Christmas Party is the 13th album by The Monkees, released on October 12, 2018. Produced mainly by Adam Schlesinger, the album is the Monkees' first to focus on Christmas themes. It follows on the success of their 2016 album Good Times! The two-year gap is the shortest between albums since the 1969/1970 releases of The Monkees Present and Changes. The album features surviving Monkees Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, and Peter Tork, as well as two posthumous contributions from Davy Jones. It is the final Monkees album to be released prior to Tork's death four months later on February 21, 2019. The album features a mix of covers of earlier Christmas songs and new holiday tunes written specifically for the album by several Good Times! contributors, including XTC's Andy Partridge, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo and Schlesinger. The Target storeexclusive version features two additional tracks, "Riu Chiu" and "Christmas Is My Time of Year," vintage recordings from the group remastered and remixed by original Monkees producer Chip Douglas.
Cover
The album cover was illustrated by comics artistMichael Allred. Allred, a lifetime Monkees fan, recalled: "I can't even remember doing it now. I was on a crazy high trying to squeeze everything I could into it."
Reception
Christmas Party received a mixed review in The Guardian, who described it as "a curious hodgepodge" and gave it three out of five stars. The same score was given by The ArtsDesk who described it as "a mixed bag of covers and original songs and some of it is a bit cheesy". The Los Angeles Times gave the album ** 1/2 out of four stars, stating "the big calling card may well be two vocals that Davy Jones recorded in 1991 and that are newly outfitted in fresh instrumental accompaniment pulled together by album producer Adam Schlesinger." Variety did not rate the album, but described it as feeling "mostly like a Micky Dolenz solo album — co-produced by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger — that happens to have a few odd interjections from Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and, yes, the late Davy Jones."
Track listing
Personnel
Micky Dolenz: vocals
Michael Nesmith: vocals
Peter Tork: vocals on "Christmas Party" and "Angels We Have Heard on High," banjo on "Angels We Have Heard on High"
Davy Jones: vocals on "Mele Kelikimaka," "Christmas Party," and "Silver Bells"