Christmas Party (The Monkees album)

Christmas Party
Studio album by The Monkees
Released	October 12, 2018 (2018-10-12)
Recorded	May, July–September 2018 Unknown, 1991 November 22, 1967 October 1976
Studio	Lucy's Meat Market (Los Angeles) Omelette Station (New York City) The Doghouse (Los Angeles) Beatland Tours (Atwater Village) Institute for the Musical Arts (Goshen)
Genre	Pop rock, Christmas music
Length	37:48
Label	Rhino
Producer	Adam Schlesinger, Chip Douglas, Christian Nesmith, Jonathan Nesmith, Peter Tork, James Lee Stanley
The Monkees chronology
Good Times! (2016) Christmas Party (2018) The Mike and Micky Show (2020)
Singles from Christmas Party
"Unwrap You at Christmas" Released: 2018

Christmas Party is the 13th and final studio album by the American pop rock band the Monkees, released on October 12, 2018, by Rhino Records. Produced mainly by Adam Schlesinger (with Michael Nesmith's tracks produced by his sons Christian and Jonathan), 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.[1]

The album features a mix of covers of earlier Christmas songs (from "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Wonderful Christmastime" to the relatively obscure "Jesus Christ", originally by Big Star) 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.[2] This is the only Monkees album on which there are no songs written by any member of the Monkees.

The Target store exclusive 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.[3]

Cover

The album cover was illustrated by comics artist Michael 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."[4]

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Guardian	[6]
The Arts Desk	[7]
Los Angeles Times	[8]
Allmusic	[9]

Christmas Party received a mixed review in The Guardian, who described it as "a curious hodgepodge" and gave it three out of five stars.[6] The same score was given by The Arts Desk who described it as "a mixed bag of covers and original songs and some of it is a bit cheesy".[7] The Los Angeles Times gave the album two and a half 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."[8]

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."[10]

Track listing

Standard edition[11]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocalist	Length
1.	"Unwrap You at Christmas"	Andy Partridge	Micky Dolenz	3:33
2.	"What Would Santa Do"	Rivers Cuomo	Dolenz	3:13
3.	"Mele Kalikimaka"	Robert Alexander Anderson	Davy Jones	2:26
4.	"House of Broken Gingerbread"	Adam Schlesinger Michael Chabon	Dolenz	2:55
5.	"The Christmas Song"	Bob Wells Mel Tormé	Michael Nesmith	3:41
6.	"Christmas Party (features audio sourced from The Monkees episode "The Christmas Show", filmed November 22, 1967)"	Peter Buck Scott McCaughey	Dolenz	3:04
7.	"Jesus Christ"	Alex Chilton	Dolenz	2:37
8.	"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day"	Roy Wood	Dolenz	3:31
9.	"Silver Bells"	Jay Livingston Ray Evans	Jones	3:22
10.	"Wonderful Christmastime"	Paul McCartney	Dolenz	3:33
11.	"Snowfall"	Claude Thornhill Ruth Thornhill	Nesmith	2:57
12.	"Angels We Have Heard on High"	Traditional; lyrics by James Chadwick	Peter Tork	2:49
13.	"Merry Christmas, Baby"	Lou Baxter Johnny Moore	Dolenz	2:56

Target exclusive bonus tracks[12]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocalist	Length
14.	"Riu Chiu (audio sourced from The Monkees episode "The Christmas Show", filmed November 22, 1967)[13]^[better source needed]"	Mateo Flecha	Dolenz Jones Nesmith Tork	1:30
15.	"Christmas Is My Time of Year"	Howard Kaylan Chip Douglas	Jones Dolenz	3:08

Personnel

Credits adapted from Target exclusive CD liner notes.[14]

The Monkees

• Micky Dolenz – lead vocals (1–2, 4, 6–8, 10, 13–15)
• Davy Jones – lead vocals (3, 9, 14–15)
• Michael Nesmith – lead vocals (5, 11, 14)
• Peter Tork – lead vocals (12, 14), banjo (12), Hammond B3 organ (15)

Additional musicians

• Michael Eisenstein – electric guitars (1–4, 6–8, 13), acoustic guitar (6–8, 10), guitar (9)
• Adam Schlesinger – bass guitar (1–4, 6–10, 13), keyboards (1–2, 4, 7–8, 10, 13), guitar (1, 4), banjo (4), backing vocals (4), piano (7–8)
• Brian Young – drums (1–4, 6–10, 13), percussion (1–4, 6–10)
• David Mead – backing vocals (1–2, 4, 7–8, 10, 13)
• The Section Quartet (1, 9):
  • Daphne Chen – violin
  • Eric Gorfain – violin
  • Leah Katz – viola
  • Richard Dodd – cello
• Chip Douglas – ukulele (3), guitar (3, 15), bass guitar (15), vocals (15)
• Mike Swerdlow – steel guitar (3)
• Christian Nesmith – guitars (5), keyboards (5)
• Ian Walker – upright bass (5)
• Christopher Allis – drums (5)
• Pete Finney – pedal steel guitar (5)
• Circe Link – background vocals (5)
• Peter Buck – electric guitar (6–7), acoustic guitar (6)
• Jody Porter – electric guitar (6, 13)
• Scott McCaughey – electric guitar (6), acoustic guitar (6), backing vocals (6), piano (6), celeste (7)
• Jonathan Nesmith – all instruments (11), background vocals (11)
• James Lee Stanley – 6-string guitar (12), 12-string guitar (12), bass guitar (12)
• "Fast" Eddie Hoh – drums (15)
• Jeff Jones – guitars (15)
• Billy London – pedal steel (15)
• Ollie Mitchell – piccolo trumpet (15)

Technical

• Adam Schlesinger – producer (1–4, 6–10, 12–13), mixing (1–4, 6–10, 12–13), engineer
• Chip Douglas – vocal production (3, 9), producer (3, 9, 15), vocal arrangement (14), brass arrangement (15)
• Daphne Chen – string arrangement (1, 9)
• Peter Tork – additional production (12), arranger (12)
• James Lee Stanley – additional production (12), arranger (12)
• Christian Nesmith – producer (5), mixing (5), vocal arrangement (5), engineer
• Jonathan Nesmith – producer (11), mixing (11), vocal arrangement (11), engineer
• Pete Min – engineer
• Andrew Sandoval – engineer
• Dan Piscina – engineer
• Andrew Schwartz – engineer
• Judy Elliot-Brown – engineer
• Ryan Smith – mastering
• John Hughes – executive producer
• Kris Perera – product manager
• Jonathan Lane – art direction, design
• Michael Allred – cover art

Charts

Chart (2018)	Peak position
US Billboard Top Current Album Sales	60[15]
US Billboard Holiday Album	3[16]

References

1. "The Monkees To Release Christmas Party, Their First Ever Holiday Album". monkees.com. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
2. "Micky Dolenz Breaks Down the Monkees' New Christmas Album". rollingstone.com. 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
3. "Zilch #124 Monkees Christmas Party News". zilchmonkeescast.blogspot.com. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
4. "MIKE ALLRED Talks New MONKEES Album Project". 13thdimension.com. 2018-09-24.
5. "Critic Reviews for Christmas Party". Metacritic. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
6. Hann, Michael (14 December 2018). "The Monkees: Christmas Party review – festive mishmash best when guests chime in". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
7. Oddy, Guy (4 December 2018). "Wake up Sleepy Jean, the Monkees are back to spread some Christmas cheer". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
8. Lewis, Randy (23 November 2018). "This year's essential Christmas albums ranked, from 'Shatner Claus' to the irresistible JD McPherson". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
9. Christmas Party at AllMusic
10. Willman, Chris. "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Spotify: 15 New Holiday Albums Reviewed, From John Legend to William Shatner". Variety. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
11. "The Monkees Announce Christmas Album with Rivers Cuomo, Peter Buck, Andy Partridge, & More". SPIN. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
12. Duquette, Mike (2018-09-20). "Wonderful Christmastime: The Monkees' "Christmas Party" Arrives In October". The Second Disc. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
13. "The Christmas Show" at monkeestv3.tripod.com
14. The Monkees (2018). Christmas Party (CD liner notes). Los Angeles, California: Rhino Records. R2 574825.
15. "Chart History: The Monkees - Top Current Album Sales". Billboard.
16. "The Monkees". Billboard.