Michael Nesmith - The Wild East

In 1968, Michael Nesmith released his first solo album, The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, which was made up mostly of instrumental versions of songs he'd recorded as part of The Monkees. He wouldn't release another solo album until 1970's Magnetic South. 

However, by the end of his time with The Monkees, pretty much all of the group's material was solo recordings released under the group's name. Nesmith recorded a number of songs in 1968-69 meant for Monkees albums that never made the cut. Brought together, this could have been Nesmith's second solo album.

SIDE A

1. Down the Highway - from Missing Links Vol. 2

2. Nine Times Blue - from Missing Links 

3. Little Red Rider - from Missing Links Vol. 3

4. The Crippled Lion - from Missing Links Vol. 2

5. St. Matthew - from Missing Links Vol. 2

6. If I Ever get to Saginaw Again - from Missing Links Vol. 2

SIDE B

1. How Insensitive - from Missing Links Vol. 3

2. Some of Shelly's Blues  - from Missing Links Vol. 2 

3. Hollywood - from Missing Links Vol. 3 

4. Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care) - from Missing Links Vol. 3

5. My Share of the Sidewalk - from The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees deluxe edition

6. Angel Band - from Missing Links Vol. 3

These "Monkees" versions of the songs eventually saw the light of day on Missing Links compilations issued in the 1990s as shown above, with one track appearing as a bonus to the deluxe edition of The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, which came out in 2010.

Four of these songs, "Nine Times Blue," "Hollywood," "The Crippled Lion" and "Little Red Rider" were later re-recorded and featured on 1970's Magnetic South. You might think that the inclusion of these songs here would then cause a problem for Magnetic South, but in fact, there were at least five outtakes from that album that could be used to plug the missing spots (the outtakes were issued as bonus tracks to Magnetic South in 1999).

Additionally, "Propinquity" and "Some of Shelly's Blues" were also re-recorded by Nesmith and appear on 1971's Nevada Fighter and 1973's Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash respectively.

For a title to this new album, I thought The Wild East was a similar pun as Magnetic South. And for cover artwork, I found a Nashville street scene circa 1969. I thought that the fact there's nothing going on (no people, no moving cars, etc.) added to the humor of the title.

The Monkees - "L.A., D.C., Houston and Openshaw"

There were a lot of outtakes from The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees album, and I guess that shouldn't be surprising. Despite the success of the previous two albums, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. where the band members worked together as a team, for The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees the members worked mostly independently. As a result, there were a lot more tracks than were needed for a single album.

I guess I could have reconfigured The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees into a double album, but that's not as fun as creating a whole new LP.

SIDE A

1. Changes

2. If I Ever Get to Saginaw Again

3. Rosemarie

4. Lady's Baby

5. Carlisle Wheeling

6. Come on In

7. My Share of the Sidewalk

SIDE B

1. Tear the Top Right off My Head

2. Shake 'Em Up (and Let 'Em Roll)

3. Party

4. Nine Times Blue

5. War Games

6. Merry Go Round

7. Auntie's Municipal Court

The only real problem with assembling the tracks for this album is that it has only three with Micky Dolenz on lead vocals -- "Rosemarie," "Shake 'Em Up (and Let 'Em Roll)" and "Auntie's Municipal Court." The latter song actually appeared on the album The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees, however, I use the original, aborted track listing for that album (see here) that didn't include that song. Considering Micky sang most of the band's hits, the album is a bit lacking without more of his voice. But on the other hand, it allows the other three members to shine a bit.

I thought the jangly “Changes” sung by Davy was a good opener for side one, and Peter’s rockin’ “Tear the Roof Right Off My Head” a good opener for side two. Besides Micky's three lead vocals, Davy and Peter have lead vocals on four tracks each, and Mike sings lead on three.

All songs can be found on Missing Links, Missing Links Volume Two or Missing Links Volume Three. 

For an album title, I took a cue from The Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. album that was named after their zodiac symbols (both Nesmith and Jones having the same, Capricorn). L.A., D.C., Houston and Openshaw is named after the towns each band member was born in.

For an album cover, I used a tie-dye (or is that batique?) background and placed over it The Monkees logo. Then I added London underground signs with the names of the cities, as well as the Colgems Records logo. Came out nice, I think.

The Monkees -- "Headquarters" and "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd."

The Monkees' two best albums are arguably the two they released in 1967: Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. So it's interesting, I think, that neither one was released with its original tracklist. Someone, somewhere for some reason rearranged the songs on both albums, cutting some tracks and leaving the public with two albums that would have been better left alone. Thankfully, in this day of digital music we can recreate the original album running orders.

SIDE A
1. For Pete's Sake
2. I'll Spend My Life with You
3. Forget That Girl
4. You Just May be the One
5. Shades of Gray
6. A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
7. Band 6
8. Sunny Girlfriend

SIDE B
1. Mr. Webster
2. You Told Me
3. The Girl I Knew Somewhere
4. Zilch
5. Early Morning Blues and Greens
6. Randy Scouse Git
7. I Can't Get Her Off of My Mind
8. No Time

Headquarters was the first of the band's albums, in which the band was actually in control and played most of the instruments. Previously, session musicians were used extensively and the Monkees themselves would do the vocals. Eventually, the band members rebelled and got creative control. The result was an album that was more than just a collection of pop tunes, although there are those as well.

In its original tracklist, the album opens with Peter Tork's "For Pete's Sake" which would later become the closing song of the TV show. And the album closes with rollicking "No Time." If eight songs per side seems like the album would be a bit long, guess again. Only "Shades of Gray" goes over three minutes, and each side clocks in less than 19 minutes.

All tracks are available on the deluxe version of the album.

SIDE A
1. Special Announcement
2. She Hangs Out
3. Salesman
4. Cuddly Toy
5. Words
6. Don't Call on Me
7. Goin' Down

SIDE B
1. The Door into Summer
2. Hard to Believe
3. What am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round?
4. Daily Nightly
5. Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky
6. Pleasant Valley Sunday
7. Star Collector

I have a special soft spot for this album as it was the first one I ever owned. I think my mom bought it for me around 1969 when I was four or five. I've no idea why she selected this one over any of their other albums, but I know I played it constantly and drove my grandmother crazy one summer.

Headquarters tends to get the most attention these days, but for my money, PAC&J is the better album. And in its original configuration, it's even better in my opinion. You've got the faux sound frequency test ("Special Announcement"); some of the first use of a Moog synthesizer on two songs ("Daily Nightly," "Star Collector"); psychedelic rock ("Words"); mixed with twangy country ("What am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round") and pop rock ("She Hangs Out"), a song about drugs ("Salesman"), a song about a gang bang ("Cuddly Toy), a spoken word tongue twister ("Peter Percival..."), etc. etc. It's a crazy album.

All tracks are available on the deluxe version of PAC&J.

"After Hours" soundtrack

Here's the third and final of my Martin Scorsese film soundtracks that were never released.

“After Hours” is one of my favorite Scorsese movies. The dark comedy is about as wacky as the director has ever done. If you haven’t seen the film, a man (Griffin Dunne) goes across town to meet a girl (Rosanna Arquette), loses his money, and has to deal with one crazy character after another in his attempt to get back home.

Howard Shore’s eerie electronic music adds to the bizarre atmosphere, while the collection of oldies is somewhat typical of Scorsese soundtracks. I still laugh every time I see the scene where Teri Garr’s character asks, “Hey, you like the Monkees!?”   

SIDE A

1. Symphony in D Major "No. 45" K. 95 I. Allegro (Mozart) – The Academy of Ancient Music and Jaap Schroder

2. 9 PM – Howard Shore

3. En La Cueva – Cuadro Flamenco

4. Sevillanas – Manitas de Plata

5. You're Mine – Robert and Johnnie

6. We Belong Together – Robert and Johnnie

7. Angel Baby – Rosie and The Originals

8. Midnight – Howard Shore
9. Last Train to Clarksville – The Monkees

SIDE B

1. Chelsea Morning – Joni Mitchell

2. I Don't Know Where I Stand – Joni Mitchell

3. Over the Mountain, Across the Sea – Johnnie and Joe

4. One Summer Night – The Danleers

5. 3 AM – Howard Shore

6. Pay to Cum – Bad Brains

7. Is That All There Is? – Peggy Lee

8. 6 AM – Howard Shore
9. Air Ouveture No. 3 in D Major (Bach) – Collegium Aureum

As with the previous two Scorsese soundtracks I have covered, you really have to do some searching to track down all of these songs. The Howard Shore music can be found here:

https://www.musicbox-records.com/en/cd-soundtracks/766-howard-shore-collector-s-edition-vol-1-after-hours-heaven.html

I had a terrible time tracking down the two classical works and ended up using different versions for my album for now.

The rest of the songs can be easily found on iTunes or Amazon. For the cover, I used a DVD cover I found online and cropped and altered it.

UPDATE: As noted in the comments below, I missed a song when I originally posted this: "You're Mine" by Robert and Johnnie. I've now added it above. But in checking on this, I discovered that I'm actually missing four other tunes: "Night and Day," "Body and Soul," "Quando, Quando, Quando" and "Someone to Watch Over Me." The film credits don't list who performs these, only that they're "courtesy of Warner Bros. Music." My guess is that they're all instrumentals from Warner Bros.'s vast music library that can be used as incidental music in films. So, you have choices here: 1) Ignore them; 2) Include versions of the songs (since they're all standards you'll find lots of them available); or 3) Track down the Warner Bros. library versions (and good luck with that). They should appear in the order listed above between "Sevillanas" and "You're Mine."