Was looking around to purchase them, but why found out they are going for pretty expensive prices. Volume 2 alone is going for $40! They can't be that rare, can they?
Not sure what the answer is but on the Big Barrel Full of Monkees Thread they just posted some numbers from sales of the groups releases. Missing Links sold 75,000; ML 2 sold 60,000 and ML3 sold 35,000 copies. Not sure where they got the info and they are obviously rounded off but generally speaking that is not too many units sold which may speak to the lack of availability at this time. There are so many options now when it comes to listening to Monkees and any music but I would think the price range makes some sense for those releases. Also, I have ML as an LP, pretty sure the next two upon release were probably CD only.
Yeah. In the year 2022, they're scarce. I got all three CDs about twenty years ago; paid list price for each except for Vol. 2, which I had to get secondhand for about $20 US. Vol. 2 is my favorite. $40 seems a bit much, but if you love The Monkees you won't regret paying that. You will never part with that one; many of its tracks are among the best The Monkees ever recorded and I believe many of its mixes are still unique. Vols 1 and 2 are essential. Vol. 3 not so much (and is probably their worst album cover, in my opinion). I wouldn't pay more than $25 for Vol. 3... Just my advice.
Absolutely agree with this, ML 2 is right up there behind Head, PACJ for me. If you want that one, $40 is worth it. Vol. 3 is among my fewest plays of any Monkees release, far below Justus and Pool It. ML 1, somewhere in between with some really strong tracks and a few not as strong (perhaps even the worst of their output).
There are a lot of Monkees collectors. These people tend to hold onto this stuff. As the older ones begin to pass and the state comes in to clean up the living spaces (most of us are lonely old men), they freak and call a specialty cleanup crew. Who knows what happens after that.
Nice! I have the first one on vinyl, the OG issue on Rhino, which was abbreviated (fewer tracks, early fades, etc.) to suit a single LP. The other two were never originally issued on vinyl, not that I ever saw anyway. I understand that these recent reissues crammed the CD-length version of each volume onto a single LP, is that correct? How do they sound? How sad. You know, that reminds me of that scene in The 'Burbs (1989) when Tom Hanks (character's name is Ray) and other neighbors search the deserted home of their missing neighbor, Walter, an elderly man who lives alone, and Ray catches Rick Ducommun (Art) casually pocketing a knickknack from the living room. "Do you wanna take that out of your pocket? Do you wanna not steal that from Walter's house?" snips Ray. "Hey, what's the difference?" Art replies. "All this junk's gonna end up in a flea market sooner or later anyway."
Any tracks on a Missing Links Vol. that did not appear as a bonus track on one of the many Monkees reissued CDs will drive up the value of the ML title. This must be the case, exclusive tracks on them are yet to appear elsewhere.
They are long out of print and I stupidly gave up my copies in the late 90's and kept thinking they get a update/reissue/repackaging. There are some exclusive mixes on each of the volumes. I wish Rhino or 7A, Friday etc. would reissue on CD.
I'd take the vinyl, or even an LP box set of all tracks, since the digital files are traded so often and freely.
I’ve got spare copies of all three volumes (and two of vol, 2) that have been sitting on a shelf in my closet for several years.