Monocled Alchemist

Fuzz, Moog synthesizer and other Colourful Ingredients

Salesman

The Monkees Go Psychedelic Pop | Alt Mixes | Another item in Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.’s original assembly was the slightly different mix of “Salesman” featured here. The main difference between this and the final take is the brief Nesmith sales rap muttered over the fade.

This variation first appeared on Rhino’s 1991 Listen To The Band box set in a remixed stereo version; however, it is included on this reissue for the first time in its original monaural mix.

The Door Into Summer

The version of “The Door Into Summer” included as a bonus selection reflects Chip Douglas and engineer Hank Cicalo‘s varied studio experimentation on this album. Just one of a dozen or so mixes made for this track, this particular version features completely different and somewhat mellower double-tracked lead vocals from Michael, as well as some different backing vocals at the fade from Micky.

“It’s one of those things where you keep working on it and it changes, and you get to the final version, and it’s not as good as the earlier version,” says Douglas.

Love Is Only Sleeping

The alternate mix of “Love Is Only Sleeping” represents the stage of completion the material was in when it was transferred to eight-track for further overdubs in August 1967.This particular mix, derived from an original four-track master compiled on July 7, 1967, is notable for its more prominent acoustic guitar and distinctly different backing vocals from Micky and Davy at the close.

Daily Nightly

Similarly, the early mix of “Daily Nightly” featured here is an original stereo tape made of the song just prior to eight-track transfer. When the expanded format was installed, Micky was given the space for his Moog experimentations over several tracks without disrupting the original recording.

Star Collector

“Star Collector” appears here in a previously unissued long stereo mix. This take has even more Moog than the standard mix, plus vastly different edits, centred vocals, and a running time at least a half-minute longer.

Can You Dig It

“Can You Dig It” Peter Tork made his most significant musical contribution on the Head soundtrack. The first of Tork’s two included tracks was “Can You Dig It” – an outstanding cut – which was inspired by Tork’s study of the Tao Te Ching and originally recorded with Peter handling all the vocals.

However, when the song became part of the soundtrack, Micky took over as lead singer. Tork recalls, “It was Bert’s decision. Because it fell into place in the movie right after Micky’s desert scene, they wanted him to be lead singer on the song, so I put him on it – no big thing. That’s the way we did it.

“The first song Mike ever produced he had Micky sing lead on, because Micky was the lead singer. Neither Mike then, nor I later, thought twice about it. it wasn’t until later on that we thought, ‘We should do this ourselves, because it’s our song.’

“We didn’t have any of that proprietary interest until afterwards.”

The original mix featuring Tork on lead vocals included here.

Head Radio Spot

“Head Radio Spot” – previously unreleased

Michael Nesmith was perhaps the most outspoken of the newly cast combo, and he demanded musical input on the show right from the start. In fact, the first Monkees session after Garrett’s dismissal was produced solely by Nesmith on June 25, 1966.

I Don’t Think You Know Me *1

On this day he cut the originally unissued “All The King’s Horses”, “The Kind Of Girl I Could Love”, and his one concession to Don Kirshner’s Screen Gems stable, Goffin & King’s “I Don’t Think You Know Me”.

The song, included here in a previously unissued alternate version, provided the model for Nesmith’s own “You Just May Be The One,” and would later be recut during the More of The Monkees sessions in late 1966.

I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind

The last session for the LP The Monkees was held on July 25, 1966. For this occasion, Boyce & Hart tendered two new compositions: “Last Train To Clarksville” and “I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind.”

When “Clarksville” was issued as single a mere three weeks later on August 16, it cannonballed to No.1 on the pop chart. Astonishingly, “Clarksville” – an integral part of The Monkees’ early success – was only written when Boyce & Hart mistakenly observed that they were a few songs short to fill the long-player’s 12 slots.

Hart explains: “We didn’t know that there was going to be Nesmith songs on the album, so we wrote those two songs at the last minute.”

The early version of “I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind,” recorded at this session, is presented here. The song was later given a similar reading by the group on their 1967 release Headquarters.

The Girl I Knew Somewhere

On January 16, 1967, The Monkees entered Goldstar Studios in Hollywood to cut their debut as a full-fledged group, with Chip Douglas in tow. First on the agenda was the heretofore unissued version of “The Girl I Knew Somewhere”, it’s composer, Michael Nesmith, handled the lead vocal and guitar.

For this recording session, Nesmith’s longtime cohort, John London, sat in on bass, Tork busied himself with an intricate harpsichord part, and Jones and Dolenz took up their customary percussion roles.

All Of Your Toys

“All Of Your Toys,” also cut on this day, was written by Chip Douglas’ friend and former housemate Bill Martin. “We thought that was going to be a great single,” Douglas recalls fondly.

At the time of the recording, Douglas was oblivious to a Screen Gems bylaw that strictly forbade The Monkees from releasing songs that were not controlled by the company. Bill Martin’s “Toys” was published by Tickson music, and as the matter could not be resolved, this great track was shelved. it is here in it’s originally intended single mix.

P.O. Box 9847

This early working version of “P.O. Box 9847” gives an interesting insight into the production techniques of Boyce & Hart. The most obvious difference between this and the final version of the song is that the string section is replaced here by a wild Moog synthesizer part.

The Monkees’ ground-breaking use of the Moog is well documented, but it is not clear whether Paul Beaver or Micky is playing the instrument on this mix. It is known that Boyce & Hart were unhappy with the initial results and recorded over these parts on the original multi-track tape during a string overdub session arranged by Don McGinnis on February 10, 1967. This never-before-heard rarity survives as a rough mix only and is just one example of the multitude of variations on file in the Monkees vault.

I’ll Spend My Life With You

Another Boyce & Hart omission was the tender “I’ll Spend My Life With You.” Although the song was passed over for More Of The Monkees, Mike, Davy, Micky, and Peter took an immediate shine to the tune, re-recording it to great effect a few months later for their follow-up album, Headquarters.

Bobby Hart is similarly fond of the song: “That was kind of different. That definitely was written for them, but we were in a much more original mode — it was not trying to sound like some previous hit we’d had with them”.

Adds Peter Tork: “I managed to talk to Tommy Boyce about that once. It was one of the few real songs he wrote, because there really was somebody he was thinking of — a special person —when he wrote that song. You can tell. The song is real heartfelt, not jacked up or forced”.

I Don’t Think You Know Me *2

The previously unreleased alternate mix of “I Don’t Think You Know Me” included here was originally prepared for The Monkees TV series’ first season, but sadly, remained un-broadcast. It is a more complete version than the song’s second attempt, which later popped up on Rhino’s 1991 Listen To The Band box set.

Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)

The alternate version of “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)” found here is similar to the take used on a couple of episodes of The Monkees’ series first season. However, get ready for a surprise from Peter, who — in another aborted attempt by Jeff Barry to include Tork on More Of The Monkees — officiates the musical proceedings.

I’m A Believer

An early version of the Monkees’ classic “I’m A Believer,” is not a far cry from the finished product. Nonetheless, this slightly slower take does reveal some fascinating, albeit subtle differences, including a very raw vocal from Micky, who works his way through Neil Diamond’s lyrics for the very first time.

All The King’s Horses

This sprightly Nesmith rocker hails from The Monkees’ second ever official recording session, and was featured twice in The Monkees’ TV series’ first season. It’s reputation as one of the group’s all-time great lost songs certainly has grown with its inexplicable non-release.

Valleri

If ever a song was released by public demand, this is surely it. In fact, although this version of the song remained unreleased it was a regional hit in early 1967 in Chicago and Florida. The industrious DJs who made the song a hit taped their versions directly from the TV show and played it over the air to listeners rabid for new Monkees material.

Words

This alternative version is a native of the Boyce-and-Hart produced, unreleased second album. As the charting B-side of “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, it is well-known to most Monkees fans; however, this original version differs vastly from both the released remake and the original TV version in two respects.

First off, there is the haunting flute solo, which replaces the Hammond B-3 organ solo of the remake, and second, a backwards tape section, which has never appeared anywhere before.

I Wanna Be Free

This was recorded even before The Monkees were were really The Monkees! It was used as the main song in the TV show’s pilot episode, which originally carried Boyce and Hart’s vocals in place of The Monkees’ who, at the time of the recording, had yet to be cast. This Byrds-like rendering had Davy and Micky’s vocals added during the first official Monkees recording session.

I’ll Be Back Up On My Feet

This is another track from the unissued second album, recorded during late 1966 with Boyce and Hart. It was featured in the TV show’s first season, and was later re-recorded to a lesser effect on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees album.

Hold On Girl

This version of the song, which eventually appeared on More Of The Monkees, is quite a revelation. It takes a wholly different approach to the song by slowing the tempo down and deleting the Latin trappings of the released version.

The guitar-harpsichord interplay is a nice touch in a version that could be considered markedly superior.

Mr. Webster

This song comes from a breed of social comment-style tunes that haven’t really been heard since the ’60s. In most of them, the simple man’s plight turns into something on the scale of a grand tragedy.

On an almost deep level, this is perhaps one of Boyce and Hart’s biggest productions. Of course it was later given a more folk-influenced reading on the band’s Headquarters album.

You Just May Be The One

This is take 1A of the Boyce and Hart-produced version of the Nesmith classic. Again, this comes from the unreleased second album for which Boyce and Hart produced a number of songs that would be re-recorded for Headquarters.

Do Not Ask For Love

This song, also known as “Prithee” is, although never released, familiar for its Tork-sung version in 1969’s 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee TV special. This earlier version, featuring Micky singing and Mike producing, does not feature the same eastern-influenced style of the Tork version.

(Theme From) The Monkees

(TV version) was first heard on September 12, 1966, during the opening credits of The Monkees’ debut episode, “The Royal Flush.” It is entirely different from the July 19, 1966, 2:20 take featured on The Monkees’ first album.

The main differences between the two recordings are the TV version’s omission of the second and third verses, and instrumental breaks.

Through The Looking Glass

This unissued early version was cut during a long session at RCA on September 10, 1966

She Hangs Out

The original Jeff Barry-produced version of “She Hangs Out” was featured on a custom-pressed promotional single distributed by Don Kirshner in late February 1967. The song was re-recorded for inclusion on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn &Jones Ltd.

Circle Sky

Michael Nesmith’s Head standout, “Circle Sky,” appears here in a ‘vocals up’ alternate mix from 1968. This variation on the studio version brings out the fact that Nesmith’s obscure, poetry-driven lyrics are completely buried on the original Head soundtrack album.

Love To Love

Neil Diamond’s “Love To Love” was taped at the sessions for “She Hangs Out” and was shelved. In August 1969 the backing track was dusted off by music coordinator Brendan Cahill, who supervised Davy Jones’ double-tracking of a new lead vocal onto the two-year-old recording. Work never progressed beyond this point, and “Love To Love” was never originally issued.

Merry Go Round

The haunting “Merry Go Round” was recorded during January 1968 for possible inclusion either on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees or in the movie Head.

Zor And Zam

The TV version of “Zor And Zam” was first heard during The Monkees’ series finale, “The Frodis Caper”, on March 25, 1968. This rarity features alternate lead and backing vocals and a sparser production overall.

The original tape of this track was given to arranger Shorty Rogers, who wrote the elaborate horn, string, and percussion parts that, along with new vocals from Micky, completed the version later released on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees in April 1968.

Apples, Peaches, Bananas And Pears

Written and produced by Boyce & Hart, recorded 28th October, 1966