How about a Monkees rarities box set?

If it was Bill Martin, he also wrote: Chow Mein, Eldorado To The Moon, All Of Your Toys, Door Into Summer (with Chip).

 

Yep. Bill Martin. http://monkeestv.tripod.com/TVSpecials/HeyHey.html

*"Antarctica," a little Bill Martin-composed ditty The Monkees are seen performing in the special, previously appeared in a 1980 Pacific Arts comedy video An Evening With Sir William Martin, wherein Michael Nesmith appeared as Foyer The Butler.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=18736754

 

That is why this place is so great! Thanks for picking me up on the writer of Antartica.

 

In regards to remixes for the original albums, a lot of multi's are missing, but I think (maybe other know) that it's possible to do something with Sometime In The Morning, Laugh, Hold On Girl (album version) and I'm A Believer........heck, all the New York produced tracks. They all are lousy and desperately need to be completely overhauled. I would buy MOTM again if they would do that. I'm good with the rest of the original mixes. They can stay away from songs lifted from tv sources on any box set.....why bother.....I'd rather keep that space available for unreleased studio work. Does anyone know the status of Head mono mixes, do they exist in the vault?

 

If you're a Nesmith fan, then it's essential. Monkees' era versions of "Propinquity", "Little Red Rider" & "Hollywood". "Propinquity" and "Hollywood" are done in his Nashville style, ala "Good Clean Fun". The previously unreleased "Angel Band", another excellent song, and actually an old tune from the 1800s, also fits into that mold. "Little Red Rider" was from his last Monkees' sessions before going solo, lots of funky horns from Sam & the Goodtimers, a little electric guitar. Lots of fun. Also includes a so-so, somewhat boring, previously unreleased Latin jazz-country song, "How Insensitive", and the previously released vocals-up version of "Circle Sky".

From Davy, you get a fun Broadway-rock style "Penny Music", along with a driving soul song, with more horns, Carole King/Toni Stern's "Look Down", along with a couple of previously released tunes, including the so-so "Love to Love" from the true stereo master for the first time.

From Micky, you get another Sam & the Goodtimers collaboration, "You're So Good", produced by Nesmith, a horn-laden blues-rocker. And an original 60s era mix of "Steam Engine". Also, a couple of acoustic demos, also found on Headquarters Sessions, "She'll Be There" and "Midnight Train". "Shake 'Em Up" is a Leiber/Stoller song that's just okay, with a lot of Dolenz vocal comedy (?) acting. Unusual, and nothing to write home about. You also get a couple of advertising jingles and a couple of TV versions of songs, all of which are just okay to hear once or twice, maybe just for educational purposes, but nothing special, either.

From Peter, you get the previously released "Tear the Top Off My Head", which if you don't already own, then it's worth it for Peter fans, although I wish we could get the Micky/Peter version in good quality. His other song, "Merry Go Round", is quite dull.


Overall, I think it's well worth it. Yes, there's a few duds along the way, but given the excellence of the other songs, if this is "scraping the bottom of the barrel", then I'll take the splinters too.


However, if you're concerned about paying premium dollars, then you may want to see what's going to be released on the upcoming Deluxe Editions-- they might include some of the same songs.

 

Except "Riu Chiu" wasn't included on Pisces...

 

I don't think that was the intent at all. The deluxe editions meant to pull in as many of the tracks from surrounding sessions as they could, not just those on the Missing Links series. Many of the mixes on the recent deluxe editions are completely different mixes- original & new remixes. To name one- So Goes Love has a completely different vocal in the front. I also believe that the Missing Links series will always have a happy home amidst the new remasters. They won't be made obsolete.

 

The ML version? Because they put the tv version on the Deluxe -- which by most accounts is the definitive version, anyway. I agree with Mr. S, even with the Deluxe releases, the ML series is still relevant, if just for completionists -- a lot of those tracks are straight mixes from masters, though some were tinkered with (like the ML So Goes Love, made a lot faster).

 

In almost all cases, I prefer the LttB remixes over the original '60s mixes. I think the Monkees are a band that really benefits from remixing.

The Arista "Headquarters" was entirely remixed. Some of the tracks on the other Aristas were remixed and some weren't.

...except a lot of the "Deluxe" set bonus tracks have been remixed, which means you have to collect the ML discs if you want all the mixes. (I won't even get into how the deluxe sets are missing some of the original CD bonus tracks from the '90s.)

I definitely think the band needs some sort of definitive rarities set, but compiling it at this point would be a nightmare.

 

Skipping over to last post, I didn't read every one in this thread. But what would be the definitive rarities 2, 3, or 4 disc box set if one considers what has been issued on CD, the previously rare or unissued tracks, and where they are found on CD.

This would be my guess for sources:

1. Missing Links discs
2. anything from Headquarters Sessions set?
3. bonus tracks from 94/95 CDs, + later DLX Edts.
4. choice rare ones from Listen to the Band collection
5. am I forgetting another Monkee Flips type set, or rare take on an early Arista CD?

Any Monkees experts here at SH forums? Can you post where the cream is found, including only tracks that are musically strong, and not simply rare or odd.

 

There's no consensus on that one!

 

Any self-respecting Monkees fan has every Monkees product Rhino has ever issued.

 

Why then? Are Monkees fans completely and so over-a-barrel that they just can't name their favorites?

 

Over-a-barrel... barrel full of.... Why didn't you just say go ape or bananas? Forget it.

I don't think there's a real good collection encompassing the good tracks other than a box set, and those for any one artist can be overwhelming. The hits are too cliched and overplayed, there are too many good deep album tracks, too many cuts from the Missing Links series that are better that some album cuts. You buy a box and you get the stuff later in their career, some of which in my opinion is OK, but not great, and some outright suck.

One of two sets could be purchased- The 4CD Music Box or Anthology, a 2CD set that bi-passes 99.9% of the key tracks on Missing Links. I'm the sort to dive into an artist, so I'd go for a box set.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...1_olp_9?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1254806455&sr=1-9
$30. divided by 100 tracks... that's less that $.30 per track. A steal if you ask me.

 

The Definitive Monkees, released a few years ago, has a bonus disc of tracks taken from the ML series. I wouldn't call it a definitive CD of their rarities, but it was a good attempt. They missed All Of Your Toys, Lady's Baby (in favor of Merry-Go-Round), The Girl I Knew Somewhere (Mike's vocal), I Don't Think You Know Me (take your pick), Of You, Some Of Shelly's Blues (in favor of How Insensitive........how insensitive!), Nine Times Blue, and they put on the 2 Micky demos from Headquarters.....oops! Mr. S. has it right about the box sets, if you don't mind get the best of's with those outtakes. They really haven't done a good collection of outtakes yet......which is a good reasons for the post. But, yeah, The Music Box is the best so far.

 

Wow...just looked at the track list for that... certainly not definitive by any means. "Tema Dei Monkees" and "Merry Go Round" over "St. Matthew" and "Nine Times Blue" and "I Don't Think You Know Me", etc., etc??? What were they thinking? Let's throw in some of their worst songs ever just to show how bad they can be so we can cover the whole scope and really call it "definitive"? I agree that I wouldn't call it a definitive collection of rarities either.

And, yeah, judging by the track list on Amazon, the Music box certainly misses a few, like "The Crippled Lion" and others. It also gives some rarities in places that I, personally, don't agree with...like the single version of "She Hangs Out" over the album version, and the extended version of "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" over the album version??

 

Nez In Nashville idea

I actually wrote to Andrew suggesting a "revisionist" album, entitled something along the lines of "Nez in Nashville"--it would be made up of the 9 songs he recorded in 1968 in Nashville, plus maybe a few others that fit in that mold (Carlisle Wheeling, Angel Band...) and package it as if it came out in '68-'69, and thus (in this fictitious revisionist world) changing the course of Nesmith's career.
(like perhaps then, he'd have gotten the props he deserved and joined among the "acceptable" and "hip" country rock pioneers as opposed to being ignored and/or scorned).
Revisionism...I'm glad in some ways I wasn't alive in the 60's. In my world, the Monkees were accepted and hip and the Velvet Underground had a couple top 10 hits. And got along with the Grateful Dead.
I could go on....

 

It's good that the door is closing (or slamming shut) on the whole idea if they would be scraping the bottom of the barrel. You can't just take Missing Links 3 discs and throw in a couple more semi-rare ones and a few real rare ones and call it a new box set.

Buyers would throw a hissy.

It might be time to let the catalog live on in it's own legacy, or fade into obscurity.

 

I'm also glad I wasn't around in the 60s--the "hipsters" would have peer-pressured me into anything but the Monkees
Seriously though, who really cares what they think? We have Nesmith's previously hidden gems, and have longer to enjoy it. Besides, I don't think most critics scorn him anymore..from all that I've read, they've taken notice of Nesmith and reassessed his career with almost universal praise (I haven't seen a bad review yet). It's the public's loss, not ours.

Although I enjoy discovering music through other's recommendations, I don't really care what's hip--if I did, then I would have missed out on a huge amount of great music over the years. I mean, I'll take something like "Original Stack O'Lee Blues" from the 20s over the crap that's hip today.