Customer Reviews

More of the Monkees

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Previous reviewers have gone into great detail about the care and respect put into these first two deluxe reissues, but one thing I was very excited about on this particular release I haven't seen mentioned: The mono mix of this album contains the longer mix of "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone".

I own a copy of the original vinyl mono release of this album, and have been hoping for years that Rhino would release this intriguing variation of "Stepping Stone". It's similar to the mono single mix ( previously released on the Rhino greatest hits CD ) with deleted background vocals, but the ending of the song is longer before the final fade-out. This version was heard once on the television series (in the episode where the lads disguise themselves as the 'Purple Flower Gang' to defeat a mob boss ) and only released on the mono album. I'm thrilled to finally have it on CD!

"More of the Monkees" hit the pop charts like a shot across the bow of everything that seemed `cool'. Teenagers destined to become hippies hated the band, the TV show, and everything that the Monkees represented, feigning a preference for the more `sophisticated' sounds of the Lovin' Spoonful and Buffalo Springfield. Little did they know that either of these bands would have sold their credibility for a piece of the Monkees superstardom; in point of fact, the Lovin' Spoonful almost were the Monkees but were rejected for a lack of personality, while Stephen Stills (of the Buffalo Springfield) got axed for the gap between his front teeth. "More of the Monkees" shipped with pre-orders of 1.5 million copies and then continued to sell in significant quantities, so nay-sayers who figured the band as one-hit wonders had to quickly reformulate their perspective.

Stylistically speaking. "More of the Monkees" duplicates the layout of their first album, but with exaggerated characteristics. The good bits are much better, while the bad bits are almost unbearable. Neil Diamond and the team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin provide some of the best songs of their careers ("I'm a Believer" and "Sometime in the Morning", respectively). Monkee Mike Nesmith proves that he is exceptionally qualified to write his own material for the band, too. "Mary Mary" and "The Kind of Girl I Could Love" are album highlights, with a countrified, rocking edge that must have put some doubt in the minds of those who claimed that the bandmembers could not play their own instruments. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart provided hits for the first album, and although they didn't provide the hit single here, they would have to settle for writing the best Monkees song ever, "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone", and the hook-laden opening track, "She." These six tracks mark a high-water mark in the band's career, but the balance of the album shoots a hole in the bucket. "Your Auntie Grizelda" is an oafish attempt at humor, but not nearly as bad as the forced stupidity of "Laugh," sung by the hapless Davy Jones. As bad as that track is, poor Davy is also saddled with the most painfully insipid love song ever written, a sappy moon-pie called "The Day We Fall in Love," (which he sings as "luff").

The dual disks present the album in both stereo and mono, with little discernible difference to the casual listener. The real bonus is in the extra tracks, which add a few excellent songs that were woefully overlooked, along with alternate mixes of songs from other albums. If you have ever harbored doubts about this band, then it's high time you check your preconceived notions at the door. When "More of the Monkees" is good, it is very, very good, so relax, lighten up and be very grateful that CD changers make it easy to skip over the bad tracks. A- Tom Ryan

THIS is the way reissues should be handled. Excellent sound on stereo mixes. Excellent sound on mono mixes. Excellent packaging. Excellent liner notes. Excellent pictures. Excellent bonus tracks. Can you imagine the Beatles getting the royal treatment like this? If you are a Monkees fan, snatch up these new deluxe editions right away!

Without Boyce and Hart, producers of the first album, overseeing this second Monkees album, the quality was erratic. Colgems, the Monkees' record label, took what seems like a random scoop of Monkees recordings made with different producers and different styles, and quickly stitched together this January 1967 release, giving the overall impression of a consumer product, rather than a well-thought-out album. As a result, alongside top notch tunes like the smash `I'm A Believer,' the proto-punk `I'm Not Your Stepping Stone' (which, in less than three minutes, earned the Monkees lifetime respect from garage rock groups) the hard-rocking `She,' the pleasantly subdued `Sometime In The Morning,' the goofy but endearing `Your Auntie Grizelda,' and Mike Nesmith's classic `Mary Mary,' were some half-decent picks like `Hold On Girl' and `Laugh' (which suffers from lame lyrics.) And Monkees fans generally agree that `The Day We Fall In Love,' a schmaltzy instrumental backing to Davy whispering sweet nothings in your ear, should never have happened.

The bonus tracks are quite interesting. `I Don't Think You Know Me' (a song they did not release in the sixties, but have seen FOUR versions of plucked from their archives since 1987) is solid bubblegum, but Peter Tork's shaky lead vocals, and the equally shaky backing vocals from his three mates, will make you smile and root for them. An alternate mix of `Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)' contains a thankfully rejected idea that will make you laugh (if only in a `What were they thinking?' style.) And it's neat to hear another pass at `I'm A Believer.'

So, in short, not quite as strong as their debut album, but well worth a listen.

More of the Monkees, the Monkees' all-time best selling album and the most contentious release for the band itself, is a definite purchase for a Monkees' fan. If you like this album and you do not have it, buy it again with all the mono release and outtakes! Rhino as usual sells wonderful compliations with extensive liner notes.

Andrew Sandoval and others at the Rhino staff have put a lot of work into these reissues. The last time the original 9 Monkees albums were remastered and released was in 1994 and 1995. This time around, Rhino will release the first 8 albums as more session tapes and information has been found in the past decade.

This set is definitely an upgrade: double disc set, better sound, better packaging, and more extensive liner notes.

The liner notes and package itself show lots of rare photographs; you can see some of the photos used for this release online at the newly launched Rhino Monkees' website: [...]

Musical highlights: I want to mention the songs which were brought out of the can and used for the later Monkees albums in 1969 as the group's popularity was waning. Most interesting is the release of "Teardrop City" at its original recorded speed. This track was sped up a bit (maybe 8%?) for its release in 1969. "Ladies Aid Society" - this original mono outtake is more fun than the original release in 1969. You hear more of Micky clowning around at the end, with a canned audience responding to him. It is simply delightful.

Micky's lead on (I Prithee) Do not Ask For love" is a wonderful track that Donnie Kirshner shamefully ignored. As we know, this song was unreleased for 2 decades until the Missing Links series was released by Rhino. Notably, on the Monkees Deluxe Set, we have a version of "Prithee" with Davy singing lead. Both versions are delightful to the audiophile's ear. Peter's lead effort on "I don't Think You Know Me" is worth a few listens as well.

I look forward to the other 6 double-disc releases coming in 2007. Thanks, Andrew and Rhino.

Why does everyone bash this album simply because neither of the four Monkees had any input involving it's release? This album features some of the best of the Monkees earlier work and has spawned some of the most memorable work of the Monkees' careers individually and collectively. "I'm A Believer", which is without argue the group's biggest hit is featured on this album as well as "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", another well noted Monkees song. Some of the other fine moments on this album include "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", "She", "Your Auntie Grizelda", as well as "Mary Mary" which would later become a big hit for 80's rap group Run-DMC. The album, however isn't without it's flaws. The sappy non-melodic "The Day We Fall in Love" could have easily been excluded from the album for example, wheras other tracks such as Davy Jones' "When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door) or Mike Nethsmith's "The Kinda Girl I Could Love" probably would have been better showcased on solo efforts, as neither cut featured any other Monkee. All in all, this was a fine album and should not be dismissed simply because of the way it was assembled. Sometimes the producers do know a little more about making an album than the artists themselves.

More Of The Monkees was the album that spurred the four Monkees to seek and get their musical freedom. Released without the knowledge of any the group's members, the band became irate and revolted against Don Kirshner for the freedom to play the instruments on, write and produce their own music. They received the freedom and it resulted in Headquarters. Despite the Monkees objections to the album, it contains more classic 60's pop in the vein of their debut. "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" very well maybe the best song the Monkees ever did and it was performed by numerous punk bands in the 70's and is a personal favorite of REM's Peter Buck. "I'm A Believer" is the band's biggest selling single spending seven weeks at number one and still gets alot of play on oldies stations. Mike Nesmith's "Mary, Mary" as sung by Mickey Dolenz is a great rocker and was transformed into a rap number by Run DMC and Nesmith's "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love" is another country-influenced number. Mickey Dolenz sings a tortured lead vocal on "She" and on the pretty "Sometime in the Morning" he contributes a perfectly understated performance. Peter Tork has his first lead vocal on the bizarre "Your Auntie Grizelda". Davy Jones sings lead on the underrated "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", but sings on the three missteps of the album, "Hold On Girl", "Laugh" and the truly insipid "The Day We Fall In Love" where he speaks the words in lieu of singing. Despite the few missteps, More Of The Monkees is a fine follow-up to their debut album.

Sure, the boys we know as the Monkees had little to do with the production of this album; they didn't have much to do with their debut album either. After all, they were actor/singers, hired to play a band on a TV show. But thanks to this disc, the quiet rumblings of Michael Nesmith and (to a lesser degree) Peter Tork grew into some major noise about their lack of input. This disc would be the last with musical director Don Kirshner at the helm.
I don't think the band had a valid complaint with the music though. This album features some of the best early Monkee-era pop, most of which was (over)played on their weekly TV series, which helped to propel this disc to #1. Also, having hits like "I'm A Believer" and "Steppin' Stone" didn't hurt either.
Other notable tunes are "She", the Nesmith-penned (and Micky Dolenz sang) "Mary, Mary", "Look Out(here comes tomorrow)", and the other Nesmith track, "The Kind Of Girl I Could Love".
Having said that, Nez and Co. really hated "I'm A Believer", and didn't want it on the album. Good thing they hadn't gained control from Kirshner yet! For all it's bubblegum sweetness, it is a good solid pop tune, made more special by Dolenz's emotive delivery. That guy could make dirt sound good.
And then there are the ear sores, in the form of the goofy Tork sung "Your Auntie Grizelda", which is cute but is ultimately ruined by all the inane vocal gobbledygook in the middle of the track. And the spoken word Davy Jones ballad "The Day We Fall In Love" is about the worst thing ever put on disc. This track should have been burned, or atleast given to Pat Boone.
So the guys had some valid complaints, but on the whole, the disc is solid. The production is a bit more pop than their first disc, which featured a more rounded "rock" sound (thanks largely to the direction of composer/producers Boyce and Hart). And the album cover may have been totally hated by the Monkees for being a copy of Rubber Soul, and for being used outside of the JC Penney's ad that it was originally supposed to be used for, but it takes nothing away from the fun, catchy atmosphere of this album.

This deluxe edition is a first class reissue of the Monkees' second album. Everything from packaging and liner notes to track inclusion and sound quality is first rate, making this the definitive CD edition.

That having been said, I would recommend this more to a devoted Monkeemaniac. If you are a casual Monkees fan, seek out the previous single-disc remaster from Rhino. Both are good in terms of overall quality, but the deluxe edition is targeted at hardcore Monkee fans.

This album was released in January 1967 and was a highly-anticipated second LP release of recordings by the Monkees. The green color of the album was really "in" at the time, and I thought the cover picture was great. Most of the songs had appeared on episodes of the TV show in the preceding weeks, so fans already had a familiarity with most of the material on the LP. I bought the album in late January or early February 1967, and thought side one was great and side two was spotty. I immediately noticed that "Steppin' Stone" sounded different than the single version. But the album is filled with really great rock songs: She, Somtime in the Morning, Mary Mary, I'm a Believer, Steppin' Stone, etc. Unfortunately it also contains one of the worst songs ever, "Laugh", which nobody I know liked at all, and it's hard to figure out why it was pushed on the TV show and released on this album, especially after hearing unreleased recordings from this same time frame later released on the "Missing Links" CDs. "Headquarters" followed this release and was a truly great effort with the Monkees playing (almost) all the instruments. Years later I read that the Monkees detested the release of "More", but they continued to perform songs from it in concert, both in 1967-69, and through the 1980's and 1990's. I don't value the album now like I did in early 1967, but it brings back pleasant memories of that time, and the excitement of this album as a new release back then.