Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Monkees: Selections From The Headquarters Sessions (Rhino/2012)



Aside from being known for their classic hit singles “I'm A Believer”, “Last Train To Clarksville” and “Daydream Believer”, the Monkees also had some notoriety for not being the actual musicians who played on the records. The Monkees was conceived by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schnieder as an American television show equivalent of The Beatles. Half of the Monkees were actors and the other half were musicians. As a need to promote The Monkees name, the band needed to tour - which necessitated the need for all four Monkees to learn their respective instruments. So for the Summer of 1967 the band toured the U.S.. For the first two Monkees albums studio musicians were used on all recordings except vocally.

However for the third album, Headquarters, the band played nearly all the instruments themselves. In 2000 Rhino released The Headquarters Sessions, an 84-track 3-CD set on their boutique Rhino Handmade label. Selections From The Headquarters Sessions is a vinyl-only condensation of that and is an eight-song mini album consisting of highlights from the recording sessions. “All Of Your Toys” which the band had earmarked as their third single was marred by problems involving the publishing and their producer Don Kirschner. The song is presented here in it's original mono version. Also appearing in its' mono version is the original version of Mike Nesmith's “The Girl I Knew Somewhere”. An alternate version (with an unused tag) of the single “Randy Scouse Git” is another highlight. Rounding things out are a few acoustic demos from Mike Nesmith the backing track for “No Time” and a solo Peter Tork banjo performance of the traditional “Cripple Creek”.


This release is limited pressing of 2,000 on red vinyl that was issued for Record Store Day 2012 on Rhino Records. It is basically for Monkees fans who can't get enough Monkees vinyl and as such a nice collection for them. 

Here's The Video Review:




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