In 1968, Michael Nesmith released his first solo album, The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, which was made up mostly of instrumental versions of songs he'd recorded as part of The Monkees. He wouldn't release another solo album until 1970's Magnetic South.
However, by the end of his time with The Monkees, pretty much all of the group's material was solo recordings released under the group's name. Nesmith recorded a number of songs in 1968-69 meant for Monkees albums that never made the cut. Brought together, this could have been Nesmith's second solo album.
SIDE A
1. Down the Highway - from Missing Links Vol. 2
2. Nine Times Blue - from Missing Links
3. Little Red Rider - from Missing Links Vol. 3
4. The Crippled Lion - from Missing Links Vol. 2
5. St. Matthew - from Missing Links Vol. 2
6. If I Ever get to Saginaw Again - from Missing Links Vol. 2
SIDE B
1. How Insensitive - from Missing Links Vol. 3
2. Some of Shelly's Blues - from Missing Links Vol. 2
3. Hollywood - from Missing Links Vol. 3
4. Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care) - from Missing Links Vol. 3
5. My Share of the Sidewalk - from The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees deluxe edition
6. Angel Band - from Missing Links Vol. 3
These "Monkees" versions of the songs eventually saw the light of day on Missing Links compilations issued in the 1990s as shown above, with one track appearing as a bonus to the deluxe edition of The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, which came out in 2010.
Four of these songs, "Nine Times Blue," "Hollywood," "The Crippled Lion" and "Little Red Rider" were later re-recorded and featured on 1970's Magnetic South. You might think that the inclusion of these songs here would then cause a problem for Magnetic South, but in fact, there were at least five outtakes from that album that could be used to plug the missing spots (the outtakes were issued as bonus tracks to Magnetic South in 1999).
Additionally, "Propinquity" and "Some of Shelly's Blues" were also re-recorded by Nesmith and appear on 1971's Nevada Fighter and 1973's Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash respectively.
For a title to this new album, I thought The Wild East was a similar pun as Magnetic South. And for cover artwork, I found a Nashville street scene circa 1969. I thought that the fact there's nothing going on (no people, no moving cars, etc.) added to the humor of the title.
