Think what you want about Mike Nesmith as a Monkee – he's also a hell of a sensitive singer/songwriter, and one of the key talents who helped give birth to the country rock sound at the end of the 60s! This album's one of the few that Nesmith cut with his wonderful First National Band – a group of well-matched players who can easily move between country and Cali, and come up with just the right balance of both – augmented throughout with some excellent steel guitar from Red Rhodes! There's an easygoing charm to the whole record – one that's maybe less self-conscious than some of the others touching this space at the time – which is what makes it so great. Titles include "Thanx For The Ride", "Silver Moon", "Tengo Amore", "Listen To The Band", "Conversations", "Dedicated Friend", "Bye Bye Bye", and a version of "I Fall To Pieces". LP, Vinyl record album

Completely wonderful solo work from Monkee Mike Nesmith – music that almost bears no relationship to his famous TV sounds – save for the fact that Mike's still got all of his charms firmly intact! Yet the approach here is unabashedly country rock – that style that Nesmith was bringing to some of his songs as the 60s moved on, from very credible roots – and served up here by a very cool group that features plenty of steel guitar from OJ Red Rhodes! The tunes are smart, but understated – catchy, but never cloying – almost in the territory of the Byrds or Flying Burrito Brothers, but maybe without the darker corners. Titles include "The Crippled Lion", "Mama Nantucket", "The Keys To The Car", "Hollywood", "Calico Girlfriend", and "Nine Times Blue". LP, Vinyl record album

Mike Nesmith is letting his hair grow a bit on the cover of this third album with his First National Band – and he also seems to be opening up his sound a bit, too – firmly flowing into the expansive country rock territory he opened up with the group's first two albums! Nesmith sometimes seems to have an even more confident lead vocal – partly through a stronger sense of twang – and while he's written more great tracks for this album, he also opens the door to handle work by Bobby Whitlock, Nilsson, and Mike Murphy too. Titles include "Here I Am", "Propinquity", "Grand Ennui", "Texas Morning", "Rene", and "Rainmaker". LP, Vinyl record album