Is it known why the 3rd Monkees album is called Headquarters? Also, on that album, do we know why and how the non-Monkee written songs were chosen?
I could be wrong but I believe Headquarters was the first album where the Monkees asserted themselves as musicians. They got real pissy with Don Kirchner when he released their second album without their having any real input and were feeling the backlash of being a fake band. I think it was a giant compromise from day one though. There isn't a Monkees album that doesn't contain at least a few Brill Building classics and those were the hits, so I'm sure the Monkees had to make concessions. The Monkees discography is a bit of a mess in that regard but I will defend every album up to and including the 'Head' soundtrack. As for what it was called 'Headquarters', who knows? I think album titles were fairly arbitrary in those days.The title of their next album, 'Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.' is far trippier...
Three of the songs were written by Boyce and Hart who were integral parts of the Monkees' team. Douglas Farthing Hatlelid is Chip Douglas, the album's producer. He also sang and played on the album. Hank Cicalo was the recording engineer for the album. Jack Keller was the Monkees' first producer and had previously written songs for them. Mann & Weil are great songwriters.
In one of the last TV episodes, I think it was Monkees Mind Their Manor, they pop out of shipping crates and are introduced as Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones. Maybe the title came from that? Or maybe the line was a subliminal advert for the LP?
Those shows were insane. When I go back and realize that my youth consisted entirely of pounding down sugar frosted cereal and watching shows like 'The Monkees', 'Batman' and 'The Banana Splits', it's no wonder I grew up so weird....
Listen to the Headquarters sessions box set, it's pretty good. Peter was a really good musician, couldn't have done it without him.
I think they liked the word 'Head' , named their movie that word, and they are each a quarter of the band, not very creative or deep but that's my guess
My question is why allow any other writers on this album that was going to be all them, you share profits among other things having other writers on there. Did they simply not have any songs of their own to fill an album, I find that hard to believe.
That was really nice of them! Or were The Monkees embarrassed about having written such a Beatlesque song?
Not too embarrassed for Micky to quip "rock on George for Ringo" in the middle of it (never noticed that til my 7 year old pointed it out this year).
Well as I'm sure you know they were limited to the amount of originals for each album and they also wanted to reward Hank for his hard work. Evidently the royalties bought Hank a house.
Did not know there was a limit on the number of originals per album. What was it? Seems like that limit must have been relaxed in later years.
Is the consensus here that Headquarters is their best album? It's a popular choice. Even though it does contain one of my favorite Mike songs (You just may be the One), I still have to vote for Capricorn Jones. I think it's their best album as an actual band and their most consistent from a song perspective.
Wow. We can actually have a semi-serious discussion about the Monkees here and people know their stuff. I am home!
I would say their best album for overall quality of music is PAC&J. I think if we're talking about what album best represents them as a group and their sound, obviously, it's HQ. "More of" goes somewhere in between and is probably #2 on overall quality. I guess I should throw a bone to HEAD, cuz Peter's stuff there is some of the best original Monkees stuff there is.
