"Rave On" was the only episode to reunite three of the four members of 60s pop group The Monkees, the sole appearance of Davy Jones, and the second (and last) for both Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork. While Tork had previously played Jedediah Lawrence in episode 44 "Career Day," Dolenz (as Gordy, installing Alan's hot tub) had played a different character, Norm, in episode 30 "Band on the Run." Davy Jones gets all the laughs as Reginald Fairfield, who had supposedly guided Alan and Amy through Europe in 1974, only now picking up their trail again! Spending the entire episode sponging off everybody, he joins Jedediah and Gordy on stage to perform at Alan and Amy's unintentional 20th wedding anniversary, a decent run through of the Temptations favorite "My Girl," topped with an even shorter rendition of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," first American chart hit for The Rolling Stones. It's all capped off by a cameo from Dave Madden (THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY), as a manager who'd love to find an act without a mother in it! Suggesting that the threesome "could be bigger than The Beatles," they mull it over for a moment, then quickly dismiss the notion. There would be more Monkees reunions over the next year, the group's 30th anniversary, when even Michael Nesmith rejoined his former bandmates for a new album and TV special.
Review of Rave On
