And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'

Infobox Album
Name = And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'
Type = Album
Artist = Michael Nesmith


Released = 1972
Recorded = March 1972
Genre = Country rock
Length = 30:26
Label = RCA
Producer = Michael Nesmith
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:09fixqw5ldfe link]
Last album = "Tantamount to Treason Vol. 1" (1971)
This album = "And the Hits Just Keep on Comin" (1972)
Next album = "Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash" (1973)

And the Hits Just Keep on Comin' is Michael Nesmith's sixth album, released in 1972. Although the album was recorded in March 1972, all ten tracks had been composed by Nesmith before and early in 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. [ [http://www.videoranch.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=VRS&Product_Code=100-004 Michael Nesmith official Videoranch website entry for And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'] ]

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 it's lyrics while playing the guitar.

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. [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:difqxqy0ldse And the Hits Just Keep on Comin' and Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash reissue review on Allmusic.] ]

Track listing

All songs by Michael Nesmith.
# "Tomorrow & Me" – 3:45
# "The Upside of Good-Bye" – 2:50
# "Lady Love" – 2:50
# "Listening" – 2:23
# "Two Different Roads" – 2:39
# "The Candidate" – 2:35
# "Different Drum" – 2:58
# "Harmony Constant" – 3:48
# "Keep On" – 3:30
# "Roll With the Flow" – 5:08

Personnel

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

References