Rhino pressed all of the LPs in the 80s preceding the release of Now & Then. The Colgems last 4 were were about twice the price of the early ones on the secondary market at that time with Head and the mono version of Birds and Bees topping $100.
ReviewReleased in February 1969, officially this was the first Monkees LP without Peter Tork. He made his exit from the group in December 1968 so this is the first Monkees release without him. Well, not really. All the tracks on this CD were recorded while Peter was still involved although he isn't mentioned as a vocalist or intsrumentalist anywhere in the liner notes.
This 1995 CD by Rhino contains all original twelve tracks plus seven more bonus selections. The group recorded nine LP's between 1966 and 1970, yet until the CD age, probably half of their recorded works were unreleased. Hence all these "bonus" tracks many of which are as good or better than what was issued in the 1960's.
This CD is a real mixed bag of Monkees music, most of them recorded in 1968 although a couple of tracks, "I Won't Be The Same Without Her" and "Tear Drop City" go back to 1966. "Tear Drop City" was the 45 RPM release from Instant Replay, a tune that sounded like an inside-out version of "Last Train To Clarksville" and only half as good. It climbed only to #56 on the Billboard top 100, a sign that the Monkees had lost a lot of their sales momentum. Exposure from their TV series was long over and they were viewed by many as being phonies because they generally didn't play on their recordings. Other bands were given a pass on this kind of behavior including, although not exclusively, the Byrds and the Beach Boys.
Surprisingly the recording is not that bad. It's not their finest hour but it's very listenable and has the mark of all the talented professionals that went into the making of it. The recordings were done sporadically and the producers include Boyce & Hart, Bones Howe, Carole Bayer & Neil Sedaka and in addition Mike Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones. Much of the arranging is attributed to Shorty Rogers and Don McGinnis.