The Monkees: Classic or Dud?

This is my favorite Davy lead on a Monkees song, a B-side between Instant Replay and Presents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-lyW33lddU

Friend and ilxor J0seph McC0mbs noted this was Paul Williams' first major songwriting credit.

(Sorry the bad quality and flanging.)

Lol you weren't kidding about Unterberger:

Missing Links, Vol. 2

Nineteen rare and unreleased tracks that, like the rest of the Monkees' output, ranges from excellent to insufferable, with plenty of mediocre material between. The highlights are the sprightly pop-rocker "All the King's Horses" (a 1966 Mike Nesmith original) and alternate versions of two of the group's best singles, "Words" and "Valleri." These alternate takes aren't exactly better, but they are definitely different and less elaborately produced. Most of the rest is either lightweight 1966 pop/rock or weedy 1968 Mike Nesmith country-rock tunes that foreshadow his solo work; several cuts are alternate versions of songs that were hardly notable efforts in the first place. An exception is the live 1968 recording of the unusually forceful Nesmith original "Circle Sky," which was featured in their movie Head (although a studio version was substituted on the actual soundtrack album). Odds and ends like an instrumental banjo piece by Peter Tork and a Spanish Christmas carol are pleasant but inessential. A thoughtfully compiled CD, it nonetheless really gives this group more respect than they're due by treating these artifacts with such importance.

unterberger is such a narrow little shit

is there a good thorough monkees anthology i should pick up that doesn't have, like, EVERYTHING but hits most of the high spots, incl. album tracks? or should i just put that together myself?

Amateurist I liked this comp when I bought it about 10 yeras ago:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Definitive-Monkees-Limited-Edition/dp/B000059QC0/ref=sr_1_9?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1330854443&sr=1-9

But, you know, the first five albums are available for eleven quid in the uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Album-Series-The-Monkees/dp/B003097AAQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1330854443&sr=1-1

That King demo is so wonderfully spooky. Thanks for posting that.

; )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxBM9IiIEDY&feature=related

Pretty sure I found out about this song from ILX. Davy's channeling of Grace Slick is super spooky (0:43).

^^^ that's Mickey.

holy shit re: the Carole King demo

Changes is pretty good, too, if you like things like Kasenetz/Katz records or the Archies. It's Jeff Barry, Andy Kim, and Bobby Bloom - obviously, those guys bring a lot to the table. Davy didn't like it apparently. He seems to have gotten himself into an even more difficult situation with his contract with Bell afterwards, although I haven't heard those records (except for "Girl," obviously!).

Peter Tork piece.

that is excellent

Avoid the comments section, as per usual..

I think this should be the case for ANY article online, unless you really want to stoke any feelings of misanthropy.

It was a really nice story.

David came bouncing over to me and yelled above the volume, "WE'RE GONNA FORM A GROUP!"

Love this.

and this:

http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/12000635/Images/113/081227982805.jpg

holy shit re: the Carole King demo

― Vaseline MEN AMAZING JOURNEY (DJP), Monday, March 5, 2012 11:56 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i have two CDs of king demos, they are ace.

I have not watched the sitcom in close to 40 years -- is it amusing? Less or more surreal than Green Acres?

also can we talk about great tunes from king's psychedelic period?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yodok8wBv0g

I have not watched the sitcom in close to 40 years -- is it amusing? Less or more surreal than Green Acres?

― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, March 7, 2012 2:30 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's...okay. People can overstate how anarchic and zany it is; it's definitely more Help! than A Hard Day's Night, but if you did say "what do I imagine a network TV weekly episodic version of Help! would have been like," it's slightly better than that. And the songs are good. I'm going to a Davy tribute night next week where they're showing Head and some selected episodes; I'll report back afterwards!

Nesmith talks to Rolling Stone

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/surviving-monkees-to-launch-first-tour-in-15-years-20120808

I had thought Tork was in bad health...? I'm glad he's well enough to do this. I thought the thread revive might be a Tork RIP or something about Nesmith's upcoming London shows.

maybe a year late, Nesmith?

DAVY JONES HOLOGRAM.

"This seems like a good time to do this – the right time" (now that Davy, who I hated, is dead)

yeah hard to miss that subtext there

Missed the quote marks on DL's post at first glance, and was thinking he said now is a good time to see a reunion, now that Davy's dead. He *was* my least favorite of the pre-fab four, though.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151752834879170&set=a.10151752768629170.1073741826.19721149169&type=1&theater

seeing them in one week's time

Set List from one of the first dates:

"Last Train To Clarksville"
"Papa Gene's Blues"
"Your Auntie Grizelda"
"The Kind Of Girl I Could Love"
"She"
"Sweet Young Thing"
"I'm a Believer"
"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"
"You Told Me"
"Sunny Girlfriend"
"You Just May Be the One"
"Mary, Mary"
"The Girl I Knew Somewhere"
"Early Morning Blues And Greens"
"Randy Scouse Git"
"For Pete's Sake"
"No Time"
"Words"
"Daily Nightly"
"Tapioca Tundra"
"Goin' Down"
"Porpoise Song"
"Can You Dig It? "
"Circle Sky"
"As We Go Along"
"Daddy's Song"
"Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again"
"Daydream Believer"
"What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?"

Encore:
"Listen To The Band"
"Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky"
"Pleasant Valley Sunday"

my wife is going to the show in austin next week, she has never seen mike nesmith who is her favorite so she is stoked

That's actually a really cool setlist. Love the big sequence of "Head" tracks near the end. Also:

Encore: "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky"

HAHAHA classic!

yeah, that one made me double-take! Pretty great set-list really.

well here's today's Spotify listening decided

seeing them in one week's time

― Uncle Cyril O'Boogie (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, July 25, 2013 11:30 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And so I did. A nice night out. Sadly, they've dropped "Daily Nightly" & "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky" (I'm rather ticked about the former actually). The venue was an 'in the round' place with an overstuffed stationary stage (the 13th Floor Elevators cut an unreleased at the time live album there), and even though I had kind of a shitty seat over on the side, I was still about 20' from Nesmith. Tork's probably the MVP, he was running wireless and frequently played and sang--in surprisingly fine voice--to all areas of the house.

If you're going to any of the remaining shows, be sure to get there early as they are playing a nicely curated program of clips (commercials, stuff from the show, promo films of tracks they don't do live--RIP Davy) before the show starts.

http://popdose.com/5-reasons-why-this-monkees-tour-matters/

I don't think this has been posted previously? Diane Hildebrand's original "Early Morning Blues and Greens":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBIj9E38h2E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMa1yJdcEyU

This song is so fun! Early Beatles mode but the background vocals are super trippy.

I watched "Behind the Music" earlier and it's too bad they split w Kirshner they could have made some great proto-glam/proto-punk bubblegum singles.

Apart from their producers tho, they were a really good secret untrained drone rock band.

'headquarters' is my wife's fav monkees album

they did make at least one classic proto-glam/proto-punk bubblegum single- stepping stone! and yeah, they also had some great drone rock- see "sweet young thing". that said the split with kirshner definitely propelled them to new artistic heights; kirshner never would've let them get away with something like "writing wrongs".

I'm watching In the Heat of the Night, and I had no idea until I looked it up that the two guys who do "Foul Owl on the Prowl" (the song the creepy diner guy plays on the jukebox) were also responsible for this great Monkees imitation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0tPpu5OiPI

They are also responsible for "What Am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round" from PAC&JL.

Full Blu-Ray set early next year:

http://monkeesstore.warnermusic.com/music/the-monkees-complete-tv-series-blu-ray.html

Contains _Head_ and _33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee_ as well. Specs:

-10 Blu-ray discs
-58 episodes
-Newly remastered in stunning HD from the original negatives for the very first time, plus the 1969 TV Special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee"
-The 1968 Monkees film "HEAD" in HD with never-before-seen outtakes
-Also includes bonus material, commentaries from all four Monkees, original Kellogg's Monkees commercials and more
-This fan-only edition includes exclusive packaging and a 7" featuring two previously unreleased TV mixes
-Strictly limited to 10,000 individually numbered sets
-Shipping January 2016
-Only available at monkees.com

Ehhhh...I was recently thinking about buying the newish DVD sets because they're super-cheap compared to the old Rhino sets. I'm not sure the perks of this thing outweigh the expense for me. Sounds pretty sweet, though.

My plan to get my relatives to buy this for me as a gift is backfiring and now I think I'm going to end up with a rabid penguin ;_;

Just heard that Boomer Castleman, of co-leader with Michael Martin Murphey of Monkee labelmates and Nesmith friends The Lewis & Clarke Expedition (discussed in the last revive) died last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roCAC4qFhQA

Restoration compare/contrast video up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq4CQr2Ld6k