Alternate/Fantasy MONKEES albums

Wonderful work Michelle. I wish you had put Peter on the Instant Replay album. In my version of Instant Replay Peter was still there. It was his last album before leaving. You could probably use some pictures from 33 and a third Revolutions per Monkee special. Still great work. Rhino should hire you to do the album covers.

 

Thank you for the kind words.

Actually, Peter is on one version of the IR sleeve.

I designed the sleeve ala the "Tear Drop City" 45 picture sleeve - with Peter included, but easy enough to remove from the image once he quit the group.

 

D'oh(Best Homer Simpson impression) How did I miss that? That's perfect. Great work Michelle.

 

Michelle: Your work is stunning. Rhino should be using YOU to design their Deluxe Monkees sets.

 

Amen! Amen!

 

That is amazing! Bravo!

 

It looks like a previously-known ebay seller is getting into the "Alternate Monkees" act. Bad fonts, digital shadows, and yellow background to Colgems logo stick out like sore thumbs.

The Monkees,Colgems D45-1000,"Monkee Shines"US,2 45s with P/C,hardcover,rare,M »

 

Check out this fantasy live album from 1969: Justin Rakowski's fantasy artwork: "The Monkees Live at the Oakland Coliseum" in 1969 »

 

That's too frickin' awesome!!

 

I'm working on some 1970's Monkees fantasy lps. I'd like to include Peter but ANY media from that era involving Peter is hard to come by. Do any any recordings by Mr. Tork from the 70s exist? I'd like to avoid the xmas tune or anything live. Photos are also few and far between. If anyone has some to share, I'd appreciate it.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have anything, but I would like to see you're finished track lists when you have them.

Cheers.

 

Wow, Justin did an amazing job on that Live '69 album! Thanks for sharing, Bob!

rswitzer: I don't know about any Peter recordings from the '70s, but if your overall theme for this fantasy album is "After the Monkees," you could include his single with the New Monks from the early '80s: "Steppin' Stone" b/w "Higher and Higher."

Peter Tork & The New Monks 1981 single »

He also recorded an early version of "Since You Went Away" with them:



Hope that helps!

 

I first made an early 70s playlist w/o using any First National Band tunes since those albums stand up so well on their own. Most of Nez's albums do, but I couldn't avoid ALL of them. I also avoided the Lady Jane/Do It in the Name of Love single, although I'm reconsidering them. I guess I imagined them taking a break of a couple years and then making a "comeback" lp as follows:

1. Daybreak - Micky MGM Singles Collection
2. Tomorrow & Me - Mike And the Hits Just Keep On comin'
3. Man We Was Lonely - Davy Just for the record vol. 2
4. Easy On You - Micky MGM Singles Collection
5. Some Of Shelley's Blues - Mike Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash
6. Girl - Davy Bell Recordings
7. Unattended In The Dungeon - Micky MGM Singles Collection
8. Mama Rocker - Mike Tantamount To Treason
9. Look At Me - Davy Bell Recordings
10. Oh Someone - Micky MGM Singles Collection
11. Harmony Constant - Mike And the Hits Just Keep On comin'
12. Rainy Jane - Davy Bell Recordings
13. It's Amazing To Me - Micky MGM Singles Collection
14. Roll With The Flow - And the Hits Just Keep On comin'

Peter may have been somewhat involved with #4 & #10 so his face gets on the cover too. I'm sure someone with some talent can make better artwork and I would welcome an upgrade!

 

Late 70s:

1. I Remember The Feeling - DJB&H
2. Rio - Mike
3. Along Came Jones - DJB&H
4. Light - Mike
5. Moonfire - DJB&H
6. Magic - Mike
7. Right Now - DJBH
8. Cruisin' - Mike
9. You & I - DJBH
10. Casablanca Moonlight - Mike

 

So I've been listening to the new album "Good Times" and LOVING it.

This is the best reunion album we could have hoped for.

The one thing that seems kind of weird to me is that the first half is almost all Micky, and the second half is almost all everyone else. It doesn't ruin the album, but it seems a bit of an unusual choice.

And so ... here is the first-ever (to my knowledge) fantasy track listing for "Good Times"!

Side 1

1. She Makes Me Laugh
2. You Bring the Summer
3. Me & Magdalena
4. Our Own World
5. Wasn't Born to Follow
6. Good Times
7. Love to Love

Side 2

1. Whatever's Right
2. Birth of an Accidental Hipster
3. Gotta Give It Time
4. I Know What I Know
5. Little Girl
6. I Was There (and I'm Told I Had a Good Time)

Other reasons for changes:

While I really like the title track, I think that "She Makes Me Laugh" and "You Bring the Summer" are even stronger. My next favorite after that is "Whatever's Right." So I put those at the top of each side.

The original order both started and ended with a song on each side that included the words "good time(s)" in the title. To keep some of that same symmetry, Micky's last song on each side now has that wording.

"Little Girl" is probably my least favorite track (but it's still good), which is why it's near the bottom, but the final track ends the album on a good note.

I'm not as familiar with the exclusive tracks yet. I'll probably take another crack at this once I determine what my favorites are from those.

So...anyone else wanna take a shot at re-ordering the album?

 

Really nice job on the '70s albums, rswitzer!

 

Here's the cover for my totally reconstructed "Pool It" which included some Nez tunes, That Was Then, ..., etc.

 

Any idea how to track that single down?

 

Is "Show Me" the Tom Jones song? I read that Micky & Davy sang "Show Me". I can certainly hear them singing that in 1969, but I'm hearing an embarrassing over-the-top-as-only-Micky-can-do rendition in my head.



Sam Rhodes seemed to have a very high opinion of the music at the 1969 concerts and the little that I've heard of these Monkee/Goodtimers collaborations, I would love to hear a release like this. With Sam Rhodes resume, I'd trust his opinion.

I don't like the modern-looking digital effect on the picture on Justin's Live 1969 front cover, but I like it otherwise. Not that I would do any better. It's cool.

Davy called his bass guitar an "actor's prop."

Michelle66 did a fantastic job a few posts back in February.

 

Here's mine. The approach I took when I made it was to create an album that highlighted the pop/folk/slightly psych side of things, while (obviously) utilizing a personally preferred track selection and better ebbing and flowing track order than the album proper (for me anyway). I also wanted something that would sound good this summer. A good "car album"...if you will. I have to say...I've been quite enjoying this reworking for about a week now.

My only "rule" was that it had to be two fairly equal album sides, time-wise (roughly within 45 seconds of each other), and around 37-38 minutes. Just like an album might be cut back then.

In terms of the tracks I nuked, here was some of my my rationale: While not necessarily flat-out disliking the title track and GGIT, the fact that they were mono was kind of jarring to me. They felt more like fancified "demos" and stuck out to me from the rest of the album as a result (I'm usually a headphone kind of guy). LG was simply not a favorite, and the closing track, I Was There, seemed like it might be a little ditty that could better end up as a hidden, closing, 120-seconds-later CD bonus track. It also felt a bit out-of-place musically for me in terms of my theme. The sort of unintentional byproduct of all this was that I could now have two additional bonus "singles" -- the mono Good Times/Gotta Give It Time, as well as the Peter Tork single, Little Girl/A Better World.

So...I bring you:

The Monkees - Our Own Little World - 2016​

Side 1

1. You Bring the Summer - 3:00 - Lead Vocal: Micky
2. Me & Magdalena - 3:33 - Lead Vocal: Mike (w/ Micky)
3. Terrifying - 2:56 - Lead Vocal: Micky
4. Love to Love - 2:29 - Lead Vocal: Davy
5. Our Own World - 2:45 - Lead Vocal: Micky
6. I Know What I Know - 3:30 - Lead Vocal: Mike


Side 2

7. She Makes Me Laugh - 3:01 - Lead Vocal: Micky
8. Birth of an Accidental Hipster - 3:31 - Lead Vocals: Mike & Micky
9. Love's What I Want - 3:38 - Lead Vocal: Micky
10. Wasn't Born to Follow - 2:53 - Lead Vocal: Peter
11. Whatever's Right - 2:00 - Lead Vocal: Micky
12. Me & Magdalena (Reprise) - 3:49 - Lead Vocal: Mike (w/ Micky)

 

"Show Me" actually goes back to R&B singer Joe Tex, who wrote it and scored a hit with it in 1967. It was also sung in the movie The Commitments.

Seems like a good fit for Micky... Would love to hear a 1969 show. Shame there isn't a great recording of that show to go with that cool artwork!

 

Sorry. I don't own it myself, and I don't know how to get one. I just checked eBay and Amazon but couldn't get the right results.

I was just trying to think of something that was accurate to the time period, and that was as close as I could come.

 

Great job on another alternate "Good Times," David!

 

Thanks, Holste!

One other note: The order for the "Magdalenas" in my lineup is, perhaps obviously, the "acoustic" one first and the "electric" one second. In fact, I was kind of shocked at how much I enjoyed V.2 as a 12-song album closer, and how well I personally felt it worked there as a full-length reprise and general summation/bookend of things upon listening. That 12-string (and overall power of the track) is sublime.

Then again, glancing now at the Deluxe Edition, the original compilers must've known that as well, even simply as one of the two bonus track there. So, I guess I subliminally pilfered that idea...lol.

 

The version I came up with has a lot in common with yours. I threw off the same three songs you did and I added two of the same ones you added. The main difference is I flew in an old Davy song and sequenced it a little different. I also reversed the two versions of Magdalena.
Side 1:
1. Me and Magdalena version 2
2. You Bring the Summer
3. Party
4. Terrifying
5. Birth Of An Accidental Hipster
6. Our Own World

Side 2:
1. She Makes Me Laugh
2.I Know What I Know
3. Love To Love
4. Whatever's Right
5. Wasn't Born To Follow
6. Me And Magdalena version 1