Review: 7a Records Davy Jones Let Me Entertain You: On The Road With Davy

As a live performer with The Monkees and as a solo artist, Davy Jones was a great entertainer, giving the audience over 100% of his talent. (I can attest to this having attended many of Davy’s concerts.) So, this new 7a Records Live release Davy Jones: Let Me Entertain You – On The Road With Davy is a welcome companion piece to the previously released Live In Japan collection. However, rather than a full concert, this is a selection of choice performances captured between the late 1970’s to the early 2000’s.

The Live CD compilation contains selections from concerts from many different venues and has a nice range of familiar Monkees hits from Daydream Believer to deep cuts like Yes I Will (aka I’ll Be True To You). A live version of Every Step Of The Way from the 1987 Pool It album is taken from a 1994 Pittsburg, PA radio broadcast. Intermixed throughout the CD are live rarities from concerts Davy performed from around the world, the earliest recordings date to 1979 with his band Toast taken from sound board recordings Jones self-released that include a spirited version of Ian Dury’s Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick and the Micky Dolenz/Davy Jones penned You And I that originally appeared on the 1976 Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart album and later re-recorded for the 1996 Monkees Justus album.

Besides Ian Dury are songs by other artists, among them Holly Dunn’s As Long As You Belong To Me, Van Morrison’s Bright Side Of The Road, Take Back What You Say by Rory Gordon, Harry Nilsson’s Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore and Papa Gene’s Blues by fellow Monkee Michael Nesmith.

The overall sound quality is excellent and captures Davy’s showmanship and charm. The quality varies slightly on the 1979 recordings and the following tracks, Chris de Burgh’s Lady In Red recorded in 1993 and Yes I Will from 1989. These are the best sounding recordings of the songs and the latter two are included as bonus tracks purely due to their rarity and Davy’s performance on them shines. The CD liner notes by Joe Marchese of http://www.TheSecondDisc.com gives a history of Davy Jones the entertainer with fond remembrances by various band members who shared the stage with him.

The 7a Records release of Let Me Entertain You: On The Road With Davycoincides with the 60^th Anniversary of the debut of the Monkees classic television series and their first recordings, and is a great showcase for the talents of Davy Jones as a live performer.

The CD will be released on September 18, 2026. The album (including the Bonus Tracks) will be streaming and available for digital download purchase on October 2, 2026.

Track Listing

1.Let Me Entertain You
2. Daydream Believer
3. A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
4. Valleri
5. Girl
6. (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone
7. Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)
8. Every Step Of The Way
9. I Wanna Be Free
10. Somebody Slap Me
11. Papa Gene’s Blues
12. As Long As You Belong To Me
13. Toast
14. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
15. You And I
16. Hangin’ By A Thread
17. You’re A Lady
18. Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore
19. Bright Side Of The Road
20. It’s Nice To Be With You
21. Lady In Red (Bonus Track)
22. Take Back What You Say (Bonus Track)
23. Yes I Will (Bonus Track)
24. Listen To The Band (Bonus Track)

• Includes Previously Unreleased Recordings
• Previously Unpublished Photos
• 24-Page Full-Colour CD Booklet
• Extensive Liner Notes

7a Records Link: https://www.7arecords.com/product/davy-jones-let-me-entertain-you/

Import CD Link: https://www.importcds.com/let-me-entertain-you-on-the-road-with-davy/5060209950754

Fred Velez, 2026. 

Fred Velez is the author of the books A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You: The Monkees From A Fan’s Perspective and A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You 2: The Monkees From International Fan Perspectives. 

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