin’ In”, which is the best thing on here). It pretty much all sounds like it should be in some cheesy ‘80s, USA Up All Night b-movie. This album does take me back though. If not always the songs themselves, but the vibe. All of a sudden I’m 13 and hanging out at the mall, Sam Goody bag in one hand, Orange Julius in the other. I appreciate the throwback even though this album is pretty terrible.

No comments:

Post a Comment