Monkees Changes: The Deluxe Edition: January 2016

Rhino's Changes reissue came out in September 1986. It was the last one of the lot, probably held off while they tried to find the master tape.

March 1985: Birds/Bees; Head; Present

August (?) 1985: Instant Replay

June 1986: More Of The Monkees; Headquarters

July 1986: The Monkees (first album); Pisces

September 1986: Changes

At the time they reissued Changes, they were supposed to release a compilation called The Rest Of (RNLP-70149), which for some reason never came out. They were both listed as upcoming new releases in Billboard. I've asked around a few times for any info on this, but have found nothing.

 

That's interesting. I've never heard that before! I wonder if it was going to be a "best deep cuts" kind of compilation?

 

My guess at the time was that it would be non-LP stuff. I even knocked around a (guess at a) track listing, but it was probably wrong. At the time, there were six songs released as singles which weren't on any of the nine original albums (seven if you count the early version of "She Hangs Out" released in Canada and then withdrawn).

Between the Australia/New Zealand comp Monkeemania and Rhino's Monkee Business, a few unreleased tracks had surfaced (probably semi-bootleg status given that Columbia actually had the rights to the unreleased material rather than Arista): "Steam Engine," "Love To Love" and the live version of "Circle Sky" from Head. "Love To Love" was clearly a multi-generation dub from who knows what source, while the other two were dubbed from film/TV. There also was "Tema Dei Monkees," released as an Italian B-side and then included on Monkee Business (and partially on Monkeemania). Then Rhino released an alternate version of "Circle Sky" with different vocals on Monkee Flips.

That comes out to 12 tracks, but I have a feeling it wasn't quite accurate. This must have come very close to getting released though (whatever the contents), because like I said, it was in Billboard's upcoming releases for September 1986.

 

My press release from that time has those 3 released as the last wave of re-issues by Rhino. But you know with delays and distribution problems, it can be difficult to pin down exact times.

According to Ed Reilly's book, Instant Replay was released on May 22.

 

I posted this in some thread or other, but the only info I've ever seen about this was in the late '80's repress of Lefcowitz's book, which stated that it was a reissue of "Monkee Business" in non-picture disc format and with extra songs.

 

Any reason to purchase this if you have the '94 CD, Friday's bare bones reissue and the latest 50th Anniversary box set?

 

I would say the new Anniversary box would be your official remaster to reference from Rhino, not Friday's quasi remaster in their " fake" mastering house BS.

 

Actually Friday Music's Headquarters Deluxe reissue is said to be the best sounding on CD so.....

 

Sure pro tooling Rhino's CD works for some people .

 

You're the only person I've seen who has a problem with the sound of Friday Music's Headquarters.

 

• You know for sure that this is what happened?
• Even so, if the results are the best-sounding digital remasters of the album so far, what difference does it make?

 

I too would like this answered.

 

Now that you mention that, I remember reading that too. I wonder what his source was?

 

It probably was tracked. If the multis are ever located, it is probably on there. Sounds like a Moog played in a similar vein as on "Star Collector".

 

Regarding Friday Music's reissues of Rhino's Monkees CDs, it should be noted that their The Monkees Present reissue/remastering used the original LP mixes of "Mommy and Daddy" and "Listen to the Band", unlike Rhino's original CD that it copied, so that one is certainly not just a pro-tooled Rhino CD, despite the same track/bonus track listing. Maybe Headquarters and Changes are a different story, but it isn't an across-the-board situation, if so.

 

According to Wikipedia the LP reissue is sourced from an original vinyl copy. Maybe that's why it was delayed, they were looking for a master tape, and after a while gave up, and decided to cut from a record.

 

That seems likely. I'll take a needle drop over nothing.

 

Any consensus on this?

 

PAC&J ltd. deluxe.
I'm sure it would sell

 

Had an interesting thought last night...

What if Harry Nillson had produced Changes instead of Jeff Barry?
Nothing against the legendary Mr. Barry- just wondering "what if.."

 

If Harry had produced "Changes", the song "Good Times" might have ended up on a Monkees album 46 years before it ended up on their 2016 album "Good Times!". And, if he had produced it, he might have pitched some songs that were better than what ultimately ended up on "Changes".

 

At that point I doubt Colgems or anyone else involved in Changes had any interest in making a "good" album. I think by that point the writing was on the wall and it was just one of those contractual obligation albums that very little effort was put into. I still like it and think it has a few good songs, anyway.

 

Yeah, it does have a few good songs on it, but it definitely was done as a contractual thing, and Micky Dolenz was quoted as saying such, and it was also done as a way to get some new songs to put into the Saturday morning run of "The Monkees". Davy Jones was quite unhappy with it, and at first, even declined to talk about "Changes" for the liner notes when they did the Rhino CD reissues in the mid 90s.

It's too bad it was such a rush job, but even if it wasn't, it probably wouldn't have done any better on the charts at the time. Still, it might have been something Davy wouldn't have said was the worst Monkees album, something he said was really just an Andy Kim album with Andy's vocals erased with Micky and his vocals put in place of them.

 

I wonder if there is any truth to that claim of Davy' s. Has either Jeff Barry or Andy Kim ever spoken on record about that? At this point, I wonder if they would even remember.

Andy Kim did record 'Do You Feel It Too" on one of his own albums, but that was in 1968.

 

Good point; good question.

I guess any batch of songs in front of Jeff Barry/Andy Kim could have been considered a potential Andy Kim record.

Too bad Neil Diamond didn't throw them a song for Changes! Interesting Love to Love didn't wind up on the record.