Scott McCaughey is no more a Young Fresh Fellow. In more ways than one. For one, this legend of the Seattle music scene is no more a spring chicken and also his initial band Young Fresh Fellows that was active since 1982 hasn’t been seen in action for a few years now.
On the other hand, The Minus 5, which started out as a side project and as a form of pop/rock collective is still going strong. The new album, “Of Monkees And Men” is just a confirmation of that. The collective part of the idea is still intact, and one person that is always around is a certain Mr. Peter Buck (McCaughey was drafted into REM on and off too). Since 1993 Minus 5 included among others Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from the Posies, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and countless others.
For this late outing, mainly a tribute to The Monkees, with no original Monkees tunes to be heard, McCaughey brings us a somewhat paired down version of the band that along with Buck, Johhn Ramberg and Bill Rieflin, who also doubles (and triples) with Peter Buck’s Band and King Crimson. And as the cover in the style of the old "16" magazine states, a count of others...
What McCoughey does on this album is bring us his usually impeccable pop craft that is “in the style” of the music The Monkees made, with songs getting titles in appreciation of each of the band’s members, but also their regular songwriters Boyce & Hart. Since it was appreciation times, McCoughey included a tune each for Willy Vlautin’s band Richmond Fontaine (not exactly the happy-go-lucky pop band The Monkees were supposed to be), movie director Robert Ryan and a certain blue Rickenbacker guitar.
At firs hearing the tunes give a kind of a low-key vibe, but as you keep on playing them, they reveal all of the craft and ingenuity of all involved, even though it is mainly McCoughey’s show. The closer “Weymer Never Dies”, is The Minus 5 poke at something you could call ambient pop, and at almost 11 minutes it almost doesn’t die, but for a good reason. It gives this little gem of an album another dimension, but also a good chance that this album will be overlooked. Again, as is with most The Minus 5 stuff.
