Michael Nesmith

The Smart Monkee has turned into the Young Herb Alpert, rock's most successful artist-businessman. Pacific Arts, which he owns outright, has purchased his RCA masters for reissue and released albums by such artists as Charles Lloyd. It's also put out Nesmith's ghastly boxed audio-allegory-with-book The Prison, his desultory reputed cult album From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing, his live LP, and now this intelligent, hard-rocking item. What's not clear is whether the records make money--TV commercials are the company's staple. Though Nesmith hasn't sounded this good in years, there's a difference between the pop eccentric he's become and the country-rock eccentric he used to be--he's now a little behind the times instead of ahead of them. Still beats most of what the majors market as power pop. But the only necessity he conveys is a continuing compulsion to make music. And that's not sufficient. (Grade: B-)