Customer Reviews

The Monkees: 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Originally aired on NBC on April 14, 1969, opposite the Academy Awards, 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee was supposed to be the first of three television specials starring The Monkees, but 33 1/3 RPM was the only one that materialized. The show contained songs that were written specifically for it along with a plot that expressed how The Monkees were manufactured and manipulated by different people including Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider and Don Kirshner during their career.

The story focuses on the famous evolutionist, Charles Darwin (Brian Auger) who takes 4 young men (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork) erases their identities and names and takes them through different stages so that they will be able to brainwash the world through commercial exploitation. The Monkees, in an attempt to regain their identities and control over themselves, try to think their way out of captivity. Darwin, alarmed that they will become free, uses hypnotism to break them down physically and they become restored to Darwin's tastes. The Monkees, now ready to make their debut, appear as classic rock'n'rollers at the Paramount Theatre with Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Buddy Miles Express playing backup to The Monkees. Darwin, realizing his mistake, sets The Monkees free.

After the failure of their film Head released in 1968, The Monkees went ahead with their television special undaunted by the terrible reviews from critics about the movie. 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, produced by Jack Good of Shindig, 3.5 Special and Oh Boy! fame, had a lot of time and creativity put into it. The point of the special was to save whatever fans and popularity that they had left and it was virtually snubbed by NBC. By airing it opposite the Academy Awards, the show rated disastrously. Mike Nesmith remembers, "I'd already seen it so I watched the Oscars like everybody else," as told in Glenn A. Baker's book 'Monkeemania.' NBC wasn't taking any chances with this "strange" special that contained psychedelic dancers, music and The Monkees singing and poking fun at their manufactured image.

There weren't any bad reviews for this TV show because no one saw it in 1969 and the critics could care less about The Monkees at that time. It was too far-fetched for the normal public and too uncool for the hippies to watch. The special had a substantial storyline (once it was understood) and some amazing guest stars (such as Brian Auger, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard). The show also contained songs that expressed their manufactured image ('Wind Up Man'), what each of their backgrounds or favorite type of music was (Micky sang an R&B version of 'I'm a Believer,' Mike sang a country-western tune called 'The Only Thing I Believe is True,' Davy, in fairy tale land sang 'Goldilocks Sometime,' and Peter sang a song about spiritual values called 'Prithee') and marking the end of the group as a quartet ('Listen to the Band'). The highlight of the show was when The Monkees, dressed in '50s like clothes, performed at the Paramount Theatre with the classic rock'n'rollers (Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Fats Domino) singing such songs as 'Tutti Frutti,' 'Little Darlin',' 'At The Hop' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin.' According to Eric Lefcowitz in his book 'The Monkees Tale, 'This is the peak performance of the Monkees kept on celluloid.'

33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee was even praised by Variety on the East Coast by saying, 'It was anything but a conventional norm rock'n'roll and in some respects made 'Laugh-In, which is was pre-empting, seem almost conventional television by comparison.' The special showed The Monkees not as musicians, but as performers and made the public realize that they did have minds and talent of their own.

After viewing this special, it showed me that The Monkees were way ahead of their time. The show was very different from their television series that was shown from 1966-1968. It did not contain the same storyline as "Davy meets girl, Davy falls in love with girl and The Monkees get into a lot of trouble," but it showed that The Monkees matured musically and in their writing abilities. I found the show strange at first, but after watching it a few thousand times (as every Monkees fan should) it began to grow on me. I also found the songs more impressive in this special than in their previous shows and on their albums even though no soundtrack was ever released. 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee "... stands out as one of the greatest lost artifacts of Rock'n'Roll," according to Eric Lefcowitz in his book 'The Monkees Tale.'

"33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" is a fascinating, if uneven, trip through late 1960s pop culture. In 1969, NBC aired this bizarre music special on the same night as the Academy Awards - assuring that virtually no one would see it. Thirty years later, "33 1/3" survives as perhaps the most psychedelic show ever broadcast in prime time. After seeing this belated video release, you can understand why NBC decided to bury this special. Though not on the same level as The Monkees' cult film "Head," there are some truly memorable segments, particularly the 1950s rock medley with Fats Domino, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. The "Listen to the Band" finale has to be seen to be believed - after watching this lengthy "freakout," I'm amazed NBC had the courage to air this show at all. The subversive quality of "33 1/3" will not appeal to mainstream viewers. However, if you are a devotee of experimental TV, this 60-minute video is worth a look.

I give this video 5-stars, but you'll likely have to be a Monkees fan to enjoy it. Yes, it's weird, but weird was par-for-the-course in late 1968(when it was filmed). 33-1/3rd is of tremendous value as a period piece, and has aged better than a lot of the "trippy" garbage put out by other more "respectable" groups(-ie "Magical Mystery Tour", need I say more?). It has been called more clumsy than Head, but it is perhaps simply more blunt and direct. It gets the same thing done in half the running time and contains more music. Each member of the band has at least one interesting solo performance, and then 33-1/3rd finishes off with one of the best group performances by the Monkees on record. (33-1/3rd is perhaps the most complete and self-contained example of how the Monkees truly work as a group: four parts singer/song-writers, one part recording & touring band. Very few other bands have proven able to work so well as solo artists WITHIN a group framework, and yet still be able to reform at will to record and tour.) The live version of "Listen to the Band" should have been a single, faded out before the rave-up at the end gets too wacky. Peter Tork admits the TV special is "more human" than Head, and it is. It lacks the cold distant feel of the feature film, in which all of the Monkees are portrayed as boobs. The biggest flaw of the video release is the video release. The collector cries out to own this on DVD, where it could be segmented into cuts, so the viewer may revisit the musical highlights without reviewing the entire film every time, or hitting "fast-forward" until the tape wears out. Apparently with Rhino, such demand has fallen upon deaf ears. Ultimately, 33-1/3rd on video is better than none at all, and fans who want the experience the Monkees beyond their more restricted and commercial earlier context will find much about the legendary TV-Special to like. One could complain of the recording quality, but this was '60's TV, and not something likely ever intended to be preserved, so such complaints warrant little notice. The fact that 33-1/3rd has been preserved at all makes it a treat for fans of the Monkees and/or 60's rock as it is.

This film is so amazing, i can't believe half the reviews in here give it merely 1 star. These people have no appreciation of the bizarre. This special has some great perfromances, especially from Brain Auger and Julie Driscoll. Buy it, watch it, and your mind will never be the same.

What a wonderful, wacky, rooty-tooty trippy psychedelic fun-fest this TV special is. The second season Monkees TV series DVD set includes this as a bonus, in improved quality and with guest audio commentaries, and is probably the preferred version to own, but as a stand-alone item, this VHS tape is fine.

The sound and picture quality are not bad for something this old (it's a miracle the tapes were retained at all) and recorded under tremendous time pressures and with a labor strike interfering with the technical aspects. The musical performances are unique to this broadcast, not available on any record, and include some of the Monkees most fascinating later work, such as the eerily DEVO-prophetic "Wind-Up Man", Peter's Eastern take on "Prithee", and Mike's snide "The Only Thing I Believe That's True", aka "Naked Persimmon".

The guest stars the Monkees assembled for their lysergic hootenanny include rock legends from the birth of the genre (Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino) and contemporary freaksters like Britain's Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll, who were amazing in 1969 and still are. The freeform storyline (yes, there is one) is clever and mindblowing, pure Sixties in its concept and conceit, with much winking humor and acid-induced imagery. It was a braver time. I mean, who today would dare construct a prime-time TV special that encapsulates the history of the world and also rock and roll music in a bare hour? Whether or not the Monkees succeed here is probably more in the eye and mind of the beholder. Like the astonishing "HEAD" feature film, there are some people who will get this and others who simply can't, or won't.

All in all, a thoroughly suitable ending for the wild ride that was the Sixties (and the Monkees). Pretty incredible for a bunch of long-haired weirdos. Thanks, guys!

I've read all the reviews posted for this video. I find the range interesting and wish I knew the ages of the reviewers. All I can say is, this is one cool show!!!!!!! I was very young when this first aired and no doubt would have been completely confused by it. I have been a fan since the 60s, though, and have always been fascinated by the group and their story. This was a legendary show that I wanted to see and boy! am I glad I did. The 60s were a turbulent time, and I believe the special captured that swirling, pulsating era beautifully. Confusion and disbelief seemed to be daily emotions as the Viet Nam war raged and the youth rebelled. NOWHERE on television was this portrayed as clearly as "33 1/3...". It's amazing to me that Raybert wasn't involved with this special since it is every bit as groundbreaking as the series was. I'm not even going to get into the plot as it is not as important as the music presented and the daring visuals. Maybe The Monkees themselves are not as proud of this special as they are of "Head", but I can and do find value in both efforts. Both challenge the viewer to think and examine ideas and beliefs that society had dictated as the norm. Both offer outstanding music (although I do agree that "33 1/3" did edit some songs that should have been left alone). I love the solo spots that highlight each Monkee and his musical roots. Both feature enormously talented guests. I had never heard of The Trinity until this special. Julie Driscoll is compelling in a haunting, other-worldly way. To borrow a 60s phrase, she blows my mind! A copy of this video should go in a time capsule. It is the perfect vehicle to let future generations experience what is was like to be alive in the 20th century as history was being made. If you didn't like this, maybe you had to be there to get it.

... seems to be the underlying theme of "33 1/3". In addition to the fine reviews above by C. Kwiecinski and R.L. Holly I'd like to submit the following:

The Monkees had been labeled "Bubble Gum" by the self-appointed guardians of Rock purity (aka Rolling Stone Magazine); in this special they tried to say "Yeah... so what?" and the resulting mix of Pop, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Country, Classical and RockNRoll from roots to cutting edge has never been matched. As with "Head", the Monkees were trying to embrace the avant-garde and it seemed for a while it was responding to their suit; Peter's departure at the end of the filming shattered that dream and the Pre-Fab Four (now Three) were doomed. Interestingly, Peter's fine song in "33 1/3", Do Not Ask For Love (Prithee), includes the passage:

Thou makest me free then soon thou makest demands on me
And I am not thy love, thou workest in me slavery.

Perhaps that sums up how he felt about the Monkees by December 1968?

A treat is the music by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity, I had know of them but not much about them, now I'm shopping for a best of CD.

The premise of the film is interesting but too much of it, as Dolenz points out, was rehashing themes already explored in "Head". Also, the whole Charles Darwin/Evolution Dance sequence could have been cut and the time better spent lengthening the songs; "Prithee" is missing the first verse, the wonderful Mickey Dolenz/Julie Driscoll duet on "I'm A Believer" could be longer and Davy's "String for My Kite" also seems cut down. "Listen to the Band" is fantastic, but the long "freakout" ending with the entire cast is badly edited both sound and picture-wise. (But hey, it IS 1960s TV!)

All in all an enjoyable watch for Monkees fans or anyone interested in the Pop Culture of the late '60s.

I can't really top the great reviews here (except for the guy who said they should have burnt it!) so I'll just add my own few words...
The only two things in my mind ever to match "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" for pure far-out psychedelic television are "Magical Mystery Tour" and the final episode of "The Prisoner" (the British tv series written by and starrring Patrick McGoohan)...

This tv special has just got to be seen to be believed for it's weirdness value alone... But the finale featuring, the Nesmith classic "Listen To The Band", has the wildest, psychedelic, free-for-all freak-out, noise and dance(?!) experience you'd never thought you'd ever see on a broadcast tv show!...
(And can someobody tell me just who is the English(?) guy with the moustache who keeps saying "I don't believe it!" ???)

Anyway, I give this slice of pure bizareness a full 5 stars because it's the sort of imaginative, screwed-up and quite scary(!) tv you never get nowadays...

Julie Driscol and a backup band...guest starring..The Monkees! Really not a good way to start your Monkees collection, but if you're looking to finish it off, grab this up. A lot of non-Monkee appearences; Little Richard, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and various others. The evolution and obvious destruction of the Monkees as seen through the eyes of Darwin. A very odd little number, a 50's medly, and Peter playing Bach. The Listen To The Band close is what makes the entire video, a beautiful swan song. Something for the die hard fan. END

Virtual insanity is what the Monkees were always, supposedly, about. But they were also highly-esteemed for producing tight, energetic pop songs ('Last Train To Clarksville', 'I'm a Believer', 'Pleasant Valley Sunday', etc.), and unfortunately there is precious little of that here. There is a lot of music offered, spanning faux-psychedelia (garnished with a cornucopia of faux-psychedelic images and art), to gospel, to country, to sparkling 1950's rock. But many of those offerings are performed by artists other than the Monkees, and that may be where the true value of this VHS-only release resides.

'33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee' was released in 1968, at the height of the acid-rock movement in popular music. But the Monkees never were a psychedelic band. On the other hand, Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll put on a portrayal of evil incarnate comparable to the cutting-edge stage performances being put on by their conteporary, Arthur Brown ('Fire'). Though performed tongue-in-cheek, as anything associated with the Monkees seemingly must be, Auger and Driscoll ride an inferno of tempting organ runs while acting out Adam and Eve's apple munching fall from grace. While Auger relies heavily on grimaces, Driscoll comes off like a cross between Sinead O'Conner and the Wicked Witch of the East. Later, Driscoll shares a scintillating duet with Micky Dolenz on a faux-'I'm a Believer' sound-alike rocker. Solo numbers by Peter Tork, who displays his vocal deficiencies, Nesmith and Nesmith in a split-screen country offering, and Davy Jones doing a 'Honey I Shrunk the Monkee' fantasy piece, fail to measure up. But other highly enjoyable, though truncated performances are offered by rock icons of the 1950's such as Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

There are numerous scene changes in the video, all very loosely structured around a tale about the Monkees being used for commercial gain, and somehow involving Charles Darwin along the way. Ironically, the first song performed by the boys plays on the artificiality of the band the evil Auger is creating, echoing the actual, artificial origin of the Monkees themselves. There is a lengthy finale that for some reason appears mid-program (part of the insanity?), and includes some exuberant gospel-rock from the Clara Ward Singers, and some true psychedelic jazz-fusion from Buddy Miles and his band. Many of the scenes and the songs that accompany them are incoherant and not particularly enchanting musically.

It really is a wonder that NBC had the gumption to air this program, even taking into account their attempt to bury it under the 1968 Oscars. Ironically, the program ends with a prophetic snippet, a large, antique, ornamental text titled 'The Beginning of the End' being closed over the last musical piece. It was the end for the Monkees. No more top ten hits or television specials were in the future for the band. Not a fitting ending for a band that provided so much wacky entertainment, and eleven Top-40 hits (including 3 number one's) in the short span beween 1966 and 1968. I suppose it's a must see, especially for the performances by the supporting artists, but don't expect the Monkees to amaze this time.