The Monkees: Michael Nesmith (vocals, electric & 12-string guitars); Mickey Dolenz (vocals, drums, tympani, wood block); Davy Jones (vocals, tambourine, chimes, tree); Peter Tork (guitar, electric guitar, piano, harpsichord, organ, background vocals).
Additional personnel includes: Gerry McGee, Louie Shelton (acoustic & electric guitars); Bill Chadwick (acoustic guitar); John London (acoustic 12-string guitar, bass); Keith Allison, Wayne Moss (electric guitar); Tommy Boyce (guitar, background vocals); Wayne Erwin, James Burton, Glen Campbell, Al Casey, Michael Deasy, Don Peake, Al Gorgoni, Hugh McCracken, Don Thomas, Al Hendrickson, Ken Bloom, Danny Kortchmar, Harold Bradley, Billy Sanford, Laurence Juber, Mark Christian; Henry Diltz, Robert Thompson (banjo); Lloyd Green (steel guitar); Buddy Spicher (fiddle); Bonnie Douglas, Paul Shure, Nathan Kaproff, George Kast, Alexander Murray, Erno Neufeld, Sam Freed, Marvin Limonick (violin); Myra Kestenbaum (viola); Fred Saykora, Marie Fera, Jacqueline Lustgarten, Kurt Reher, Aller Slatkin, Gregory Bemko, David Filerman, Jan Kenny (cello); Buddy Collette, Bill Hood, Plas Johnson, Jim Horn, Jay Migliori, Martin Berman (saxophone); John Lowe (bass saxophone); Bobby Helfer (trumpet, bass clarinet); Bud Brisbois (trumpet, horn); Pete Candoli, Al Porcino, Manuel Stevens, Virgil Evans, Uan Rasey, Thomas Scott, Roy V. Caton, Oliver Mitchell, Carroll Lewis, Stuart Williamson, Buddy Childers, Jack Sheldon (trumpet); Vincent De Rosa, Dave Duke, Richard Perissi (French Horn); Richard Nash (trombone, horn); Richard Noel, Louis Blackburn, Lewis McCreary, Herbert Harper (trombone); Richard Leith, Philip Teele (bass trombone); William Hinshaw, Jules Jacob, Marion Childers, John Kitzmiller, Don McGinnis, Michael Saluzzi, Ray Triscari (horns); Michael Cohen, Stan Free, David Briggs, Jim Cox (piano); Michael Melvin (piano, celeste); Michael Rubini (harpsichord, tack piano, organ); Bobby Hart, Arthur Butler (organ); Leon Russell, Ralph Shuckett, Mike Egizi (keyboards); Clyde "Whitey" Hoggan, James Hughart, Jerry Scheff (acoustic bass); Max Bennett (acoustic & electric basses); Larry Taylor, Larry Knechtel, Bob West, Louis Mauro, James Tyrell, Chip Douglas, Douglas Lubahn, Norbert Putnam, Dennis Belfield, Dean Parks, George Hawkins, Joe Osborne (bass); Billy Lewis, Hal Blaine, Jim Gordon, Herb Lovelle, "Fast" Eddie Hoh, Earl Palmer, Mike Ney, Jerry Carrigan, Paul Leim, Curly Smith (drums); Thomas Cerone (tambourine); Larry Bunker (glockenspiel); Gene Estes, David Walters, Henry Lewy, Gary Coleman, Gene Pello, Bill Martin, Brendan Cahill, Milt Holland, Jerry Williams (percussion); Michael Lloyd (synthesizer, background vocals); Matt Harris (background vocals); John R. Hoenig.
Producers include: Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Jack Keller, Jeff Barry, Michael Nesmith.
Compilation producers: Andrew Sandoval, Bill Inglot.
Includes liner notes by Ken Barnes.
This deluxe, repackaged, remastered, and expanded edition of The Monkees' GREATEST HITS is a superlative Monkees anthology. It focuses on singles mixes of classics like "Words," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," and "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone," many of which appear here on CD for the first time.
This collection also features interesting album tracks like Micky Dolenz's "Randy Scouse Git," and the gorgeous, ultra-psychedelic "Porpoise Song," the theme to the band's underrated commercial-suicide film HEAD. This version of the disc ends with the two best tracks from the band's mid-'80s reunion, "That Was Then, This Is Now," and "Heart and Soul." As good a single-disc introduction as you're likely to find.
