The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees

 

I got my copy of "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" today. I was very nervous that I might not receive it, because Rhino's ordering process wasn't the best. At last check at their site, you could at least see you ordered it. But before that, for quite a while, it just said, "AAARGH! We ran into a technical issue that prevented us from loading the page you requested." Just last night it said that. And probably still today. But I don't need to check again, because I got it!

Fortunately they make better albums than they do websites. It came and it's a beautiful set. This is a very good reason for everyone to keep the CD around. You don't get a digital download with the terrific stuff they have in the way of packaging and extras.

One of the extras is the 45 rpm record pictured, acoustic versions of a couple of songs. Apparently there are enough takes of "Lady's Baby" that everyone in the world can have his own, so I might claim this one for myself. It's a nice acoustic version, called "Alternate Acoustic Version." I do like the one with the little kid though. "St. Matthew" sounds like a demo version of this Mike song. In terms of putting songs out on 45, these two of course would've never made it originally, but they make a nice collectible these days. They are on Rhino, PR7 522250. Both were previously unissued. "St. Matthew" is marked side 1 and the other side 2. Both are "produced by The Monkees," the (meaningless) credit line they insisted on at that time.

There's a bunch of information in the accompanying booklet. I went through some of it but still haven't read most of it. It's a lot of insider information about who wrote things and who really wrote them, who played on the tracks, etc. Whether there's still anything left to discover after the five deluxe issues out plus Andrew Sandoval's great book, I don't know. There's an amazing amount of detail out there about the tracks. A lot more than years ago when they left it all to your imagination.

For example, I never knew Keith Allison had anything to do with any of the tracks. I read in the booklet that he was involved in "Auntie's Municipal Court," I believe co-writing it and playing on it. Or that Mike called Micky who was somewhere up in the mountains and he came down to sing the song and they finished it up just like that. The way I always pictured it as a kid was a lot more orderly. They were standing there doing the songs, no calling up to the mountains!

The package comes with three discs. First is the original stereo album plus a bunch of extras, alternate tracks, different mixes, etc. Second is the original mono album, again with a bunch of extras. I listened to it first since I'd never heard the mono album. It was more rare. I don't know if we had an option of getting it where I got records in 1968. I wasn't so discerning at the time. I was just lucky to get anything.

The third disc is called "The Birds, The Bees & The Rarities." The only I heard on it so far is the "Monkees Adult Stereo 8 Spot," an advertisement for the Monkees albums on 8 track tape. Davy is heard commending the 8 track tape as like being right in the studio, how well you can hear the instruments. The 8 track tape is greatly ridiculed now, but he's kind of right, when I heard 8 track tapes the first time they sounded as nice as anything. I never heard them sound as great as they did that first time. But they did sound very good when they were brand new on a brand new player.

The box is bigger than a CD box. What you see in the picture is its true dimensions. And thicker, probably slightly over an inch. It has a "lenticular" version of the main cover graphic, which is one of those 3D things that you can move back and forth. That's cool. How they managed that I don't know. Unless it'd be from multiple images of the original cover artwork taken from slightly different angles. Or maybe a computer can do that separation, although I've never heard of it.

Inside are the three CD sleeves, cardboard, the booklet, a button relating to the album ("Tell somebody you love about The Birds, The Bees, and The Monkees"), a facsimile of an advertisement for the record and 8 track tape, plus one of the inner sleeves they used to have with Colgems LP releases, advertising the first five Monkee LPs. I always wondered why the first album and "Headquarters" were designated "Special," so that's a detail I'd like to know about.

A great looking (and sounding) set.

Who's Karzai's Favorite Monkee?

Look at the first picture. Karzai with the almost-omnipresent hat. How does he keep it on? Look, it's a mile above his ears. It ought to slip off all the time.

You can see the after picture, that his head is as slick as Antarctica. What's keeping that hat on?

Beyond that, who is Karzai's favorite Monkee? It'd have to be Mike with the hat of course. I wonder what Mike thinks when he sees all those old pictures of him in a green hat. Why was I wearing a stocking hat?

Record Club Ads -- The Monkees

I always loved looking at record club ads in magazines when I was a kid. I never had any money to join them, but it was great to dream.

Now, thanks to the wonderful world of Google, we can see the ads again ... some of them anyway. They have full copies of old Life magazines there, which is quite a deal. The picture is from a two page ad for the RCA Victor Record Club, Dec. 22, 1967. Since I loved the Monkees (still do), I see they had three albums. I don't know why they didn't have the Pisces album on there, but it looks like the ad is clipped at the right hand side a little much. Maybe it was at the margin.

Of course I put the little Monkees covers at the top for this illustration, since they were scattered across the ad.

It's cute on Headquarters they highlight "Band 6," as though that's a great track to promo! And I wonder why, for the little cover they put a blue background.

Lunch With Micky Dolenz

Win a lunch with Micky Dolenz. I happened to stumble upon a page at eBay, where Micky sells lunch dates with himself for $1,750.

Good grief. That sounds weird. Pay someone to go out to lunch with them. What a meaningful experience!

But look at all you get:

Offered here is an opportunity for you + 1 friend to have lunch with me at a prestigious Los Angeles area restaurant. Over lunch, I'll be happy to discuss a variety of topics regarding my career with the Monkees and beyond. During your visit you will receive a special autographed 8x10 photo, autographed drum sticks and my "LIVE" CD, also signed, to commemorate the occasion.

To me this is pure yuck. And I'm actually a fan.

In related news, a guy won a lunch with Warren Buffett, for $21 million. Maybe this is why Micky's selling all the lunches, trying to save up to go out with Warren. But maybe Warren's a big Monkees fan and would just give him $1,750.

That is one sick sounding blurb: "I'll be happy to discuss a variety of topics..." Then there's the autographed drum sticks, which of course melt if you keep them out of the freezer too long.

The Monkees Show on Smithsonian

Someone called me last night to say they had a Monkees documentary on the Smithsonian channel. I remember seeing a note about a documentary over at the newsgroup on the Monkees, but hadn't opened it or read it.

That's the first time, actually, that I ever heard of the Smithsonian channel, but I didn't process it till I got this call. The Smithsonian has their own channel? Not on my TV, but I don't have digital cable, just basic. So I couldn't have watched it if I tried.

But at the newsgroup, someone had been invited as a "VIP" to preview it, and this person posted the URL and the password to do that with. So I went there and, sure enough, it was the entire show. So I watched it, even though my computer is mildly halting. It worked OK.

As I was watching it I noticed it was all familiar, leading me to conclude that it was a rehash of the same interviews as was on the Biography show one time, or somewhere. Then I read the other couple posts on the newsgroups and that was someone else's sense too.

They did what you do with a story like the Monkees in a brief amount of time, 46 minutes, you make it a big conflict with Don Kirschner, you divide it up into success and sliding toward failure, and, in the show, that was the pivot.

As to that being historically accurate, I don't think it is entirely. Obviously the Monkees phenomenon had a shelf life, and it wasn't going to go 10 years if they had Kirschner running it. It was going to have an arc, a beginning and end anyway.

There were things that had to be left out, and they let you draw conclusions that weren't necessarily true. Item, it was said that Headquarters was number one for a week, but that the public preferred the Monkees under Kirschner to the Monkees on their own. But I was there, dude, and it wasn't that way at all. They were still raging strong with Headquarters, but when you have Sgt. Pepper coming out the next week, you tell me who was going to be number one that week! Headquarters came out before the '67 tour was in full force. That was a big deal. It was out before the second season. They had enormous hits still to come, plus the Pisces album. That wasn't mentioned on the show.

There were obviously tensions, weird dynamics within the group. It was a TV show and needed a TV show to sustain itself very long. It was a time like now. You keep going or you're crushed by shifting tastes and competition.

As to Don Kirschner, his stuff was great as stuff. But the more interesting stuff is stuff without him.