Big Barrel Full of Monkees Thread (Part 4)

During.

 

Mixology Podcast on ‘The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees’.

Link: The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees by The Monkees | Mixology: The Mono/Stereo Mix Differences Podcast

 

April 22, 1968: “The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees” Takes Flight – A Celebration

 

Bees has some great songs but needed more focus. Switching up the tracklist also helped.

 

56 years ago this album was released. Thanks for the blog post @BeatleStair well worth reading.

I've grown more fond of Birds, Bees as years have gone by. Even though it has some drawbacks and weak tracks, it was interesting musical direction the guys went to. I still feel that Peter should have gotten at least one track on the original album.

 

I agree, Peter should have had at least "Alvin" plus another track - too bad.

 

Davy went to Japan in 1972???? First I've ever heard of this. Any idea what the name of the TV show was he performed on and the dates he was in Japan?

 

I forget the timeline but “Come On In” would have fit well on this. And I do like “Lady’s Baby.” “Tear The Top…” also shares the same sound and it would have been cool for insiders knowing some of Buffalo Springfield were on a Monkees album. Of course, “Do I Have To Do This All Over Again” was saved for the next album.

 

I really like BBM, and I agree that Peter should've had a song, especially since, IMO, this period was his most productive as a songwriter during his original Monkees run.

 

In an ironic sense, the colors and sound of that album really scream Peter to me. Even after all these years of Monkee-ing, when I’m reminded there is no Tork songs, it seems odd. The album could have been close (but still not quite) to greatness as PAC&J with a slightly different track listing that included one or two of his songs. I’d have dropped “We Were Made For Each Other” and “Magnolia Simms.”

 

"Come On In" was recorded/completed in Feb 1968 and would have been ready for BBM. I think it would have been a great way to open side two. If nothing else was changed but adding that track and seeing through the original Chip Douglas-produced version of "We Were Made For Each Other," the album would have been infinitely improved. In a perfect world, the first version of "Carlisle Wheeling" would have replaced "Magnolia Simms," too. And, on a "Good Earth," since there is a certain redundancy to "Magnolia Simms" and "Never Tell A Woman Yes," the former would have superseded the latter on Present and the latter would have been a Missing Link.

 

"We Were Made For Each Other" is brutal.

 

Man, I love me some Simms.

 

I gained a lot of appreciation for the song after hearing the Chip Douglas-produced backing track on the Birds, Bees super deluxe. Someone made a pretty good mix by lifting Davy's vocal from the released version and dropping it on there, and it was pretty great. Of course, I can't find it on YouTube at the moment -- it might not be up there anymore...anyone have it?

 

Still out there, thankfully. That would have been a big loss for Monkeemaniacs...! (The "Davy manboobs" cover photo notwithstanding...)



I really love how that ascending acoustic guitar figure comes in after the banjo kick-off - really nice touch. The Hammond organ versus harpsichord and copious, syrupy strings is an upgrade, too.

This just reinforces in shorthand how much they needed better management and a singular "executive producer" to rein in their excesses as four discrete recording units post-PAC&J.

 

Sticking "Come On In" onto Side 2 would actually help balance out the uneven side lengths that the original LP. If it needs to be 12 track then yeah "We Were Made For Each Other" goes off.

 

Thanks for posting!! I'm sure I have it saved somewhere, but will need to do that again as I can't remember where.

While there's a very strong case to be made for a more unified sounding BB&M album, I feel like part of the existing album's charm is how ridiculously patchwork and disjointed it all is. I don't wanna say "I wouldn't change a thing", but...I guess, in a way, I wouldn't.

 

I think focus was lost again at that point. Never to be found again in the 60s.

 

Tear The Top Right Off My Head would have been the choice for me!

 

This version, when I first heard it, elevated the song from near the bottom of Monkees music, to near the top, certainly in the top third for all the reasons you have mentioned. Chip did a great job with this tune and this version makes the LP better immediately. While I like Magnolia Simms for what it is, with Nesmith already having done a tune with similar vocal alterations in Tapioca Tundra, a Pete tune such as Tear The Top or Come on In (recorded in Feb as stated already as were a number of the tunes including WWMFEO) would have been a good choice, leaving his HEAD soundtrack contributions intact. Chip was a good influence on Monkee music!

 

Davy visited Japan twice in 1972, once in the summer and once in the winter.
The Japanese TV programmes in which Davy appeared in 1972 that I have been able to verify are listed below. There may be others.

1) 'SHIONOGI MUSIC FAIR' (8 Aug 1972, 21:30-22:00, Fuji TV, with Mari Amachi and Johnny Tillotson, Davy sang Daydream Believer and Rainy Jane).

2) 'Lotte Uta no Album' (1972, TBS Sunday 12:45-13:15, with Four Leaves).

3) "Utae!　Yan-Yan!" (1972, Thursday 19:00-19:56, Tokyo 12 Channel, I wanna be Free and several other songs performed by Davy and the Four Leaves).
Pictured is a magazine article about Davy's appearance on「Utae! Yan Yan!!」.

 

Will the real Davy Jones please stand up?

 

He is standing up.

 

That's fantastic info! Thank you so much. Any idea if those last two shows were also broadcast in August or during his December visit?

 

There's also Chip's version of "A Man Without A Dream" that has a more "pop" sound and would have fit great on Birds, Bees as well. Perhaps we'll see an official release of the backing track with a Pisces SDE.