Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Monkees, “The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition”

For The Monkees, the third time’s the charm. The 1966 debut album from Davy, Micky, Peter and Mike has been expanded twice before on CD – first in 1994 on one CD and then in 2006 as a two-CD set. Rhino Handmade has recently unveiled the third and most comprehensive release of this album yet, and with 45 previously unreleased bonus cuts among its 100 songs, The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (R2-543027) is not just Monkee mania, but Monkee manna. The story of this American fab four has been told numerous times on CD, DVD and the printed page over the years, but producer Andrew Sandoval has unearthed plenty of new discoveries on this stellar set which, in a fun touch, is told in reverse chronological order on these three CDs: CD 3 has the pre-Monkees recordings of Jones and Nesmith, CD 2 has the album sessions, and CD 1 has the album as released and the television versions.

Though The Monkees didn’t organically come together as a band, they doubtlessly ended up as one – a triumphant rock-and-roll story. While The Monkees features Jones, Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith primarily as vocalists, the LP boasts songs written and produced by Nesmith, plus instrumental contributions from Tork. Producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and entrepreneur/mastermind Don Kirshner, weren’t yet ready to hand over creative freedom to their charges, but they certainly surrounded The Monkees with the best. Boyce provided seven compositions – six with Bobby Hart and one with Steve Venet, including “(Theme from) The Monkees,” “I Wanna Be Free” and the No. 1 hit “Last Train to Clarksville.” The album also has tunes from Nesmith (“Papa Gene’s Blues”) David Gates (“Saturday’s Child”), Carole King and Gerry Goffin (“Take a Giant Step,” “Sweet Young Thing,” co-written with Nesmith) and Goffin and Russ Titelman (“I’ll Be True to You”). The cream of the crop from the L.A. Wrecking Crew brought their considerable skills to the album, too, including Glen Campbell, James Burton, Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, Jim Gordon, Al Casey and Mike Deasy. Upon its release, The Monkees spent 78 weeks on the Billboard chart – thirteen of those at No. 1. It’s still one hell of a record.

The Monkees is presented in mono and stereo on the first disc of this release, with twelve bonuses added including previously unissued mono television versions of many of the tunes, promo spots and jingles. The album successfully showed off The Monkees’ many facets but especially their facility for raw rock. “Saturday’s Child” is a charged, aggressive riff-rocker from future Bread frontman David Gates; country-rock and light psychedelia tinged a number of the songs like Nesmith’s stomping Goffin/King co-written “Sweet Young Thing,” and Boyce and Hart’s ironically rollicking “This Just Doesn’t Seem to Be My Day.” Even Goffin and King were modernizing their style, with Dolenz imploring listeners to “take a giant step outside your mind…” Of course, Tommy and Bobby synthesized their pop mastery with rock-and-roll urgency on the unforgettable Dolenz-sung chart-topper “Last Train to Clarksville.” Of his lead vocals, Davy Jones shone brightest with his tender reading of Boyce and Hart’s “I Wanna Be Free,” which tapped into the zeitgeist of the era with eloquence and emotion. (The “fast version” for TV, with Jones sharing the lead with Dolenz, premieres here in its mono mix. Fascinating though it is, especially with Michel Rubini’s burbling organ part, the producers clearly made the right choice in selecting the touching ballad version for the LP. Other takes of the “fast version” are included on Disc Two.) Even the least enduring songs on The Monkees – like the decent garage-rocker “Let’s Dance On” and the goofy “Gonna Buy Me a Dog” – have charm in abundance.

Hit the jump for more of The Monkees!

Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Classic Christmas With Rosemary Clooney, Frank DeVol

Welcome to Part One of a two-part series exploring the recent line-up of Christmas releases from Real Gone Music!

1954’s White Christmas, quite simply, remains one of the most beloved holiday musicals to ever hit the silver screen. Built around the songbook of Irving Berlin – who lived to the age of 101 in 1989 but was already a Grand Old Man of American music by 1954 – the film starred Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen. Such a quartet promised an evening’s entertainment filled with song and dance, and the movie more than delivered. But what it couldn’t deliver was an accompanying soundtrack album.

Bing Crosby was a Decca recording artist and Rosemary Clooney was on Columbia. (This wasn’t the first time this particular problem plagued an Irving Berlin musical. The 1950 Broadway production of Call Me Madam starred Decca’s Ethel Merman. Yet due to RCA’s holding the rights to the cast album, that label’s Dinah Shore subbed for The Merm on record, leaving Ethel to record her own version of the score with Dick Haymes at Decca.) Crosby and Kaye appeared along with Trudy Stevens (dubbing dancer Vera Ellen) on the nominal soundtrack release, with Decca’s star Peggy Lee subbing for Clooney. As for Rosemary, she, like Merman before, was left to record a “studio” version of the score to her big hit musical. Clooney’s 8-song, 10-inch record has just been reissued and expanded by Real Gone Music (RGM-0309) in a wonderful new edition.

At Columbia, Clooney couldn’t exactly replicate the film’s performances. The full minstrel sequence required a large ensemble; songs like Crosby’s “What Can You Do with a General” and Kaye’s “Choreography” weren’t exactly extractable or particularly suitable for her talents. So on the album overseen by Mitch Miller, Clooney reprised her stunning “Love – You Didn’t Do Right by Me,” turned “Snow,” “Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army” and “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” into solos, took over for Crosby on “White Christmas” and Kaye on “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing,” and extracted “Mandy” from the minstrel show. Notably, she also reprised “Sisters,” but with her own sister and onetime singing partner Betty Clooney happily filling in for Vera Ellen. The latter is one of the album’s undisputed highlights; if the album versions of “Snow” (a quartet in the film) and “Count Your Blessings” pale in comparison to the movie arrangements, the strength of Clooney’s vocals on these quintessential Berlin songs keeps them wholly enjoyable. Clooney was an innate jazz singer, a quality which would come to the fore in her later years. Her interpretive skills, pure tone and sly vocal wit elevated even the most absurd novelty material foisted on her by Miller; matched with Irving Berlin, the results could hardly be less than delightful. Rosemary Clooney in Songs from the Paramount Pictures Production of White Christmas, as the full title goes, isn’t a true “Christmas album,” but it’s certainly right for the season – or any other.

After the jump: more on White Christmas, plus a look at a rare title from Frank DeVol and the Rainbow Strings!

Release Round-Up: Week of December 9

Frank Sinatra, London (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 3-CD/1-DVD swingin’ affair spans 1953-1984 and features over 50 previously unreleased tracks on CD and DVD – all dedicated to Sinatra’s performances in the great city.  At its centerpiece is an expanded and remastered edition of Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain, the Chairman’s only studio album recorded outside of the United States!  Watch for Joe’s full review soon!

The Beatles, 1962-1966 / 1967-1970 / 1 / Love (Vinyl Only) (Capitol/Apple)

1962-1966: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1967-1970: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Love: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Fabs’ famous “red” and “blue” albums, along with the CD-era compilation Beatles 1 and the Cirque du Soleil soundtrack Love are remastered and reissued on heavyweight 180g vinyl just in time for the holidays!

The Jam, Setting Sons: Deluxe Edition (Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Paul Weller and The Jam’s seminal 1979 rock classic is expanded as a two-disc Deluxe Edition with single versions, non-LP B-sides, demos and live tracks.

Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey, Going Back Home: Deluxe Edition (Chess) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The acclaimed 2013 album from Dr. Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson and The Who’s Roger Daltrey has been expanded into a double-disc affair with the addition of outtakes, alternates, and live tracks from Shepherd’s Bush Empire and Royal Albert Hall from earlier this year.

Supertramp, Crime of the Century: Deluxe Edition (Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Blu-ray Audio: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

This 2-CD set marks the 40th anniversary of Supertramp’s landmark album, adding a previously unreleased concert from Hammersmith Odeon in March 1975, newly mixed by original producer Ken Scott!

Carrie Underwood, Greatest Hits – Decade # 1 (Arista Nashville) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The biggest star to emerge from American Idol collects the best of her first decade on this 2-disc retrospective including duets with Randy Travis, Vince Gill and Brad Paisley, and three previously unreleased work tape demos.

Judy Garland, Swan Songs, First Flights: Her First and Last Recordings (Doremi/Hallow) (Amazon U.S. TBD / Amazon U.K.)

Exact contents haven’t been released yet, but this new 3-CD celebration of the legendary entertainer promises that “Judy Garland is heard in exciting live performances from her last years, many never previously released on CD and collected here for the first time – Swan Songs. And for the first time on CD are charming and historic recordings from Garland’s youth made between the ages of 7 and 17 – First Flights. All in new state-of-the-art transfers and remastering!”  The set is also available at Discovery Records.

Various Artists, The Only Folk Collection You’ll Ever Need (Shout!) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

This 2-CD, 30-track folk sampler features a “Who’s Who” of folk music including Bob Dylan (“The Times They Are A-Changin’”), Peter, Paul and Mary (“Blowin’ in the Wind”), Doc Watson (“Sitting on Top of the World”), Phil Ochs (“I Ain’t Marching Anymore”), The Byrds (“Mr. Tambourine Man”), Tim Hardin (“If I Were a Carpenter”), Fairport Convention (“Who Knows Where the Time Goes”) and others.