The Hits At 50

"I realized early on that Red was the magic carpet", the late Michael Nesmith observed in 2020 of his longtime collaborator Orville "Red" Rhodes. "I began to realize this guy is on another level. He's playing music up at the highest jazz levels, but he's playing all by himself. I thought it was some of the most inspired and celestial pedal steel guitar music, which was like an impossibility, but it really was".

Perhaps no release better epitomizes the intuitive, almost symbiotic relationship between Nesmith and Rhodes than 1972's "And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'". The wry title reflected Nesmith's lack of chart success at RCA Victor, but artistic success was another matter altogether. The stripped-down album was a musical dialogue between Nesmith, on vocals and 12-string acoustic guitar, and Rhodes, on his pedal steel, journeying from his pre-Monkees songbook through the present day.

Now, the album, a very special one in Nesmith's discography, is receiving a 50th anniversary release from 7a Records on both CD and LP. The upcoming edition, due from 7a on May 13th, 2022, features such highlights as Nesmith's own interpretation of "Different Drum", a 1967 hit for Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys, the beautifully melancholy "Tomorrow And Me", the searching "Harmony Constant" and trippy "The Candidate".

4 session outtakes have been added, mirroring the contents of Legacy Recordings' 2018 digital only expanded edition, "Cantata And Fugue in C&W", 1st released in 2001, a unique version of Nesmith standard "Some Of Shelly's Blues", and alternate takes of "Keep On" and "Roll With The Flow". The latter two tracks reflect the improvisatory, exploring nature of the sessions. The alternate take of "Keep On" has a less bright arrangement than the final take, while the alternate of "Roll With The Flow" is considerably more aggressive and rocking, with double tracked vocals, than the mellower country version on the LP. These tracks are making their premiere on vinyl.

7a's edition of "And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'" is newly remastered and includes a 28 page booklet featuring both liner notes and previously unpublished photos. The 180 gram vinyl version is pressed on colored vinyl and housed within a gatefold sleeve. This release makes an essential companion to 7a's "Cosmic Partners : The McCabe's Tapes", from 2019, which premiered Nesmith and Rhodes' intimate concert of August 18th, 1973, on CD and LP.

Look for this 50th anniversary reissue celebrating the legacy of country-rock pioneer Michael Nesmith on May 13th, 2022.