|
This article concerning the power struggle between The Monkees and Don Kirshner most likely comes from a trade magazine (probably Billboard) in early 1967. 
0 Comments
"All of Your Toys" is one of the most historically significant Monkees songs, recorded in January 1967 at the height of the group's simmering feud with musical supervisor Don Kirshner. Along with an early version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" and "She's So Far Out, She's In," the song represented The Monkees' first recordings as a fully functioning, self-contained band. But there's a rather complicated backstory leading up to its recording. After a rigorous audition process that included more than 400 applicants, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork had been chosen as The Monkees in November 1965. Filming of the pilot episode had been completed by December, and the show was sold to NBC by February 1966. Music mogul Don Kirshner, known as "The Man With the Golden Ear," was brought into the Monkees project in the summer of 1966. Initial rehearsals by The Monkees to play their music on record and as a live act had progressed through the spring of 1966, but deadlines were fast approaching to meet the pending debut of The Monkees television series on NBC in September. The group's grueling schedule of filming, recording, and rehearsing caused Kirshner to streamline the process. He refused to allow The Monkees to play their instruments on record, instead having them provide only vocal work in the studio, and it was Kirshner who selected the songs The Monkees were to perform. Kirshner oversaw the first two Monkees singles and albums, which achieved incredible success in late 1966 and early 1967.  The Monkees with Don Kirshner  In January 1967, an unsettled Michael Nesmith, who along with his fellow bandmates had commenced performing live concerts, made his unhappiness over how The Monkees' music was being created clear in an interview with The Saturday Evening Post. "The music had nothing to do with us. It was totally dishonest. Do you know how debilitating it is to sit up and have to duplicate somebody else's records?" Peter, Micky, and Davy joined forces with Michael in the ensuing battle against Kirshner. During a tense meeting with the band and Kirshner in a Beverly Hills hotel room that same month, the situation between Kirshner and The Monkees, particularly Nesmith, escalated. "The incident when Mike Nesmith put his fist through the wall at the Beverly Hills Hotel is very vivid and near and dear to my heart," Kirshner told Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval years later. "I had flown out to the Beverly Hills Hotel to give the boys a quarter of a million dollars apiece from some of the royalties on the first album. Mike had given me a lot of heat that he didn't like the records and he didn't like the albums. He wanted to do it his way. It was a little disconcerting to me because every album and single I put out was number one, but he had a right to his opinion." When Nesmith threatened to quit unless The Monkees were given some control over their musical output, Kirshner's attorney proceeded to remind Michael about his contract. Nez responded - by punching his fist through the wall - telling the attorney, 'That could’ve been your face.' "I was very impressed," Kirshner chuckled, "because I thought the Beverly Hills [Hotel] had pretty strong walls."  Despite these tumultuous events, Kirshner agreed to meet with Chip Douglas, recently selected by Michael as a potential producer for The Monkees. Douglas had been a member of the Modern Folk Quartet and later The Turtles, and despite never producing a record previously, he had arranged The Turtles' 1967 smash "Happy Together." Kirshner gave permission for Douglas to produce a session with The Monkees later that month.  Gathering together at RCA Hollywood on the morning of Monday, January 16, 1967, The Monkees conducted their first recording session under their own auspices. With Micky behind the drums, Davy on maracas and tambourine, Michael playing an electric 12-string guitar, and Peter handling bass, acoustic guitar, and harpsichord, the quartet tackled three songs that day. (John London, a friend of Michael's from Texas and his stand-in on The Monkees' TV show, played bass while Peter handled harpsichord duties.) The first song attempted was Baker Knight's "She So Far Out, She' In," which was performed live by The Monkees during their earliest concert performances and was later tracked during the sessions for the Headquarters album. (It was ultimately left unfinished.) The rest of the session was dedicated to songs that the group and Douglas hoped would make up both sides of the next Monkees single. "All of Your Toys" was submitted to the group by one of Michael's friends from the pre-Monkees days, Bill Martin, and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" was a Nesmith original. "We thought ['All of Your Toys'] was going to be a great single," said Chip Douglas. "That was when I first became involved. I got real excited about the song when Bill Martin showed it to me. I didn't realize at the time that it didn't have a chorus." Described by AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald as "a whimsical ballad with some dark undertones," the song, despite its promise, went unheard for twenty years. Unfortunately for The Monkees and songwriter Martin, Screen Gems was unable to acquire the publishing rights to "All of Your Toys" from its original holder, Tickson Music, for which Martin worked. As a result, Screen Gems nixed the song for single release. This landmark Monkees recording languished in the vaults until 1987 when Rhino Records compiled an album of previously unreleased Monkees songs. Sadly, Bill Martin, who went on to have a successful career in music, film, and television, passed away on January 27, 2016.  (Fan generated "All of Your Toys"/"The Girl I Knew Somewhere" picture sleeve by Michelle 66) In the aftermath of the sessions that produced "All of Your Toys," Kirshner coaxed Davy to fly to New York and cut a few tracks with studio musicians. In a hardball move, Kirshner selected two songs from those sessions, Neil Diamond's "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" along with the first recorded version of "She Hangs Out," and issued them as a single in Canada in February, without the approval of The Monkees or Raybert. This power play resulted in Kirshner being fired and the single withdrawn. "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" reappeared as a single in March, supported by a new version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," this time with Micky on lead vocals as opposed to Michael. The hurdles surrounding The Monkees when recording "All of Your Toys" were numerous. A war for control over their own music against a kingmaker like Don Kirshner, the pressure of recording a hit song at the moment their careers were skyrocketing, and a watchful press looking to expose The Monkees as musical frauds because of their untraditional origins, makes the history and legacy of "All of Your Toys" that much more vital. Today, The Monkees Live Almanac celebrates it as the Song of the Day. The Monkees performed "All of Your Toys" live in concert for the first time during their highly successful 45th Anniversary World Tour in 2011. A stereo remix of the song was made available in 2007 on a 2-disc expanded edition of The Monkees' third album, 1967's Headquarters: The master backing track for "All of Your Toys" was included on the 2001 Headquarters Sessions box set: Andrew Sandoval's book, The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story of the '60s TV Pop Sensation,
was referenced and quoted for this article.  (From the August 27, 1966 issue of Billboard)  (Click image to enlarge) Longtime record executive Lester Sill was involved with the Monkees project from the very start. In the early days, Sill was the music coordinator for the group, overseeing the recording process under the helm of Don Kirshner. When Kirshner was sacked in early 1967, Sill took over as musical supervisor. He later became president of Colgems Records.  (From the March 1969 issue of Monkees Monthly)    Don't forget to vote in the poll (in the blog sidebar to the right)! "What is your favorite Monkees album cover?"
 (May 1969) Here's the mono mix of "Someday Man" (with the studio chatter at the start) that I first heard on the Monkee Business compilation: Check out this alternate mix of the song from the Instant Replay deluxe edition: Check out the entire '69 tour program on the 1969 tour page!   (Front and back cover scans of "Instant Replay" courtesy of Ben Belmares)  On January 27, 1967, the first 'Monkees Club' was opened in West Caldwell, New Jersey. New talent would be showcased in a "theatre environment" where teenagers could be easily admitted on Friday and Saturday nights. As the flyer below notes, the club would act as a "stage to stardom" and attendees were promised an evening of live entertainment in a "groovy" atmosphere, all in a place where they would feel "in, together, with it." Colgems (The Monkees' record label) was advertised as having first right of refusal on any talent discovered at the clubs. Record World magazine said "The Monkees themselves won attention after talent auditions [and] this Monkees discovery pattern will now be adapted at the Monkees Clubs." This full-page ad appeared in the March 25, 1967 issue of Billboard.  (Click to enlarge) The menu at the clubs would consist of "kooky soft-drink and ice cream concoctions," and auditions would be held on Sundays. Winners of the contests would play the circuit of other clubs. Over thirty more locations were planned, but it's unknown if they came into existence, and if any talent was ultimately discovered.  Andrew Sandoval's book, The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the '60s TV Pop Sensation, was referenced for details appearing in this blog post.
 (From the September 6, 1969 issue of Cashbox)  (September 1, 1966)
When "Someday Man"/"Listen to the Band" was issued as a single on April 15, 1969, "Someday Man" (written by Paul Williams and produced by Bones Howe) was the designated A-side and the song that was being pushed for airplay. Events would quickly change that altered the course of The Monkees' second post-Peter Tork single in 1969. Shortly after its release, Micky, Davy, and Michael performed both sides live (along with "I'm a Believer") on The Joey Bishop Show on April 24, 1969. For this appearance the trio were supported by Sam & The Goodtimers, The Monkees' backing band throughout their 1969 concert tour. In short time many DJs decided that they preferred the B-side, Michael's own "Listen to the Band," and started to give it more airplay. As a result, a second picture sleeve was produced by Colgems designating it as the A-side.
Despite the artistic merit of both tracks, the single's performance with the record buying public was more than underwhelming. By 1969 the popularity of The Monkees had waned, and each side of the single languished on the Billboard charts. "Someday Man" placed for just three weeks, peaking at #81 on May 17, 1969. "Listen to the Band," however, proved to have more staying power, charting for 9 weeks and peaking at #63 on July 19, 1969.  (Billboard chart information courtesy of The Monkees: A Manufactured Image by Maggie McManus, Ed Reilly, and Bill Chadwick) Both "Listen to the Band" and "Someday Man" were mainstays in the set list on the 1969 North American Tour, and "Listen to the Band" has been played during every Monkees tour since the group reunited in 1986. "Someday Man," however, was not performed live again by The Monkees until 2011. Today, "Listen to the Band" is considered one of The Monkees' most eternal songs, having become an anthem of sorts for the group over time. In a 1997 interview with the British publication Melody Maker, Michael Nesmith expressed his fondness for the song. "We [The Monkees] were off the air and it was right at the end of everything when I delivered that record and everyone said, 'No, that is not a Monkees song. This won't work.' But, much to my satisfaction, it's proved to be one of our most enduring songs. I think I was able to get everything I wanted to say about The Monkees into it. And I love the way the music recurs, the way it rolls around on itself again so it can be played over and over and over." Nez also offered his interpretation of the song and its lyrics: "Well, it says, 'Plays a song and no-one listens.' That's the phrase that really says it and it's able to crystallize, still, everything I was feeling at that time. It's 'He plays a song and no-one listens, I need help, I'm falling again.' It's the feeling of falling backwards into this thing of nobody getting it. But it's also, 'Play the drums a little bit louder, tell me I can live without her,' so the only thing that's going to give me comfort here is what I'm doing. It takes the spirit of the idea and really conveys it and that's what makes me the most proud. I'd love to hear someone cover that song. I don't know who could."  (Billboard magazine ad from the April 26, 1969 issue) As 1970 drew to a close, Micky and Davy conducted one more recording session in September with producer Jeff Barry. The bubblegum-esque single "Do It In The Name of Love" (backed with "Lady Jane") would be officially credited to Dolenz & Jones and not to The Monkees. Issued in April 1971 on Bell Records (which had absorbed Colgems, The Monkees' now defunct record label), the single failed to make a dent in the charts. Below is the Japanese picture sleeve for "Do It In The Name of Love" (courtesy of Monkee45s.net). The single was released under the Monkees banner in Japan. 
 Below is one fan's interpretation of the picture sleeve had Peter still been a member of The Monkees at the time of the single's release on February 8, 1969.  (Design by Steve Moss) |
Available Now!
Latest from 7a Records
Blog Spotlight
Featured Page
Categories
All
Archives
May 2020
|
RSS Feed