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 The "Heart and Soul" single was eventually released in July 1987 and not in August as the press release above states (From a 1987 issue of the Monkees/Boyce & Hart Photo Fan Club newsletter) 
Monkees archivist and producer Andrew Sandoval remembered his friend Gary on Facebook:
 By Justin RakowskiSalt Lake City – December 6, 1969. As The Monkees walked off stage, nothing would ever be the same. At least in terms of their original run as a quartet, that was unceremoniously reduced to a trio earlier in the year. Apart from a few contractual obligations, Michael Nesmith was no longer a Monkee. This left Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones to continue on in some capacity. In addition to making a few promotional appearances under the guise of The Monkees throughout 1970, Micky and Davy undertook what would be the final Monkees album of the original Colgems era. Released in June of 1970, Changes unfortunately did nothing to bolster their fading popularity. While the single "Oh My My" barely cracked the Billboard Hot 100, Changes failed to grab the attention of what remaining fans they had and did not chart in its initial production run. As decades passed and different waves of Monkees reunions cropped up, leading to more positive reevaluations of their career and musical output, Changes still held a somewhat “black sheep” quality when compared to The Monkees' other Colgems records. Growing up in the 1990s, I was too young to remember the massive resurgence in popularity the group experienced during their 20th Anniversary in 1986. Luckily, I discovered the "Pre-Fab Four" through Nick at Nite reruns during the mid-90s, leading me to hunt down every album released through the Rhino Records reissues on CD. Even as a young Monkees fan, Changes carried a stigma like no other Monkees LP had and initially I barely gave it a listen. Over the course of the ensuing years, my appreciation of the album grew slightly, but it still never reached the level of importance as their other albums.  In 2012, I met the woman who I would fall in love with and ultimately marry a few short years later. On one of our first dates, I discovered that she was quite familiar with a good number of Monkees songs, albeit the ones that were featured on the show, as she too watched the Nick at Nite reruns. Naturally, I gave her copies of all their albums, excited to see which one she would hold dear to her heart. After making her way through everything, I was shocked to find that she adored Changes and had memorized the lyrics to every song featured on the album in only a few short days. Her love for the album was contagious and I now started to listen with a different set of ears and appreciate it for what it was – a solidly written and performed set of catchy bubblegum songs that acted as a perfect bookend to a period that started with an album (The Monkees) that was essentially a solidly written and performed set of catchy bubblegum songs.  (From the June 13, 1970 issue of Billboard) Through all of this, as many Monkees fans know, the multitrack recordings for all of the Jeff Barry-produced songs from the 1970 sessions are missing. Unfortunately this also includes two tracks, "Which Way Do You Want It" and "Ride Baby Ride," that were recorded but ultimately left off the final pressing of Changes. Given all these facts, we’ve been told time and time again that a Super Deluxe set of the album would be impossible given the lack of content. Once a Super Deluxe set of Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. is released in the coming years, the journey that Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval started nearly a decade ago will have ended. As a fan of both The Monkees and Andrew, I am incredibly grateful for the amount of dedication from them to bring us such wonderful sets and can’t wait to have a shelf with all the Super Deluxe sets next to each other, providing us with perhaps the most complete auditory history of a band’s output. But, the set will feel quite lonely if Changes isn’t there in some capacity to bookend everything as it did almost 50 years ago when it was first issued. With all of that in mind, I propose a solution. When the time comes to make a decision on the merits of a Super Deluxe set of Changes and the missing tracks that still have not been found, here is a track listing that could fill three CDs and properly tell the story of The Monkees' Colgems-era output, including Davy’s final contractual obligation for Colgems that resulted in his self-titled album released on Bell Records in 1971. With that being said, I present you with… CHANGES (SUPER DELUXE EDITION)
RARITIES 23. Oh My My (Mono Promo Film Mix) 24. 99 Pounds (Stereo Remix) 25. Midnight Train (Demo) 26. I Never Thought It Peculiar (No Strings and Backing Vocals) 27. I Never Thought It Peculiar (Mono Mix without Overdubs) 28. I Never Thought It Peculiar (Mono Mix with Overdubs) 29. I Never Thought It Peculiar (Stereo Remix) OUTTAKES 30. Time And Time Again (Take 1) 31. Time And Time Again (Mono Mix) 32. Time And Time Again (Stereo Mix) COMMERCIALS 33. Post Cereals "Monkees Cereal Box Records" Commercial 34. Kool-Aid "Nerf Ball" Commercial 35. Kool-Aid "Buzzer" & "Snake In A Can" Commercial LIVE 36. Together (Davy Jones With Sam & The Goodtimers - Live on Music Scene - December 22, 1969) 37. Interview With Davy Jones on Music Scene (December 22, 1969) 38. Oh My My (Live At The Palace Theater - Cleveland, Ohio - July 27, 1997) 39. Midnight Train (Live At The Mayo Performing Arts Center - Morristown, New Jersey - Aug. 27, 2015) NON-ALBUM SINGLES
BONUS VINYL 45 "Acapulco Sun" EP by The Monkees RCA #MKE-1310 1970 (Mexico) Oh My My Do You Feel It Too? Acapulco Sun Midnight Train  (Courtesy of Monkee45s.net)  Thank you very much to Justin Rakowski for submitting his essay to The Monkees Live Almanac! I would also like to acknowledge John McCutcheon's wonderful website Monkee45s for some of the scans seen above. While prepping this piece for the Live Almanac's blog, I contacted longtime Monkees fan, collector, and author Ed Reilly to see if he could share some unique Changes-era pieces from his collection to complement Justin's work. The items below come from Ed's collection - thanks, Ed!  Cashbox magazine - June 1970  "Oh My My" picture sleeve - Turkey (Click for label)  Japanese issue of "Changes" on RCA Records (Click for Side 1 label)  Colgems cassette and 8-track  "Oh My My" picture sleeve - Australia (Click for label) Bell Records released the original Monkees albums in Japan throughout 1973 and 1974:
 "Oh My My" picture sleeve - Germany (Click for label)  "Oh My My" picture sleeve - France (Click for label) Thanks a lot to Ben Belmares for sharing his scans of The Monkees Greatest Hits, the 1976 compilation that Rhino Records has just reissued on orange vinyl as part of their "Start Your Ear Off Right" promotional campaign. Thanks again, Ben!         By 1976, Arista Records had inherited The Monkees' music catalog from Colgems (later Bell Records) and proceeded to release The Monkees Greatest Hits. This Arista collection was in reality a repackaging of Re-Focus, an earlier Monkees compilation produced by Bell in 1972. Arista's Greatest Hits featured the same track listing as Re-Focus but with brand new cover art, and could be purchased as an LP, cassette, or 8-track. As Monkees albums were hard to come by in the mid-1970s, and possibly due to other factors like the return of the group's TV show in syndication and the activities of Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart, Greatest Hits sold well and peaked at #58 on the Billboard chart in 1976. It was later certified Gold in 1986 and Platinum in 1991, and remained in print through the 1980s when it first appeared on compact disc. And now in 2019, The Monkees Greatest Hits is being treated to yet another release, this time by Rhino Records as part of their annual "Start Your Ear Off Right" campaign. Available exclusively at participating music shops beginning on January 8, Greatest Hits has been pressed on orange vinyl and is limited to 4,500 copies. A big thanks to (who else?!) Ben Belmares for sharing his scans of the Target version of The Monkees' new holiday album, Christmas Party.                     On October 12, Rhino Records will release Christmas Party, the first-ever collection of Christmas music by The Monkees. The album will feature newly recorded versions of classic Christmas songs including "Silver Bells," "The Christmas Song," and "Wonderful Christmastime" along with brand new songs written for the group by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo ("What Would Santa Do"), Andy Partridge of XTC ("Unwrap You At Christmas"), as well as R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 ("Christmas Party"). Adam Schlesinger, who produced the LP (and 2016's Good Times!), collaborated with novelist Michael Chabon on "House of Broken Gingerbread." Covers of Wizzard's yuletide classic "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and Big Star's "Jesus Christ" will also be heard on the album. Christmas Party includes new vocals by Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, plus the late Davy Jones’ voice - taken from vintage recordings - also appears on two songs. It will be available for purchase on compact disc and as a digital download this Friday. A vinyl edition is in the works but will not be issued until 2019. Retail giant Target will carry an exclusive bonus tracks edition of Christmas Party beginning on October 19 (a week after the release of the standard edition), and it's currently available for pre-ordering. Target's compact disc will feature two additional songs: "Riu Chiu" and "Christmas Is My Time of Year." While we wait for the video of the first single, "Unwrap You at Christmas," to arrive, take a moment to catch up on all things Christmas Party in the archives of the Live Almanac!  On June 29, Rhino Records released An Introduction to The Monkees Volume 1 as a budget-priced compact disc with ten tracks: 
And this week, Rhino issued An Introduction to The Monkees Volume 2: 
Thank you very much to John Hughes of Rhino Records for providing The Monkees Live Almanac with an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek in the studio when Peter Buck (R.E.M.) and Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5) joined Micky Dolenz to record the tracks "Christmas Party" and "Jesus Christ" for the upcoming Monkees holiday album, Christmas Party. John is the executive producer of this latest Monkees project. Left to right are guitarist Jody Porter, producer Adam Schlesinger, John Hughes, Mark Pinkus (President, Rhino Records), Micky Dolenz, drummer Brian Young, Peter Buck, and Scott McCaughey:  (Photo courtesy of John Hughes)  (Album cover art by Michael Allred) Two years after the triumph of Good Times!, The Monkees are set to release Christmas Party, their first-ever collection of holiday music. The album, produced by Adam Schlesinger (who also oversaw Good Times!), will feature newly recorded versions of classic Christmas songs including "Silver Bells," "The Christmas Song," and "Wonderful Christmastime" along with brand new songs written for the group by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo ("What Would Santa Do"), Andy Partridge of XTC ("Unwrap You At Christmas"), R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 ("Christmas Party"), and Schlesinger with novelist Michael Chabon ("House of Broken Gingerbread"). Covers of Wizzard's yuletide classic "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and Big Star's "Jesus Christ" will also be heard on the album. Christmas Party includes new vocals by Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, plus the late Davy Jones’ voice - taken from vintage recordings - also appears on two songs. It will be available for purchase on compact disc and as a digital download on October 12. A vinyl edition is in the works but will not be issued until early 2019. The first single, set for an October release, will be Andy Partridge's "Unwrap You At Christmas," and a lyric video will be produced to promote the track. Along with producer Schlesinger, Cuomo and Partridge are returning to the Monkees fold as they were the songwriters responsible for the two lead singles from Good Times!, "She Makes Me Laugh" and "You Bring the Summer." Two of Michael Nesmith's sons also acted as co-producers (Christian on "The Christmas Song" and Jonathan on "Snowfall"). Davy's tracks on Christmas Party were originally recorded in 1991 with former Monkees producer Chip Douglas. Schlesinger worked with the master tapes as given to him by Douglas, creating new instrumentation around Davy's vocals. Target will carry an exclusive bonus tracks edition of Christmas Party on October 19 (a week after the release of the standard edition), featuring two additional songs: 1) "Ríu Chíu" (group version as heard on the 1967 "Christmas Show" episode with improved audio from its previous CD appearance on the 2007 deluxe edition of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.) 2) "Christmas Is My Time Of Year" (the one-off 1976 Christmas single recorded by Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork and produced by Chip Douglas - this will mark its first official appearance on a Monkees album) Here is the official track listing of Christmas Party, and you can listen to the LP's executive producer John Hughes (of Rhino Records) and Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval breakdown each song on the latest episode of Zilch. "Unwrap You At Christmas" (Lead vocal: Micky) "What Would Santa Do" (Lead vocal: Micky) "Mele Kalikimaka" (Lead vocal: Davy) "House Of Broken Gingerbread" (Lead vocal: Micky) "The Christmas Song" (Lead vocal: Michael) "Christmas Party" (Lead vocal: Micky) "Jesus Christ" (Lead vocal: Micky) "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" (Lead vocal: Micky) "Silver Bells" (Lead vocal: Davy) "Wonderful Christmastime" (Lead vocal: Micky) "Snowfall" (Lead vocal: Michael) "Angels We Have Heard On High" (Lead vocal: Peter) "Merry Christmas, Baby" (Lead vocal: Micky) Stay tuned to The Monkees Live Almanac for all the latest news and information surrounding Christmas Party and more! Last week, The Boston Globe, while interviewing Michael Nesmith, hinted that a Monkees Christmas album was forthcoming, even mentioning two songs that Nez had recorded for the project: The surviving Monkees, Nesmith, Dolenz, and Peter Tork — Davy Jones died of a heart attack in 2012 — recorded a well-received comeback album, “Good Times!,” in 2016. True to form, Nesmith was not enthralled when the band asked him to take part in a follow-up, a Christmas album. But he relented, cutting two songs for the upcoming release, covers of “The Christmas Song” and “Snowfall,” the weird seasonal standard written by Claude Thornhill. Speculation surrounding new Monkees recordings has abounded since June 2017 when Fountains of Wayne guitarist Jody Porter, who played on the 2016 Monkees album Good Times! (which was produced by his bandmate Adam Schlesinger), commented on Facebook that he would soon be in Los Angeles to work on a new Monkees LP. Even before that, Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, the legendary new wave group responsible for songs like "Tempted and "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell), told Iain Lee on his UK radio show that he was writing songs for another Monkees album. And now, Amazon has a listing for Christmas Party, set to be released by Rhino Records on October 12, 2018. Another website, Mascom, shows the album with the following track list (and low resolution artwork), advertising "new songs written by Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Andy Partridge (XTC), and Peter Buck (REM)":
Stay tuned to The Monkees Live Almanac for all of the latest about this upcoming release!
On this edition of THE RHINO PODCAST, host Dennis is in the booth with the one and only Micky Dolenz and Monkees reissue producer Andrew Sandoval to talk playing concerts in supermarket parking lots, Don Kirshner, JC Penney, long hair, Look Magazine, and why only 12 tracks originally made it on to MORE OF THE MONKEES. Find out what was left on the cutting room floor and how you can now hear those songs when you tune in. Shoppers at the official online Monkees store can no longer add The Monkees Present deluxe box set to their cart, which appears to signal that it's now sold out. Limited to 5,000 individually numbered boxes, the second post-Peter Tork Monkees album was newly remastered and expanded by Rhino Handmade in 2013. Produced by Andrew Sandoval and consisting of three CDs and 85 tracks (60 previously unreleased), the package also included an exclusive bonus 7" vinyl single for "Good Clean Fun (Alternate Mix)" b/w "Mommy and Daddy (July 1969 Stereo Mix)" in a picture sleeve. A while back at the Monkees Store, the super deluxe box set for The Monkees remained available while asking shoppers to "subscribe to back in stock notification." That set, however, was never offered again at the store, and the same option is currently being shown for The Monkees Present. The page for The Monkees super deluxe has since been removed from the store's website, and it's likely just a matter of time that the same will occur for The Monkees Present. Box sets for The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees and Head have long been sold out. Still available is the recent super deluxe edition of More Of The Monkees, along with the deluxe edition for 1969's Instant Replay. Grab them while you still can!  In 1994, Rhino Records began issuing the original Monkees albums on compact disc, digitally remastered with bonus tracks. Overseen by Andrew Sandoval and Bill Inglot, The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees was part of the first wave of the campaign, released on September 20, 1994, along with The Monkees and Changes. The package featured informative liner notes written by Monkees archivist Sandoval, along with detailed session credits for each song. In 2010, The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees was once again reissued, this time by Rhino Handmade as a phenomenal 3-CD super deluxe edition box set in another project overseen by Andrew Sandoval. You can read much more about the album and its various editions in the archives of the Live Almanac, including the LP's original track listing.  Above and below: the front and back covers of the CD package   The compact disc (Courtesy of Monkee45s.net)  CD inlay  Andrew Sandoval's liner notes (Click each image to enlarge)      I still have a soft spot for the very first Monkees box set ever issued by Rhino Records on September 24, 1991. Listen to the Band was a 4-CD collection that included a memorabilia poster and a detailed booklet written and compiled by Andrew Sandoval, and it featured many songs that had not been previously released on compact disc. The September 1991 issue of Monkee Business Fanzine, which celebrated The Monkees' 25th Anniversary, previewed the box with comments by Sandoval and more. Note the discussion about live tapes from the 1969 tour. You can read a more current take of those tapes on the '69 tour page here on the site.     (Banner designed by Al Bigley) The super deluxe edition of The Monkees' sophomore album, More Of The Monkees, is now available! Limited to 4,500 numbered copies and boasting 91 tracks (55 of them previously unreleased), including the original mono and stereo mixes, alternate takes, backing tracks, and remixes, the set also contains highlights from The Monkees' January 21, 1967 concert at Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona. Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval, who produced the box for Rhino Records, was enthused about its release when speaking to Monkees.com last month. "This is the most exciting archival dig through The Monkees' vault since 2009's The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees deluxe edition. Every track is newly mastered for this set; the live material is the most historically significant of their career." A special 7" vinyl single with accompanying picture sleeve, "I'm A Believer" (remix) / "(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” (vocals only), is also a part of the package and is shrink-wrapped inside the box. Below you can see the front and back cover of the expansive booklet, featuring a newly written essay by Andrew Sandoval. You can order the More Of The Monkees super deluxe edition from Monkees.com.  As you can see, I received box #788:  In an email this evening, Rhino Customer Service alerted fans about the new release date for the More Of The Monkees super deluxe edition. The set was originally scheduled for December 15 but was later moved back a week, and it will now ship on December 29. UPDATE 12/22/2017: Despite the previously announced setback in the release date, emails from The Monkees Webstore are now providing shipping notification and a tracking number for the More Of The Monkees super deluxe edition.  |
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