1998 The Monkees Anthology

1998 Anthology
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)

Rhino's Listen to the Band box set was for the collectors, and their terrific 20-song Greatest Hits was for the casual fans. Their third attempt at a Monkees compilation, the double-disc Anthology falls somewhere in between. Over the course of an exhausting 56 tracks, all of the group's hits are hauled out again, with such fine album tracks as "She," "Take a Giant Step," "Your Auntie Grizelda," "You Just May Be the One," and "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round" added for good measure. On the surface of things, this seems like a good thing, but the set is padded out with lesser album cuts and latter-day tracks from their three reunion albums that makes Anthology more of a chore than a pleasure.