Thanks for the link. Holy crap, I had forgotten about how brilliant all of those "alternate reality" albums were, and (not surprisingly) that you were the one who had created them! I still have those album covers and CD labels on my hard drive. I was always amazed at the work that must have gone into those. Kudos! (My bad, I couldn't read your tiny image and thought it was "Plastic Soul" rather than "Monkee Soul". Although "Plastic Soul" obviously has a funny ring to it, and was a phrase once uttered by Paul McCartney)
Much like how outtakes from the Monkees TV show and HEAD surfaced decades later, after it was thought none existed any longer, I still hold out hope that the Japan TV broadcast of that concert is found someday! As for the LD, strange that they would go to the trouble of making a box set, and then leave out so many episodes. Especially considering the attention to detail the Japanese usually show with box set releases.
Yeah, the lack of nearly 1/3 of the episodes is what prevented me from buying the set until years after it was released. But, the sydication prints are kind of fun to watch, as they are what I saw when first discovered the series back in the day.
Geez - how much longer is the COMPLETE "Listen To The Band"? (And how much more of it is just insanity?)
So there are ten repeat versions on this set. What do we bet they would be? The Japanese LD had the following (thanks Michelle!): Royal Flush (Apples, Peaches, Bananas, And Pears/Good Clean Fun) Success Story (Shades Of Grey/Sweet Young Thing) I've Got A Little Song Here (Gonna Buy Me A Dog/For Pete's Sake) One Man Shy (Forget That Girl/You Just May Be The One) And the MTV reruns had the following (thank you long-lost friend who wrote them into my copy of the Lefcowitz book from her VHSes back in the 80s): Royal Flush (You Told Me/The Girl I Knew Somewhere) The Chaperone (Take A Giant Step/Midnight Train/You Just May Be The One) The Monkees On Tour (Steam Engine) What else is known to be out and about in circulation? I know there's a rubbish clip of The Frodis Caper with "I Never Thought It Peculiar" on it on YouTube, ditto I Was A Teenage Monster with "Good Clean Fun". So do we think those are likely to be 9 of the 10 we are getting? Am I skipping anything? What did Andrew screen a few years back at the Head screening?
THE MONKEES ON TOUR with Steam Engine also retained WORDS from the Summer '67 airing, so it was like a double whammy!
I had Betamax dubs of syndicated episodes: Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers (with "The Girl I Knew Somewhere") and Monkee See, Monkee Die (with "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"). The Rhino DVDs use info from The Aaron Handy III webshrine to the Monkees and list almost all alternate song substitutions.
While watching the documentary Easy Riders, Raging Bulls last night, I believe I may have stumbled onto a "preview," of sorts, showing some of what we may expect on the Bluray set in terms of bonus features. In the segment of the film explaining the origins of Raybert/BBS Productions, there's a short scene from HEAD (the behind-the-scenes/Rafelson-Jack Nicholson cameo) and then the Monkees' origins are discussed and several silent film clips are shown. There's footage that I believe is from the KHJ "Last Train To Clarksville" Monkees contest (the group lands by helicopter, then performing: A few talking head interviews (including comments from Micky Dolenz) are interspersed with alternate clips from romp segments featured in the show and clips that appear to have been shot for romps, but went unused: Hope this footage is included (and MORE of it, too)!!
"Take a Giant Step" was part of that episode from the start: It wasn't just from a syndicated version of the show... It's part of the episode itself, with showing Micky in drag and all...
"Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" is featured in the the following episodes: Monkee Mother, Monkees On The Line, and Monkees In Manhattan. The Monkee Mother episode (with Rosemarie) features them performing the song in their beach pad. Off the top of my head, I can't remember how it was featured in the other two episodes.
In Monkees on the Line it is the romp at the end of the episode. In Monkees in Manhattan, it is played over the montage of clips (romp again) where Mike is telling the millionaires what the show is going to be like.
I remember when Aaron Hardy III mentioned that there was allegedly a print of Hillbilly Honeymoon from season 2 that featured "Tapioca Tundra". Wonder how that would have looked replacing "Papa Gene's Blues". It would have been maybe the only redubbing of a song in the 2nd season that possibly stems from the NBC run if it indeed exists. As for the set, I am happy with the things Andrew has worked on and previewed for us on Facebook. I am dying to see the Bluray. But I hate that we have to wait almost 3 more months. and when we reach the day it drops, who knows how long we have to wait for it to ship? Sometimes it takes a few more weeks. But I heartily look forward to it! And yes, I did purchase the VHS box in the 90s! Haha, I cannot believe we spent way more money on that when the only extras were the 16mm pilot episode and 33 and a 3rd. Okay, there was a cool booklet. I wish I could have kept it when I sold my copy of the box. But the bluray set is a steal by comparison, considering. BTW, I really do hope we get the "S from Hell" at the end of each episode! I do consider it part of my experience having grown up with the show.
Definitely not included, '60's material only. Andrew did state that he would be interested in putting together a reunion era set someday.
I'd like to see that released on DVD/Blu-Ray too... But even more than that, I'd like to see the documentary with all four of them participating released... That was originally aired on Disney, wasn't it?
If that happens, I know it wouldn't be "right away", but I'd like to see something like that released too...
That Japanese show is the Holy Grail among Monkees video to be found. Now THAT would be the most earth-shattering Monkee find for me. Unless of course Andrew found another complete concert on film!
