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

Good for you. My point is self-explanatory.

 

Good for me what? Not getting upset other people have multiple copies? It's really not a big deal.

 

Not really following this thread (and a cursory search gave no results), so apologies if this has been covered before.

It has been pointed out to me that the remix of "I'm a Believer" (the version on the vinyl single) has a bit of a problem.

A friend noticed that the first time Micky sings "then I saw her face", it comes in a (very short) bit later than on the original mono and stereo mixes. Then (to my ears) the end of the line (the word "face" mostly) seems kind of "rushed" (like some sort of software was used to speed up the phrase to keep it in synch with the underlying music). (FWIW, the rushed-sounding "face" I hear could be some vinyl distortion. YRMV.)

And to other non-US residents, the sets seem to be going on world tours.

My copy arrived in Japan...from California...via Switzerland (according to labels stuck on the box).

No wonder it took four weeks to get here.

 

I don't think it's 'crappy' to buy multiples as much as it is an investment, either monetarily (to resell) or mentally (to gift them).

All I know is that I've only been in the financial position at the time to own exactly one of them (the debut LP set), so if anything I simply feel envious!

 

This is the "unremoveable surface noise" I also encountered and mentioned in an earlier post. Just yesterday, I noticed the synchronization problems too.

There are similar problems with the "Mary Mary" remix. Serious synchronization problems that other folks are outright dismissing.

I'm happy with a large portion of the box, but these two gaffes (at least) are pretty glaring and not up to an acceptable standard.

 

Originally, I had figured the live Arizona stuff would sound awful and seem like just filler to get the set to three discs.

But, after hearing the synch problems (not mention remixes that just don't excite me all that much), the live material might be the best part of the set.

Sure, the recordings are marred with technical woes, but they seem way more energetic than the summer 1967 recordings (which with the scripted "banter", seem somewhat lackluster).

Sadly, there are quite a number of oversights that occur throughout the entire super deluxe series (like the off-speed version of "Good Clean Fun" on Present, just to cite one).

 

There's a similar glitch like the one in "I'm A Believer" remix 0n the Missing Links lp during "All Of Your Toys". One of the "With nothin' but tears" comes out as "Nothin but te-e-e-e/uhs", like there was a splice or break in the tape. It was fixed for the cd release, but it is still evident that there's something weird there.

I do like the stereo imaging of the "Believer" remix-- it sounds just like what you see on the tv show, with guitar on the left, drums in the middle, keyboard on the right.. and that prominent ride cymbal centered in front of everything just like Mick's setup.

Clevah!

 

Wait, what's wrong with GCF? I always assumed it was fine...

 

It runs about two seconds too fast.

Compare it to every other release and you'll see.

I only noticed the problem because Mike's voice seemed a little too high-pitched.

I then threw it into a music editor for a visual confirmation, and it immediately starts running faster than every other source CD I had.

 

Very curious. It's actually the only copy I own (apart from Music Box), so I guess that would be why I didn't notice

 

I'm pretty sure I checked it against the copies of the song found on "By Request" (which might be the earliest CD release of the song), "Listen to the Band", and the mid-90's Rhino release of "Present". (Maybe even "Music Box" as well.)

The only version that sounded "off" (meaning too fast) was the one on the super deluxe set.

 

I just checked, and you're right! How odd.

 

Finally got my hands on my copy on Saturday (customs charge and badly creased box corner).

One very minor but appreciated improvement was the paper inner sleeves. The discs in my super deluxe of the 1st album are forever falling out. Anyone know somewhere online (UK based ideally) that sells those cd sleeves?


More…has never been one of my favourites, but this CD more than does it justice and makes me appreciate it a bit more.


Backtracking a bit – I was so used to the Missing Links / Listen To The Band mixes that I found it hard getting the best versions of my preferred mixes. I much prefer the ML/LttB mix of St. Matthew without the distorted effect on Mike’s vocals, same for the LM mixes of Rosemarie and So Goes Love.


This may well have been covered many, many times on the boards…but does anyone know why there is a such a lack of alternatives / sessions / out-takes for Pisces, Aquarius…? Are the session tapes lost?

 

Just a guess here. According to Andrew Sandoval's book, a great deal of PACJ was recorded when The Monkees were out on the road. So, perhaps due to the very limited time available, there just wasn't much done, except for the actual tracks.

 

I heard your copy sold out a show in Zurich!

 

Thanks to the individual earlier in the thread who managed to (mostly) remove Davy's dialogue from The Day We Fall in Love. It's gone from one of my least favorite tracks on the album to one of the gems. I haven't burnt myself out on listening to it over the years and it works quite nicely as an instrumental that balances out some of the bubblegum on the album.

 

May I suggest watching PBS's recent NOVA installation: "Black Hole Apocalypse"?
It might put these glaring "gaffes" into perspective.

 

Go to e bay, Nagoka antistatic CD sleeves, £6.99 for 20. These Japanese poly sleeves are perfect for the job and in this instance they fit inside the paper sleeves.

 

Since hearing the versions on the deluxe editions, the ML version of "So Goes Love" sounds like it is playing too fast to me.

 

Maybe these anomalies are source related? It’s not as if original Monkees recordings were all about quality control.

 

In the case of "Good Clean Fun", it's more likely something go messed up when the song was mastered for the super deluxe Present box.

No other version of runs fast, and even the mono mix from the Instant Replay super deluxe set was OK.

 

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I was offline for a few days...

Anyway, I think there's too many remixes because, for me anyway, I think they were not necessary-It's probably just me, but overall, I can't really hear much difference between the original and the remixed versions. It may be my equipment, I don't know, but I don't have a high end stereo so maybe that makes a difference?

I guess my own personal reason for not being too crazy about the remixes is because I think about what might have been left off the set-I mean the bonus 45 is cool, but I don't have a functioning phonograph, so having those songs on vinyl as opposed to the CD set proper doesn't do me any good, I would have rather had that stuff on the CDs rather than a remixed version of a song that's already on the CDs in mono and stereo...

And, I don't know how they figured on what to include and what not to, but rather than remixed versions of songs, or backing tracks that have no Monkees input whatsoever, I would have rather had the complete Phoenix show on the set... They could have just had a disclaimer that said something like "Due to the historic nature of the concert tracks, we opted to include the songs that didn't have the vocals recorded in order to show the power of The Monkees as a live, functioning band" or something like that... Of course they didn't do that, but I would have rather had the whole show rather than remixed tunes.

 

I would have rather had the complete concert rather than the same songs remixed, but I guess you can't have everything.

 

I'm not an expert by any means, but I can say the Japan 1968 concert out in the world is *not* the complete show, for one thing it's missing some of Mike's songs... As far as the narration, it's there because the bootleg is sourced from the TV broadcast, not an actual live recorded tape, so yeah, the announcers are there for good unless some other shows were actually recorded, which I don't believe was the case.

When you listen to the Japan 1968 show, you can tell it's not the complete show, because you can hear some odd fade-outs or even fade-ins on the songs. Like at the end of "Mary, Mary" they cut off their schtick with Mike playing and Micky singing, stopping and starting again as Mike starts playing again-Yeah, they were in Japan, but I'm sure they would have kept it in even with the language barrier, if for nothing else than to keep the show timed properly so Peter and David could be back stage changing their outfits while Mike and Micky kept things going on stage.

 

This!