Mike and Marshall

2 concerts. 2 old-timers. 2 long careers played out mostly below the radar. Cult favorites, you might say, rather than pop stars.

I'm talking about Mike Nesmith and Marshall Crenshaw, who each appeared in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in early 2013--Nesmith at St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theater, Crenshaw at Famous Dave's in Uptown Minneapolis.

"2 old guys who can't sing their songs anymore," my wife said, less charitably, though there's something to that. The voice, after all, is a muscle and like all muscles it wears out, it loses its strength, its flexibility, its suppleness. And so the vocals were not what they once were, it's true.

Though, in Nesmith's case, "under the radar" doesn't entirely hold true. There was nothing about the Monkees that was under the radar, and Nesmith opened with "Papa Gene's Blues" from his Monkees days. And what a pretty song it is.

And that, my friends, is the legacy. For Nesmith, pretty songs, and sometimes very funny songs, though that side of him didn't come out much at this concert. For Crenshaw, pretty songs that sometimes rock out, and we did hear this side of him.

Marshall Crenshaw

Crenshaw, now 59 years of age, released his 1st album and enjoyed his 1st (and only) hit single ("Someday, Someway") in 1982. His best music is breezy, poppy, feel-good, summertime music in the oeuvre of Buddy Holly and the Beatles.

Crenshaw played a number of his oldies including his hit, "There She Goes Again," "Cynical Girl," "Whenever You're on My Mind" and others, and what brilliant long-limbed poppy melodies they are. Historically they were sung well-enough--not great but well-enough, sort of at the high end songwriters' demo level. Now? Well, the breezy, supple qualities were somewhat lost.

And partly that's a loss of singing ability due to the passage of years. But partly it's an unforced error. The Bottle Rockets opened and then backed Crenshaw's set and as my friend said, there was 1 guitar too many. 3 guitars--all of them of the standard electric type--created too much sound and drowned out the vocals. They even drowned out the lead guitar work. 1 of them could have played an amplified acoustic guitar, you'd think, to add a little texture and less of that wall-of-sound but, no.

Crenshaw, I think, is a pop singer who wants to be a rock 'n' roll star and so his editorial sense and his producer's sensibility is seriously off-target. Instead of showcasing his melodies and his lyrics, he showcased 3 electric guitars. That's a serious misallocation of resources.

Still, the format worked on a couple of his punchier songs including (tellingly) his cover of Richard Thompson's "Valerie."

But overall, seeing Marshall Crenshaw was an occasion to revisit his catalog and to revel in those melodies for a few days. His forte is the recording studio, not the stage. Listening not only to his oldies from the 1980s but also Life's Too Short (1991), What's in the Bag? (2003) and others has provided many rewards.

(See below for Marshall Crenshaw's top 20 hits)

Mike Nesmith

I'm not a Mike Nesmith fan per se, like I'm a Marshall Crenshaw fan. There were folks at Nesmith's concert who knew every song. Not me. I'm an Elephant Parts fan.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, Elephant Parts is a 1981 Nesmith video, produced and released at a time when the direct-to-home video was a new concept. It was one of the very 1st videos that you could and would purchase to take home to play on your VCR. And it is a gem, a compilation of music videos and comedy bits. It won the 1st Grammy music video and inspired the TV programs in the same format PopClips and Television Parts. Warner Cable tried to buy the rights to the name PopClips but after Nesmith turned down the offer, Warner settled on the name MTV for its project.

Nesmith played 2 songs from Elephant Parts, "Cruisin'" and "Rio." "Cruisin'" is the story of Lucy and Romona and Sunset Sam, "Rio" a fantasy about flying down to Rio for an evening (without an airplane). And for us Elephant Parts fans, these were 2 of the concert highlights. Unfortunately, "Rio" was the one song that Nesmith had the most difficulty singing. Yet it was delightful to hear it anyway.

"Joanne," the 2nd single by the First National Band in 1970, is another lovely little love song. It is parodied on Elephant Parts: Rather than Joanne, "Her name was Rodan/She lives in the ocean off Japan." The song is accompanied by video of Nesmith's head on top of a reptilian monster destroying a human community.

Then there was "A Different Drum," Linda Ronstadt's 1st hit which Nesmith wrote, and also "Some of Shelley's Blues," dating back to the Monkees days though not recorded by same. More highlights.

So all in all one was impressed by the breadth of Nesmith's career and the number of "pretty" songs he has written and recorded. Well, that's how I felt. Others thought he was "another old guy who can no longer sing his own songs." And, yes, even on the upside, he remains a 2nd-tier artist. A 45-year career and, for me, Elephant Parts is the only thing--well, okay, there's that Monkees thing--that is truly lasting. Unlike Marshall Crenshaw, I couldn't list more than a dozen songs as Mike Nesmith's Greatest Hits.

Still, everything about the concert--the backing band, the arrangements, the production values--was very tastefully done and overall my estimation of Mike Nesmith's career moved up a notch or 2.

Marshall Crenshaw's Greatest Hits

1. The Spell Is Broken 2006
2. There She Goes Again 1982
3. Cynical Girl 1982
4. Some Hearts 1989 (written by Diane Warren)
5. Theme from "Flaregun" (instrumental) 1996
6. A Big Heavy Hot Dog (instrumental)  2006
7. The Usual Thing 1982
8. Hold It 1983
9. Will We Ever Love Again? 2003
10. Valerie 1989 (written by Richard Thompson)

11. Someplace Where Love Can't Find Me 1989 (written by John Hiatt)
12. For Her Love 1983
13. Someday, Someway 1982
14. Starless Summer Sky 1996
15. Whenever You're On My Mind 1983
16. Rockin' Around in NYC 1982
17. You Should've Been There 1989
18. Better Back Off 1991
19. I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee) 1985 (written by Jerry Vaughan)
20. What Do You Dream Of? 1996