The Monkees - Greatest Hits

Unless you're a snob, a good Monkees collection belongs on your shelves, not too far from discs by the Turtles, the Lovin' Spoonful, and other avatars of clean, occasionally rocking '60s Top 40 pop. Greatest Hits is a more than generous stack, bringing together not only the obvious megahits ("I'm a Believer," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," the incredibly propulsive "Valleri") but also a number of tunes that had the bad luck to fall on the wrong side of the act's swift rise and fall. Foremost among these is "Porpoise Song," a lyrically incomprehensible Goffin/King stab at psychedelia that's at once a crass cash-in and one of the loveliest, most fragile sounds to emerge from the American hippie dream. --Rickey Wright