The questionable 1970 contractual obligation album, featuring only half of the Monkees, and none of the charm of those early singles. After spending the previous three years as a self-produced entity, The Monkees handed over the production reins to Jeff Barry, who wrote most of the songs as well. And so really this is more a Jeff Barry album featuring Dolenz & Jones than it is a Monkees record. When you consider it that way, this is actually a pretty decent album. The songs are bubblegum, but a bit more grown up, and even Davy’s tracks are solid. Barry was primarily doing the Archies at the time and so much of this sounds like that, except with more recognizable voices.
By this point, the Monkee era was clearly over. The show had been kaput for two years (but was in reruns), their movie career stalled, half of the lineup was long gone, and their fanbase had outgrown them. They weren’t even touring. It really was just a formality. And so Changes was totally ignored (rarely mentioned even now) and never really given a fair shake.
They did one more single and then stuck a pin in it, closing out their initial run and leaving this poor record in the “nadir” column. It’s worth a reassessment.
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