The Monkees formed in 1966 when Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, and Peter Tork were picked out of a mass casting call to portray a band on a zany T.V. sit-com designed to mimic the madcap spirit of the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. The brainchild of producer/directors Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the show was a ratings phenomenon and won 1967's Outstanding Comedy Series Emmyr. Through the efforts of music industry legend Don Kirshner, who employed the biggest Brill Building songwriters of the day to pen hits for the group, The Monkees' records were a smash as well.
After the musical uncertainty of Waterloo Lily, Caravan returned with their most inspired recording since In the Land of the Grey and Pink. The splendidly titled For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night is several steps ahead in terms of fresh musical ideas that wholly incorporate the band's trademark humor within the otherwise serious and challenging sonic structures…
After the rather dull Works, Vol. 1, the highly underrated Works, Vol. 2 is a godsend. Works, Vol. 1 took their pompous, bombastic, keyboard-driven prog rock epics to the limit; had it been stripped of its excesses and coupled with the strongest cuts from Works, Vol. 2, the band may have had an enormous success with critics and fans alike…
The 2014 compilation Vibrate: The Best of Rufus Wainwright brings together many of the singer/songwriter's best cuts, as chosen by him, from his various studio albums. Included here are songs off his 1998 self-titled debut all the way through to his 2012 album, Out of the Game. Also included are several cuts Wainwright recorded for the 2001 soundtrack to Shrek. That said, missing here are cuts off his intimate 2007 album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, as are any tracks from his several concert albums, most notably his 2007 Judy Garland-themed performance Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. Perhaps Wainwright viewed All Days Are Nights, which was recorded during his mother Kate McGarrigle's illness with cancer, as too much of a personal statement to single out any of its tracks for inclusion here.