Monkee predictions for 2016

I'm not 100% certain of this, but I think all that's left from SLC are instrumental tracks since they weren't really properly miked up to record the vocals...

 

In a world where we are finding obscure silent films thought lost for decades, where episodes of Doctor Who thought to be long discarded and gone forever turn up in the most unlikely of places, and where tapes of home recordings made by the pre-Beatles Quarrymen that by rights just should not have survived have also been discovered, why can't anyone turn up the 1968 Japanese TV concert special?? It was likely a BIG event, and had to be archived somewhere. Why does only an audio recording survive? And why is that dang recording so good? The Japanese aren't known for usually being so disorganized or short-sighted that even a paper trail about the special can't be unearthed. Something about the whole situation sounds so off.

It would be mind-blowing if it's just a case of language barrier and not phrasing the questions we have about the special correctly to the right people.

I wonder what things would have been like for the Monkees if instead of making and airing 33 1/3, the group instead made a deal with NHK (or whichever Japanese TV network produced the Budokan special) to have access to all the (presumably video) footage** shot for the Japanese TV special to be the basis for the first of the proposed three specials on NBC? (Assuming it was filmed or videotaped in color; which given the Japanese commitment to high standards, it had to have been) At that crucial juncture, a one-hour live concert special might have been a better choice for the first US TV special and a great middle-finger send off to the critics who slagged them as not being real musicians. A "Monkees On Tour" on steroids, as it were. It might have not stopped their decline, but it would have been a wonderful high note to go out on.

(**Japan used the same NTSC video standard as the USA, so there would have been no compatibility issues from a technical standpoint, or if there were, they would have been minimal. If they used film, even better!)

 

All true, but based on the premise that any of the Monkees actually gave a *cuckoo sound effect* about The Monkees (tm) as anything other than a contractual obligation by the time they did 33 1/3. Which I'm not sure I buy. It's intriguing to note that they shot the special within a few weeks of the Head Premiere, when the scale of the flop was becoming apparent.

 

Agreed, but to me it would have made it even more appealing then to use the Japanese footage: it would have required little to no involvement on their part. Maybe one day in a recording studio doing some voice over work depending on how the special was edited. I reckon it also would have cost Screen Gems/NBC a lot less to use the Japanese footage than to have made 33 1/3 with all the logistic and technical problems that taping caused.

Ehh...hindsight is sooooo 20/20....

 

Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork were interviewed on TV & radio this morning in the UK and Micky mentioned that the "Blu-ray is coming".

 

Yeah, but then they couldn't have stacked Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis in the Piano Pyramid of Awesomeness.

SQUEE! Do we have video online of this?

 

Fantastic!!! When is the question.

 

In my opinion, Nez and Davy were the introverted and extroverted sides of the same coin. While their artistic geniuses lay in different (perhaps diametrically opposed) areas, I've long thought they were more alike than one might assume at first glance.[/QUOTE]


yes, yes yes

 

Do the film elements survive for the show to be used for BR?

 

All the original 35mm film elements exist and are stored by Sony, probably at an Iron Mountain facility.

 

If the Blu-Ray comes to fruition, in addition to ("possible") out-takes ("possibly") being included, does anyone think there might be new/updated commentaries by Micky and Peter, Rafelson, etc.? (I'd say Nez too, but it's hard to know if he'd want to do them again, after having done them on the previous DVD seasons.)

 

True, and that's a pretty cool segment... When listening to the DVD commentary, you can tell Micky is pretty enthusiastic about the whole "50s Rock 'n Roll" portion of the show...

 

Also wonder if it will include The 1997 TV Episode/Special Hey Hey, It's The Monkees....

 

If memory serves, I think the guys themselves own the rights to that one. I would think they (and Davy's estate) would allow it to be included for a reasonable sum assuming it doesn't bring back too many unpleasant memories.

 

Are we talking about unpleasant memories for them or for us?

 

Am I the only one who remembers Nez writing in 2013 or 2014 that he was "reformatting" the 1997 special?

Also, I agree that Davy and Nez had more in common than their birthdays. Maybe in some ways, Mike felt Davy could "see right through him"- not that Mike is or was dishonest, but probably pretentious at times in regards to presentation. It's worth noting that in Sandoval's book they get along the best in the very early, pre-Season 1 Pilot days and live together and share a car. Both were leaders whereas Mick and Peter are more genial passive, so it makes sense.

 

This rings a bell, yes.

Getting back to the early suggestions of jealousy of Nesmith, it's interesting to me that while Davy griped about Mike "getting all the b-sides" (which even a casual check shows is highly exaggerated), Micky says that Nez encouraged his writing.

 

Anyway, my assessment of the current situation is that Dolenz and Tork are "The Monkees", while "The Monkees" is a thing Nesmith does (or perhaps a better word would be "revisits") when he feels like it. Even when he talks about songs he wrote, he seems to draw a line between Monkees songs and his solo work rather than viewing, say, "Sunny Girlfriend" and "Yellow Butterfly" as part of the same oeuvre.

 

Davy's tambourine playing reached new levels of virtuosity and white soul then. Maybe it was the sushi...

 

Actually, listening to the Summer 1967 live recordings reinforces that Davy's percussion actually helps the overall sound, considering Micky's sparse, garage drum style. Which I love- and Mick was always improving- but Davy adds something, however minor people view it.

 

I don't think Nesmith has ever been jealous of anything. To be jealous means to covet what someone else has and Mike, for all his quirks, seems to be pretty accepting of his lot in life with his talents. But this kind of thing, it harkens to why I think the oft-cited remark that Nes was happy when Peter left in 1968 because "now no one challenged his musical autonomy" is the kind of thing that makes absolutely no sense if you think about it. To explain that point, what I mean is- as much as I love Pete, he was not prolific, and for every "Can You Dig It" was 50 takes of Lady's Baby. How was he any musical threat to Nez? If anything, he was very good at helping arrange and flesh out his songs. So when people say that- they're not really thinking it through.

By that method of thinking, Davy should consider that if Mike can obtain some b-sides, so could any other Monkee presumably- had they tried it. Give Nez some credit, for Christ's sake. He had proven he had some degree of writing chops, had already penned a hit for The Stone Poneys, been covered- no one was stopping Davy from writing b-sides. He just opened stores instead. Not a judgment, an observation. Some of the things he said about Mike are warranted, some are just his emotion and frustration coming through and that's one of those statements.

 

Mike would encourage Micky's songwriting but why wouldn't he? Micky stated in an interview that it was also to encourage Mike's own agenda of liberating The Monkees- but there's no doubt that Mike didn't believe in and genuinely like and appreciate Micky but also see my above post: I firmly believe that Mike would not perceive any of the other Monkees as a threat per se to his position in the band, not that he even thought like that. Nez has always been prolific when he wanted to be and seems especially prolific during this period of his life as well as ambition, proactive, and with lots of initiative. Micky is a workhorse but he was never ambitious or driven to write. I think it says a lot that when those guys *started* to write, you got great songs like 'Randy Scouse Git' and 'Smile', etc. But I also think something not often considered is that Micky and Davy came from showbiz backgrounds where song & dance is expected as much as dramatic chops. I think it's this psychology that enables Micky especially to write good material when he's pressed to but otherwise he doesn't sit around composing. In some aspects, I believe Micky's lifelong culture as an entertainer has had him, how should we say, taking his true musical gifts for granted, to an extent.

 

There is a huge difference between film and video. From the start, video was considered a reusable format, to record something, show it once or twice and then reuse the tape, unlike film, which is a permanent record (as long as it doesn't deteriorate, burst into flames, crumble to powder or get thrown in a landfill).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Quad videotape cost something like $100 a half-hour reel? (Then there is the issue of finding a machine that will play them, and Quad machines -- assuming that's the format -- are practically extinct nowadays, not to mention the brittle status of many tapes of that era.)

There are many classic TV shows which were shot on video and are still around in reruns -- like Norman Lear's sitcoms, for instance -- but for every videotaped show that is archived, there are 100 that were shown once and taped over (like the first ten years of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show).

That said, I would be delighted if the video of the Japan concert showed up intact some day.

 

You mean, instead of griping and screaming out of resentment for someone else's success, we can actually get off our butts and use our own talents to do something?

 

IIRC, it says something like "c1997 The Monkees Special." And I once looked up who or what "The Monkees Special" was -- and guess what, it's Dolenz, Nesmith and Tork, but not Jones. Interesting coincidence.