Which Monkees Album Is Their Masterpiece?

Headquarters for the win with Pisces coming in a close second. Headquarters gets the edge because it was the first album on which they were a real band, playing their own instruments with minimal extra musicians, and roughly half of the album was original compositions (after Kirshner so smugly "throwing Mike a bone" by allowing him one song per side on the first 2 albums). It was a quantum leap over the contrived More of the Monkees ( More did have its shining moments, but for me it had an overall downer vibe as an album). Pisces is an also an excellent album, and the Monkees still played on it, but they were already moving back into the direction of using more session players and less original material. I also give Justus high marks for being the only album that was totally sung, played, written, and produced by the Monkees, and IMO, it's quite good.

 

My favorite song on that album!

 

For me, Missing Links Vol. 1 is the one that flows like a regular album. Vols. 2 and 3 are quirkier, but still delightful in all their quirkiness.

 

‘Head’ is the only album that the four members made without compromise. In some ways it transcends its soundtrack status and stands above the movie itself as the definitive Monkees’ statement, for me anyway. All of their other LPs are just bubblegum (albeit with a tasty flavour) compared to it.

 

If there's a Monkees masterpiece, then it's Headquarters. If there's a Chip Douglas masterpiece, then it's Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.

 

For me, it just depends how awful the stuff they gave Davy to sing vs how brilliant Mike's stuff was.
Pisces for me as well.

 

All of the Missing Links are pretty terrific, but 1 and 3 have a few I always skip. ML 2 is just, IMO, a near perfect collection of songs.

 

I find that a somewhat reductive take, as Davy had his moments here and there and Mike had one or two that didn’t quite work, but in general I agree.

 

The Monkees don't have a masterpiece. Every Monkees album is flawed. That's part of their charm.

But I would say Headquarters comes closest, because its highs are higher and its lows aren't quite so bad (i.e. Davy's soft shoe number). Plus, it has a unified vibe. All the other albums sound fractured, like they're phoning in songs from different galaxies.

I'd also like to give a big DOWNVOTE to Pisces, which I consider a very overrated album, especially the first side. I think Instant Replay is actually superior, but of course that album itself has issues (see above).

 

I personally find the Head soundtrack a very satisfying listen. With the music and dialogue all segued together, it's almost Zappa-esque (and Zappa even makes a brief appearance), similar in a way to Lumpy Gravy or Absolutely Free. I love the montage effect, and the last closing credits track is like a collage within a collage. My only problem with it is the truncated "Porpoise Song", one of the rare instances in which the single version is longer than the album version.

 

Check out Mr. Hot Take here...

 

My dream RSD release is 10" LP Head: The Songs, 3 songs on each side...and all the other stuff cut out

I honestly rate the first 8 albums about equally; I think they're all excellent, very enjoyable, albums, which I absolutely love, but they all fall short of getting into 'masterpiece' territory..

I suppose Good Times! deserves the vote, not because it is better than the 60's albums, but because it is just as good as the 60's albums, and that itself is a remarkable achievement.

 

Actually, I think it is better than most of the 60s albums... Song for song, at least.

 

Not sure what a "hot take" is. Sounds like a Carly Simon album.

But I've lived with Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones since the summer of 1977, when I was 12. And I've never understood the praise it gets, except for the fact that Mike sings a lot of it and everyone loves Mike. Plus the synth factor. So there's that.

The problem is, Mike didn't write most of what he sings. And I think his own songs like "Don't Wait For Me" (from Instant Replay) are a zillion times better and more heartfelt than songs like "Salesman," "Love Is Only Sleeping," or even "The Door Into Summer." When you throw in "While I Cry," that right there makes Instant Replay better than Pisces to me -- not to mention the excellent Jones- and Dolenz-penned numbers

 

I was just giving you crap for fun.. I disagree, but out of fun nonethless.

HEAD is my favorite, and I would call it a late 60s masterpiece, but Pisces ain’t far behind. Most fans like it best because, well, it’s a great collection of songs and it’s probably their most coherent album. A perfect, or near perfect, combination of the four Monkees actually playing as a group, but supported by additional musicians (No shame, every band was doing that).

So, it’s more polished and not as raw as Headquarters, but still has that feeling of a cohesive group. “Hard to Believe” is the outlier there, and that’s a divisive song, but I think it’s also one of the best productions Davy ever sang on. The rest of it sounds like a group album, because it basically was. And there’s really not a bad song of the bunch. Played to each guy’s strength. Chip Doulglas was the right producer for them. After he was dismissed, it was never quite the same.

For the record, I love the Moog synthesizer, so that’s another bonus (“Daily Nightly” is a gem). It’s true that Mike didn’t write many songs for Pisces, but the ones he did a great, as are the ones he sang. “What Am I Doing Hangin’ ‘Round” is one of my favorite songs. His guitar and backing vocals also help make “Pleasant Valley Sunday” one of the best singles of the 1960s, period.

By comparison, Instant Replay is a hit and miss affair. All the Mike songs hit. They’re all pretty great. So is “You and I” (One of Davy’s best moments, with special thanks to Neil Young). After that... Micky gets points for indulging his weirdness. “Looking Glass,” and “Just a Game” are pretty good. “Shorty Blackwell” is divisive, but I like it for its ballsiness. I think the remaining songs on it, however, are just bad.

Davy’s remaining songs are (IMO) pretty maudlin, and “Tear Drop City” is an inferior “Clarksville” remake. Boyce and Hart ran out gas early, and going back to that reject shows how desperate the bean counters were to try score another hit. There were other, better, new songs (Not just Mike’s either) that should’ve been considered instead.

Regardless, not the cohesive, strong, sunny/trippy album track by track that Pisces is. Just my $.02.

 

The one they should have done with Mike Love, but never did - obviously.

 

*Raises hand*

Um, I have a question...

 

The Monkees aren't The Beatles, as some people have forgotten which album a Monkees song is on.

 

Funny thing... I can remember what’s on what Monkees album better than I can much of the early Beatles stuff.

Off the top of my head, do I know what album “When I Get Home” is on? I do not.

EDIT: A Hard Day’s Night (UK). I remember the movie songs, of course, and “I’ll Cry Instead.”

But I often struggle with those first four UK albums, remembering what’s on what. Forget about those early U.S. releases.

 

Interesting to see how many votes MOTM has.

A lot of great songs on there, sure, but the group’s lack of input and participation (To the point they didn’t even know it had been released) makes it a much lower pick for me.

Not to mention, can an album with “The Day We Fall In Love,” “Laugh” and “Grizelda” be called a “masterpiece”?

 

PACJ or HQ for me...I chose Headquarters.
But...I still remember hearing 'The Monkees' for the first time as a kid. There sound was new and full of excitement to me. I still remember the thrill of hearing it and buying it so on a personal basis The Monkees is their best.

 

Yes: masterpiece. Kirshner was very cool.

 

Hm...



OK.
But Pool It?

 

Oh, those are fighting words...

 

In the U.S., the common place to get "When I Get Home" during the '70s and most of the '80s was Capitol's Something New album. The United Artists soundtrack of A Hard Day's Night was not seen as much in record bins. I remember having to track it down circa 1979.

Anyway, the reason it might be harder to remember which Beatles song is on which album is because of the US/UK differences.