The Monkees – The Monkees (1966) + More Of The
Monkees
Deluxe Limited Edition CD Sets
Sound: B Music: B Extras: B
Upon
their arrival and into the 1980s, The Monkees were always being attacked and
ridiculed as the Pre-Fab Four and comparisons to The Beatles were obvious and
seemingly endless. Originally intended
as a fun TV show that would have some records available as tie-ins, it was only
three years after the arrival of The Beatles and history quickly repeated
itself commercially. The TV series was a
hit at NBC and the record albums did insane business and a period of
Monkeemania kicked in.
Today,
just about any band would give their right arm to have the same thing happen to
them and in the face of how prefabricated and phony bubblegum boy bands have
become, they seem better and better all the time. Of course, there are still limits to their
Pop/Rock music, but the real question is how good was the music (whether they
really played all of it at first or not) and how it holds up.
Well,
better than you would think. The first
smart thing was that the band was lucky enough to have Tommy Boyce and Bobby
Hart writing and producing much of the material from the first album. Also, that member Michael Nesmith could write
well and they got music written by a pre-Bread David Gates (whose Murmaid’s hit
Popsicles & Icicles is an
underrated gem), Russ Titleman and the team of Gerry Goffin and Carole
King. That was solid material from first
rate artists of the time using a surprisingly cohering group vocally to
perform.
Last
Train To Clarksville was the only
big hit Top 40 hit from this album, reaching #1, but many of the other songs
are well known thanks to the repeated play of the show and how radio even then
was beginning to play album cuts. The
1966 debut album track listing is as follows:
Disc
One
1.
(Theme From) The Monkees
2.
Saturday's Child
3.
I Wanna Be Free
4.
Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
5.
Papa Gene's Blues
6.
Take A Giant Step
7.
Last Train To Clarksville
8.
This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day
9.
Let's Dance On
10.
I'll Be True To You
11.
Sweet Young Thing
12.
Gonna Buy Me A Dog
Bonus
Tracks:
13.
(Theme From) The Monkees - Second recorded version
14.
The Kind Of Girl I Could Love - alternate mix *
15.
I Don't Think You Know Me - version one with Micky's vocal
16.
So Goes Love
17.
Papa Gene's Blues - alternate mix *
18.
I Can't Get Her Off My Mind - version one
19.
(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love - Davy's vocal *
20.
Gonna Buy Me A Dog - version one backing track *
21.
Monkees Radio Spot *
Disc
Two - Original Mono Album
1.
(Theme From) The Monkees
2.
Saturday's Child
3.
I Wanna Be Free
4.
Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
5.
Papa Gene's Blues
6.
Take A Giant Step
7.
Last Train To Clarksville
8.
This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day
9.
Let's Dance On
10.
I'll Be True To You
11.
Sweet Young Thing
12.
Gonna Buy Me A Dog
Bonus
Tracks:
13.
Kellogg's Jingle
14.
All The King's Horses
15.
You Just May Be The One - TV version
16.
I Wanna Be Free - Fast version
17.
I Don't Think You Know Me - version one with Michael's Vocal
18.
I Won't Be The Same Without Her - 1966 mono mix *
19.
Propinquity (I've Just Begun To Care) - demo version *
20.
(Theme From) The Monkees - TV version
What
is interesting is how the producers of the album and show are trying to find an
identity for the band of some sort. The
big coup nobody acknowledges is that the creators did more than just have them
arrive in the mode of The Beatles, but allowed Folk, Country and U.S. Rock and
Pop to be a part of the body of what made the band’s musical identity. As John Lennon famously answered when asked
what he thought about them, he said they were like The Marx Brothers, which
brilliantly endorsed them, The Beatles all over again, killed any sign of some
stupid war between the bands and legitimized them just enough as just another
part of the rock counterculture.
They
may not have seemed so cutting edge and their songs were slightly psychedelic
at best, but that was enough to get NBC to cancel them despite the money they
were making for the network over worries about how the Vietnam fiasco was
becoming more of a fiasco. These sets were
from the “happy” times the band is still best remembered for.
As
for the original tracks, David Gates supplied Saturday's Child, not the kind of Soft Rock tune he would later be
associated with in Bread. Mickey Dolenz
has the lead vocal, but the other band members are not on this recording as
many would expect, suspect, hope or assume because of the TV show. Papa
Gene's Blues was an instant winner for Nesmith, who wrote and sung it,
while the King/Goffin-penned Take A Giant
Step was often criticized for being a drug song. The three created Sweet Young Thing, with Dolenz and Tork on backup. Under the circumstances, it is a solid debut
album that is maybe a bit more experimental than it was given credit for and
spent 13 weeks at #1 for good reasons.
More Of The Monkees
Track Listing:
Disc
One
1.
She
2.
When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)
3.
Mary, Mary
4.
Hold On Girl
5.
Your Auntie Grizelda
6.
(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
7.
Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)
8.
The Kind Of Girl I Could Love
9.
The Day We Fall In Love
10.
Sometime In The Morning
11.
Laugh
12.
I'm A Believer
Bonus
Tracks:
13.
Apples, Peaches, Bananas And Pears
14.
Ladies Aid Society - 1966 mono mix *
15.
I'll Spend My Life With You - version one
16.
I Don't Think You Know Me - Peter's vocal version
17.
Through The Looking Glass - version one
18.
Don't Listen To Linda - version one
19.
Kicking Stones
20.
Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) - with Peter's narration
21.
I'm A Believer - alternate mix with different lead vocals
22.
Mr. Webster - version one
Disc
Two - Original Mono Album
1.
She
2.
When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)
3.
Mary, Mary
4.
Hold On Girl
5.
Your Auntie Grizelda
6.
(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
7.
Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)
8.
The Kind Of Girl I Could Love
9.
The Day We Fall In Love
10.
Sometime In The Morning
11.
Laugh
12.
I'm A Believer
Bonus
Tracks:
13.
Valleri - first recorded version
14.
Words - first recorded version
15.
Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) - TV version
16.
I'll Be Back Up On My Feet - first recorded version
17.
Tear Drop City - alternate mix *
18.
Of You - original mono mix
19.
Hold On Girl - first recorded version
20.
(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love - Micky's vocal
*
previously unissued recording
She is another one of the band’s
great songs, with one of Dolenz’s most empathetic vocal performances. Boyce & Hart penned that one. Mary,
Mary by Nesmith has gained an interesting recent following, including some
interesting remakes, making it the most of-the-moment song in this set as we
post. I’m A Believer (written by Neil Diamond before his phenomenal solo
success) became another #1 for the band, a huge chart topper for almost two
months and had as its flipside the also terrific (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone (another Boyce/Hart gem) that made
the Top 20. The song had actually been
cut earlier that year by Paul Revere & The Raiders and the band remade
their hit of the time Kicks in the
mid-1980s as tribute. They are best
known for their gloriously wacky 1971 #1 hit Indian Reservation, but this is definitely the kind of song they
would have cut.
Peter
Tork got one of his greatest moments with the gloriously silly and dorky Your Auntie Grizelda,
which is truly funny and suggests what Tork would make fun of later: that he
was George Harrison without the spirituality and that left him in a funny
twilight zone without trying.
A very
different cut by Goffin & King, Sometime
In The Morning, is another great moment for Dolenz. A beautiful ballad, it is richer than many of
the time without being psychedelic, though that could be read into it if you
stretched things. Laugh is one of those rare Davy Jones-performed tracks that is not
lightweight Pop meant to remind us (if we had not forgotten) that the band was
supposed to be like The Beatles, offering a better arrangement and more
challenging vocals than he usually got at this time.
The
material is stronger overall on the second album because the experimenting and
hard work of those involved including Colgems Records President Don Kirshner,
paid off even as the collaborators called it quits after this album. It is not as free-flowing in some odd way,
but Kirshner left, as well as the Boyce/Hart team. The latter’s contribution would stay with the
band until the show was cancelled and the band went for broke with the
underrated film and soundtrack for Bob Rafelson’s bold 1968 debut film Head.
As a
result, the album was even more successful, logging 18 weeks at #1!
Next, the
band would take over making their own albums with interesting results. We look forward to Rhino’s sets on those.
The PCM
2.0 16Bit/44.1kHz sound on all four discs varies between stereo and mono in the
extra tracks, but the first version of each album is absolutely stereo, while
the seconds is mono from a time when you might find two versions of an album on
stores shelves. Versus the old 1986 CD
hits set Arista issued during their comeback, which was less compressed than
most discs of the time, this is still an improvement with more warmth, clarity,
fullness and less background noise than the old “purists” transfers by Bill Inglot. Mr. Inglot is a founder of Rhino and the
reason why it is the great label it is today.
As for
those bonus tracks, for the first album’s Stereo CD, the alternate version of
the TV show’s theme song sounds like lit lacks energy, though the short and
to-the-point original TV version is the best rounding out the Mono CD. The
Kind Of Girl I Could Love is on the second album, but this
alternate mix here is interesting and effective. The Papa
Gene's Blues alternate mix has instruments competing with Nesmith’s vocals,
but it is such a good record, it works that way too. Michael (Martin) Murphy penned (I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love before
anyone knew him from his great 1975 Pop hit Wildfire
and it is not bad. The promo radio spot
for the TV show is a nice plus.
The first album’s Mono CD starts its bonuses with a Kellogg’s
radio spot. Nesmith wrote and sung You Just May Be The One and it is one of
his best pieces for the band, here in the faster TV version. The faster version of the Boyce/Hart fave I Wanna Be Free
follows and works as well as the regular album cut. The other cuts are decent too.
The second album’s Stereo CD includes the
interesting Boyce/Hart cut Apples,
Peaches, Bananas and Pears with a good Dolenz vocal, while I Don’t Think You Know Me At All gives
Tork a good Goffin/King turn in a smarter song that shows he was better than he
got credit for. Boyce, Hart and Red
Baldwin’s Through The Looking Glass
offers more classic Dolenz in an earlier cut of the song here. A great alternate version of Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) with a
hilarious narration in non-vocal spaces by Tork is a hoot. The alternate mix of I’m A Believer is not bad and a nice change of pace.
The second album’s Mono CD first versions of the Boyce/Hart
compositions Valleri and Words, two of their biggest later hits
after the duo stopped writing for them, are really good even in these early
versions. The TV cut of Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)
follows, then a few more tracks (less than the stereo CD) round out this disc
ending with (I Prithee) Do Not Ask For
Love again. This time, it is Dolenz
and not Jones on lead and the song is a step further from Michael Murphy’s
style. It still works, though.
Both sets also come with fully illustrated
booklets inside their DigiPak foldouts and include great essays, technical
information and facts about the band, their history and those who worked around
them. This is an excellent way for Rhino
to reissue the albums and is fortunately becoming a record industry trend. Hope
we see more soon.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
