LOS ANGELES – Just months after The Monkees released the soundtrack to the group’s cult classic Head, the band — now the trio of Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones — returned in February 1969 with its seventh studio album, Instant Replay. Determined to balance the sound of its past with its creative ambitions for the future, the band split the album’s 12 songs evenly between new tracks and previously recorded songs.
Rhino Handmade hits rewind on Instant Replay for a triple-disc Deluxe Edition packed with rarities, as well as 58 unreleased recordings, backing tracks and a generous selection of stereo and mono mixes for both album and non-album cuts. As a bonus, the set comes with a 45-rpm vinyl single that includes one-of-a-kind acetate versions of “I Go Ape” and “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love” featured in The Monkees’ April 1969 television special, 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, and sourced from the only surviving copy of these recordings.
Due out November 22 from Rhino Handmade, INSTANT REPLAY: DELUXE EDITION is available now for pre-order exclusively at www.rhino.com for $59.98.
The booklet that accompanies the set also features dozens of unpublished images from this rarely photographed era of the band and a new in-depth essay by Monkee maven Andrew Sandoval, who produced the collection. His research unravels the sometimes-complex lineage behind the album, which revisits several songs that originated in earlier sessions.
A prime example is the album’s opening track “Through The Looking Glass.” This Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart composition from 1966 was left off two albums — More Of The Monkees (1967) and The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968) — due to an overabundance of material. What eventually appeared on Instant Replay in 1969 was a remixed version of the songwriter’s second production of the song. With an attention to detail that will melt a completist’s heart, Rhino Handmade also includes a fuzz-guitar variation of the song, the original mono mix, as well as the unadorned backing track. Neil Young’s trademark guitar work is also featured on different versions of three songs in the collection: “You And I,” “Smile” and the incomplete “That’s What It’s Like Loving You” on disc three. It’s interesting to note that Young recorded these tracks just five days after playing his final show with Buffalo Springfield.
Arranged by mixes, the first disc is dedicated to stereo and contains a newly remastered and restored transfer of the original album, which features the original two-track mixes of “Don’t Wait For Me” and the hit single, “Tear Drop City” for the first time since their initial 1969 vinyl release. The disc is expanded with 16 other stereo mixes including nearly all of Nesmith’s highly coveted 1968 Nashville sessions. Also included for the first time is the 1968 mix of Dolenz’s “Mommy And Daddy,” a provocative, socially conscious anti-war song that was rewritten for 1969’s The Monkees Present.
Devoted entirely to mono, the second disc features mixes for most of the album tracks, alongside rare and unreleased recordings. While The Monkees’ original label Colgems ceased to issue true mono Monkees albums after The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, most of Instant Replay’s songs were originally mixed in this form, with many making their debut on this collection. The disc is further enhanced by period mono mixes of the never-before-heard backing tracks for “All The Grey Haired Men” (a song recorded for The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, but never completed) and an early 1969 rendering of Michael Nesmith’s “My Share Of The Sidewalk.”
The final disc takes you into the studio to hear the creative process behind Instant Replay. Highlights include alternate takes and backing tracks produced by studio whiz Bones Howe, who briefly worked with the group to create music for their television special, 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, and for the single sides “Someday Man” (written by Paul Williams) and “A Man Without A Dream” (composed by Carole King with Gerry Goffin). The final tapes of Howe’s productions for the television special have been lost since 1969, but Rhino Handmade has recovered all that remains of these legendary sessions. Included here are never-before-heard backing tracks for “String For My Kite,” “Naked Persimmon” and “Goldie Locks Sometime,”as well as the completed versions from the only surviving video master of the special.
Another unique entry in The Monkees reissue series, Rhino Handmade’s Deluxe Edition of Instant Replay is beautifully packaged in an oversize box with mini-LP paper sleeve reproductions of the original cover art and vintage trade ads. It follows the sold out success of Rhino Handmade’s other Monkees releases.
INSTANT REPLAY: DELUXE EDITION
Track Listing
Disc One: Original Stereo Album
1. “Through The Looking Glass”
2. “Don’t Listen To Linda”
3. “I Won’t Be The Same Without Her”
4. “Just A Game”
5. “Me Without You”
6. “Don’t Wait For Me”
7. “You And I”
8. “While I Cry”
9. “Tear Drop City”
10. “The Girl I Left Behind Me”
11. “A Man Without A Dream”
12. “Shorty Blackwell”
Bonus Material
13. “Someday Man”
14. “Carlisle Wheeling” (Alternate Stereo Mix) *
15. “Mommy And Daddy” (1968 Stereo Mix) *
16. “Look Down”
17. “If I Ever Get To Saginaw Again”
18. “Me Without You” (Alternate Stereo Mix) *
19. “Smile”
20. “Nine Times Blue”
21. “Shorty Blackwell” (Alternate Stereo Mix) *
22. “St. Matthew”
23. “Some Of Shelly’s Blues” (1968 Stereo Mix)
24. “Hollywood” (1968 Stereo Mix) *
25. “Don’t Wait For Me” (Alternate 1968 Stereo Mix) *
26. “Propinquity (I’ve Just Begun To Care)” (1968 Stereo Mix)
27. “The Crippled Lion” (1968 Stereo Mix) *
28. “How Insensitive”
Disc Two: Mono Mixes And Rarities
1. “Through The Looking Glass” (1969 Mono Mix) *
2. “Don’t Listen To Linda” (1968 Mono Mix)
3. “I Won’t Be The Same Without Her” (1966 Mono Mix)
4. “Just A Game” (Alternate Vocal – Mono Mix) *
5. “Me Without You” (Fuzz Guitar Version – Mono Mix)
6. “Don’t Wait For Me” (Mono Mix) *
7. “You And I” (1968 Mono Mix)
8. “While I Cry” (UK Mono Mix)
9. “Tear Drop City” (Mono Promo Single Mix)
10. “A Man Without A Dream” (Mono Promo Single Mix)
Bonus Material
11. “Someday Man” (1969 Mono Mix)
12. “Hollywood” (Mono Mix) *
13. “Mommy And Daddy” (1968 Mono Mix) *
14. “You And I” (1968 Rough Mix) *
15. “Carlisle Wheeling” (Alternate Vocal - 1969 Mono Mix) *
16. “Rosemarie” (1969 Mono Mix) *
17. “Changes” (1968 Mono Mix) *
18. “Good Clean Fun” (Mono Mix) *
19. “Through The Looking Glass” (Fuzz Guitar Version – Mono Mix) *
20. “All The Grey Haired Men” (Mono Backing Track) *
21. “War Games” (1968 Mono Mix) *
22. “Propinquity (I’ve Just Begun To Care)” (Mono Mix) *
23. “My Share Of The Sidewalk” (Mono Backing Track) *
24. “Party” (1968 Mono Mix) *
25. “The Crippled Lion” (Mono Mix) *
26. “If I Ever Get To Saginaw Again” (Mono Backing Track) *
27. “Some Of Shelly’s Blues” (1968 Mono Mix) *
28. “Smile” (1968 Mono Mix) *
29. “Nine Times Blue” (Mono Mix) *
Disc Three: Sessions
1. “Through The Looking Glass” (Backing Track – Take 11) *
2. “Don’t Listen To Linda” (Backing Track – Takes 1-3) *
3. “I Won’t Be The Same Without Her” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
4. “Carlisle Wheeling” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
5. “Nine Times Blue” (Backing Track – Take 6) *
6. “Look Down” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
7. “Just A Game” (Backing Track – Takes 1-2) *
8. “You And I” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
9. “That’s What It’s Like Loving You” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
10. “Smile” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
11. “A Man Without A Dream” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
12. “A Man Without A Dream” (Alternate Vocal – Take 14) *
13. “Someday Man” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
14. “Someday Man” (Alternate Mix) *
15. “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love” (1968 Backing Track – Take 12) *
16. “I Go Ape” (Backing Track – Take 10) *
17. “Wind Up Man” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
18. “String For My Kite” (Version 1 Backing Track – Take 1) *
19. “Naked Persimmon” (Backing Track – Take 1) *
20. “Goldie Locks Sometime” (Backing Track – Take 4) *
21. “String For My Kite” (Version 2 Backing Track – Take 1) *
22. “Darwin” (Backing Track – Take 2) *
23. “St. Matthew” (Alternate Vocal) *
24. “Don’t Wait For Me” (Alternate Stereo Mix) *
25. “Rosemarie” (Alternate Stereo Mix) *
26. “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love” (1968 Version) *
27. “Naked Persimmon” *
28. “Goldie Locks Sometime” *
29. “Darwin” *
30. “I Go Ape” *
* Previously unissued recording
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