#Colgems Records

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The Monkees (1966)

[mymelodic-chapel]

The Monkees- Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. (Psychedelic Pop, Pop Rock) Released: November 6, 1967 [Colgems Records] Producer(s): Chip Douglas

[oldshowbiz]

1967.

The Don Kirshner Lawsuit.

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork with his grandmother, Catherine McGuire Straus, at the New York City premiere of Head, November 1968. Photo by Art Zelin.

“One of my favorite people in the world is my ‘Grams,’ Mrs. Catherine McGuire Straus. She lives in Manhattan in the West 50’s. She calls Colgems regularly to check on our record sales, keeps an enormous scrapbook on the activities of the Monkees (favoring me a little bit, of course), and she visits all the record stores regularly to make sure that they are well stocked with Monkees singles and LP’s.” - Peter Tork, 16’s The Monkees: Here We Are (1967) Q: “Did your grandmother manage your fan club?” Peter Tork: “No, I never had a fan club of my own but my grandmother did personally correspond with many of the fans. She was so charming. She loved all of that. She collected everything about us, the 16 magazines, articles—everything. She was a fan, too.” - Shindig Magazine “‘Peter doesn’t talk much about the business when he comes home,’ [his grandmother] said, ‘but lately I feel he’s upset and not too happy about it.’ Peter has always had very strong family ties, and has always come home for holidays, if it was humanly possible. And what gala, fun-filled times they had! ‘But the last few times,’ his grandmother said, ‘I could tell something was bothering him. Oh, there were wonderful times, like the night he started doing impressions and had us all in stitches! I don’t think anybody realizes how good he is at it. But other times, he was moody and thoughtful.’ She was worried, not only for Peter, but the other Monkees, too. ‘They’re all such fine boys.’” - unnamed clipping from a teen magazine (guessing Datebook, from the page design), 1969 More about Peter's "Grams" (including a letter in which she addressed UK Monkees critic Jeremy Walsh) in an older post.

[singeratlarge]

SATURDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO: “Daydream Believer” " as filmed in May 2010 by PBS at Benedum Theatre in Pittsburgh PA w/Davy Jones, Jessica Pacheco, me, and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra—this clip has been re-broadcasted many times since 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOT0INql6Ws   For me this was an auspicious occasion on several counts—including that, for the first time, I played guitar on songs that I usually played bass or keyboards on. The complete set can be heard as as a VIP-only album on https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.ban.... Elsewhere on this shoot (we were there 2 days) was Jay Black (Jay & The Americans), Roger McGuinn, The Miracles (the classic line-up minus Smokey Robinson), and Gary Lewis & The Playboys w/my friend, drummer Mike Arturi. Also, I was blessed to spend time with Jackie DeShannon (who MC'd) and Chad & Jeremy. The project was produced for PBS by Jim Pierson.

“Daydream Believer” had been rejected by 3 bands before reaching The Monkees. The eternally-cheerful tune was written by John Stewart, who’d just left The Kingston Trio. Stewart passed the song to his friend, Monkees producer Chip Douglas, who tacked it on as “album filler” during the 1967 sessions for the PISCES AQUARIUS CAPRICORN & JONES album. All four Monkees worked on the track with The Wrecking Crew, with Michael Nesmith doing guitar harmonic stingers, and Peter Tork playing the piano opening that made the song pop. Davy was reticent to sing it as it was cut for a tenor and he was a baritone, but he soldiered through. Then the track was shelved.

Unexpectedly, in October 1967 Colgems Records released “Daydream Believer” as a single and it became a surprise hit for Christmas (like 1000s of kids with “a Christmas story” connected to it, I was given the pic sleeve 45 by my Aunt Lil). The song has since been covered scores of times in eclectic styles, including a punk version by Japanese band Shonen Knife. I calculated that, in his life, Davy must’ve sung it live upwards to 10,000 times. In shows he stuck to the common arrangement, though I heard him do it country style, and we performed it several times with symphony orchestras at pops concerts. In 2000 he and I released a techno-dance version of it, which got some club play in Russia and Scandanavia. Of the many stories Davy could tell about this song, one he liked was when he and Mick Fleetwood played it in the dead of winter at a Norwegian venue near the Arctic Circle. “He was bangin’ away with his mouth hangin’ open, doin’ the Mick Fleetwood beat. Heavy man.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOT0INql6Ws

#monkees #davyjones #daydreambeliever #johnstewart #petertork #cheer #sleepyjean #homecomingqueen #johnnyjblair #sunshinepop #powerpop #concert #PBS #benedumtheatre #pittsburgh #mickfleetwood #colgems

[fantastickkay]

Album Review of the Week: Davy Jones - David Jones (1965) ☆☆☆

Before they made a Monkee out of Davy Jones, he was being groomed for solo stardom by Colpix (later Colgems) records. He was already a rather successful Broadway regular and now he will have a couple of moderately successful singles and a fan club! A well-known fun fact is that he made his American television debut on the same program as The Beatles! The Ed Sullivan Show was showing a musical number from Oliver! on the same night, which featured Jones as the Artful Dodger, which somewhat altered his aspirations when he saw the screaming girls from his place at side stage.

Jones' debut solo album (he would later put out a few in his post-Monkees career) is very much in a bubblegum-crooner style, which was a bit passé by 1965. I would compare it to Fabian or Bobby Rydell, but even a bit more bubblegum. Despite the material, Jones gives an energetic and captivating vocal performance! Out of all the versions of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" that you will find, Davy's is my favorite thus far. Other standout tracks include Put Me Amongst the Girls and Any Old Iron. Face Up To It is a really interesting track stylistically. The melody is quite rigid against a marching band beat. This Bouquet is probably the most bubblegum of them all, but it also is just really cute and a fun listen. You can sense the star power bubbling just beneath the surface in this release. It's hard to say if he would achieve the same level of recognition if he had stayed on this trajectory, but fortunately we do not have to imagine a world without girls shouting "Foxy! Davy!" or a little tune called Daydream Believer.

Since this album is not on Spotify, please enjoy some select tracks below.

[radiomax]

Saturday, April 1, 2023 2:30pm ET: Feature LP: The Monkees (1966)

Number One Album of 1966 The Monkees is the debut studio album by the American band the Monkees. It was released October 10, 1966 by Colgems Records in the United States and RCA Victor in the rest of the world. It was the first of four consecutive U.S. number one albums for the group, taking the top spot on the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks, after which it was displaced by the band’s second album.…

[odk-2]

Monkees - I'm a Believer (Stereo Mix) (1966) Neil Diamond from: "I'm a Believer" / "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" (Single) "More of the Monkees" (LP) "More of the Monkees" [2017 Super Deluxe Edition] (CD-2)

Rock/Pop

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Micky Dolenz: Lead Vocals Al Gorgoni: Lead Guitar Sal DiTroia: Rhythm Guitar Neil Diamond: Acoustic Guitar Stan Free: Vox Continental Organ George Butcher: Piano George Devens: Tambourine Russ Savakus: Bass Buddy Saltzman: Drums

Backing Vocals: Micky Dolenz / Davy Jones / Peter Tork

Arranged by Artie Butler Produced by Jeff Barry

Recorded: @ (studio unknown) in New York City, New York USA on October 15 and 23, 1966

Single Released: on November 12, 1966

Album Released: on January 9, 1967

Colgems Records

No. 341 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (2021 Edition)

[myklcollins]

The Monkees first LP was 1966! This is an original mono version on Colgems. Just fun at this stage but they got a bit more serious later and actually were allowed to play and write. Some Boyce and Hart classics!

[thriftstorerecords]

Headquarters The Monkees Colgems Records/USA (1967)

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The Monkees (1967)

[auskultu]

The Monkees, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. (Colgems COM-104) Released: 6 November 1967

Side A: “Salesman” • “She Hangs Out” • “The Door Into Summer” • “Love Is Only Sleeping” • “Cuddly Toy” • “Words” Side B: “Hard To Believe” • “What Am I Doing Hangin' ‘Round?” • “Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky - Pleasant Valley Sunday” • “Daily Nightly” • “Don't Call On Me” • “Star Collector”

[somethingvinyl]

The Monkees, More of the Monkees You can hate on the Monkees all you want, they probably deserve it. But here are the facts: "She" is a fantastic song, "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" is one of the greatest songs of the 60's, "I'm a Believer" is pure joy, and Davy Jones is unbelievably charming. FACTS. And no they didn't play their own instruments on this--THAT'S WHY IT'S SO GOOD.

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork and his grandmother, Catherine McGuire Straus (in photo 2 at the premiere of Head, 1968; photo by Art Zelin/Getty Images).

“One of my favorite people in the world is my ‘Grams,’ Mrs. Catherine McGuire Straus. She lives in Manhattan in the West 50’s. She calls Colgems regularly to check on our record sales, keeps an enormous scrapbook on the activities of the Monkees (favoring me a little bit, of course), and she visits all the record stores regularly to make sure that they are well stocked with Monkees singles and LP’s.” - Peter Tork, 16’s The Monkees: Here We Are (1967)

Many are no doubt familiar with Peter’s grandmother’s contributions to U.S. teen magazines. A few things that might have have fallen through the cracks of Tork and Monkees history are his grandmother’s letters to two British music magazines in 1967...

“As the grandmother of one Monkee, Peter Tork, I have received hundreds of delightful letters from British fans of the Monkees. Recently there have been complaints that some magazines do not print pictures of Peter when they are doing a story on the Monkees. But I find Monkee pictures fairly well distributed in all the pop magazines, though Davy Jones more or less rules the roost! Also received complaints about Peter not appearing with his co-Monkees when they were in London in February. I would assume that the working hours he has every day, seven days a week, are not conducive to his spending a vacation with one’s workers. And I assure you Peter has a mind of his own, so he couldn’t be persuaded to join them. He’s at last been seen and heard — ‘fine’ by his British fans. Do hope the concerts were a SMASHING success — to use a Britishism!” - Catherine McGuire Straus, Disc & Music Echo, July 15, 1967

“Having belatedly read the article by Jeremy Walsh on the Monkees, as the grandmother of one Monkee — Peter Tork — I resent it. It seems to me unnecessarily nasty and rude. His attacks on the group are peculiarly venomous, considering that the Monkees cannot have done anything to promote such anger and, in fact, are the delight of most critics. Well, there’s no use laboring the point. One can only wonder why the hostility. And why make comparisons with the Beatles. Either the Monkees are good in their own right or they’re not. There’s nothing else to consider, is there. Incidentally Peter was marked for the academic world, where both his parents teach. He flunked out of college twice. After his sojourn in Greenwich Village and the concert tours, decided he’d head for the West Coast and Hollywood — every actor’s Mecca. Over 400 applicants auditioned for the Monkees — Peter was one of the four selected and so the Monkees were born etc. Last, but not least, the U.S.A. helped to bring fame and fortune to the Beatles and their super manager, Brian Epstein. Let the British do likewise for the Monkees.” - Sincerely yours, Catherine McG. Straus, Record Mirror, April 8, 1967

“I received hundreds of delightful letters, many of which I answered, in answer to my protest about the article on the Monkees by Jeremy Walsh. All I want is for these charming teenagers to know how grateful I am for their love and devotion to the Monkees.” - Catherine McG. Straus, Record Mirror, June 17, 1967

Here’s part of the opinion of one Jeremy Walsh, referenced by Peter’s grandmother:

“If four good-looking boys, with no talent, can top the charts — can beat the sales of real stars — then it’s all worthless. I’m not saying they can’t play at all. I’m saying that they can’t play well. I’m also saying that their TV series, fount of 90 per cent of their disc fame, is blatantly based on the earlier Beatle films… and that they owe a lot of their disc hits to Beatle influences. I’d feel less strongly about them if only they had tried to adapt something completely new. It’s like some massive act of retaliation by the Americans, still smarting over Beatle-domination. […] The Monkee business really makes me smart. The only consolation is that it should be a short craze. Several people will make their million, then cheerfully abandon the whole project.” - Jeremy Walsh, Record Mirror, February 4, 1967

[singeratlarge]

SATURDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO: “Daydream Believer” as filmed in May 2010 by PBS at Benedum Theatre in Pittsburgh PA w/Davy Jones, Jessica Pacheco, me, and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra—this clip has been re-broadcasted many times since 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOT0INql6Ws   For me this was an auspicious occasion on several counts—including that, for the first time, I played guitar on songs that I usually played bass or keyboards on. The complete set can be heard as as a VIP-only album on https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.ban.... Elsewhere on this shoot (we were there 2 days) was Jay Black (Jay & The Americans), Roger McGuinn, The Miracles (the classic line-up minus Smokey Robinson), and Gary Lewis & The Playboys w/my friend, drummer Mike Arturi. Also, I was blessed to spend time with Jackie DeShannon (who MC'd) and Chad & Jeremy. The project was produced for PBS by Jim Pierson.

“Daydream Believer” had been rejected by 3 bands before reaching The Monkees. The eternally-cheerful tune was written by John Stewart, who’d just left The Kingston Trio. Stewart passed the song to his friend, Monkees producer Chip Douglas, who tacked it on as “album filler” during the 1967 sessions for the PISCES AQUARIUS CAPRICORN & JONES album. All four Monkees worked on the track with The Wrecking Crew, with Michael Nesmith doing guitar harmonic stingers, and Peter Tork playing the piano opening that made the song pop. Davy was reticent to sing it as it was cut for a tenor and he was a baritone, but he soldiered through. Then the track was shelved.

Unexpectedly, in October 1967 Colgems Records released “Daydream Believer” as a single and it became a surprise hit for Christmas (like 1000s of kids with “a Christmas story” connected to it, I was given the pic sleeve 45 by my Aunt Lil). The song has since been covered scores of times in eclectic styles, including a punk version by Japanese band Shonen Knife. I calculated that, in his life, Davy must’ve sung it live upwards to 10,000 times. In shows he stuck to the common arrangement, though I heard him do it country style, and we performed it several times with symphony orchestras at pops concerts. In 2000 he and I released a techno-dance version of it, which got some club play in Russia and Scandanavia. Of the many stories Davy could tell about this song, one he liked was when he and Mick Fleetwood played it in the dead of winter at a Norwegian venue near the Arctic Circle. “He was bangin’ away with his mouth hangin’ open, doin’ the Mick Fleetwood beat. Heavy man.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOT0INql6Ws

#monkees #davyjones #daydreambeliever #johnstewart #petertork #cheer #sleepyjean #homecomingqueen #johnnyjblair #sunshinepop #powerpop #concert #PBS #benedumtheatre #pittsburgh #mickfleetwood #colgems