The Monkees' Instant Replay - Rhino Handmade deluxe boxed set

Yeah but many of the people who are on a lot of the Beach Boys backing tracks are on these. Once they are all sold out, you will not regret buying it.

Give me all the backing tracks!!!!!!

 

I should have said Brian Wilson arranging and producing. I highly doubt these backing tracks are all that interesting or sophisticated.

 

Andrew mentioned on that earlier thread about how Rhino was able to duplicate the same "mix" of the song by collapsing the UK stereo tape.

I wonder why the UK stereo version does this, but the US tape doesn't.

Any theories?

(BTW, I made a new laserdrop of the UK mono record a couple of weeks ago and can confirm that it does sound different.)

 

I wish they had Paypal on the rhino site ! now I have to wait until next week to order it

 

I love backing tracks as they are an important part of the entire experience. It was quite revealing to hear that the Monkees version of "I Was Not Born To Follow" was the same arrangement as the Lemon Pipers.


Granted, we don't know the main melody of many but after 25 years of seeing the names of these mysterious tracks listed in various books and websites, I want them all. Besides, anything that Nesmith worked on has always been of interest to me.


To get the guys to go back and finish every last one of them......sigh...........

 

The easy answer is that the UK master for that song was different; is there no stereo version of IR from the UK or from another country other than the USA?

 

But is the easy answer the correct one?

If the UK stereo mix is different, why isn't it on this set as well?

From the earlier thread, this is what Andrew Sandoval had to say about the mono UK version of "While I Cry":

I wanted to address the issue of "While I Cry" in Mono specifically. I did get a needle drop from Yellow Balloon and then tracked down the original Dolby UK Stereo master that created both the UK Mono and Stereo pressings of the album. We folded "While I Cry" to mono and it matched Yellow Balloon's needle drop. I felt it was better to include it for the sake of completeness since it has been an issue on this forum and thought to be unique. All of the other mono mixes included are True Mono originals from 1968 or 1969 and are pretty stunning.

 

Perhaps, for some reason, the stereo version doesn't sound unique; thats why it would be interesting to see if other countries that issued stereo versions of IR were the same as the USA or not.

I'm assuming you took the stereo USA and folded it to compare.

 

Spoilers Dept.

I was able to download all 87 30-second samples from the new boxed set! (Like the previous sets, the songs on the bonus 45 are not available online.)

All told, the files come to just over 100mb, so I posted them in a big zip file available here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CW7PJBT7

If you're dying to hear the what this set sounds like before its release next month, feel free to have a listen.

(C'mon...you know you want to!)

(And to the gorts: all of these samples were found on the Rhino website. I just compiled them and put them together in one place. The file contains samples only.)

 

That was the indication given by those who've heard it.

 

BB&M was a favorite of mine for a long time, too, for the same reasons you said -- it was so different, track to track. But, I can't deny the quality "pop" of the tracks on Instant Replay, as on The Monkees first 4 albums. There was a significant gap of time between BB&M and Head where they could of, and should of, released an album in the summer, possibly July, of 1968. I think it could have looked a lot like Instant Replay. Tracks to consider:
Through The Looking Glass, Don't Listen To Linda, Me Without You, You And I, While I Cry, Shorty Blackwell, Smile, Nine Times Blue, Carlisle Wheeling, Look Down, Shake 'Em Up, The Girl I Left Behind Me, The Party, I'm Gonna Try, Changes, War Games, Lady's Baby, Come On In, Merry Go Round, Rosemarie (early version), D.W. Washburn, and It's Nice To Be With You.
I think not having a record through the summer of 1968, that could have been supported with the episodes repeats, hurt The Monkees popularity, Head, and the later albums, as well. They cooled.

 

Thanks, Michelle! Much less tedious than clicking each one individually.

It sounds like Micky's vocals on that mono promo single mix of "Teardrop City" (track 37) are at the proper pitch compared to the sped-up album version and the too-slow "More Of The Monkees" Deluxe Edition version.

 

For me, most of the samples on the Rhino site still play as "Me Without You", thus your upload is very beneficial!

 

I ordered two in error... because the web site's check-out gerbil was taking a nap.

 

Thanks for the upload Michelle. Is that Mike leading the sessions for Darwin and String For My Kite? Sure sounds like his voice. Any reason given for NOT including the vocal version of "Kite?" Two different backing tracks, but not the vocal version from the TV special? The original 1968 mono mixes sound real good (even in lo-fi mp3) should be a treat on CD. Can't wait. Present HAS to be next, but how will it be done? I'm thinking far fewer vintage mono mixes from these sessions. Could be that additional backing tracks have been found, as well as reference mixes and alternate vocals...HOPEFULLY will find out sometime in 2012 Ron

 

I really wish that the 33 & 1/3 versions of "I'm a Believer" and "Listen to the Band" had been included. I wonder if it had anything to do with licensing issues since both of these performances featured non-Monkee performers.

 

When I first saw that, I wondered whether it would have some gimmick like a "flicker ring" kind of thing where you could turn it one way and see the three faces as they appeared on the original U.S. cover, and another way for the Puerto Rico cover, but it sounds like that's not what they did? Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, I know it will be a classy release and I say keep 'em coming. (Can't really say "and the hits just keep on comin' at this point in their career, but nonetheless, I really want to see them finish these.)

I'm still puzzled as to why they apparently deleted the 2-CD deluxe versions of the first four, while they're still releasing these. Glad I got them when they came out, though I do feel kind of ridiculous having two or three versions of each album on my shelf, and they all have unique mixes or bonus tracks or whatever...not complaining though, bring it on!

I think this might be my favorite of all their album covers, too. Even with the disembodied heads. My first copy of this album was among a bunch of Monkees albums my dad picked up for me at a flea market when I was 7 or 8. It puzzled me -- what did they do with Peter Tork, and all these unfamiliar songs. (Kind of like casual drive-by fans now on Facebook) I remember it still had open shrink on it with a Sears price sticker, and a dead fly under the shrink, which had gotten smashed into little fragments -- it was kind of sick, but oddly enough the little green and blue pieces seemed to complement the color scheme of the cover. Weird, the things I remember sometimes.

 

That's great! Classic line from the "bubblegum Nazi?"

 

How about "Fold-In?" Or is that specific to MAD magazine?

 

Thanks Michelle. You're the greatest! I had been wanting to ask you to do this.

 

What do you think happened to the unreleased tracks like as "Omega" and "London Bridge"? Think these will end up on "Present"? Or perhaps they still may make these types of tracks available on Monkees.com as was originally planned. Maybe Rhino is just wanting to complete the deluxe edition campaign.

Hopefully Rhino's Monkeemania will continue on into 2012 with "Present", an updated version of Andrew's book, the 1967 Phoenix Concert on CD, the 1968 Japan Concert on CD, The 1996 Billboard Live DVD/CD set .... and some unreleased backing tracks, songs, videos on Monkees.com!!

 

Thanks Michelle. Here's a well deserved tip of the cap

 

Just a quick observation, but, where's Of You? If a new vocal was added it had to be around the time of Instant Replay....it doesn't seem to be a Present-era track. Maybe I'm wrong. There's no information other than a mono mix made for the reruns in July 1969. I think the new vocal was done earlier, around the time work was done on I Won't Be The Same Without Her (which sounds to me as having a new vocal overdubbed right on top of the original). I just think of the new vocal version as an Instant Replay outtake.

 

Two good questions from bubba-ho-tep and D-rock.

Maybe Andrew will chime in on this. Not complaining as the set is fantastic, but it would be interesting to know why these were not included in the IR set

 

Of course this reply isn't for you specifically JD, but for anyone reading your query.

There would be no reason for Colgems to prep different stereo masters for different countries; a waste of time, money & energy. One mono master and one stereo master were created for this album and distributed worldwide. When RCA (in the varied countries) received these stereo masters, they collapsed them to mono, which doesn't make them a real mono mixdown. This is what countries like Great Britain & Brazil issued- the infamous fold-over. Other countries like the US, Israel & Argentina issued the REAL mono mix. It's quite possible that when RCA collapsed these stereo masters, something odd occurred with compression or mastering, which 'created' this unusual, sonic variation.

I did it and it sounded no different.