Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings CD

Add a Videoranch Meet & Greet with Michael Nesmith on Zoom to your order! Now booking for July!

Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings features 22 tracks on CD drawn from the RCA Victor vaults, every one of which is previously unreleased in any physical format. These songs were originally released to digital platforms in 2018 as bonus tracks to Nesmith's six RCA albums – solo and with The First and Second National Bands.

Different Drum premieres on CD some of Nesmith's most remarkable musical explorations from this vivid period including cosmic reimaginings of Monkees-era favorites such as Tapioca Tundra, Magnolia Simms, Circle Sky, and Listen to the Band; unheard outtakes like American Airman and Six Days on the Road; vastly different alternate takes of Different Drum, Dedicated Friend, and Tengo Amore; and even an early version of Marie's Theme from his cult classic multimedia project The Prison.

The mind-altering music on Different Drum has been mixed from the original multitracks by The Monkees' longtime associate Andrew Sandoval and mastered by Vic Anesini at Sony's Battery Studios. Another longtime collaborator of The Monkees and Nesmith, John Sellards, has designed the deluxe, full-color 24-page booklet. Papa Nez himself has shared insightful new commentary to the extensive liner notes by The Second Disc's Joe Marchese, while rare photos by renowned photographer Henry Diltz and previously unseen images from the Sony Music Archives round out this landmark package.

Different Drum is a freewheeling, widescreen journey through the world of one of rock's greatest iconoclasts. Don't take our word for it. As Michael Nesmith observes in the liner notes, "[There's] something else which pins it all down...…the songs themselves, and the way they begin to tell the story of their own times and their own poetries. They became real easy to sing except for those times I break into tears. Because I wrote them from my own heart. It's hard to just do it, but if I can, it's paydirt. We all come to a place that we know very well." Now you can get to know these fascinating recordings very well, too.

Text borrowed from the Second Disc

CD Tracklisting

Outtakes and Alternates

1. Different Drum (Alternate Version)
2. American Airman
3. Bye, Bye, Bye (Alternate Version)
4. Dedicated Friend (Alternate Version)
5. Tengo Amore (Alternate Instrumental)
6. Texas Morning (Alternate Take)
7. Rene (Uncut Version)
8. Six Days on the Road
9. Circle Sky
10. Listen to the Band (Alternate Version)
11. Some of Shelly’s Blues (Alternate Version)
12. Keep On (Alternate Version)
13. Roll with the Flow (Alternate Version)
14. Marie’s Theme (Alternate Version)

More Instrumentals

15. Magnolia Simms (Instrumental)
16. Born to Love You (Instrumental)
17. Hollywood (Alternate Backing Track)
18. Tapioca Tundra (Instrumental)
19. Roses Are Blooming – Come Back to Me Darling? (Instrumental)
20. Tan My Hide (Instrumental)
21. You Are My One (Instrumental)
22. Loose Salute – Radio Spots

All tracks previously unreleased on CD. You can listen to a Spotify playlist of the CD here.