Doe anyone else know about Rhino moving their warehouse a few years ago, and parts of the Monkees blu-ray set were misplaced, and only about half of the 10,000 sets actual got released? Andrew Sandoval confirmed that these were in fact NOT sold out. Rhino only sold through the assembled box sets and it was a money/labor issue why the others were not put together and offered for sale. On April 22, 2020 Andrew Sandoval had this to say on: "Only a few thousand of these sets were released to the public via Rhino mail order and on tour. People always ask me when they will be available again and I will tell you the absolute truth: I do not know and I am kinda doubting with the world in lockdown it will happen at all. I have asked Rhino and they say they can no longer find the unassembled parts for these."
Rhino is a dumpster fire company. I hate that they have the Monkees logo and audio by the balls. It would be absolutely incredible if Sandoval had the cash to start his own label AND be able to buy all that stuff from Rhino. He's the only one that can really take care of it. I hate Rhino with a passion. I tried to get THREE Blu Ray boxes because the two that were sent to me were absolute garbage. Still waiting and its been nearly, what...three years? Awful, awful company.
While I realize your personal experience with the box set wasn't good, I have to disagree that Rhino is an "awful, awful company". There was a stretch of about 15 years where the only Monkees music that was in print was Arista's 11 song Greatest Hits LP, mastered from some pretty lousy sources. Once Rhino bought "The Monkees," lock, stock and barrel, we've had lots of releases with tons of outtakes and unreleased tracks. As well as the release of nearly all of their official video work - the series, the movie and the special. And new material as well. If not for Rhino, you'd have needle drops of Colgems LP's to listen to.
Yes! I also do not agree at all that Rhino is an awful awful company. But none of the "major" record labels are what they used to be. - I used to deal with Rhino and they were in fact a fantastic company back in those days. - I will not judge them for the issues they have now, because most of the major labels have similar issues. Incidentally, from what I understand, the "moving warehouses" is something all the majors have gone through. Their warehousing and shipping is all now done from third party companies. This obviously saves the companies lots of money and allows them to continue to do some of what they used to do without worrying about the shipping and warehousing of their own products. I'm not saying I agree or disagree, I'm just explaining what I've been told. And in fact, maybe I don't have all my facts straight. But one thing I do understand is that this is not an industry that is sustainable in a way that will give us hardcore fans what we want and expect. And I do hate that, but I do understand it. Rhino has given a lot over the years, especially to The Monkees fans, but of many other artists too. They are not that company any more and I'm annoyed with their Monkees lull right now. But it wasn't THAT long ago, we got Good Times in 2016, which wouldn't have happened without them. Plus The Mike & Micky Show and the Christmas album. - All things I love and am grateful for. - Plus I'm not 100% sure what the future will hold, so I will hold my negative judgement.
I would like to "PLUS ONE" on those saying Rhino is NOT an "Awful, awful company". Back when "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" 3 CD deluxe box set was released back in 2010, I ordered TWO copies in order to get FREE shipping. Well, they only sent ONE! So I called up their 1-800 customer service number and told the operator, who was clearly based in the South Asian region of the globe, that I ordered and paid for TWO copies and you guys sent only ONE. Well, about two weeks later, a package arrived from Rhino with my TWO copies of the box set. #ihave3copies2sealed
Just FRUSTRATING thinking that there are roughly 3,000-5,000 unassembled blu-ray sets sitting on a shelf somewhere. So if only a few thousand actually got out, no wonder people are asking $800+ for it.
Understood. The set is way too good to be collecting dust somewhere or, worse yet, in a landfill. I'm very happy with mine, and even though the "value" of it would plummet, I'm hoping those unassembled sets make it out there so they can be purchased for a reasonable price by fans who can enjoy them.
One wonders where they went. And what else is missing. Glad I got mine when I did. Obviously they didn’t sell well. Otherwise they’d be digging them up. It’s not worth their time to look for them to just sell a few more. The demand is not there, at least at the price point where they were at.
Haha, I guess not. Sorry for being cryptic. It was in reference to your username. I’m reading the book Wise Blood at the moment. Flannery O’Connor is the author.
Find the sets, put them together, and I'll pay $400 for one. Better than the $6-800+ I see. I really need the set for some Monkees Photoshop art I do.
Fixed. The bulk of Monkee material we've gotten has been at Sandoval's behest. Give credit where it's due and none where it isn't. Edit: Furthermore their "house sound" sucks and they aren't the same company they were before the Warner take over. And don't get me started on Warner's film line and the crap they've been pulling lately. Just cuz Rhino was cool back when doesn't mean I have to have rose tinted shades for who they are now.
Even at its best, as I understand it, all Rhino did was allow Sandoval permission to do all the leg-work while they collected the cash. Now they won't even allow that. Sandoval has always had professional courtesy when discussing Rhino (until lately) but from what I gather they were more of an obstacle than anything in getting these projects out. I think people need to separate what the company was then as opposed to now and give credit to Sandoval who's done more work than anyone to show Rhino the goldmine they were sitting on.
Almanac... you are on point sir. I also recall Mr. Sandoval being blamed for Rhino’s indiscretions concerning the BluRay box as well. I never understood that.
Points taken, I don't think for a minute that Rhino is the cool company they were back in the day. And it certainly was not my intent to not give credit to Andrew and Bill. Of course they were an essential part of producing quality Monkees material. But I disagree that Rhino deserves no credit at all.
I have been eyeballing this set since it was released. It looks great, but $200 is a little bit too steep for me. I'll make do with my DVDs.
I thought the $200 price point was fair when weighed against the content one received. When one stops to think how much many of us spend buying the same release of an album because of alternate formats (CD, vinyl), different colors of the vinyl etc., that all adds up. The money people ask for on the secondary market is simply ridiculous. If you missed it the first time around - be patient as I'm sure it will be back. Once COVID restrictions are further lifted, I believe with the appetite fans have for buying the same thing multiple times, we'll see this set resurrected in some configuration. If there is money to be made, it will be put back out there.
Thanks to Marty via the Steve Hoffman Forums Classified section, I was able to get one of the Blu-ray sets last year for about double the original price including postage. That's the most I've ever paid for a Blu-ray release. But as I mentioned earlier in the thread, after interviewing Micky for a web article, it got me wanting the box set. It took me about four months to finally obtain the set. Everything went smoothly with Marty and the sale. I did have to glue the cover and the lenticular section together, as they came apart. But, I understand the cover problem wasn't an unusual case, and others had the inside parts torn. Right now, I honestly don't know if these sets are going to be released again. As you can see from ZackyDog's post, the picture quality is outstanding with the discs. I ended up selling one of my Monkees DVD sets, but kept the other as I do like the record player type box they're housed in. Interesting, too, that some of the DVD episodes have the original Kellogg's sponsor billboards and little pictures of the cereals and Pop-Tarts are on screen during the closing credits. The sponsor billboards are in the bonus features disc of the Blu-ray set. Marshall "Betty White's Pet Set: The Complete Series" DVD Review
