Showing posts with label The Monkees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Monkees. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Various Artists - Rarities Row Vol. 1 (2025)

Here is something a bit special from Mike Solof - a trawl through his huge collection of rare music, with something to satisfy all tastes, from heavy rock to jazz, progressive rock to powerpop, and bubblegum pop to classic singer/songwriter. They are mostly tracks that you will have heard before, but not in these versions, and so over to Mike to introduce it.
I’m starting up a new series called Rarity Row and this is volume 1! Recently I was on the hunt for a rare song in my massive collection of fourteen 14 TB hard drives and as I was searching I thought what a shame it is that I have all this cool stuff and only share bits and pieces here and there when needed. So I thought I would start a new series here that doesn’t just focus on one artist at a time, but various artists from my entire collection. Thus was the birth of 'Rarity Row'. Each Volume will contain about an hours worth of cool tunes culled from bootlegs, rare B-sides, box sets, rare singles, live cuts and just plain old out of print very hard to find albums. I already have two more volumes lined up but I thought I would see the reaction to this first before posting more. I also am doing a slightly different type of track list, as I’m going to post the name of the song, the source of the song with a picture of the source I used and maybe a tiny bit more about it if I think it’s necessary. But mostly I’m going to let the music speak for itself. I hope you dig Volume One. It was a blast putting it together!

Michael 



Track listing and brief info: 

01 Crying In The Night (Single Mix) 
Buckingham Nicks (1973) Beginnings 


'Buckingham Nicks' is the only studio album by the duo of American rock guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks, both of whom later joined Fleetwood Mac. Produced by Keith Olsen, the album was released in September 1973 by Polydor Records. The album was a commercial failure on its original release, and despite the duo's subsequent success, it has yet to be commercially remastered or re-released digitally. Recording sessions for 'Buckingham Nicks' took place at Sound City Studios, and Olsen took the opportunity to purchase a large Neve console for the facility, as he owned part of the studio at the time, and 'Crying in the Night', the opening song on 'Buckingham Nicks', was the first song recorded on the device. Various session musicians, including drummer Jim Keltner and guitarist Waddy Wachtel, assisted in recording the album, and Buckingham performed two guitar instrumentals on the album: 'Django' and 'Stephanie'. 'Django' was written by pianist guitarist John Lewis in the 1950s to honour jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, while 'Stephanie' was written by Buckingham as a love song for Nicks, as she was born as Stephanie Lynn Nicks. Buckingham wrote the song in late 1971 or early 1972 while recovering from a bout of mononucleosis that forced him to play while lying flat on his back. It was revealed on 22 July 2025 that the album had been remastered and would be released on CD, vinyl, and streaming on 19 September 2025

02 REO Speedwagon - Don't Let Him Go (Demo) 
REO Speedwagon The Classic Years 1978-1990


'Don't Let Him Go' is a song written by Kevin Cronin, and it was originally released as the opening song for REO Speedwagon's #1 album 'Hi Fidelity', and it was also released as a single, reaching #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. 'Don't Let Him Go' has appeared on several REO Speedwagon greatest hits albums, and Cronin recalls that it was the first song he wrote for 'Hi Infidelity'. Like the #1 single from the album, 'Keep On Loving You', the lyrics of 'Don't Let Him Go' are about breaking up with a longtime girlfriend. 

03 Name Of The Game - 1971 unreleased Al Kooper single mix 
1971 unreleased Al Kooper single 


Badfinger's 1971 'Name Of The Game' is the sixth track from the power pop band's  album, 'Straight Up', and was written by Pete Ham. After the release of their album 'No Dice', Badfinger began work on an untitled follow-up, with Geoff Emerick producing sessions for the songs that were to be on the album, among them being 'Name Of The Game'. It was also intended to be released as the lead single from this album, backed with 'Suitcase', a track written by Joey Molland, but despite efforts from George Harrison (who was impressed greatly by the track) to remix the song, the single, as well as the rest of the album, were cancelled due to input from Phil Spector. This single edit appeared on some reissues of 'Straight Up'. When George Harrison returned to produce a new album for Badfinger, one of the songs that he worked on was 'Name Of The Game', but upon his departure to oversee The Concert for Bangladesh, Todd Rundgren came in to finish the album, and on its completion, the album, now titled 'Straight Up', featured 'Name Of The Game' at the end of side one.

04 Stairway To Heaven #6 (with vocals) 
Led Zeppelin Studio Magik - Sessions 1968-1980 


'Stairway To Heaven' is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as 'Led Zeppelin IV'), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Page with lyrics written by lead singer Jimmy Robert Plant, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. The initial idea was to have this quite fragile guitar that would open up this piece of music and for something that would accelerate as it went through from beginning to end, but to actually pull this idea off properly was a different story. According to Page "It's all accelerating, it's all moving, but it's not necessarily orchestrating, although it's overdubbing, increasing the texture as it goes through". 

05 Sister Golden Hair (Demo)
America 50th Anniversary The Collection


'Sister Golden Hair' is a song by the band America, written by Gerry Beckley, from their fifth album 'Hearts' in 1975. It was their second single to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, remaining in the top position for one week. Beckley says "There was no actual Sister Gold Hair." The lyrics were largely inspired by the works of Jackson Browne. Beckley commented, "Jackson Browne has a knack, an ability to put words to music, that is much more like the L.A. approach to just genuine observation as opposed to simplifying it down to its bare essentials... I find Jackson can depress me a little bit, but only through his honesty; and it was that style of his which led to a song of mine, 'Sister Golden Hair', which is probably the more L.A. of my lyrics." Beckley adds that 'Sister Golden Hair' "was one of the first times I used 'ain't' in a song, but I wasn't making an effort to. I was just putting myself in that frame of mind and I got those kind of lyrics out of it." 

06 French Song #04 (Alternate Mix, Stereo) 
The Monkees Present US Rhino Box set [2013 Present US Rhino RHM2 535908] 


Musicians
Davy Jones: Lead Vocal
Louie Shelton: Acoustic Guitar
Frank Bugbee: Acoustic Guitar
Michel Rubini: Organ
Max Bennett: Bass
Hal Blaine: Drums
Tim Weisberg: Flute
Emil Richards: Percussion
Producers Davy Jones, Bill Chadwick
Writers: Bill Chadwick 

07 Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow (UK Single)
20 Years of Jethro Tull box Set 


'The Jethro Tull Christmas Album' was much praised on first release, with Rolling Stone noting admiringly: “The originals simmer with eccentric, eclectic, folky energy, rocking ditties threaded through with Celtic stylings, jazzy undercurrents, Ian Anderson’s distinctive flute and wry humour.” Allmusic called it “perhaps the most satisfying Tull releases in 25 years.”  
 
08 Magic Man (Demo) 
Heart - 1975 Strange Euphoria Box Set 


'Magic Man' is a song by the American rock band Heart, released as a single from their debut album 'Dreamboat Annie'. Written and composed by Ann and Nancy Wilson, the song is sung from the viewpoint of a young girl who is being seduced by an older man (referred to as a Magic Man), much to the chagrin of her mother, who calls and begs the girl to come home. In an interview, Ann Wilson revealed that 'Magic Man' was about her then boyfriend, band manager Michael Fisher, and that part of the song was an autobiographical tale of the beginnings of their relationship. In the United States, 'Magic Man' received its first release in summer 1976, after the first US single 'Crazy On You' introduced Americans to the group's sound. It became Heart's first top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 6, 1976. 

09 Runnin' With the Devil 
Van Halen - Complete Zero 
Gene Simmons produced Demos (May 1976) 


In 1976, Gene Simmons of KISS was encouraged to see Van Halen as a possible act for his new label. He produced a demo that included many songs the band would eventually record for their early studio albums, including a version of 'Runnin’ With The Devil'. The demo went nowhere, but Van Halen’s momentum finally became impossible to deny. Producer Ted Templeman got them a deal at Warner Bros. after seeing one of their live performances. The first sound that you hear on the band’s debut album is a rising, ominous blare. It was Gene Simmons’ idea to open 'Runnin’ With The Devil', which is credited to all four members of the band, with a car horn. Eddie Van Halen took the idea and ran with it, improvising a device with the horns of the band members’ cars that he could manipulate for the recording. The horn rises, Michael Anthony cranks out a single repeated bass note, a mysterious piano plinks, and then the crunching main groove kicks into gear. It’s interesting upon listening to 'Runnin With The Devil', which is considered a hard rock classic, just how quiet it is in sections, especially in the verses when the music murmurs behind Roth’s pronouncements. Of course, that makes the refrains, when the undeniable rhythm locks back into place, that much more impactful. The track also limits Eddie’s soloing, just a few quick but impressive bursts. But his ability as a rhythm guitarist is on full display, as he gives the song an unforced funkiness in conjunction with the bottom end of Anthony and Alex Van Halen. There is also plenty of room for Roth’s vocal scatting and general wackiness, another key aspect of the band’s engaging nature that was on display right off the bat. These guys were going to rock out and have a blast doing it, which was in contrast to some of their more stone-faced contemporaries of the era. As for the lyrics? No, there’s nothing satanic about them. The devil is just a metaphor for the high-intensity, high-risk life chosen by the narrator. Roth doesn’t pretend there are no consequences for that choice: Yes, I’m livin‘ at a pace that kills, he boasts. That’s the price you pay when you act like there’s no tomorrow. 

10 Any World That I’m Welcome To 
Steely Dan - Steely Dan Four Outtakes 1972 
early version from demo reel, different from circulating demo 


'Katy Lied' was the first album the group made after they stopped touring, as well as their first to feature backing vocals by Michael McDonald. The album was the first one recorded by Steely Dan after guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and drummer Jim Hodder left the group as a result of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's decision to stop touring and focus solely on recording with various studio musicians. Guitarist Denny Dias, a founding member of Steely Dan, contributed to the album as a session musician, as did vocalist McDonald and drummer Michael Jeff Porcaro, who were both members of Steely Dan's final touring band. Then only 20 years old, Porcaro played drums on every track on the album except 'Any World (That I'm Welcome To)', which features session drummer Hal Blaine. 

11 Copacabana (Demo) 
Barry Manilow - The Complete Collection and Then some… 1992. 


'Copacabana', also known as 'Copacabana (At the Copa)', is a song recorded by Barry Manilow. Written by Manilow, Jack Feldman, and Bruce Sussman, it was released in 1978 as the third single from Manilow's fifth studio album, 'Even Now ' in1978. The same year, "Copacabana" appeared in the soundtrack album of the film 'Foul Play'. The song was inspired by a conversation between Manilow and Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, when they discussed whether there had ever been a song called "Copacabana". After returning to the U.S., Manilow - who, in the 1960s, had been a regular visitor to the Copacabana nightclub in New York City - suggested that Sussman and Feldman write the lyrics to a story song for him. They did so, and Manilow supplied the music. The song earned Manilow his first and only Grammy Award for Performance in February 1979. 

12 On A Clear Day - Private Concert Best Male Pop Vocal 
Exclusively for My Friends Box Set 1964 


'Exclusively For My Friends' is a series of originally six albums for the label MPS by Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. The album tracks were recorded live by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer for MPS on the occasion of private concerts with a small audience in his home studio. 

13 All kinds Of People (Unreleased)
Sheryl Crow - Lost First Album 1992 



After signing a contract with A&M Records and not wanting to release her own first attempt at a debut record thinking it was unmemorable, Sheryl Crow finally released 'Tuesday Night Music Club' in 1993. It remains her most successful effort to date and one of the best-selling albums of the 1990s, having sold more than ten million copies internationally by the end of the decade.

14 Avalon (Demo) 
The Semantics Demos 1990? 


The Semantics was an American pop rock band from Nashville, Tennessee  formed by Jody Spence (drums), Millard Powers (bass), and Will Owsley (guitars and vocals), Zak Starkey later replaced Spence on drums. The band recorded one album, 'Powerbill', which was released in Japan. After being dropped by their record label shortly after recording the album, the band members at the time (Powers, Owsley, and Starkey) all went on to successful careers in the music industry. Powers has performed as a bassist with Ben Folds and and has worked as a Counting Crows record engineer and producer. Owsley had a successful solo career before his death in 2010. Starkey has served as the drummer for the bands Oasis and The Who. Jody Spence and Owsley began writing songs after a couple of years of touring with Judson Spence, Jody's brother. Jody and Owsley soon got publishing contracts with Sony Music Publishing which were facilitated by Scott Siman 1990. In 1991, Siman attended a show in North Carolina, where a band called Majosha performed, which featured Ben Folds and Millard Powers. Not long after that, Siman brought Folds to Nashville and Powers later followed. Siman furnished a small demo studio that the Spence brothers, Owsley and Folds would often share. Folds would eventually introduce Millard Powers to Jody Spence and Owsley. Within a month of meeting each other, Spence, Powers and Owsley had written and recorded entire albums worth of songs at the Sony Tree studio, seven of which would later end up on the Geffen Records album 'Powerbill'. 

15 Blow Away (Demo)
George Harrison - 1979 iTunes Exclusive Bonus Track to 'George Harrison'  album 


'Blow Away' is a song by English musician George Harrison that was released in February 1979 on his album 'George Harrison'. It was also the lead single from the album. The end of 'Blow Away', written on a rainy day (that's why first verses are about clouds), was included in 'Nuns On The Run' – a comedy film with Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane. In his autobiography, 'I, Me, Mine', Harrison says that the song arose from feelings of frustration and inadequacy resulting from a leaking roof at his Friar Park home. While viewing the downpour from an outbuilding on the property, he realised that, in surrendering to the problem, he was merely exacerbating it. With this realisation, the episode served as a reminder that he, in fact, "loved everybody" and should seek to be more optimistic. Additionally, he notes that, while he initially felt self-conscious about the song, thinking it "so obvious", the track grew on him when he recorded it. His demo of the song was released as an Harrison iTunes-exclusive bonus track on 'George Harrison'.

16 Moving - Studio Outtake 
Kate Bush - Demos 


'Moving' is a song written and recorded in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush for her debut album, 'The Kick Inside'. Written by Bush and produced by Andrew Powell, the song is a tribute to Lindsay Kemp, her mime teacher. The finished version of 'Moving' opens with whale song (missing from the demo) sampled from 'Songs Of The Humpback Whale', an LP including recordings of whale vocalisations made by Dr. Roger S. Payne. In an interview with a magazine, Bush commented, "Whales say everything about 'moving'. It's huge and beautiful, intelligent, soft inside a tough body. It weighs a ton and yet it's so light it floats. It's the whole thing about human communication —'moving liquid, yet you are just as water'— what the Chinese say about being the cup the water moves in to. The whales are pure movement and pure sound, calling for something, so lonely and sad …”. Bush signed a contract with EMI Records in her late teens, but between recording demos with Dave Gilmour as producer and releasing her first album, she pursued her studies and gained maturity in her writing. After seeing an advertisement for Lindsay Kemp's Flowers spectacle, she decided to take mime classes with him, and six months later she took modern dance classes with Anthony Van Laast. Bush began recording her debut album, 'The Kick Inside', in 1977, and she wrote 'Moving' the same year as a tribute to Kemp. "He needed a song written to him," she said in an interview. "He opened up my eyes to the meanings of movement. He makes you feel so good. If you've got two left feet it's 'you dance like an angel, darling.' He fills people up, you're an empty glass and glug, glug, glug, he's filled you with champagne." 'Moving' was released on 6 February 1978 as a single solely in Japan, with 'Wuthering Heights' as b-side, in order to promote 'The Kick Inside'. 

17 Supper's Ready - Peter Gabriel on vocals 
recorded by the sound engineer from the soundboard. 
Genesis Live - Live at Leicester/Manchester Feb 1973 - Dutch Test Pressing 


'Genesis Live' is the first live album from the English rock band Genesis, released on 20 July 1973 on Charisma Records. Initially recorded for radio broadcast on the American rock program King Biscuit Flower Hour, but never broadcast, the album was recorded at Montfort Hall, De Leicester, on 25 February 1973, except for 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed', which was recorded at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, on the previous day. 'Genesis Live' was the band's first album to enter the top 10 in the UK, reaching No. 9, although following its US release in 1974, it only peaked at No. 105. 'Genesis Live' was issued in the US several months after the release of 'Selling England By The Pound', which upset Gabriel as the album included songs from their old live sets, and was quickly recorded with little care given to the quality of the recordings. When Gabriel reluctantly agreed to have the album released, part of the deal was that it would not be issued in the US. The album was recorded by the Pye Mobile Recording Unit, with engineer Alan Perkins, on the tour promoting their recent album 'Foxtrot'. A handful of early radio promotional double-LP test pressings were created which included a 23-minute version of 'Supper's Ready' from the Leicester show. This album's running order was 'Watcher Of The Skies', 'The Musical Box', 'Get 'Em Out By Friday', 'Supper's Ready', 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed', and 'The Knife', and included between-song patter by Gabriel. 'Supper's Ready' was not included in the officially released version, even though the front cover photograph was taken during a live performance of the song, with Gabriel donning the "Magog" mask.

Do let Mike know what you think of this selection. Is the mix of genres too wide? Are demos and alternate takes OK, or would you prefer new, unreleased songs? I'm sure all suggestions will be welcomed for future volumes. 

Soulseek hint - solof aiwe

  

Friday, December 15, 2023

Micky Dolenz - Don't Do It (1983)

George Michael Dolenz Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California on 8 March 1945, and by the age of six he was already doing screen tests, landing his first recurring role as Corky on the TV series 'Circus Boy' at the age of 10. He toured the country with his elephant "Bimbo" promoting the show, which ran for three years, but when he reached his teens he started to develop an interest in music. He sang lead with a number of club-level rock bands, including Micky & The One Nighters, who specialized in covering The Rolling Stones and Jerry Lee Lewis songs, and it was during this period that he recorded his first single, 'Huff Puff'/'Don't Do It', although the record was not released until 1967. In 1965 Dolenz was cast in the TV series 'The Monkees', beating out over 400 other applicants for the role, and while he was initially meant to simply play the fictional group's drummer, his vocal skills meant he became lead singer on many of their songs. Along with Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, Dolenz became first a TV star and then a rock & roll idol, as the fictional band had smash hit singles with 'Last Train To Clarksville', 'I'm A Believer', and 'Pleasant Valley Sunday'. They released nine albums, and sold over 60 million records worldwide, with 'The Monkees' TV show lasting two seasons, followed by their cult feature film 'Head', before they finally broke up in 1970. Dolenz was always interested in working behind the camera as well as acting and music, and he wrote and directed one of the final episodes of the TV series, but he kept a foot in the door of the music industry by cutting a handful of solo singles for MGM Records, as well as one 45 with producer Michael Lloyd under the name Starship. 
He stepped back into music in 1976 with the album 'Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart', in which he and Davy Jones teamed with Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who wrote and produced many of The Monkees' most memorable tunes. The album and subsequent concert tour received favourable reviews but attracted few paying customers, and in 1977 Dolenz travelled to England to appear in the London production of 'The Point', a stage musical based on Harry Nilsson's 1971 concept album. While he expected to stay in London for three months, he ended up staying for twelve years, establishing himself as a successful director in television and the legitimate stage. 1993 saw Dolenz publish a memoir, 'I'm A Believer: My Life of Music, Madness And The Monkees', and as plans were set in motion to celebrate the Monkees' 30th Anniversary in 1996, the original four members reunited to cut the album 'Justus', with all the material written and performed by the group. While the foursome planned an international concert tour in support, Nesmith bowed out after a run of shows in the United Kingdom, and it marked the last time the classic line-up would work together. In 1998, Dolenz brought out a solo album titled 'Demoiselle', which presented his original demos for eight songs he had written in the '90s. Although he will always be most remembered for his distinctive vocals on many of the Monkees' hit singles, his attempt at a solo career both before and after The Monkees has remained largely unappreciated, and so to put that right here are all the singles and b-sides that he recorded between 1965 and 1983. It includes both tracks recorded in 1965 by Micky And The One Nighters, which were later released as two separate split singles in 1967 to cash in on his new-found fame, as well as one joint single with Davy Jones in 1971, and the one under the name Starship, long before Jefferson decided to use it.   



Track listing

01 Huff Puff (single as Micky And The One Nighters, recorded 1965, released 1967)
02 Don't Do It (
single as Micky And The One Nighters, recorded 1965, released 1967)
03 Do It In The Name Of Love (single with Davy Jones 1971)
04 Lady Jane (b-side of 'Do It In THe Name Of Love')
05 Easy On You (single 1971)
06 Oh Someone (b-side of 'Easy On You')
07 Unattended In The Dungeon (single 1972)
08 A Lover's Prayer (b-side of 'Unattended In The Dungeon')
09 Johnny B. Goode (single as Starship 1972)
10 It's Amazing To Me (b-side of 'Johnny B. Goode')
11 Daybreak (single 1973)
12 Love War (b-side of 'Daybreak')
13 Ooh She's Young (single 1973)
14 Love Light (single 1979)
15 Alicia (b-side of 'Love Light')
16 To Be Or Not To Be (single 1982)
17 Beverley Hills (b-side of 'To Be Or Not To Be')
18 Tomorrow (split single with The Bugsy Malone Gang 1983)

Friday, October 6, 2023

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Neil Diamond (1972) **UPDATED**

I know 'The Long Way Home' had a dodgy beginning, and I tried pitch correcting and got nowhere, but then I had a brainwave and patched it with sections from the middle of the track, so download again for a better copy of the song.  

Neil Diamond started his musical career writing and singing his own songs for demos, and his first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", an Everly Brothers-type duet with high school friend Jack Packer. They recorded the singles 'You Are My Love At Last'/'What Will I Do', and 'I'm Afraid'/'Till You've Tried Love', both released in 1962, and despite positive reviews from Cashbox and Billboard magazines they were not successful. Diamond signed with Columbia Records as a solo performer later in 1962, and in July 1963 they released the single 'Clown Town'/'At Night', which once again received complimentary reviews, but it still failed to make the charts. Columbia dropped him from their label and he went back to writing songs in and out of publishing houses for the next seven years. He wrote wherever he could, including on buses, and used an upright piano above the Birdland Club in New York City, but he was only able to sell about one song a week during those years, barely enough to survive. The privacy that he had above the Birdland Club allowed him to focus on writing without distractions, and this freedom resulted in more interesting songs beginning to appear, including 'Cherry, Cherry' and 'Solitary Man', and the latter was the first record that Diamond recorded under his own name which made the charts. He spent his early career in the Brill Building, and his first success as a songwriter came in November 1965 with 'Sunday And Me', a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans, but that was just the beginning, as this was followed by 'I'm A Believer', 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You', 'Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)', and 'Love To Love', all performed by the Monkees. 
'I'm A Believer' became a gold record within two days of its release and stayed at the top of the charts for seven weeks, and other notable artists who recorded his early songs were Lulu, Cliff Richard and Deep Purple. In 1966, he signed a deal with Bert Berns's Bang Records, then a subsidiary of Atlantic, and his first release on that label was 'Solitary Man', which was his first true hit as a solo artist, and he followed that with 'Cherry, Cherry' and 'Kentucky Woman'. He began to feel restricted by Bang Records because he wanted to record more ambitious, introspective music, such as 'Brooklyn Roads', but Berns wanted to release 'Kentucky Woman' as a single, while Diamond proposed 'Shilo', which was about an imaginary childhood friend. Berns believed that the song was not commercial enough, so it was relegated to being an LP track on 'Just for You', his second album for Bang. Diamond wrote every song on 'Just For You', and it included his own versions of the hit singles 'I'm A Believer' by The Monkees and 'The Boat That I Row' by Lulu, but it wasn't long before all of the songs on the record had been noticed and covered by other artists, and so this post is Neil Diamond's second album as interpreted by some well-known and some not so well-known artists of the late 60's. To flesh out the post to a reasonable length I've also included the b-sides to a couple of his 1967 singles, taken from his previous album on Bang. 



Track listing

01 Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon (Cliff Richard 1968)
02 The Long Way Home (Quentin E. Klopjaeger With The Gonks 1968)
03 Red Red Wine (Jimmy James And The Vagabonds 1968)
04 You'll Forget (The Wanderer's Rest 1967)
05 The Boat That I Row (Lulu 1967)
06 Cherry Cherry (Wishful Thinking 1967)
07 I'm A Believer (The Monkees 1966)
08 Shilo (Springbok 1971)
09 You Got To Me (Gene Pierson 1968)
10 Solitary Man (The Kitchen Cinq 1967)
11 C'est Pour Vous Que Je Chante (Thank The Lord For The Night Time) (Les Hou-Lops 1967)
12 Oh, No No (I Got The Feeling) (Wool 1972)
13 Do It (Keith Allison 1967)

Sunday, December 27, 2020

The Monkees - Can You Dig It? (1968)

I was browsing the Steve Hoffman site the other day when I came across a thread inviting suggestions for albums from bands in another timeline, and member Chimbica from Brazil suggested an album by The Monkees, which they would have released when their attempt at a full-blown psychedelic album was shelved following disagreement within the band. Instead they decided to record a parody of The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper', and Chimbica posted the cover which would have housed the album. It's a stunning piece of work, and must have taken him ages to complete, deciding who to include and putting together the montage, and I felt that it was too good to be lost on the site so decided to compile an album which could use it. This post is therefore The Monkees psychedelic album which they never made, compiled from the best psyche-pop that they recorded in 1967 and 1968. Most people just think of The Monkees as a bubblegum pop band, but later in their career they were really pushing the boundaries of what they could achieve, culminating in one of the most overtly psychedelic films ever made, 'Head'. Strangely enough, only a couple of tracks on here come from the 'Head' soundtrack, as they were producing some fine acid-tinged music way before that, so sit back, tune in and drop out to the psychedelic sound of The Monkees. I've cross-faded some of the tracks, like they used to do back then, but if anyone wants to hear an unedited version then I can post that later. And no, I don't know why Johnny Rotten is standing next to Peter Tork!



Track listing

01 Porpoise Song
02 The Door Into Summer
03 Auntie's Municipal Court
04 Daily Nightly
05 Can You Dig It?
06 Little Red Rider
07 Tapioca Tundra
08 Love Is Only Sleeping
09 Circle Sky
10 As We Go Along
11 Writing Wrongs
12 Pleasant Valley Sunday
13 All Of Your Toys
14 Zor And Zam



Mike Nesmith - Papa Gene's Blues (1969)

Mike Nesmith was already a singer/songwriter before he was recruited to become one of The Monkees, having written 'Different Drum' in 1965, later to be recorded to great effect by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys, and become a Top 20 hit for them in 1967. His talent was obviously recognised by the producers of the show as he was allowed to sing his own 'Papa Gene's Blues' on The Monkees' first album, when the other songs were written by such stalwarts of the Brill Building as Boyce & Hart, David Gates and Goffin & King. From that point on he managed to get at least one of his songs on every Monkees album, often singing them himself, until by the time of 'The Monkees Present' in 1969 he was contributing a quarter of the material. Although he had the greatest solo success with the country-rock of his First National Band, not all his songs were in that style, and included pop, rock and ballads as well. I wondered what an album of just Nesmith songs would sound like, and so chose all the songs that he either wrote and sang, or had a hand in composing, from The Monkees' albums between 1966 and 1969, and it's actually pretty good. 'Listen To The Band' was the first time he was allowed to sing on the A-side of a single, although his 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' was deemed good enough to appear as the b-side of 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You' in 1967, and by the time that the band made their film 'Head' he was coming up with songs of the calibre of 'Circle Sky'. Mike was always my favourite Monkee, mainly for his laid-back, don't-give-a-shit attitude, but as the TV series and the albums wore on I realised that he was also the most musically talented, which was a big plus for me. While collecting these tracks I found that he actually wrote a number of other songs which were recorded by The Monkees but which were shelved by the record company, and which only recently surfaced on the three CD 'Missing Links' set, and so they will be the basis for a second volume later. 



Track listing

01 Papa Gene's Blues
02 Sweet Young Thing
03 The Kind Of Girl I Could Love
04 Mary, Mary
05 You Told Me
06 The Girl I Knew Somewhere
07 Sunny Girlfriend
08 You Just May Be The One
09 Don't Call On Me
10 Daily Nightly
11 Auntie's Municipal Court
12 Writing Wrongs
13 Magnolia Sims
14 Tapioca Tundra
15 Circle Sky
16 Listen To The Band


Peter Tork - For Pete's Sake (2016)

Although Peter Tork didn't write that many songs while a member of The Monkess, he did come up with one of my very favourites in 'For Pete's Sake'. He was the quiet one of the group, but could also be the funniest, and alongside Mike Nesmith was the most musically talented member of the group. He was a folkie at heart, but threw himself into the pop-orientated medium for the TV show, and so when the band were eventually allowed to write for the albums, his songs reflected his first love. As a tribute following his death at just 77, here's a collection of the songs most associated with him, including songs he wrote or co-wrote, and also songs on which he sang lead or co-lead vocal. He was still contributing songs right up to the band's triumphant come-back album in 2016, penning the mellow 'Little Girl' for 'Good Times!', and I've reviewed that elsewhere as being so much better than it had any right to be. The version of 'Words' on here is an early take, with some tasty backwards guitar on it, and as with the earlier Nesmith album, I've included Tork's contribution to 'Zilch', extracted from the completed take. 'Your Auntie Grizelda' might have been something of a novelty number, but it was Tork's first lead vocal on a Monkees' album, and became something of his party piece at gigs, but by 'Shades Of Grey', which was a co-vocal with Davy Jones, we found that he could be a serious singer as well. 'Justus' wasn't a bad album, and included two fine Tork originals in 'I Believe You' and 'Run Away From Life', but the general consensus is that 'Pool It!' is best avoided, therefore I've omitted Tork's sole contribution to that one, so enjoy the music of this very under-rated but talented musician. 



Track listing

01 Can You Dig It?  (Tork)
02 Shades Of Grey
03 Your Auntie Grizelda
04 For Pete's Sake  (Tork, Richards)
05 Words
06 Zilch  (Tork, Dolenz, Nesmith, Jones)
07 Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again  (Tork)
08 Lady's Baby  (Tork)
09 Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky  (Tork)
10 Goin' Down  (Tork, Dolenz, Nesmith, Jones)
11 Tear The Top Right Off My Head  (Tork)
12 Band 6  (Tork, Dolenz, Nesmith, Jones)
13 Come On In
14 (I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love
15 I Believe You  (Tork)
16 Little Girl  (Tork)
17 Run Away From Life  (Tork)
18 Wasn't Born To Follow