MONKEES Albums: 1966 -70

Monkees Albums: 1966 -70

BUZZ Newspaper Article June 2017 (#75-mA)

By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0

In May of this year I was lucky enough to get my own Radio Show “Mr. Zero’s PsychoGello Radio Show” (Bi-Weekly) on WDGY 740 AM & 92.1 FM & Streaming 103.7 starting Sun 18 Jun 2017 @ 10am, I will be play a half hour of music from my favorite bands & providing a little history on them throughout the show. For my very 1st show I thought I would cover the band dearest to me “The Monkees” the point of my new radio show is to play my favorite track from each of the albums the released, or sometimes from a certain period of their career, but definitely songs that do NOT get played on the usual radio stations, to give the listener a chance to experience other songs by an artist they are not that familiar with. Enjoy …

> 1966 <

‘(Meet) The Monkees: (first LP)’ released in Oct ’66 & hit #1 on the Billboard Charts. I chose “Saturday’s Child” a great song written by: David Gates of ‘BREAD’ sung by: Dolenz this is one of the very first songs recorded by the group. This song was also covered by ‘Herman’s Hermit’s in Feb 1967. This album & the next 5 “Original” Albums were released in “Mono” with slightly different mixes.
> 1967 <

‘More Of’ released in Jan ’67 & a 2nd #1 on the charts for the group, this LP is more or less of a hodge-podge  of songs collected by Musical Supervisor Don Kirsnher (1934-2011) in an effort to cover all the bases. I chose “Look Out (here comes tomorrow)” 1 of 5 Neil Diamond compositions recorded by the band, sung by: Jones, Note: there is a version with Tork on the bridge, not released on Vinyl.

‘Headquarters’ their 3rd #1 LP on the charts, released in May ’67. The first album performed primarily by only the 4 members of the group, I chose “You Told Me” written & sung By: Nesmith, with a nod to The Beatles: “Taxman”, Nesmith wrote & recorded some 46 songs for the band (although about half went unreleased while the band was together).

 

‘Live ’67’ released in Jul 1987 for The Monkees’ 20th Anniversary Tour, (this was the very first album I had the band sign for me). I chose “(I’m not your) SteppinStone” a real live jam for the group, sung by: Dolenz, (a #20 hit on the charts in Nov ’66). ‘Live’ though not an original album from the 60s, the producer of the radio show wanted me to play a live track, to prove the band did play their own music in concert, while they are not the best live band, you can compare, this recording to the “Beatles Live in Japan 1966” and see that the 2 bands, live are relatively close in a concert setting. The track was performed in Seattle in Aug ’67

 

‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.’ released  in  Nov ’67 is the 4th & final #1 album on the charts, for the band, I chose one of my all time favorites recordings of all time; “Words” by: Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart (who wrote 26 songs for the band & has at least 1 song on every single LP) sung By; Dolenz & Tork a hit #11 on the Billboard charts in Jul ’67 this is the last album consisting of mainly only the 4 members of the band.
> 1968 <

‘Birds, Bees’ released in Apr ’68, is their first LP not to hit the #1 spot, coming in at #3, despite having 3 Top 40 songs on this LP. I chose “The Poster” written & sung By: David Jones, (who wrote 16 songs for the band, though only half were released in the 60s) this was his own version of “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite” By: The Beatles. This was the last album mixed in Mono therefore the rarest of the 5 Mono versions.

 

‘Head (soundtrack)’ released in Dec ’68 (a month after the film) & only rises to  #50 on the charts, not bad for a soundtrack with only 7 songs by the band & dialog & sound effects from the film (a popular trend for soundtrack records in 1968) I chose “Circle Sky” written & sung By Nesmith, this is the studio version is used on the LP, (but a “Live’ version is used in the film) At the conclusion of their first & only TV Special “33 1/3 RPMs” in Dec ’68 Tork leaves the group.
> 1969 <

‘Instant Replay’ the first LP as a “Trio” is released in Feb ’69 & reaches #32 on the charts, I chose “You & I” sung & written by: David Jones with Bill Chadwick (who wrote 10 songs for the band) with Lead Guitar By: Neil Young who had left the ‘Buffalo Springfield’ a few months earlier. For some reason the head of the music division at RCA decided that releasing songs that had been recorded years earlier was the way to go, so this LP contains half new material & the other half is older material.

 

‘Present’ the final album as a “Trio” is released in Oct ’69 & hits #100 on the charts. I chose “Oklahoma Backroom Dancer” By: Michael Martin Murphy (of the song “Wildfire”) sung by Nesmith. In Nov ’69 while on tour, Nesmith announced he would be leaving the group & did so in Apr ’70

> 1970 <

‘Changes’ the first & only album by the “Duo” is released in Jun ’70, initially it did not chart, later upon it’s re-release in 1986 hit #152 on the charts. I chose “Tell Me Love” written by Jeff Barry & sung by Dolenz, a rather down beat song to reflect the end of an era.

So there you have it folks, 1 song from every single MONKEES LP 1966- 70. Catch me next time when I cover “KISS: Alive” to promote our KISSin Time (Tribute) shows on 24 June @ Neisen’s in Savage & 13 July for Rock-Fest in Cadott, WI.

Signing Off … MrZerr0

 

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