The Monkees "More of the Monkees" Rhino Handmade Deluxe Box Set

He even spoke about being very particular about perfect sync on Zilch when this set was announced.

 

My wish is that in the next few months Rhino offers a remixed version of "More of The Monkees", with all the available remixes. As I understand it, the only track that cant be remixed is "When Love Comes Knocking" as no tapes other the final mono and stereo mix have been found.

Just the remixed album, maybe 2 bonus tracks just for fun.

 

I like my 2LP idea the most, gets all the unique versions of songs on vinyl then too.

 

FJFP, thank you for sharing this excellent review. I would like the answers to your questions, also.

 

Considering how long he had to put these sets together, there is really no excuse for that. It wasn't like he was in a rush. I noticed that the vocals were "off" the first time I listened to it.

I think he really needs a co-producer (preferably an audiophile) to bounce ideas off of.

 

Maybe it was intentional.

 

You're really stretching here.

 

Carnival of Sound
Filet O'Soul
Save For a Rainy Day

Lots of different sounding songs between those three albums. I (ME) can hear Jan & Dean doing this song with the "dicking around" as someone called it earlier.

 

Maybe it's not out of sync.

 

Ron, I agree. The "Monkees On Tour" episode is acknowledged to be one of the most important episodes of the TV show - certainly one of the most revered by Monkees cognoscenti. I look at the excerpts - with the sound as spiffed up as they it possibly can be - as nice companions to the episode. In the unlikely event that audio appears capturing the performances at the NBC launch party in 1966 or from the "Last Train to Capistrano," they will stand as the earliest examples of the Monkees as a bona fide live band. One thing is for sure: when I first saw the episode on Nickelodeon as a twelve year old in 1987, I couldn't have imagined - I wouldn't have even dared to - ever owning portions of it on a legitimate release thirty years later!

To hear Micky's recollections, Nez was "the glue" in the live setting, at least in the early days. As simple as it sounds, with all of the white noise of the fans screaming, he relied on Nez's rhythmic sense and the visual cue of his toe tapping the time as his metronome. (In my opinion, with all the multi-tasking going on in such unforgiving circumstances, this is a testament to Micky's talents and his non-lateral mind.) I think Nez made real good use of his abilities on Headquarters and PAC&J. His 12-string sound is also very atypical - as he said, a more "bluesy" tone than, say, Roger McGuinn's Rick 12.

I know that Iain Lee, the co-proprietor of 7A records, has mentioned making a concerted effort to hunt down any kind of existing footage of the Japan show(s) in either audio or video format. Stranger things have happened in the Monkees tale.

This would be a fascinating appendix in a revised edition of his book. I like that kind of anecdotal information, e.g., the multi tracks for such and such were found in a hatbox in <x>.

Given that he relied on Craig and Derek from the Monkees Mixography project for information/second opinions about mixes, I'm inclined to believe Andrew would be open to the idea if Rhino/Warner's budget allowed for that luxury. I hope consensus is that he does his level best with the dollars/timeline he has been given. For the very few head-scratching decisions he has made (in my opinion alone, I mean), there is a surfeit of times where I've thought to myself: "Where would this material and this project's history be without him?" I don't say that out of sycophancy. I really feel it's true.

 

Pardon if this has already been discussed, but is anyone else having trouble completing their orders at the Monkeesstore? The order page will not format properly on my iPad, and keeps refusing to accept my address, indicating it doesn’t have valid characters.

I’ve messaged their contact page in the meantime, but would appreciate any input. Or a specific phone number to discuss it with Rhino. Thanks for any help!

 

1592 arrived today

 

Finally got to transfer the 45 and, just.. Wow! Fidelity? Just listen to that ride cymbal tap-tap-tappin'! The Guitar strings.. the electric organ solo.. backing vocal bits? Clean, baby.. Dig it!

Like some others here I never imagined that material from this era could sound so clean. I had always imagined that what I call the "crunchiness" of some of those Colgems records was just a product of vintage recording equipment and techniques-- not knowing years ago that the tapes had been mixed down so much that things just got lost in the mix.

Only hitch is at the first, "Then I saw her fa/ace," there's that weird spot that sounds like a splice or a cut/paste.

But 'tis a fantastic mix! I do wish that all the tapes could sound this good.

I that Micky coughing one up during Steppin' Stone? He sure used to clear his throat a lot, then and now!

 

It isn't out-of-sync. Micky's double-tracked lead vocals are on the same tape, so there wouldn't be any drift. What we're hearing is when he made the second vocal pass, Micky sings "to prove THAT my love is truly yours" whereas the first pass has him singing "to prove my love is truly yours", making it sound a little "off", even though it actually isn't. Both vocals are mixed to the same sound level so it is much more pronounced. It is there on the mono mix too, but one of the vocal tracks is brought down a bit on that line, so it doesn't stand out like the remix does. If it were truly out-of-sync, there would be a phasing effect, which doesn't happen here.

 

Re Mary Mary vocals: maybe YOU'RE out of sync!

Seriously though, they are noticeably out of sync. Micky's delivery was never that laid back.

Ruins the remix for me, but definitely not the set!

 

The same thing happened on Sometime In The Morning. Micky isn't the best at double tracking.

 

I remember noticing that bit ("prove THAT my love is truly yours") and my memory is that one is more prominent in the stereo mix and the other in the mono.

 

Arrived today! Checking in with #2117.

The first thing I did was play the new '17 remix 45 of I'm A Believer on the Dual 1219 with Stanton 680EL. Very impressive sound quality - I really like the mix, but wish there was a digital track too. Ripping all the CD tracks to lossless files now for convenience.

The packaging is perfect - no defects. I feel this was a very good value for the money. Great booklet too, as I'm still learning a lot about the Monkees - Fun stuff!

 

#2023 arrived here in Melbourne Australia. Packaging fine and working my way through the content. Love seeing all my SDE boxes lined up on the bookshelf too! Can't wait to play the 45 after all the favourable commentary, but would have loved a digital version too!

 

I'm loving all the comments regarding the MOTM set, even though mine STILL hasn't turned up. Maybe later today. Like most of you, I too cannot understand why after all the hype and excitement about the newly mixed "I'm A Believer", it was released on vinyl, which a lot of us cannot play (including myself). Why would Rhino not stick that on one of the CDs? I'm just hoping someone will upload it somewhere on the Internet in the near future.

 

How dare you suggest that Andrew made a mistake. He walks on water!

 

How about you try that rebuttal again to someone who took their time to detail why isn’t out of sync. A post that you flat out ignored that was replying to you:

 

The argument isn't that the two vocals are out of sync with each other, but that the vocal is playing a hair behind the backing track. My wife noticed it too.

 

So did I. Now, could I have done it better? Probably not.

 

I'm not talking about Micky's bad double tracking. I'm talking about the backing and overdubs being out of sync with each other. As I said, I noticed it immediately. I am not "wrong" and it was not "intentional". It was a mixing mistake.

It's not difficult at all. When you are doing a sync job, you lock each of the 4-tracks together and then use the backing on final 4-track as a time base to pitch shift and align the early stages. I don't understand how these things happen so frequently.