And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'

And the Hits Just Keep on Comin' is Michael Nesmith's fifth solo album during his post-Monkees career. Recorded and released in 1972, all ten tracks had been composed by Nesmith prior to and during his time as a member of The Monkees.

The album features Nesmith on vocals and acoustic guitar and long-time accompanist Red Rhodes on pedal steel guitar. Nesmith has stated that the title of the album is a reaction to the record label repeatedly asking him to write more hit songs and features Nesmith's own version of his tune "Different Drum", a hit for Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys in 1967.^[2]

The version of "Different Drum" found here features four verses as opposed to the three in Linda Ronstadt's version; the verses in the Ronstadt version are the song's first, the second, the bridge, and then the fourth. "Different Drum" made an unofficial debut on The Monkees episode Too Many Girls when Mike, posing as a mic-frightened folk singer, butchers its lyrics while playing the guitar.

Mike and Red recorded an instrumental, "Cantata & Fugue In C&W," for the album but it was left off.

Several songs (notably "Keep On") reflect a theme common to Nesmith's country-flavored tracks — the theme of never letting fear get the best of you. The liner notes to the album are signed "Papa Nes".

The album was re-released on the Pacific Arts label and also reissued with Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash by BMG International in 2000.^[3]

Track listing

All songs by Michael Nesmith.

1. "Tomorrow & Me" – 3:45
2. "The Upside of Good-Bye" – 2:50
3. "Lady Love" – 2:50
4. "Listening" – 2:23
5. "Two Different Roads" – 2:39
6. "The Candidate" – 2:35
7. "Different Drum" – 2:58
8. "Harmony Constant" – 3:48
9. "Keep On" – 3:30
10. "Roll With the Flow" – 5:08

Personnel

• Michael Nesmith – vocals, guitar
• O.J. "Red" Rhodes – pedal steel guitar

References