The only Monkees album written, performed and produced entirely by the four members still stands as a rare moment of complete creative control three decades on.
Justus, the eleventh studio album by the Monkees, reaches its 30th anniversary on 15 October 2026, marking the moment Michael Nesmith fully rejoined Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork for the first time since the late 1960s.
Released by Rhino Records on 15 October 1996, the record was timed to celebrate the band’s own 30th anniversary. It remains the sole Monkees studio album written, performed and produced exclusively by the four members themselves. No outside songwriters, no session players on the core tracks, and production credits shared by all four.
The decision to keep the material internal came after Nesmith agreed to take part. Early work had drawn on songs from various writers, but once he committed, the group settled on an all-original approach. Nesmith sang lead on a reworked version of his own “Circle Sky,” originally heard in the 1968 film Head, and wrote “Admiral Mike,” which Dolenz sang. He also supplied background vocals across the entire album. While the four members share producer credit, Nesmith handled the bulk of the production and mixing while the other three continued touring.
Recorded between June and August 1996 at NRG Studios in North Hollywood, Justus runs just under 40 minutes. The tracklist mixes new compositions with personal material. Dolenz contributes several songs including “Never Enough,” “Unlucky Stars,” “Dyin’ of a Broken Heart,” “Regional Girl” and “It’s My Life.” Jones delivers “Oh, What a Night” and “It’s Not Too Late,” and shares co-writing credit with Dolenz on “You and I,” a different song from the similarly titled track on Instant Replay. Tork provides “Run Away from Life” and “I Believe You.”
The title itself carries a deliberate double meaning. It can be heard as “justice” or “just us,” the latter underlining that only the four Monkees appear on the record. That distinction mattered. Justus was the first Monkees album since Head to feature all four members, and it would become the final studio album to contain new recordings by Davy Jones before his death in 2012.
Promotion at the time included a companion VHS of the same name carrying music videos, interviews and backstage footage. Three tracks, “Circle Sky,” “You and I” and “Regional Girl,” received video treatment in the 1997 television special Hey, Hey, It’s the Monkees. Those songs, along with “Oh, What a Night,” were also performed during the 30th anniversary reunion tour.
In May 2013 Friday Music reissued the album on CD with a DVD of the original Justus special, giving the project a second life for a new generation of listeners. The original packaging featured cover photography by Jay Silverman and inside shots by Henry Diltz, with art direction by Rachel Gutek.
What still distinguishes Justus is the absence of the external machinery that defined so much of the band’s earlier catalogue. For once the songwriting, the playing and the production decisions stayed inside the room. Nesmith’s return closed a long gap. Dolenz’s drumming and multiple lead vocals, Jones’s percussion and distinctive voice, Tork’s bass, keyboards and two self-penned tracks, and Nesmith’s guitars and guiding hand on the final mix produced a record that sounded like a genuine group effort rather than a contractual reunion.
Thirty years later the album occupies a unique place in the Monkees’ discography. It is neither a pure nostalgia exercise nor a radical reinvention. It is simply the one occasion when the four men who carried the name decided the material, the performances and the final product would be theirs alone. For fans still exploring the later chapters of the band’s story, Justus remains the clearest document of what that full-circle collaboration sounded like.
Justus – The Monkees (1996)
Circle Sky (Michael Nesmith) – Nesmith – 3:33
Never Enough (Micky Dolenz) – Dolenz – 2:58
Oh, What a Night (Davy Jones) – Jones – 3:12
You and I (Dolenz, Jones) – Jones – 2:57
Unlucky Stars (Micky Dolenz) – Dolenz – 3:11
Admiral Mike (Michael Nesmith) – Dolenz – 3:23
Dyin’ of a Broken Heart (Micky Dolenz) – Dolenz – 3:09
Regional Girl (Micky Dolenz) – Dolenz – 3:16
Run Away from Life (Peter Tork) – Jones – 2:43
I Believe You (Peter Tork) – Tork – 3:41
It’s My Life (Micky Dolenz) – Dolenz – 3:41
It’s Not Too Late (Davy Jones) – Jones – 4:03
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first—Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Bluesky
Facebook – Comment on the news of the day
