The Monkees: Inside the HEADQUARTERS Super Deluxe Edition

Micky Dolenz has announced the details of his upcoming solo tour, “The Monkees Celebrated By Micky Dolenz.” The tour begins next year on April 1 in Orlando, Florida, and includes 19 shows where Dolenz will present The Monkees’ triumphant third album Headquarters with live performances and videos plus all of the band’s biggest hits. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 4. Click here for more information about tour dates and sales. A new line of Monkees holiday merch also launched today, including a Christmas ornament and sweater. Shop now.
 
Dolenz is right to celebrate. The album represents a peak moment for The Monkees in terms of both creativity and camaraderie. Released in May 1967, Headquarters was the first album the group recorded after winning a hard-fought battle for control over its music earlier that year. It sold three million copies and topped the charts, making it the band’s third consecutive #1 album in less than a year.
 
Rhino honors the landmark recording’s 55th anniversary this year with an expansive new set that shows the genesis of the Headquarters project in full. It boasts 69 previously unreleased recordings, including the entire album newly mixed from the original multitrack elements which were resynched to create the best fidelity version of the album ever available. It also boasts the debut of backing tracks made for an abandoned Don Kirshner-led version of the album, as well as the band’s earliest surviving demos, plus recordings that would be completed in 2016 for The Monkees’ final studio album, Good Times!.
 
HEADQUARTERS: SUPER DELUXE EDITION contains 4 CDs and a 7” vinyl single with “All Of Your Toys” b/w “The Girl I Knew Somewhere.” Limited to 4,000 copies worldwide, the set will be released on November 18 for $69.98, exclusively at Monkees.com. Pre-orders are available now.
 
 "After completing our first tour as a four-piece band in late 1966, Nez perceptively remarked that, 'Pinocchio had become a real little boy.' By the end of March 1967, Pinocchio had actually become quite a cool little dude (if I do say so myself) with the completion of Headquarters, the first studio album that we had been allowed to create entirely amongst ourselves,” says Dolenz.
 
“Monkee music was great music. Terrific songs crafted by gifted writers and produced by skilled producers. But Headquarters will always hold a special place in my heart. I remember the camaraderie, the collaboration, the enthusiasm and the occasional creative angst. And I particularly remember lying on the floor behind my drumkit between takes eating sunflower seeds.”
 
The creative journey that led to Headquarters unfolds chronologically on the new Super Deluxe Edition. It documents The Monkees’ struggle for artistic control with Don Kirshner, the group’s music supervisor. The group wanted to write and perform its own music, while Kirshner preferred to continue using outside songwriters and studio musicians to record backing tracks, with the band adding vocals later.
 
In January and February 1967, Kirshner oversaw sessions in New York where more than an album’s worth of backing tracks were recorded for the band’s planned third record. At the same time, in Hollywood, the Monkees – Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork – began recording songs with producer Chip Douglas. The Super Deluxe Edition includes the debut of the band’s earliest demos for “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” and “All Of Your Toys.” The band recorded them in January 1967 at Gold Star Studios to convince Kirshner the group should have more creative input.
 
Kirshner balked at the idea, and the showdown continued until late in February when he was dismissed from the Monkees’ project after unilaterally removing Nesmith’s “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” as the B-side on the band’s new single and replacing it with a different song. With Kirshner gone, the band quickly took creative control and began recording the album at RCA Victor Studios in Hollywood with Douglas producing (credited as Douglas Farthing Hatlelid).
 
While previous reissues like Headquarters Sessions (released by Rhino Handmade in 2000) have focused exclusively on The Monkees’ time in the studio, the new collection is the first to revisit the songs Kirshner planned to include on the album. The Super Deluxe Edition introduces 23 previously unreleased backing tracks from those sessions.
 
Many were recorded by producer Jeff Barry in New York early in 1967. They include several songs he wrote or co-wrote (“99 Pounds” and “Gotta Give It Time”), plus contributions from other songwriters, including two from Neil Diamond, who penned “Love To Love” and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.”
 
Along with selections from Headquarters Sessions, the new Super Deluxe Edition digs deep into the vault to uncover even more unheard outtakes from the band’s time in the studio in February and March 1967. The unreleased highlights from those sessions include “Detuned 12-Bar Jam,” an informal recording of Tom Paxton’s “The Last Thing On My Mind,” and different versions of album tracks, like “You Just May Be The One,” “Forget That Girl,” “No Time,” and more.
 
Grammy®-nominated producer/engineer Andrew Sandoval compiled and remixed the audio and penned the detailed liner notes that accompany HEADQUARTERS: SUPER DELUXE EDITION. In them, he writes: “Rather than plunder the previous reissues...the entire three-month period surrounding the creation of Headquarters has been reexamined to offer a deeper view…The primary goal has not been modernizing or reinventing what is now a legendary work but rather presenting it in the best possible light.”

THE MONKEES CELEBRATED BY MICKY DOLENZ

Tour Dates:

HEADQUARTERS: SUPER DELUXE EDITION
4-CD Track Listing
 
Disc One: Headquarters (& More) Remixed
1.   “You Told Me”
2.   “I’ll Spend My Life With You”
3.   “Forget That Girl”
4.   “Band 6”
5.   “You Just May Be The One”
6.   “Shades Of Gray”
7.   “I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind”
8.   “For Pete’s Sake”
9.   “Mr. Webster”
10. “Sunny Girlfriend”
11. “Zilch”
12. “No Time”
13. “Early Morning Blues And Greens”
14. “Randy Scouse Git”

Bonus Material
15. “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” – Version One
16. “All Of Your Toys” *
17. “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” – Version Two *
18. “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” *
19. “She Hangs Out” *
20. “Gotta Give It Time” *
21. “Love To Love” *
22. “99 Pounds” *
23. “You Can’t Tie A Mustang Down” *
24. “If I Learned To Play The Violin” *
25. “Sally” 1969 Version *
 
Disc Two: January 1967 Sessions
1.   “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” (Gold Star Demo) *
2.   “All Of Your Toys” (Gold Star Demo) *
3.   “She’s So Far Out, She’s In” – Backing Track (Take 2)
4.   “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” – Version One, Backing Track (Take 10) *
5.   “All Of Your Toys” – Backing Track (Take 1)
6.   “Love To Love” – Backing Track (Take 1) *
7.   “Love To Love” – Backing Track (Take 14) *
8.   “You Can’t Tie A Mustang Down” – Backing Track (Take 5) *
9.   “Gotta Give It Time” (Rehearsal) *
10. “Gotta Give It Time” – Backing Track (Take 4) *
11. “99 Pounds” – Backing Track (Takes 3 & 4) *
12. “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” – Backing Track (Take 2) *
13. “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” – Backing Track (Takes 3 & 4) *
14. “She Hangs Out” – Backing Track (Take 2) *
15. “I Wanna Be Your Puppy Dog” – Backing Track (Take 10) *
16. “Love Is On The Way” – Backing Track (Take 7) *
17. “Sally” – Backing Track (Take 2) *
18. “Sugar Man” – Backing Track (Take 6) *
19. “Poor Little Me” – Backing Track (Take 14) *
20. “If I Learned To Play The Violin” – Backing Track (Take 4) *
21. “Black And Blue” – Backing Track (Take 6) *
22. “Eve Of My Sorrow” – Backing Track (Take 7) *
23. “The Love You Got Inside” – Backing Track (Take 9) *
24. “Seeger’s Theme” – Demo (Takes 1 & 2) *
25. “Seeger’s Theme” – Demo (Take 3) 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
26. “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” – 1967 Mono Mix 1
27. “All Of Your Toys” – 1967 Mono Mix
28. “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” – 1967 Mono Mix 2
 
Disc Three: February 1967 Sessions
1.   “99 Pounds” – Alternate Vocal (Take 1) *
2.   “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” – Alternate Vocal (Take 1) *
3.   “She Hangs Out” – Alternate Backing Vocals *
4.   “If I Learned To Play The Violin” – CD-Rom Mix
5.   “99 Pounds” – Alternate Vocal (Take 2 with Handclaps) *
6.   “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” – Mono Single Mix
7.   “99 Pounds” – 1967 Mono Mix *
8.   “She Hangs Out” – Mono Single Mix
9.   “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” – Backing Track (Take 11) *
10. “Sunny Girlfriend” – Take 7 With Scratch Vocal *
11. “Mr. Webster” – Alternate Vocal Mix *
12. “She’ll Be There” – Demo, 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
13. “Midnight Train” – Demo, 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
14. “Can You Dig It” – Demo, 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
15. “Nine Times Blue” – Demo, 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
16. “Until It’s Time For You To Go” – Davy Demo, 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
17. “Until It’s Time For You To Go” – Mike Demo *
18. “Sunny Girlfriend” – Acoustic Remix
19. “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” – Mono Single Mix
 
Disc Four: March 1967 (& Beyond) Sessions
1.   “Randy Scouse Git” – Alternate Version (Take 18) *
2.   “You Told Me” – Take 15 With Alternate Vocal *
3.   “Peter Gunn’s Gun” – Backing Track, 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
4.   “Forget That Girl” – Take 15 With Alternate Overdubs *
5.   “Where Has It All Gone” – Backing Track (Take 12) *
6.   “The Last Thing On My Mind” – Informal Recording *
7.   “Randy Scouse Git/East Virginia” *
8.   “Forget That Girl” – With Alternate Backing Vocals *
9.   “Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho”
10. “Fever” – Backing Track, 1967 Mono Rough Mix *
11. “Pillow Time” – Alternate Take Of Demo Version *
12. “Masking Tape” – Backing Track (Take 16, Called “13”) *
13. “Detuned 12-Bar Jam” *
14. “You Just May Be The One” – With Alternate Backing Vocals *
15. “No Time” – Version One, Backing Track (Take 2) *
16. “Cantata & Fugue In C&W” – Unedited Version *
17. “The Story Of Rock And Roll” – Version One, Backing Track (Take 18) *
18. “Untitled Jam” *
19. “The Story Of Rock And Roll” – Version Two, Backing Track (Take 28) *
20. “Early Morning Blues And Greens” – Alternate Vocals *
21. “No Time” – Backing Vocal Mix *
22. “Just A Game” – Demos (Takes 1-3) *
23. “Zilch” – KHJ Radio Spot
24. “For Pete’s Sake” – TV Edit
25. “Tema Dei Monkees” – Mono 45 Version
26. “Love To Love” – 1969 Mono Mix
27. “You Can’t Tie A Mustang Down” – 1969 Mono Mix *
28. “Tema Dei Monkees” – Stereo LP Version
29. “99 Pounds” – Mono Album Mix
 
* Previously Unreleased