Colgems Records

P.K. Limited Music (Part Two)

2012-02-01T04:49:00.000-08:00

Here is the second and last part of the music that the duo P.K. Limited made for the Colgems label.

Enjoy, and I will be back with more Monkees Headquarters radio show material sometime in the near future.

P.K. Limited - Child of the West Wind.mp3
P.K. Limited - Forget About Me.mp3
P.K. Limited - My Imagination.mp3
P.K. Limited - Oh! What a Fool I've Been.mp3
P.K. Limited - She'd Be Mine.mp3

P.K. Limited Music (Part One)

2012-01-31T03:52:00.001-08:00

Due to a request, we are going to change gears for a moment.

P.K. Limited held down the fort as the Colgems label was on its last legs.

The group--actually Dan Peyton and Marty Kaniger, two songwriters for Screen Gems/Columbia Music--recorded numerous tracks for the label, with some being used as singles, others as soundtrack music, primarily for the film "Getting Straight."

Here is a sample of their music, including the rare "My Share of the Sidewalk" cover.

And go to my Ranting and Raving Blog for a further appreciation, at http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/.

More later.

P. K. Limited - My Share of the Sidewalk.mp3
P.K. Limited - Aint No Way.mp3
P.K. Limited - Feelings.mp3
P.K. Limited - Getting Straight (Main Title).mp3
P.K. Limited - Shades of Gray.mp3

New "Monkees Headquarters" Upload

2011-12-30T21:24:00.000-08:00

As a New Year's present, here is yet another "Monkees Headquarters" radio show.

This one is in two parts; here is the first, the second will run next month.

It was recorded this time of year 23 years ago in 1988.

Enjoy, and I promise more of these episodes in the year to come.

Monkees Headquarters-WBAU-December 29, 1988 (Part 1).mp3

New "Monkees Headquarters" Upload

2011-11-26T17:53:00.000-08:00

I have been searching for more "Monkees Headquarters" shows that I taped off the radio years ago, but so far, I have only come up with some excerpts of shows.

Here is one. It is brief, but it does give you the flavor of the show.

I am going to keep searching, and I hope to find some more to put up at the blog.

Please bear with me on this. I am sure I have some more to share with you.

Monkees Headquarters-WBAU-December 1, 1988 (excerpt).mp3

Rhino's New Head Re-Release

2011-11-08T02:23:00.001-08:00

For a review of Rhino's new "Head" soundtrack re-release, please visit my Ranting and Raving Blog at http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/.

Instant Replay From Rhino

2011-10-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

Rhino Records has done it again.

They are releasing the Monkees' "Instant Replay" in a three-CD set that includes lots of unreleased material, including tracks related to the NBC-TV special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee."

Although it won't be stereo versions of the finished tracks heard on the show, what will be included will certainly give an insight into the music that was used on that special.

So go to http://www.rhino.com/ for more details.

Monkees Headquarters-The Final Episode

2011-09-29T05:48:00.001-07:00

Here is the final part of the final episode of the Monkees Headquarters radio show. I still cannot locate part one, so I assume that I simply don't have it anymore.

And sorry for my absence. I have had some computer problems, and that is why the uploads have been so few and far between.

Monkees Headquarters-Final Show-WBAU-January 26, 1990 (Part 5).mp3

It's Clear To Me That Rhino Is Out of Their "Head"

2011-08-26T04:56:00.000-07:00

Rhino Records is at it again with Monkees catalog.

They announced on Wednesday that they are going to offer "Head," the soundtrack to the Monkees' only movie which originally came out on Colgems in 1968, in clear, 180-gram vinyl.

This set also includes a bonus 45 of "Circle Sky (Live)" b/w "Can You Dig It (Mono Mix)," and is strictly limited to just 500 copies worldwide.

This set ships in late September, and again, it is limited to just 500 copies.

Go to rhino.com for more information.

Personally, I would have preferred a release of the "Head" movie on DVD and Blu-ray. Yes, I know it is out in the Criterion collection, but who wants to buy that whole package when the only thing you want is "Head"?

And yes, I know that the Monkees TV series is being re-released on DVD, but it is the same version released by Rhino several years ago, which means the episodes are the edited ones, so don't get too excited, unless you don't already have them in your collection.

Now, can some enterprising record company release the Colgems catalog legitimately?

Monkees Tour Canceled

2011-08-10T04:23:00.000-07:00

The remaining dates on the Monkees 45th Anniversary Reunion Tour have been canceled.

Read all about it at http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/.

Hello From Vacation!

2011-07-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

I am on vacation now, so unfortunately, there will be no new posts until I get home.

I was so busy before going away that I had no time to put up anything.

But don't give up hope. When I come back, I will upload something new.

See you then!

Monkees Headquarters Radio Show

2011-06-30T01:57:00.001-07:00

Here is part 4 of the very last Monkees Headquarters Show.

There is still much more to come! Let me know what you think about these shows.

Monkees Headquarters-Final Show-WBAU-January 26, 1990 (Part 4).mp3

Monkees At Westbury

2011-06-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Read my review of their concert at http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/.

"The Monkeys": Subversive Enemy of the People

2011-06-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this a few minutes ago, and you have got to see this. It's an FBI file on "The Monkeys," and although much of it is hard to read and blacked out for security purposes, it is a must for anybody who thinks the FBI went too far under J. Edgar Hoover to root out anybody or anything they thought was a threat to this country, whether real or imagined.

I think in "The Monkeys" case, it was really like a scene from "Head."

http://vault.fbi.gov/the-monkees/the-monkees-part-01-of-01/view

More Monkees Headquarters

2011-05-28T20:42:00.001-07:00

Here is part 3 of the last Monkees Headquarters show. There is much more to come in the coming months. I hope you enjoy this.

Monkees Headquarters-Final Show-WBAU-January 26, 1990 (Part 3).mp3

Colgems Ad

2011-05-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

Here is an ad for Colgems artist P.K. Ltd.

It's for their first Colgems single.

These are becoming increasingly rare--I am talking about Colgems ads not featuring the Monkees--so I thought I would share it with you.

New Monkees Headquarters Show

2011-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand, here is another Monkees Headquarters Show.

This one is the first of four that are slightly different from the rest.

On January 26, 1990, the show was leaving the air. The final show was only supposed to last for an hour or two, but went on well into the night, for more than seven hours of Monkees business.

Unfortunately, I have lost the first 90 minutes of this show, but for the the next few months, I will put up what I have on this final show.

It was a doozy, with interviews, music and recollections about Peter, Micky, Mike and Davy.

So let's start with Part 2.

Monkees Headquarters-Final Show-WBAU-January 26, 1990 (Part 2).mp3

TGIF-New Monkees Rereleases In May

2011-04-04T05:41:00.000-07:00

Friday Music will be re-releasing several Monkees LPs with extra tracks on CD in May.

The list includes "Present", "Changes", "Pool It" and "Justus".

There is also word that the original David Jones LP on Colpix will be rereleased by this label.

I guess this means that the final Rhino Monkees rerelease will be "Instant Replay".

I hope Friday music does justice to these rereleases as Rhino has done.

Sure, you could argue with some of what Rhino did, but generally, they took more care with the Monkees' catalog than any other label has taken with any of its major acts' rereleases.

Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones on "The Tomorrow Show"

2011-03-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

"The Tomorrow Show," hosted by Tom Snyder, was an NBC late night show that was as unlike Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" as, well, 50 Cent is to Paul McCartney.

Johnny Carson's show, which preceded Tom Snyder's show, was a gabfest featuring major and minor Hollywood actors and actresses, sports stars, starlets and musical guests.

Tom Snyder's show was quite a bit different. Just as cable TV was coming into the fore, "The Tomorrow Show" was just about the only place you could hear talk on network TV about UFOs, transvestites, and drug usage.

His show had guests who would never show up on the Carson show, such as the Plasmatics and John Lennon.

It was outlandish, outrageous, and kind of a cross between David Susskind and public-access TV.

Several guests actually were on both shows at different times in their careers, and two of them, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones, appeared on "The Tomorrow Show" on September 1, 1977.

Micky and Davy were basically there to chat about their tour together at the time, directly after Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart fell apart. They were supposed to be on for maybe 20 minutes or a half hour, and another guest, hawking a book, was supposed to follow.

Well, as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and Monkees ... er ... men ...

Micky and Davy basically took over the show, with Snyder as the ringleader. He had them talk about everything and anything having to do with the Monkees, and Snyder was getting a big kick out of the stories they told. His trademark guffaw was readily evident that night, and he puffed cigarette after cigarette like a chimney.

At one point, the producer tried to tell Snyder that Micky and Davy were running long, and Snyder basically waved him off.

Suffice it to say, the boys were on for the full hour.

Here is the audio from that show, taped right off the TV I was watching the show on. I didn't have a video recorder at the time--these gizmos were around, but way too expensive for most people to own--so I had to resort to taping the audio only.

I still have this nearly 34-year-old tape, and the two files you see here are the audio portion of the show, with local New York City WNBC-TV Channel 4 commercials included, taken directly from that ancient tape.

The tape is pretty old, and the reason that this is in two parts is that the tape stopped in the middle at one point when I was transferring it, so I had to put the show in two files.

I believe the video of this was at one time on YouTube, but I don't think it is there anymore, so this will have to suffice for now.

If you never heard this before, it is a true classic, one of the best shows that Snyder ever did.

And he had a ball doing it!

Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz -Tomorrow Show, 9-1-77.mp3
Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz -Tomorrow Show, 9-1-77 (2).mp3

More Monkees Tour Dates

2011-03-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, the Monkees tour is coming to the U.S., and here are the tour dates. At most venues, tickets are not yet on sale.

Fri 06/03/11 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre

Sat 06/04/11 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall

Sun 06/05/11 Pompano Beach, FL Pompano Beach Amphitheatre

Mon 06/06/11 Jacksonville, FL Florida Theatre

Wed 06/08/11 Glen Allen, VA Innsbrook Pavilion

Thu 06/09/11 Morristown, NJ The Community Theatre At Mayo Center For The Performing Arts

Fri 06/10/11 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena

Sat 06/11/11 Niagara Falls, ON Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort

Sun 06/12/11 Niagara Falls, ON Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort

Wed 06/15/11 Lowell, MA Lowell Memorial Auditorium

Thu 06/16/11 New York, NY Beacon Theatre

Fri 06/17/11 Westbury, NY NYCB Theatre At Westbury

Sat 06/18/11 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa / Event Ctr.

Sun 06/19/11 Vienna, VA Filene Center At Wolf Trap

Mon 06/20/11 Hershey, PA Hershey Theatre

Wed 06/22/11 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE

Thu 06/23/11 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre

Fri 06/24/11 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Communities Pavilion

Sat 06/25/11 Cincinnati, OH Aronoff Center For The Arts

Sun 06/26/11 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theatre

Wed 06/29/11 Waukegan, IL Genesee Theatre

Thu 06/30/11 Merrillville, IN Star Plaza Theatre

Fri 07/01/11 Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis Zoo

Sat 07/02/11 Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis Zoo

Tue 07/05/11 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre

Fri 07/08/11 Tacoma, WA Pantages Theater

Sat 07/09/11 Ridgefield, WA Sleep Country Amphitheater

Sun 07/10/11 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery

Wed 07/13/11 Bakersfield, CA Majestic Fox Theater

Thu 07/14/11 Santa Ynez, CA Chumash Casino

Fri 07/15/11 Cabazon, CA Morongo Casino Resort & Spa

Sat 07/16/11 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre

Read more about the tour here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110301005922/en/Monkees-Celebrate-45th-Anniversary-Hitting-Road-Live

Monkees 45th Anniversary Reunion Tour

2011-02-22T05:37:00.000-08:00

They're back ... .

And no, Michael Nesmith is not part of this. Did you really think he would be?

If this makes its way to the U.S., I will be there, as I have since 1966.

May 12th Liverpool Echo Arena

May 24th Manchester Apollo

May 15th Newcastle City Hall

May 16th Glasgow Clyde Auditorium

May 19th London Royal Albert Hall

May 20th Sheffield City Hall

May 21st Birmingham NIA Academy

May 23rd Plymouth Pavillions

May 24th Cardiff CIAgoodma

May 25th Nottingham Royal Centre

And they have just added their first U.S. tour date, in Vienna, Va., on June 19!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/21/the-monkees-60s-uk-tour

http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/

New Monkees Headquarters Show

2011-02-21T05:02:00.000-08:00

As requested, here is another Monkees headquarters show.

I still have many more of these, but I think next time, I am going to put up something else, just to keep things from getting stale.

So enjoy this show, and look for another Monkees audio rarity next month.

Monkees Headquarters-WBAU-November 3, 1988.mp3

Another Monkees Headquarters Radio Show

2011-01-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

Here is yet another Monkees Headquarters radio show.

I don't have a date for this one, but it is probably from the same era as the other ones I have uploaded.

Please let me know how you feel about these shows.

Monkees Headquarters-WBAU-Date Unknown.mp3

Don Kirshner Has Passed

2011-01-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

Don Kirshner, the guiding force behind the Colgems record label and the success of the Monkees, passed away yesterday.

For an appreciation of his career both as music supervisor with the Monkees and his work with others, please go to http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/.

Another Monkees Headquarters Radio Show

2010-12-27T06:49:00.000-08:00

Since the last Monkees Headquarters Radio Show post was such a popular one, I have decided to close out the year with another one.

I hope you enjoy this one. Have a good New Year, and there's lots more to come at this blog, so stay tuned.

Monkees Headquarters-June 16, 1989.mp3

Monkees' LPs Cover Versions

2010-12-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

In the fall of 1966, the Monkees' TV show debuted, and with "Last Train to Clarksville" already approaching the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100, the Pre-Fab Four were red hot, and this continued for the better part of the next two years.

Everybody wanted in on the Monkees' success, much like what happened just two years earlier, when the Beatles became the talk of the entertainment world.

In 1964 (and even to this day), everyone wanted to record Beatles music, and take their original tunes and do their own versions of these songs.

The same thing happened with Monkees' tunes written by the band members and others. Many performers who were trying to be "with it" with the younger crowd wanted to cover Monkees tunes, and they did just that.

I thought it would be interesting to reconstruct at least the first three Monkees albums--the first album, "More of the Monkees" and "Headquarters"--with cover tunes recorded by a realm of artists.

I have started this project, and you can join in on the fun at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

I have tried to stay within the period I am talking about, so much of the music is from about 1966 to 1968. When I couldn't find period music, I used more recent interpretations--and to prove that Monkees music lives on, I was surprised at the wealth of cover versions from the past 10 years or so.

In some cases, I used the original version of the song, or the version put out by the songwriter him or herself. Doing this just adds to the fun. No live versions are used--that would be cheating.

I am into the second LP now, and such acts as the obvious--Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and Neil Diamond--and the not so obvious--the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Dickies--are all part of these cover version LPs.

You will hear everything from out and out rock and roll to punk to soul to muzak, and everything in between here.

So why not take a look? You might find a version of a song you've never heard, or might even like to suggest a version that I didn't use.

Monkees Headquarters Radio Show

2010-11-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

In 1986, due to saturation programming on MTV and a successful greatest hits album and comeback single, the Monkees regained their popularity with Baby Boomers and the kids of this group. They were again featured in the pages of the teen magazines, and were selling out one concert venue after another.

WBAU, the radio station of Adelphi University on Long Island, started to program a weekly Monkees show, "Monkees Headquarters," around this time. The show featured Monkees music (both released and unreleased), soundbites from the TV show, and interviews with many of the people who made the show and the entire Monkees world tick.

"Monkees Headquarters" was never a mass market hit, but WBAU created an excellent show around an unlikely subject.

I would like to have you listen to a few of these shows. Taken from the context of when they were broadcast (this one is from 1988), they were excellent guides for those both firmy ensconced in Monkeemania, as well as newbies.

And you will hear lots and lots of Colgems related material on these shows.

I recorded a number of these shows, and they are pretty much intact on 20-plus year old tapes. Some are in pieces (parts 1 and 2), some are pieces of shows, and others are in their entirety.

By the way, a few years after the Monkees radio show had run its course, WBAU was shut down by the university, and it was eventually replaced with a Web-based station.

Here is an entry of the show from July 23, 1988.

Let me know what you think about it.

Monkees Headquarters-July 23, 1988.mp3

New Upload - The Monkees "Barrel Full of Monkees" (The Final Colgems Release)

2010-10-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

The Colgems label limped into 1971 bereft of a talent roster, and literally on its last legs.

However, the Monkees TV show continued successfully in reruns on Saturday morning kids TV, and thus, a new greatest hits album--a double LP at that--was released to cash in on that popularity.

Released in January 1971, "Barrel Full of Monkees" was a hodgepodge of hits and album tracks culled mainly from the first five Monkees albums. You can access this LP at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

If you had Monkees albums at that time, you already had all of the tracks, sans another stereo version of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You."

Also somehow finding its way onto this double album was Mike Nesmith's "Listen to the Band," which is as out of place here as it appears to be.

Coming from the group's last real stab at a true hit single, the track pretty much overshadows everything else here because it seems so out of place.

But you can't argue with what is on here, everything from "I'm a Believer" to "Daydream Believer" and many of the other big hits that the group had from 1966-1968.

No, there is nothing from "Head" on here.

What you can argue with is the cheesiness of the package. A "barrel full of monkeys" image is on the front and back cover--how could one of the most photographed groups of the mid to late 1960s be left off the cover?

Open up the package, and you will see a photo from the early Monkees days, when Micky started to grow his hair out and they were still going to pass off Davy as a "guitarist."

Well, at least Peter Tork is in the photo.

With this release, the Colgems label closed down shop for good. However, there appeared to be at least two more releases planned for the label that never materialized.

The first was "Lost Horizon," the LP to the big budget bomb, and the other was another Monkees greatest hits album, this one a single release and set to be called "Greatest Hits 2."

There may have also been some others--especially soundtracks, but I can't find anything on that.

Colgems was absorbed into Bell, and a Monkees greatest hits package was released later on, called "Refocus." "Lost Horizon" came out on Bell. Even a lone Micky Dolenz/Davy Jones single came out on Bell.

But for all intents and purposes, the 1966-1971 run of the Colgems label--which morphed from Colpix and featured the Monkees as well as a number of other artists--was done.

Since then, sparked by the continued popularity of the Monkees, the label has won cult status among collectors, who search out the lesser known artists on the label. The Monkees albums, of course, have been re-released several times, on both LP and CD.

But what about the rest of the label? Much of the material continues to be in limbo, but based on what I have uploaded during the past couple of years, wouldn't it be interesting if some enterprising label actually legitimately released some of this material?

Colgems was driven by the Monkees, but I will always fondly recall the record label as one with an eclectic lineup of artists and a number of interesting releases beyong the Pre-Fab Four stuff.

I hope you have enjoyed these releases as much as I have enjoyed uploading them for you.

P.S.: This site is far from dead now that I have released everything on the label. I have a few other things of interest that I will put on links to on this site during the next few months.

Please check back regularly!

Go To the "Head" of the Class

2010-09-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

The "Head" bandwagon has revved up and it appears to be in full swing right now.

On Monday, Sept. 20, an expanded edition of the Monkees' soundtrack to their only movie will be released by Rhino Records. It will have numerous extras, including much unreleased material.

Then, a few weeks later, the film will be re-released in a boxed set of DVDs highlighting movies of the late 1960s. I have also heard that the film, also with numerous extras, will be re-released as a single film on its own before the end of the year.

"Head" is one of the most insane, off the wall movies ever released. If for some reason you may have not seen it yet, it is something that you must see not once, but several times. Each time you see it, you will get something different out of it.

It is not the Monkees' TV show dragged out to almost 90 minutes--it is something way more than that, giving us a vehicle to both look at Davy, Peter, Mike, and Micky at that time in their careers, but also a way to look at our society at that time and yes, a way to look at us.

This was guerilla movie making before the term was coined, and there are so many ins and outs to this film that it would take me a 10,000 words just to get into it superficially.

Funny, but the soundtrack often gets lost in the discussion of this film, but it is wonderful. It features some of the Monkees' best, most adult songs, and it also features snippets of dialogue and sound effects that make listening to the soundtrack another fulfilling experience, even if you have never seen the film.

I purposely am not going too long with this entry, because this is supposed to be a Colgems site, and really, all these years later, this has nothing to do with the label.

However, the re-releases are an astounding event, considering how the film and soundtrack bombed so badly more than 40 years ago.

So go out and get the album and DVD when it appears, because you will move to the "Head" of the class of rock and roll by doing so.

You won't be sorry, I can promise you that.

This Month's Colgems Upload - Golden HIts

2010-09-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Monkees TV show was a great success on CBS's Saturday morning TV lineup. The lunacy of the show fit right into the cartoons and other live action programs that made up this schedule.

Little kids who were either not born when the show originally ran from 1966-1968 on NBC, or were too young to watch it, now had the Monkees as their own as their older brothers and sister moved onto other musical and television interests.

In order to pacify the younger folks, CBS, RCA, Colgems and Post Cereals each participated in a plan to market the Monkees to these young kids, not on a major scale like they did a few years earlier, but with a smaller vision in mind.

The first parts of this marketing plan was the release of the "Changes" LP, and the video and single of the tune "Oh My My." The video was unique to the Saturday morning shows, and although the LP only featured Davy and Micky, it could satisfy the small fry's desire to own something "Monkees" that their older brothers and sisters didn't have.

Sure, the album and single flopped, but they were out there for the kids to buy--or, more to the point, for their parents to buy for them.

The next step in this program were the Post cereal box records. Parents were buying the cereal, anyway, so these records were an added bonus.

Out of the cereal box records promotion came "Golden Hits," a mail-away compendium of all the songs included in the cereal box record series.

You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

There was absolutely nothing new on this LP, and it was shabbily made and produced for the kids who collected the cereal box records, featuring those songs, and only those songs, on a vinyl LP that these kids could call their own. For some kids, it was probably the first vinyl LP they ever owned.

Although these kids didn't know it, the LP was an el cheapo, put out by Colgems though RCA's Special Products Division. Little care was given to its creation, and even song titles were misspelled on the back cover: check out the misspelling of "Valleri."

Anyway, parents had to send away for it, and I am sure that when kids finally received the LP, they were smitten forever with Micky, Davy, Mike (who was featured with Micky and Davy in a picture on the back cover) and Peter, who was not visually represented on the album but was actually on a few of the tracks musically.

Colgems was on its last legs, and had one more Monkees LP to release before it went kaput. More on that next time.

This Month's Colgems Upload - Monkees Cereal Box Records

2010-08-06T20:31:00.003-07:00

Sorry about last month, but I will try to make it up to you this month by including some of the rarest Monkees--and Colgems--records.

In 1970, the Monkees project was pretty much completed. Peter Tork was the first to leave, followed by Michael Nesmith, and Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones soldiered on as a duo for as long as they could.

Colgems, their record label, was also floundering. Although it had success with the "Oliver" soundtrack, its fortunes were directly tied into the Monkees, and with that project reaching its near end, it was time to make a somewhat daring move to try to revive sales ...

All because the Monkees TV show was becoming a staple of Saturday morning TV on CBS.

Incredibly, while the first generation of Monkees fans generally were now listening to heavier sounds, kids born in the mid to late 1960s were making the Monkees TV show a hit all over again, albeit on Saturday mornings. This gave Colgems hope that a new album, "Changes," could revive the act, now down to a duo. While it didn't do the trick (see previous post), Colgems was not yet done with a major marketing ploy to keep the Monkees in the spotlight, at least with little kids.

One of the Monkees original sponsors on NBC was Kellogg's, but they had moved onto other things by 1970. However, one of Kellogg's major competitors, Post Cereal, needed its own marketing ploy to at least keep in the game with Kellogg's. Post Cereal, like the Monkees franchise, needed a boost, and out of this marriage came ...

Cereal Box Records.

These records--found on the backs of cereal boxes--had been around since the late 1950s. I believe I remember seeing Mousketeers and Alvin and the Chipmunks cereal box records around this time, and this marketing tool was also used in intervening years, and not just on cereal boxes. For one, the Dave Clark Five promoted its film "Having a Wild Weekend" by having a cardboard record available on packages of Fresh Start Medicated Cleansing Gel.

Anyway, Post started to sponsor the Monkees TV show on Saturday mornings, and three of its cereals were involved in the cereal box record campaign: Rice Krinkles, Alpha Bits and Honey Comb.

These three sets of records each contained four individual songs, meaning that there were a total of 12 Monkees cereal box records available. All kids had to do was have their moms buy them the cereal, carefully cut out the record on the back, and place them on their turntable.

What they got were low-fidelity tunes that these kids' older brothers and sisters probably had already, but the marketing ploy was a hit. In fact, the next to last Colgems LP was actually a mail order item accumulating all of the cereal box records tunes on a single LP (more about that LP in the near future).

Although short-lived, the Monkees cereal box records established them as the first human rock group (remember the Chipmunks had them too) to be featured in a series on these records, and this was so successful that later bubblegum acts like the Jackson 5, Bobby Sherman and the Partridge Family had their own cereal box records--and so did another cartoon creation, the Archies.

Cereal box records continued to be used as a marketing ploy into the late 1970s or very early 1980s. At around this time, soundsheets emerged, and, later, when CDs replaced vinyl as the listening format of choice, cereal box records became artifacts of a different, simpler time.

As for the Monkees cereal box records, there were three designs. Design No. 1, which was found on the Rice Krinkles records, featured Micky, Davy, and Mike and a green label with guitar logos between each head in spiral. The four songs on these records were 1. The Monkees (Theme) 2. Teardrop City 3. Papa Gene's Blues 4. The Day We Fall In Love.

Design No. 2, which was found on Alpha Bits, featured a large Monkees logo in the middle, with Davy, Mike and Micky's heads around logo on a black label. The songs included in this series were 1. Last Train To Clarksville 2. I Wanna Be Free 3. Forget That Girl 4. Valleri.

Design No. 3, found on Honey Comb cereal, is my favorite, a red and white Monkees logo and musical notes on a purple background. The tunes in this series included 1. I'm A Believer 2. Pleasant Valley Sunday 3. (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone 4. Mary, Mary.

You knew what song you were getting because in lieu of an actual catalog number, the number of the song was pressed into the cardboard. Each of the records played at 33 1/3 RPM.

Here, for your listening pleasure, are a few of these cereal box records. Remember, the fidelity is horrible at best, and unfortunately, some of these have not survived very well, and they do skip.

But as artifacts of a different time, they are among the most fun records that I own.

(Note: if anyone has the remaining cereal box records and can put them into MP3s, please send them to me. Also, if you have ones without skips, I would appreciate it tremendously--and remember, the files must be off of the cereal box records, because the versions off of 45, LP and CD are plentiful, and are not needed for this section.)

Monkees - (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone (Cereal Box Record 3-3).mp3
Monkees - (Theme From) The Monkees (Cereal Box Record 1-1).mp3
Monkees - Last Train to Clarksville (Cereal Box Record 2-1).mp3
Monkees - Mary, Mary (Cereal Box Record 3-4).mp3
Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday (Cereal Box Record 3-2).mp3
Monkees - The Day We Fall In Love (Cereal Box Record 1-4).mp3
Monkees - Valleri (Cereal Box Record 2-4).mp3
Monkees - Teardrop City (Cereal Box Record 1-2).mp3
Monkees - Forget That Girl (Cereal Box Record 1-3).mp3

Vacation

2010-07-31T06:10:00.000-07:00

For the first time, I won't be posting a new Colgems uploaded this month.

I am on vacation with my family, and this is actually the first time I have been online in about a week.

The next upload will have to wait until I get home in August.

Again, sorry for the delay.

New Colgems Upload - "Changes"

2010-06-30T03:36:00.000-07:00

Several days late but better late than never, here is the Monkees’ final original recording on Colgems Records, “Changes.”

You can access this LP at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

Where do I start? Can I even be in any way kind to this recording?

Michael Nesmith bought out his Monkees contract sometime in 1969, but as part of the buyout, he had several obligations he had to fulfill, including appearing in several commercials with bandmates Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz, including for the then new Nerf ball. His likeness was also used on various Monkees-related products, such as cardboard cutout records that were turning up on cereal boxes across the country.

But recording-wise, he was done as a Monkee.

Reruns of the show had shifted over to CBS Saturday mornings, and a new generation of Monkeemaniacs were watching the show in significant numbers. I believe there was one more album on their contract anyway, so this was the perfect time to try and rekindle the hit-making flame that was once part of the Monkees success.

But with just two members, what do you do?

Jeff Barry and Andy Kim were put onto the project, and each was pretty hot at the time, Barry as a producer and songwriter and Kim as a songwriter and singer and oftentimes as Barry’s musical muse.

They put together an album of new songs and previously unreleased songs, and thus, “Changes” was born.

It is hard to review this album with any sense of clarity, because it is so bad that it truly speaks for itself through the grooves.

“Oh My My” is the leadoff track and the single culled from the album, and it is probably the only highlight on this LP. The song is sort of a pop-rock/soul mix, and Micky voice works perfectly. Even though it was backed by a newly shot video that was shown on the Monkees show, it barely grazed the top 100.

The other songs? Well, Davy said it best when he stated, “We recorded an Andy Kim album!” And that is just how it sounds; bland, boring and bogus. Micky and Davy, and in particular, Davy, seem to be going through the motions here. “99 Pounds,” a holdover from the early days, is the only song where Davy comes to life, and it is such a poor song that it is, well, lifeless anyway.

Micky’s “Midnight Train” is OK, but surrounded by everything else, it falls pretty flat too.

The cover artwork was actually culled from a photo of Micky, Davy and Mike from The Joey Bishop Show. Mike’s portion was edited out.

This album didn’t chart at all, and only found its way onto the Top 200 album chart years later during the Monkees revival.

It is a weak outing, top to bottom, and it closes out the Monkees saga on record—until years later, when their revival shook up the records charts via MTV.

As a curiosity, “Changes” is just that—what were the powers that be thinking when they came up with this?

"Changes" Coming

2010-06-29T10:16:00.001-07:00

No, I have not forgotten about this month's Colgems upload, which will be the Monkees' "Changes" album.

I have been so busy with other things that I haven't had much of a chance to digitize the tracks.

But give me some time, and it will finally be here!

New Colgems Upload - The Monkees Present

2010-05-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

Eight days late, but worth the wait, is the latest Colgems LP upload of "The Monkees Present."

You can access this LP at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

This was a strange time indeed for Colgems and Micky, Peter and Davy. With Peter Tork gone, and with continued obligations to produce music and go on tour, the remaining Monkees did both, although interest continued to wane.

Still regarded as one of the most popular rock groups in the country, the trio tried to blend soul and rock and pop on concert swing, using soulsters Sam and the Goodtimes as backing band.

It didn't work, and they often played to half or two-thirds empty houses.

But they were still ubiquitous on major network TV. If they weren't appearing on the Johnny Cash Show, they were on the Glen Campbell Show, and if they weren't on either of these, they were on Hollywood Squares or Laugh-In.

Reruns of their series was a rousing success on CBS on Saturday morning, so Colgems continued to have the trio churn out product.

"The Monkees Present" was actually the culmination of a project that had festered when Tork was still a band members. Originally, the project was slated to feature two records, and each Monkee would have a side--six songs--to showcase his talent.

When Tork left, that project was left in limbo, but so many tracks had been recorded, that Colgems execs could basically pick and choose exactly what they wanted from Micky, Mike and Davy.

And what they picked was OK.

The album boasted several tracks from each band member, each produced by the band member, and often helped along by another producer.

And like every Monkees album--even the bad ones--there were one or two standouts.

"Listen to the Band" was originally debuted on the Monkees TV special, "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee," and it appears on this album in a shorter version than on that TV show. It was also a single from this album.

It stands as one of the best of Mike Nesmith's Monkee compositions, even with the canned audience at the end.

Micky's "Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye" and "Mommy and Daddy" sound like the same song to me, but each has its merits. "Mommy and Daddy," in fact, Bubbled Under the Hot 100, and years later we heard the original, which was much more inflammatory than probably Colgems executives wanted to hear, so this is a shorter, nicer version.

Davy is on this album, but I don't think he really added much to the entire affair. His songs, the best of which is "French Song," are boring. After a strong effort on "Instant Replay," he, too, sounds bored here.

And then there is Nesmith's "Good Clean Fun," another charted song which actually was added to one or two episodes of the TV show. Years ago, I called this "pop flop," but I think it has aged well.

Nesmith continued to fill his obligations as a Monkee--including his appearances on TV shows with his bandmates and in print ads for the then unknown "Nerf" ball--but his mind was clearly set on a solo career, and he left the band right after this recording.

Micky and Davy soldiered on, and the mess that ensued will be heard next month.

New Picture Sleeve Blog

2010-04-24T09:24:00.001-07:00

I have created a new blog which might be of interest to you.

It is called "Picture Sleeves A Go Go!" and it can be reached at http://picturesleevesagogo.blogspot.com/.

This will be a vehicle for me to post scans of all of my 45 single picture sleeves onto the Web for everyone to enjoy.

I plan on posting everything I have from the 1960s to the current time, and with the photos, I will also provide short capsules on the performer and the sleeve.

This will be a picture sleeve site only; no music will be featured at the site. However, I may try to cross-pollinate where appropriate. I have so many sites now that I feel that I can do this flawlessly.

Right now, I am just into the letter A, from AC/DC to the Association. That being said, you will see and eclectic mix of material, and sleeves not just from the U.S., but from around the world.

I think looking at these sleeves will give you--and myself--a glimpse into both what was popular during the past five decades as well as seeing what I was into through the years.

I hope you find it as interesting as I have in starting it up.

Again, no music but all sleeves, all the time.

And by the way, please contribute to the site in the form of comments. There is a comment area under each section for you to leave your comments. I will do my best to answer them.

New Colgems Upload - The Monkees Greatest Hits

2010-04-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest Colgems upload, "The Monkees Greatest Hits." Released at a time when the Monkees were fading away into the sunset as a recording and TV act, the album serves as little more than an artifact of a different time and place.

You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

The TV series was over, the movie "Head" bombed, NBC balked on having another Monkees TV special after "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" tanked, and Colgems Records was pretty much in disarray with their headlining act nearing the end.

What's a poor record label to do?

The Monkees had had numerous hits three years into their existence,and the show was now being run on Saturday mornings on CBS, where an even younger generation of kids was experiencing what their older brothers and sisters had experienced just a few years earlier.

Colgems decided that the time was right for a formal Greatest Hits album. They took 14 of the most popular Monkees tracks of the past three years and crafted an LP out of these tunes.

It featured all the big hits, from "Last Train to Clarksville" to "Valleri," and a couple of international hits, such as "Randy Scouse Git."

But for the true Monkees fan like me, this album was pretty much barren of any semblance of something that I really needed. I had all the tracks, and even with the first stereo and LP appearance of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," this LP was not a necessity in my collection.

It was also made on the el cheapo, which didn't help matters. The cover doesn't feature any photos of the Monkees at all, and for a band that was so visual and that had its own TV series, well, you have to scratch your head at whoever decided to let this one go.

Also, the vinyl is probably the cheapest vinyl that was ever used by Colgems. It is flimsy, and you can hear the effects on a modern turntable.

I could have pieced together this album using better sounding tracks, but I decided to go with the original vinyl, so you could hear what I mean.

Anyway, the LP made it into the Top 100 albums chart, so Colgems still had hopes that the Monkees could make a go at it again. Two more original studio albums and two more greatest hits albums followed, and we will visit them in the future.

This Month's Colgems Upload - Instant Replay

2010-03-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Two weeks late, but better later than never, I guess.

Finally, I was able to digitize and upload my Colgems copy of "Instant Replay," an album that to this day I have mixed feelings about. You can access the LP at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

As a young listener, I don't think I really liked this album. Coming off the "Head" soundtrack, which was as bizarre--and tantalizing--as the film, this LP is something of a downer, and I still think it is.

But listening to it again as an adult, I don't dislike it as much as I did when I heard it years and years ago.

My change in thinking comes from this: although the music is truly up and down here, this album stands as Davy Jones' defining album as one of the Monkees.

Jones was thought to be the least talented of the foursome, at least musically, although he was a fine singer who had been on Broadway as the Artful Dodger in the classic Broadway show, "Oliver." But musically, he was thought to be out of his league, especially when compared to the likes of Michael Nesmith, and to a lesser extent, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz.

Jones was an excellent interpreter of songs, but as a musician and songwriter, he couldn't hold a candle to his bandmates.

That was put to rest on this LP. If you listen to a single song on this album, listen to "You and I," which is as stark a reality check on the then-current state of affairs in Monkeedom as any of the bandmates ever made.

His vocals also are top-notch throughout the album, and it's too bad that this LP is often dissed, because his contributions are the only real standout found here.

Whoever picked "Tear Drop City" as a single knew the group, now down to three members with the leaving of Peter Tork in late 1968-early 1969, was on a downward plane. This "Last Train to Clarksville" soundalike sounds like a demo, and should have been consigned to the scrap heap, but somehow, not only does it appear here, it was the single chosen to push this LP.

Much better is Micky on "Through the Looking Glass," which with a little bit of sprucing up, could have been a major hit for the threesome. As it stands, it is one of their best non-hit single pop confections, one of Boyce and Hart's top Monkee tunes.

Micky Dolenz also does fine work on his own "Shorty Blackwell," one of the weirdest Monkees songs that they ever recorded. It is a mini-opera about a mouse, I think.

You can gauge Michael Nesmith's interest in the Monkees at this point by his songs on this album. They aren't bad, but they aren't up to the standards that he set on earlier albums.

As a pastiche of old recordings, newer updates of these recordings, and new recordings, "Instand Replay" signals an act going down quickly.

And yes, Peter Tork's absence is clearly felt here. Even though his contributions had been a great source of debate in the Monkees' camp, he proved on "Head" that if given the opportunity, he could contribute as much as the others to the strength of the foursome. Here, having left the group, his spark isn't around anymore, and you can feel it listening to this collection.

It isn't a bad album, but it really isn't a good one either.

And Davy Jones saves it, which is saying a lot about the Monkees at this point in time.

Goin' Down, But I'll Be Back Up On My Feet Soon

2010-03-16T05:15:00.001-07:00

Due an accelerated work schedule, I must postpone the latest Colgems Album Upload for the time being.

I will be back in the saddle by next week, and that is when everything will resume.

Please bear with me as I get back to where I should be. Work has been impossible lately, and I must get that in check before I do anything else.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Rhino's "The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees" Re-Release

2010-03-05T05:46:00.000-08:00

I have kept silent about Rhino Records' re-releases of the Monkees original studio albums.

I strictly want to cover Colgems releases, not re-releases of product from the label.

But I will now make an exception.

They have done a pretty nice job with this project, but the re-release of "The Birds, the Bees, and the Monkees" outshines them all.

It is, hands down, the best re-release of an original album that I have ever seen.

Read more about it at the companion blog to this one, Ranting and Raving, at http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/.

This Month's Colgems Upload - Head Soundtrack

2010-02-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest Colgems upload, the soundtrack to the counterculture cult flick, "Head," starring the Monkees and a bevy of guest stars.

How do you describe this movie to the uninitiated? Well ...

Hey now wait a minute!
Now wait just a minute!

Hey hey we are the monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

We hope you like our story
Although there isn't one
That is to say there's many
That way there is more fun

You told us you like action
And games of many kinds
You like to dance, we like to sing
So let's all lose our minds!

We know it doesn't matter,
Cause what you came to see
Is what we'd love to give you,
And give it one, two, three!

But there may come three, two, one, two
Or jump from nine to five,
And when you see the end in sight
The beginning may arrive!

For those who look for meaning,
And form as they do facts,
We might tell you one thing
But we'd only take it back

Not back like in a box back
Not back like in a race,
Not back so we can keep it,
But back in time and space!

You say we're manufactured,
To that we all agree,
So make you choice and we'll rejoice
In never being free!

Hey hey we are the monkees,
We've said it all before
The money's in we're made of tin
We're here to give you more!

The money's in we're made of tin
We're here to give you--

*bang!!*

*scream!!!*

Gimme a w!

W!

Gimme an a!

A!

Gimme an r!!

R!!

What does that spell!!??

War!!

This is "Ditty Diego War Chant" from the soundtrack to the film, and I guess it best describes what the film is about.

The Monkees, with help from Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Bob Rafelson, and a host of others, wanted to deconstruct themselves, and with this film, they did just that.

After 58 episodes of the TV show, they were burned out, mentally, physically and musically. The four Monkees--who were relatively unheard of just two years before--were now some of the most recognizeable faces on the planet, and although they had much success, few in the musical community took them seriously.

With "Head," they wanted to explode the Monkees machine, and that they did. Everything created through the TV show was thrown out the window, and the foursome went in so many different directions during this film that the viewer needs a compass to figure out just where they, and the Monkees, are going at any given moment.

But the trip, as it is, is worth, um, the trip.

The soundtrack--which can be accessed at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/
contains some of the finest music created by the Monkees, along with the likes of King and Goffin and Harry Nilsson, and it set the bar very high for the band.

Peter Tork--who was to leave the group afterwards--particularly shines on this effort, with his "Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again" particularly brilliant. Why the Monkees powers that be kept his talent in a box is still open to bewilderment more than 40 years after the fact.

But it is "Porpoise Song" that stands out above the rest. It is a psyschedelic chestnut that continues to be savored all these years later, and the tune, credited to King and Goffin but probably written solely by Carole King--pulses with the time, and is shown over a creative sequence where the Monkees are seemingly floating underwater.

The other songs are masterful too, particularly "Circle Sky," Mike Nesmith's opus which was played live in the movie but is featured in a studio version on the soundtrack.

And that is the one buggaboo I have with the entire album: much of the music in the film is not found on the soundtrack. Oh, yes, versions are found on the soundtrack, but where is the live version of "Circle Sky," and where is the extended version--with a break--of "Daddy's Song"?

Anyway, that minor criticism aside, the movie tanked, as did the album, but years later, both have been praised high and low as counterculture highlights of the late 1960s.

And deservedly so. With all the talent involved--the Monkees, Nicholson, Hopper, Rafelson, and guest stars Frank Zappa, Annette Funicello, etc.--the film stands up to the test of time, even though the viewer may scratch his head wondering what is going on.

And the soundtrack is a real gem too.

After this album, the Monkees pretty much were on the scrap heap, but still generated several fine tunes over their last three albums, several singles and a TV special which made "Head" look like "Gone With the Wind."

This Month's Colgems Upload - The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees (Stereo)

2010-01-15T21:16:00.001-08:00

Here is this month's Colgems upload, the stereo version of "The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees. Although this upload will certainly garner less discussion than the mono version of this album, the LP is not without its talking points.

As the first and only Monkees album to have "one foot in, one foot out" of the series--and consequently, the first Monkees album not to hit No. 1--the record is probably the most schizophrenic of all Monkees releases.

You have both the inspired and uninspired, all on one LP.

Among the inspired tunes are "Auntie's Municipal Court," one of the group's most underrated offerings and with a great vocal by Micky Dolenz; "Tapioca Tundra," Mike Nesmith's tour de force about nothing; "Daydream Believer," one of the best of all the Monkees singles; "P.O. Box 9847," a Boyce and Hart gem; "Magnolia Simms," a clever tune with the first planned "scratch" in pop history; "Valleri," I know a lot of people hate this record, but it still sounds great, even though this album features its worst version; and "Zor and Zam," a great anti-war tune.

Everything else seems to wallow about, in particular the Davy Jones tunes.

But the biggest mistake is Nesmith's "Writing Wrongs"; with other inspired stuff here, what exactly was he thinking?

And, where is Peter Tork on this album? Sure, he is there instrumentally, but the strides he took on "Headquarters" seem to be forgotten forever on the next two releases, including this one.

You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

Anyway, Tork is allowed to return to form on the next release, and the group has perhaps their biggest musical triumph amidst a total disaster.

More next month.

Happy Birthday Davy and Mike

2009-12-30T04:04:00.000-08:00

Two Colgems alumni share December 30 as a birthday, and they are two of the biggest stars that were on the label.

Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith--one half of the Monkees--were each born on this day. Davy was born December 30, 1945 in Manchester, England, while Papa Nez was born December 30, 1942 in Houston, Texas.

Through an incredible stroke of luck and talent, both wound up as members of the Monkees, along with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork.

So, here's a toast to Davy and Mike--good luck on your birthday, and may you have many, many more!

This Month's Colgems Upload - The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees (Mono)

2009-12-15T19:10:00.001-08:00

"The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees" was the Monkees' fifth album, and the first not to hit No. 1 on the Top Albums chart. It still managed to hit a lofty No. 3, as the LP that spanned the TV show's demise and the move into a full-length film.

It is also the last Monkees album to be released in true mono (more on that in a minute).

The LP was pretty much a step down for the foursome, as it was a hodgepodge of songs from various sources. "Produced by the Monkees," or so it says, the album included two of the biggest hits in the group's career--"Daydream Believer" and "Valleri"--as well as some creative tunes, like Mike Nesmith"s "Tapioca Tundra" and "Magnolia Simms," with the built-in scratch on the record.

But it also featured some clunkers, including Nesmith's "Writing Wrongs," one of the most tedious tunes in the entire Monkees' canon, and "We Were Made For Each Other," not one of Davy Jones' better Monkee moments.

And where is Peter Tork on this recording? He is on some of the tunes--"Daydream Believer", for one--but that is it for his contributions.

There are several different mono versions of this album that were released around the world. Several months ago, I posted what I thought was the true mono mix of this album, only to find out that it was the stereo turned to mono mix that was used in England and elsewhere.

Over the past several months, I have searched around for an actual copy of the U.S. mono release, to no avail. As you probably know, it is quite scarce.

Very recently, someone was offering this on eBay for more than $500, which is way out of my budget.

So the tracks that I have uploaded for this LP were sent to me by someone. I am not sure if it is the true U.S. mono, but alas, other than the British mono, it is all I have.

You can access this recording at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

If someone has the true U.S. mono, and would like to share it with us, please contact me first at l_lapka@yahoo.com.

And if anyone is interested in selling their copy cheap, speak to me first.

Next month, we will have the stereo recording, direct from the record.

(P.S.: The very next day after posting this, I received several emails from fellow Monkeemaniacs and Colgems fans stating that the mono mix I uploaded was the genuine, honest to goodness, U.S. mono mix, and one respondent said I actually posted the master recordings. I subsequently uploaded the mono LP, directly from the vinyl, at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/colgems/. It was sent to me by a fellow Monkees fan.

So there you have it--one of the rarest of all the Monkees releases, and you can have it--at least the music--on the cheap. Enjoy!)

Micky Doing Theater

2009-11-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

If you were wondering what has happened to former Colgems alumni--and especially former members of the Monkees, Colgems' most successful act--this news flash came over the wire from something called TheImproper Music.

"Micky Dolenz, child television actor and star of a 1960s sit-com about a fictional band called, “The Monkees,” is heading to London’s West End, where he will appear in the hit musical Hairspray, TheImproper has learned.

The musical has had a hugely successful three-year run at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Dolenz will take the part of Wilbur Turnblad, the father of Tracy Turnblad.

Tracy, the show’s protagonist, is a cheerful, rotund high school student whose only desire is to make the cut as a dancer on a 1960s television dance show.

In the hit 2007 movie version, Wilbur, a genial joke-store owner was played by Christopher Walken, and Tracy was played by Nikki Blonsky.

Dolenz, was a child actor in Hollywood, who starred in a 1960s sit-com about a fictional music group called The Monkees.

The show, which played off the fame of The Beatles was a smash success and the cast formed a real-life musical group that scored a number of top hits. Dolenz will be on familiar ground on stage.

He has appeared in productions of "Grease," "Aida," "Pippin’" and "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum."

Dolenz most recently has been touring in “Teen Idol,” a show featuring hit music from the 1960s with former Herman’s Hermits frontman, Peter Noone and Mark Lindsay, former lead singer for Paul Revere and the Raiders.

He’s also wrapping up a tribute album to legendary singer/songwriter Carole King, entitled King For A Day. The album will be released around the time of his London-debut in February 2010.

In its three-year run, the West End’s version of Hairspray has won more than 40 awards.

In addition to Dolenz, actor Brian Conley will return on the same date as Tracy’s voluptuous mother, Edna. Pop legend Belinda Carlisle, formerly of the Grammy winning, all-girl band, The GoGos has been playing vain villainess Velma Von Tussle.

London has thoroughly embraced the show. The smash-hit recouped its entire £3.5 million investment in a record-breaking 29 weeks. The show opened on 30 Oct. 2007 to universal critical acclaim.

At the 2008 Olivier Awards, the UK equivalent of the Tony Awards, Hairspray won “Best Musical” as well as “Best Actor in a Musical” for Michael Ball, and “Best Actress in a Musical” for LeAnne Jones.

The Broadway version of Hairspray, based on a 1988 movie by John Waters, won eight Tony Awards in 2003, and was adapted to the big screen by New Line Cinema, starring John Travolta in 2007.

Set in 1962 in Baltimore, Md, “pleasantly plump” teenager Tracy pursues stardom as a dancer on a local TV show and rallies against the show’s policy of racial segregation."

Good luck to Micky! He had much success in England in the 1980s as a director, and now he is returning.

We will miss him while he is there.

This Month's Colgems Upload - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. (stereo LP)

2009-11-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

Here is this month's Colgems upload of the Monkees' fourth and most mature LP, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." It came out nearly 42 years ago on Nov. 25, 1967 and it was their fourth, and final, No. 1 album on the Billboard Top Albums chart.

The album was originally supposed to be a bit more expansive, and was set to include "Special Announcement," another "Zilch/Band 6"-type filler, and "Goin' Down," the Monkees' James Brown opus that was written by all the band members and Diane Hildebrand. However, the LP was finally pared down to 12 tracks, plus Peter Tork's lone vocal contribution, "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky," which was one of many such vocal meanderings that he recorded, and one of the few that actually was released back then. (He also did several variations on something called "Alvin," but those only came out much, much later.)

The use of the moog synthesizer was prevalent throughout the recording of this LP, and it is credited with being the first rock album to use this instrument. Whether that is true or not, it was certainly the first No. 1 rock album to feature it prominently.

Here is what Wikipedia had to say about it:

"The album is particularly interesting for the pioneering use of the Moog synthesizer, which Micky Dolenz introduced to the group and played in the studio; he owned one of the first twenty ever sold. Pisces is perhaps the first hit rock or pop album to feature the Moog. In any event, Pisces is one of the first few commercially issued recordings in any musical genre to feature the instrument. Micky Dolenz plays the synthesizer on "Daily Nightly" and electronic musician Paul Beaver plays the Moog on "Star Collector."

This album probably marked the zenith of the band's popularity, although more successes were yet to come, through a couple of singles which cemented their legacy as one of the top pop acts of their time.

You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

More Monkees next month.

This Month's Colgems Upload: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. (Mono)

2009-10-15T04:58:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest upload of one of the Monkees' mono albums, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." The LP was their fourth long player, and also their fourth, and last, number one album.

Some people consider this LP their best LP, but at the very least, it continues the high level of offerings that the band gave their fans beginning with the "Headquarters" LP.

However, this album was a bit different from its predecessor. While the Monkees showed the world that they could basically do it all with "Headquarters"--play their instruments, write the music--here, they basically went back, to an individual approach, where each song was crafted with different musicians.

Although the band played on many of the tracks, the "team" approach from the previous effort was not in evidence here, or certainly not in evidence to the extent that it was on the previous LP.

Here, Michael Nesmith really took the reigns as the band's guiding light. Most of the tracks have his stamp on them, either as a writer, singer, musician, producer, or all four, and the results are surprisingly fresh and vibrant. There is no other Monkees LP that exudes the confidence of this one, and it was clearly evident that Micky, Davy and Peter were running with Mike's notion that they could be a band--but here, they didn't have to use the team approach used in the previous effort to do it.

The tracks basically speak for themselves, led by "Pleasant Valley Sunday," which some claim is the group's finest song. The Carole King/Gerry Goffin tune's message--the boredom of suburbia--resonates, and the punch that Micky gives to the song with his vocals is classic.

Two older retreads--"She Hangs Out" and "Words"--are polished up and given new life on this album, and the Nesmith songs--most prominently "The Door Into Summer," which was contemplated as a possible single--are among the best tunes in his Monkees canon.

And who can forget the slightly psychedelic meanderings of "Daily Nightly" and "Star Collector"? The former certainly predated the future punk movement, while the latter is simply a tour de force between Micky and Paul Beaver, the moog synthesizer pioneer. And yes, this was probably the first pop/rock album to prominently feature the synthesizer, which at the time was something quite unique.

The only missing piece on the album, I believe, is that Peter Tork is pretty much missing in action on the LP. He does do the "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky" to the hilt, and instrumentally, he is on most of the tracks. But for some reason, the giant steps he took as a singer and songwriter on "Headquarters" is pretty much not in evidence here.

Otherwise, this album is pop/rock at its poppiest, and it stands as one of best albums ever released in this genre.

You can access the album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

This Month's Colgems Upload: Headquarters (Stereo Album)

2009-09-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the Monkees' third album, and third consecutive No. 1 LP. The tracks were taken directly from the vinyl that I have had in my collection for the past 42 years. You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

When I uploaded the mono version of this release, I went into a short history of the LP, so I won't do that again. But what I will talk about this time around is the possible reasons why a single was never released from this album in the U.S.

I don't know what the actual reason was, but I think I can come up with a few reasons why no song off this album came out as a 45 in the U.S.

First, I think that the Monkees were riding high at the time with "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"--a song which was contemplated for inclusion on the album but was scotched by the band as a result of the Don Kirshner fiasco--and slightly later, "Pleasant Valley Sunday." So, the group had singles on the chart, so there was no need to add another.

Second, I think that the Monkees looked at the what the Beatles had done with "Rubber Soul"--no singles either--and thought they could do the same, which would add to their credibility.

Third, I think Colgems, in its own way, may have wanted to punish the Monkees, blaming them for the Don Kirshner fiasco, and one way to do that was to release the LP without any singles.

Certainly, whatever the reason was, the album had its share of possible singles.

In Europe and elsewhere around the world, "Randy Scouse Git"--known as "Alternate Title" due to its risque title, at least in Europe--was a huge hit across the globe, and it gave credibility to not only the Monkees as a whole, but to Micky Dolenz as a songwriter. This is just what the band had been looking for, and I think Colgems knew this.

Anything on side two of the record--unquestionably the finest side of music the band produced during its short lifespan--would have qualified as a single (less "Zilch" of course). "For Pete's Sake," which was used as the TV show's second season closing theme, was a simply incredible track, and it was partly written by Peter Tork. "Sunny Girlfriend," one of Mike Nesmith's poppiest compositions, would have qualified too.

But the song what would have worked the best was, I think, way too controversial for Colgems liking. "Shades of Gray" would have been a great single, but I think the record company might have been worried about its anti-war sentiment to put it out as a 45.

As it is, it stands as one of the Monkees' greatest songs, on what is probably their best album.

This Month's Colgems Upload: Headquarters (Mono LP)

2009-08-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the Monkees' third album, Headquarters, in glorious mono. You can access the album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.
This was their third consecutive No. 1 album, and it is, perhaps, the most significant piece of vinyl that they put out during their short period as a musical entity.

The story is pretty well known by now. The Pre-Fab Four wanted to be more than just actors in a TV show and singers on their albums. They wanted to have complete and total power over their music, meaning that not only would they pick the tunes, but they would sing and play on them too.

Don Kirshner, who was the svengali engineering the Monkees' early successes, held firm, believing that the best way for the foursome to continue their chart dominance was to follow the same formula of having them sing on their albums, on songs that were chosen for them, with only occasional instrumental participation. He felt that this was the right way to go, with only Michael Nesmith really contributing as an all-around performer, writing, producing, singing and playing on one or two self-penned tracks per album.

Give Nesmith credit. He could have stayed back, accepted the benefits of being the only Monkee to really contribute to their success musically, and all would have been fine and good. Instead, as the leader of the group, he felt that the talents that Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz brought to the table were extremely viable and important, and he wanted the public to know that the Monkees were a talented unit beyond the TV show.

He got his wish. Kirshner was fired from his position as their musical supervisor, and RCA, Colgems and NBC put their faith in the foursome, and Headquarters is the result.

The Monkees, now a real band, played on each track, with help from several outside musicians. They wrote or co-wrote several of the tracks, and pretty much picked which tracks they wanted included on the disk.

Monkees fans just love this album, and I think, personally, it is probably, at least, their most fun LP to listen to from top to bottom, and it may very well be their best album in total.

Almost every track is a highlight, but incredibly, the tunes written by bandmembers Nesmith, Tork and Dolenz stand head and shoulders above the rest.

"Sunny Girlfriend" and "You Told Me" are Nesmith's poppiest concoctions, ear-friendly flower power odes to that time and place.

Dolenz's "Randy Scouse Git," known around the world as "Alternate Title," reflects his out-of-left-field songwriting talent, as he sings about a party he had attended where the Beatles held court. The song's title is Liverpudlian slang, and it was banned from the radio under this name in Europe and elsewhere, thus the change to the rather strange alternative name.

And Tork ... co-writing "For Pete's Sake" also showed a side of him that probably few knew existed. Used as the Monkees' closing theme during their second season, the song talks in general about freedom, but you kind of get the idea that Tork is also singing (through Dolenz) about his own personal freedom as a musician.

Although Jones didn't write any of the songs, he and Tork both shine on "Shades of Gray," maybe the Monkees' most mature tune to date.

And the Monkees wanted everyone to know how much fun they had creating this LP, and included "Zilch" and "Band 6" to demonstrate this camaraderie that they now enjoyed.

One note: "No Time" was credited to Hank Cicalo, a music engineer who worked tirelessly on the album. In reality, the Monkees wrote this tune, but gave it to Cicalo as a gift. RCA was not happy about this, but they eventually went along with this. Years later, Cicalo said that the inclusion of his name as the writer of the song proved a windfall to him, so much so that he bought a house with the money he earned from this "credit."

The album vaulted to No. 1 without the benefit of a single released culled from the LP. Any of the above-named tunes would have worked, but the band was so hot then that singles released weren't even matching albums that were available--"Pleasant Valley Sunday" finds it way to their next album.

And the LP is the answer to a major trivia question: what album did the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band supplant as the No. 1 album in America? The answer is Headquarters.

And there was some minor controversy over a "beard" cover that snuck its way out into stores, showing Micky, Peter and Mike with some shaggy growth. Reportedly, that album came out in 1968 or 1969 as a rerelease, and is highly sought by collectors, although it is not that uncommon.

What could the Monkees do to follow this effort up? Find out next month.

Most Sought After Colgems Soundtrack?

2009-07-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Now that I have been doing this blog for a couple of years, I have found that some monthly uploads get a roar of approval, while others come and go with a complete thud.

However, there is one soundtrack that keeps going strong, even though I think few of us have ever seen the movie that it is the soundtrack to.

The Interlude soundtrack is one of the rarest records on the Colgems label. The soundtrack is to a 1968 film starring Oskar Werner and Barbara Ferris, and at least in the U.S., the film seemed to have a somewhat short run, even though it generally garnered pretty good reviews.

It features both classical and movie pop tunes. I didn't think it would be to everyone's taste, but I was wrong.

I get asked about this soundtrack about once a month, mainly from those outside of the U.S., who fondly remember the film.

No, I have yet to see it, but if you want the soundtrack, it has been posted here at one of my sites for many months:

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/Colgems2/

If anyone has any fond memories of the film, please share it with us. I have never seen the movie, but I am getting to the point where I must find this film somewhere to see if, at least for me, the soundtrack merits such attention.

New Upload: The Monkees "More of the Monkees" (stereo album)

2009-07-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here is this month's upload, the stereo LP version of their multi-million selling "More of the Monkees" album, the second of their four number one LPs.
Again, this version that I have posted came directly from the LP that was released in 1967 and not from any updated CD source.

Although pretty much the same as its mono counterpart, I found many of the mixes here to be a little punchier than what was found in mono, including "Your Auntie Grizelda" and "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)."

However, I personally prefer the mono mix of "I'm a Believer" and '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," and since those tunes were definitely mixed with radio airplay in mind, it doesn't surprise me one bit that the mono mix is, at least in my mind, far superior than the stereo mix, even if the 45 mix is the one that got the airplay.

Again, the Monkees were at their height of popularity when this came out, but troubled waters loomed ahead. The Monkees wanted more control of their music, and wanted it at all costs, no matter who was put out to dry by their insistence on their own creativity.

This insistence was soon to lead to a bit of chaos, but what came forth was one of their better--if not their best work--during their relatively brief existence.

You can access the "More of the Monkees" stereo album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/files/Monkees/

More next month.

This Month's Colgems Upload: More of the Monkees (Mono Album)

2009-06-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Monkees had become an international phenomenon after their first album and single reached the top of the charts, so it was only a matter of time before their second album and single would be released.

"I'm a Believer," their second single and their second straight No. 1 45, was released in December 1966, but the release of an album came later. Supposedly unbeknownst to the bandmembers, Don Kirshner released "More of the Monkees" in February 1967. The album also reached the top of the charts, but its release also signaled that all was not right in Monkeesville.

As an album, although not as good as the first LP, this record had numerous fine moments mixed in with some less than stellar material.

The LP opens with one of the group's best efforts, "She," but it is followed by the less than praiseworthy "When Loves Comes Knockin" (At Your Door)," which was a knockoff of the hit "Forget Him" by Bobby Rydell.

Two terrific tunes follow: Mike Nesmith's "Mary, Mary" (a song that gave the Monkees some street cred as it was covered by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) and "Hold On Girl."

Peter Tork received his first lead vocal on the novelty tune "Your Auntie Grizelda," a song that perpetuated the myth that he was the "dumb" Monkee. It has since become one of the group's most popular in-concert offerings.

The album's nest three songs are all top-notch: Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart's "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," Neil Dimaond's "(Look Out) Here Comes Tomorrow," and Mike Nesmith's "The Kind of Girl I Could Love" stand up to anything the band ever recorded.

However, it is followed by what is perhaps the Monkees' worst recording, "The Day We Fall In Love." This tune was certainly included to capitalize on Davy Jones' popularity with the girls, but it is pure trash.

Next comes Micky Dolenz's favorite Monkee song, "Sometime in the Morning," and if you had any doubt about his vocals, his performance on this song puts them to rest.

Again, a great tune is followed by trash, this time, "Laugh," another one of the group's poorest songs.

However, it is picked up by probably the group's most famous and best song, "I'm a Believer," the aforementioned top of the charts tune that cemented the Monkees' place as hitmakers of the highest order. Neil Dimaond's tune captured the time, the momemt and the top spot on the Hot 100, and to this day stands as a classic recording.

Problems were beginning to percolate, though. Kirshner continued the use the formula of having minimal instrumentation provided by the band itself, and Micky, Davy, Peter, and primarily Mike were starting to get unnerved about the entire affair.

The release of this album, with the band in their JC Penney attire, stirred negative feelings in the foursome that were really never overcome, even after Kirshner was subsequently shown the door.

This is the original mono album from the actual mono release, and the album can be found at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

More next month.

Colgems/Ranting and Raving Mashup

2009-05-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

To build some type of traffic for my relatively new Ranting and Raving blog site at http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/, I have decided to publicize it through the Colgems site.

Ranting and Raving is a place where I vent my frustrations with the world as I see it, and I definitely invite all of you to do the same too. I talk about a lot of things at this blog that I would never bring up here, including President Obama, the state of music and television, and gas prices.

It's actually a fun blog, and I post at least five times each week.

If you are looking for a place to (electronically) scream at the top of your lungs, this is the place to go to, each and every day.

Again, please visit Ranting and Raving at http://rantingravingblog.blogspot.com/

And again, sorry for the cross-pollination, but I feel it is another way for me to boost visits to this new site.

This Month's Colgems Upload: The Monkees (Stereo Album)

2009-05-15T20:15:00.001-07:00

Here is this month's Colgems upload, the stereo version of The Monkees' debut album. The success of this album propelled Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith to the top of the pop charts.

There was much controversey when this album came out. It was well known that the group did not play on every song on the album, even though the TV show gave viewers the impression that they performed instrumentally on each and every song.

The controversy was kind of bogus. With the schedules that most bands had at the time--concerts and recording--it was very rare for groups to perform instrumentally on every song. The Beach Boys certainly didn't, and even the Beatles had used a drummer other than Ringo on an occssion or two.

However, the Monkees' situation was quite different. With the foursome being a group created for a TV show, the usual rock band pressures were multiplied, as the group not only recorded and had concerts, but they also had a TV show to do.

In order to cash in quickly, studio musicians were used on all the tracks on this album--although the Monkees did perform instrumentally on some of the tracks. Nesmith and Tork did play on some tracks--primarily Nesmith's two offerings, "Sweet Young Thing" and "Papa Gene's Blues"--and Dolenz is also supposedly on some tracks.

Jones, not much of a musician but a solid stage performer, might not have played on any track, although his voice--and Dolenz's--are heard throughout the album.

Although the best was yet to come, this debut album certainly stands as one of the best "first" albums in rock history.

You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

Colgems Blog Is Three Years Old

2009-04-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to the Colgems Blog, which celebrates its third birthday today!

When I started this blog, I had no idea where it would take me and those who visited, but three years later, I am very pleased to say that the blog really has taken on a life of its own.

At this point, all of the non-Monkees Colgems LPs have been made available through this blog, as have all the Colgems singles.

Now the hardest part: to sustain the blog with the Monkees albums, the originals and not the remastered albums that have come out during the past few years.

Thanks to you, those who visit the blog. I obviously cannot put up something every day, but keep on checking back--you never know what you will find here.

Larry Lapka

P.S: I created this blog on this date so it would run side-by-side with my own birthday, which is on April 28. Happy birthday to both myself and the blog!

New Colgems Upload - The Monkees (Mono)

2009-04-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

After having uploaded every non-Monkees Colgems album during the past three or
so years, it is time to look at the major moneymaker of the label, the act that
enabled the label to exist and prosper and try out all the disparate acts that
were on the talent roster: The Monkees.

Yes, the Monkess albums have been released and re-released and re-released again
many times in many different formats, but if you are like me, there is nothing
like hearing the Pre-Fab Four in monophonic sound, just like we probably heard
them for the first time nearly 43 years ago on our home hi-fi sets.

Sure, many of us bought the stereo release way back when, but I will bet that
most of us went with the mono release, especially of this album.

Rhino Records has done a great job in releasing Monkees product over the years,
but many have the opinion that the most recent releases of the first four
Monkees albums left something to be desired in the remastering of the mono and
stereo tracks. The mono tracks, in particular, just don't sound like the mono
tracks we remember. I don't know if they could, anyway, what with the listening
experience shifting from analog LPs to digital CDs, but there was just something
missing in these remastered tracks.

So, I have taken my own Monkees album and digitized it, and now present it to
you in its unbridled, pop-filled glory. It generally sounds great, and you
really haven't heard "Last Train to Clarksville" until you hear it the way it
was put out in 1966.

Otherwise, the first five Monkees albums have been reviewed and dissected
numerous times over the years, as has the entire catalog, so I won't do that
here.

I will say that this is one of the best albums of its genre, and if you haven't
heard it in a while, listen again--I guarantee it will bring back many, many
memories.

You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

Next month--I need to know--do you want me to upload More of the Monkees in mono
or The Monkees in its original stereo version that many of us bypassed for the
mono version I just described?

Please let me know.

Monkees Mystery Greatest Hits LP Uploaded

2009-04-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

The entire unreleased Monkees Greatest Hits LP that I described a few days ago has been posted at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/, and I have tried to follow the guidelines for the album, that all tracks are in stereo. The tracks came from various sources, so the sound quality might vary from track to track.

This is not one of my monthly Colgems uploads, because the album never came out on Colgems, but it is filled with tracks, some, but not all, of which came out on Colgems in stereo.

Let me know what you think.

What's Next At the Colgems Blog?

2009-04-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

Over the past many months, I have uploaded every Colgems album (less the Monkees) and single that was released from 1966-1971. Although that phase of this blog is over, there is a lot more Colgems material to release that has not found its way onto legitimate CDs.

How can that be, you ask. Well, give it some thought before you answer; the clue is within the blog itself.

If you can't figure it out, in 13 days from today (April 2) it will become apparent.

And no, this is not a late April Fool's Day joke.

Colgems Obituary: Maurice Jarre

2009-03-30T05:09:00.001-07:00

Maurice Jarre, who had a hand in composing numerous Colgems soundtrack scores, has died.

This obituary is from Reuters, and was appended by me to highlight his Colgems work.

Oscar-winning French composer Maurice Jarre, who wrote the rich, lyrical scores for films including "Doctor Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia," has died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. He composed numerous movie scores for Colgems, including "Lawrence of Arabia," "Night of the Generals," and "The Professionals." His themes also appeared on the soundtrack compilation "Film Festival: 16 Great Movie Themes."
Jarre's music won him Academy Awards for "Doctor Zhivago", "Lawrence of Arabia" and for "A Passage to India," all directed by David Lean. He also worked with directors from Alfred Hitchcock and Luchino Visconti to Peter Weir.
"Working with the world's greatest filmmakers, he showed that music is as important as visual image in the success of a film," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement paying tribute to Jarre, who died over the weekend.
"The works to which he contributed so masterfully are part of cinema history forever," he said.
Throughout the morning, French radio played extracts from "Lara's Theme," the recurring motif from Doctor Zhivago that became an easy listening classic, as well as the dramatic score to "Lawrence of Arabia."
Jarre, who had lived in Los Angeles for many years, was one of the most successful and industrious film composers of his time with more than 150 credits to his name.
After making a start working on French films in the 1950s, he made his international breakthrough with the score to the 1962 Lean epic "Lawrence of Arabia," [which I might add was the only record to be released on both the Colpix and Colgems labels].
His work spanned five decades and his richly orchestrated scores contributed to films from "Ryan's Daughter," "The Tin Drum" and "The Year of Living Dangerously" to "Mad Max III" "Fatal Attraction" and "Witness."
Jarre maintained that music should be a central part of any film. "If it's just there to underline a piece of action or a love scene, it's really not interesting. It's like putting too much sugar in a cake," he said.
His final award came as recently as last month when he won a special prize from the Berlin Film Festival.
"Film composers often are in the shadows of great directors and acting stars," said festival director Dieter Kosslick when he announced the award.
"It's different with Maurice Jarre; the music of Doctor Zhivago, like much of his work, is world famous and remains unforgotten in the history of cinema," he said.
Maurice Jarre was the father of electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre.

I would like to add that I have found that his soundtrack work truly stands on its own. Not only did his music aid the telling of their respective stories, but they also stood alone from the films they came from as musical masterpieces, able to be listened to separately from their films as works of art.

He will truly be missed.

Colgems Mystery: Second Greatest Hits LP?

2009-03-27T04:09:00.001-07:00

According to a March 21, 2009 Wikipedia entry, Colgems was slated to release a second Monkees greatest hits LP, but the plans were scuttled when the label folded.

The Wikipedia entry said that prior to the eventual closing of the Colgems record label in 1971, a test-pressing of another Monkees hits LP — called "Greatest Hits, No. 2" — was planned. Like its predecessor, it contained 14 songs: four of these songs were key album tracks; five songs were issued on both singles and albums; the remaining five selections were previously released only as singles and would have made their album debut on this collection.

The entry goes on to say that once again, the Top 40 hits "Words" and "Tapioca Tundra" were overlooked for this compilation.

While no official catalog number was ever assigned, the track listing was in place right from the start. Further documentation reveals that all 14 songs were in true stereo. The track line-up was as follows;

Side 1:
"(Theme From) The Monkees"
"Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)"
"Someday Man"
"Good Clean Fun"
"Oh My My"
"What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?"
"D.W. Washburn"

Side 2:
"For Pete's Sake"
"Listen To The Band"
"It's Nice To Be With You"
"The Girl I Knew Somewhere"
"Tear Drop City"
"Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again"
"Goin' Down"

This is interesting, because I heard that the soundtrack album for the failed film musical "Lost Horizon" was also originally slated to be a Colgems release too, but again, the Colgems release was shelved when the label went under.

Does anyone have any further information about either the Monkees LP or the "Lost Horizon" album, or planned releases from Colgems that never saw the light of day?

New Colgems Upload: Film Festival-16 Great Movie Themes

2009-03-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Well, we have come to this: the final Colgems album that I had yet to post (other than the Monkees LPs). I have finally uploaded it for your listening pleasure.

I don't know much about the history of this recording, although it is a compilation of soundtrack tunes from a variety of composers, including Burt Bacharach and Maurice Jarre.

It includes music that was on Colgems releases, as well as music that was on its predecessor, Colpix Records. Since it was released in 1969, I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the label was planning on further re-releases of Colpix material, but for whatever reason (perhaps the sinking fortunes of the label) never got around to it.

The star of this outing is Maurice Jarre, who was sort of the in-house soundtrack composer for Colgems. He has no less than four of the album's 16 tunes, including the Main Title From Lawrence of Arabia, where he conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

By the way, the Lawrence of Arabia sountrack was the only LP that was released on both the Colpix and Colgems labels.

I think that to sum this very rare album up, it shows the diversity of Colgems' soundtrack recordings, from the majesty of Lawrence Arabia to the drugged out Plus Strings from Head to the hipness of The Look of Love from Casino Royale.

Yes, it's quite the curiosity. I couldn't even get a good cover photo on this one.

You can access this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

More next month.

Happy Birthday Micky

2009-03-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Colgems alum Micky Dolenz, who turns 64 today.

His career, which began when he was a little kid as Micky Braddock on the "Circus Boy" TV series, continues unabated. His next challenge: sharing the bill with Peter Noone and Mark Lindsay on the newest version of the Teen Idols tour, which begins in May.

Again, happy birthday to the owner of one of the greatest and most recognizeable pop/rock voices in history!

Colgems Alum Tork Has Cancer

2009-03-04T19:42:00.001-08:00

Word has made the rounds that Colgems alum Peter Tork is being treated for cancer. Here is the official word from his Web site:

"Peter Tork, former member of the hugely popular 60's pop group The Monkees and current bandleader of blues-rock band Shoe Suede Blues, announced Tuesday that he has recently been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. This uncommon and generally slow-growing form of head and neck cancer is most frequently found in the salivary glands but in his case was discovered on the lower region of the tongue.

"It's a bad news, good news situation," explains Tork, "It's so rare a combination(on the tongue) that there isn't a lot of experience among the medical community about this particular combination. On the other hand, the type of cancer it is, never mind the location, is somewhat well known, and the prognosis, I'm told, is good."

Tork, 67, will undergo extensive surgery Wednesday, March 4 in New York and doctors will follow with a round of radiation treatment. Preliminary findings from a biopsy show that the cancer has not spread beyond the initial site."

"For Pete's Sake" let's all wish him well.

New Upload: The Complete Colgems Singles (Vol. 9)

2009-02-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

Here is the final volume of the Complete Colgems Singles. This volume features music by P.K. Limited, the Monkees, and Sally Field.

The label was basically in tatters by 1970, although it still was producing 45s, LPs, and Monkees cereal box records to help promote the Monkees TV show, which had moved over the Saturday mornings on CBS.

P.K. Limited released a couple of singles during these last days, mainly tied into their work on the soundtrack of Getting Straight. Their song "Just My Imagination" was actually the B side of two singles during this period, including the label's final single, with a cover of the Monkees "Shades of Gray" being the A side. "Getting Straight" and "Feelings" were also from the film.

The Monkees final single was actually with just two Monkees. Even though Michael Nesmith was contractually bound to the project--and actually appeared in a few commercials promoting the Nerf line of indoor playthings--he had moved on to his own solo career, the first album of which he actually reworked a few Monkees songs in a more country-rock vein.

So the Monkees were left to Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones---and Jeff Barry and Andy Kim. To help promote the TV show on CBS--and to fulfill their contracts--the Changes LP came out, which, as Davy Jones has stated, was the Monkees doing their Andy Kim album, as a good number of the tracks were written and produced by Barry and Kim. There was little that could be called creative on the album, although "Oh My My" was sort of a soul/bubblegum conglomeration that Micky Dolenz aced but the public didn't buy, even with extensive promotion and a video shown during the CBS reruns featuring Micky and Davy on motorcycles.

The cereal box singles led to a premium album, Golden Hits, and for one last hurrah, Barrelful of Monkees, a cheap looking greatest hits album, was released to little fanfare.

Colgems Records was turned over to Bell Records in 1971, and a leftover single from the Changes sessions, credited to Micky and Davy, was eventually released.

The ride was a good one, but it was over. Since then, the Monkees catalog has been well released by Arista and later Rhino, and a smattering of the other acts have had some songs legitimately released on a variety of compilations.

I hope this look at the singles that were produced by Colgems from 1966 to 1971 was illuminating, showing that he label was much more than just the Monkees.

You can get these files at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania

P.S.: The Sally Field song that I included was released as a promo a few years earlier.

Happy Birthday Peter Tork

2009-02-13T05:43:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to wish a happy 67th birthday to Colgems alumnus Peter Tork. He is the oldest of the Monkees, and is still "Monkeeing around" with his current band playing the blues.

There was some tomfoolery done with his birthday year during his time with the Monkees. Some sources stated that he was born in 1944, so as to make him younger than Michael Nesmith, the acknowledged leader of the band, but Tork's actual birth year is 1942. Nesmith won't be 67 until December 30.

Happy birthday Peter!

New Upload: The Complete Colgems Singles (Vol. 8)

2009-01-15T19:50:00.001-08:00

Here is the latest in the series of Colgems singles compilations. On this volume, the music of the Monkees, New Establishment, P.K. Limited, and Alex Keenan are spotlighted.

The end was coming closer for the Colgems label in the fall of 1969, but the label trudged on with a number of high-quality singles releases. The Monkees came out with one of their most interesting singles during this period. Although "Good Clean Fun" and "Mommy and Daddy" generated little interest, Michael Nesmith, in his last hurrah as a member of the Pre-Fab Four, and Micky Dolenz continued to show that they weren't just good musicians, they were fine songwriters too.

The New Establishment was a pop folk group which offered a lot of promise, so much so that a Colgems album was planned for them, but never materialized. Their tunes on this volume--led off by their charted "Sunday's Gonna Come On Tuesday," and followed by "Baby the Rain Must Fall," "I'll Build a Bridge," and the oft-covered theme song to the TV show Here Come the Brides, "Seattle," demonstrated that they were a talented group, and an album probably would have been a good one.

Alex Keenan was a staff writer, and had been on several soundtracks, and his song "One Day of Your Life" could have, and should have, been a smash. However, superstar Andy Williams also covered this song, and his version is the most popular. However, Keenan's version was a major hit in Hawaii. The flip, "Power of Your Mind," is another pretty good tune.

As the days of Colgems were being counted down, P.K. Limited, along with the Monkees, became the label's last sustaining act. Whether recording soundtrack music or 45s, the duo did what they could to keep the train rolling. "Forget About Me," "Child of the West Wind," and "Ain't No Way," off the Getting Straight movie soundtrack, showed a lot of high quality, but the Colgems monicker was sinking, and the label's acts were sinking with it.

You can get these files at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania

Happy Colgems Vacation

2009-01-06T05:47:00.001-08:00

My family and I just returned from vacation in Orlando, Fla. We had a great time, although it wasn't really swimming weather.

I just wanted to let you know that I am back for another action-packed year at the Colgems blog.

The next post will be on or about January 15, so stay tuned.

Happy Holidays From the Colgems Blog

2008-12-16T10:20:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to say happy holidays to everyone who has visited here during the past year.

This blog has been lots of fun, and there will be much more coming in 2009--including the final postings of the Complete Colgems singles and the only Colgems LP I have not yet posted (other than the Monkees albums).

So stay tuned, and have a good Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwaanza and a happy and healthy new year.

It's Colgems in 2009!

New Upload: The Complete Colgems Singles (Vol. 7)

2008-12-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

Here is the next volume of this continuing series, showcasing the acts on the Colgems record label.

The volume includes music by Stanley Myers, the Monkees, P.K. Limited, Paula Wayne, and the Fountain of Youth.

The volume opens with some film music from the little seen "Otley." This single incorrectly lists Alex Keenan as the performer of this song, but Keenan did the single's A side only (see Volume 6).

The Monkees check in with four songs on this volume. The bubble had pretty much burst by this point, what with the show completed and their movie, "Head," leaving the whole project in shambles. But the show was now part of the Saturday Morning kids show lineup, and the Monkees name still carried some value. Thus, even though "Tear Drop City" is a letdown from its close cousin "Last Train to Clarksville" and the "Head" film music, it still is pretty catchy. "A Man Without a Dream" might be Davy Jones' finest vocal performance as a Monkee, and then there was "Listen to the Band," which might be the Monkees' absolute best song. Michael Nesmith valued this song so much he re-recorded it twice--as part of the Monkees special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" in a longer version and as part of his band project after the Monkees with the First National Band. "Someday Man" is also catchy, but not that memorable. Incredibly, all of these songs made the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, attesting that the Pre-Fab Four wasn't dead ,,, at least not yet ,,, even though Peter Tork was no longer a member of the band at this time.

Paula Wayne continued to notch some really good, but little heard tunes by this time, and the single included here, "Denver to L.A." and "You With the Darkness On Your Mind" was perhaps her best all-around 45 release.

P.K. Limited have two songs on this collection: "Oh What a Fool I've Been" and "She'd Be Mine," and along with the Monkees, they remained with the record label until the bitter end.

And then there was the Fountain of Youth. Again, I say, how the heck didn't these guys become big hitmakers? I have no answer, other than to say that "Liza Jane" and "Witness People" should have done the trick, but didn't. Personally, I think people looked at their output as being filled with nothing but Monkees rejects, but I can't agree; their singles are filled with unique "Sunshine Pop" that was as good as it got, but I just don't think people "got" it.

You can access this music at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania

More next month.

New Colgems Group!

2008-11-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

I have created a new group that I think you might be interested in. It is called Colgems Singles and it can be accessed at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ColgemsSingles/.

This is a companion site to my other Yahoo Groups and my other Colgems groups and to this blog. On this site I will repost all of the Colgems singles that have been uploaded onto my other sites. This is a planned nine-volume set, so just so many tunes can be placed at once.

If you are missing a volume, check back there from time to time, and you may find it there in due time.

And please, do not take my files to RapidShare or any of the other services; when that happens, the exclusiveness of my uploads vanishes. I can't stop anyone from doing this, but I would prefer that these files stay here.

This site is set up for those with both dial-up and high-speed connections, and when you use one of those services, dial-up is inevitably shut out, and I don't want that to happen.

This music is for everyone, and that is how I would like it to continue to be.

Larry Lapka

New Upload: The Complete Colgems Singles (Vol. 6)

2008-11-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

Finally, with the help of some good people, I was able to complete this latest volume of The Complete Colgems Singles. A few days late, but worth the wait.

This volume highlights the usual Colgems branded bubblegum pop and several movie-related tunes.

Sally Field's two contributions to this volume, "Gonna Build a Mountain" and "Months of the Year" are two non-album tracks that fit right into her popular "Flying Nun" persona.

The Monkees' film "Head" opened in 1968 to horrible reviews, and it was quickly pulled out of theaters, only to emerge years later as a major cult classic. This volume includes the 45 released from the film, "Porpoise Song" and "As We Go Along," and they are the two of the best tracks the Pre-Fab Four ever did. If you have not heard this soundtrack, make it a point to do so, because these are but two of several terrific tunes that can be found on this recording.

Why the Fountain of Youth did not become major recording stars is beyond me. Here is another great single from this band, "Sunshine on a Cold Morning" and "Day Don't Come."

"Interlude" is one of those relics from another age, a film that I still not seen but by all accounts was an excellent late 1960s offering. Here are two songs by composer Georges Delerue, the instrumental of the theme and "The Interlude Triangle." Based on this soundtrack, I would love to see this movie.

Colgems continued to plug Sajid Khan as the Indian version of Davy Jones, and you can hear the comparisons with the single "Dream" and "Someday." His voice is thin, but he gives it a great try.

Finally, Alex Keenan comes in with "Tell Her You Love Her," which was featured in another obscure 1960s curio, "Otley." I haven't seen this one either, but based on the other films that were featured on Colgems soundtracks, I'll bet it was good.

You can find this latest volume at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

Complete Colgems Singles Vol. 6 Delayed

2008-11-15T12:53:00.001-08:00

The release of the Complete Colgems Singles (Vol. 6) will be delayed a little bit due to the fact that I am missing the pictured single. I actually had a file of this 45, both A and B side, but when my computer crashed some months ago, these files went up in cyber smoke, and I have been searching for a replacement since.

I think I have found the replacement, but it may take a while to get it, so I am postponing the post until this music comes in.

Give me some time. I think it will be well worth your while.

Thanks.

VOTE For the Best (Colgems) Team

2008-11-04T05:02:00.000-08:00

Actually, this is the team I would vote for today--plus ol' Wool Hat, of course--if I had the chance, but since they are not on the ballot, all I can say is VOTE!--

And watch the Biography Channel on Thursday, November 6, where they rerun the Emmy nominated Monkees biography from 2007 and a new bio on Davy Jones back to back!

New Upload: The Complete Colgems Singles (Vol. 5)

2008-10-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

Here is the fifth volume of Colgems singles. Highlighted on this set are Fountain of Youth, Jewel Akens, Sajid Khan, Paula Wayne, Lewis and Clarke Expedition, and Peter Kastner.

Notice that there are no Monkees singles on this volume. Peter, Micky, Mike and Davy were preparing for the movie Head, and without a TV show to film, there was a brief lapse in time without any Monkees singles on the market. This allowed these other acts on the label to shine.

The Fountain of Youth contribute a song B side with "Don't Blame Me (For Trying), while soulster Jewel Akens offers two strong sides, "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" and "You Better Move On."

World music wasn't called that 40 years ago, but Sajid Khan may have been the first world rocker. "Ha Ram" certainly sets the path, with its Indian rhythms. "Getting to Know You" is a cover of the classic tune, but it, too, is handled in a different way from the norm.

Paula Wayne offers more top-flight pop with "Now That I Need Him" and "I'll Break Your Heart," while the Lewis and Clarke Expedition come in strong with another great 45, "Daddy's Plastic Child" and "Gypsy Song Man."

Actor Peter Kastner didn't record much for the label, but this volume contains his strongest single: "I Just Can't Get Over You," and the elusive "Time Out." The latter might just be his best song.

All in all, this collection shows that there was much more to the label than just the Monkees.

You can find this collection at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Albumania/

More next month.

Colgems Obituary: Peter Kastner

2008-09-23T04:31:00.000-07:00

Former Colgems recording artist Peter Kastner passed away on Thursday, September 18. Here is an obituary from the Toronto Star.

Peter Kastner – who will always be remembered as the juvenile delinquent rebelling against his upper-middle-class Canadian parents in the 1965 surprise hit Nobody Waved Goodbye – died suddenly Thursday night while driving his car in downtown Toronto.

The cause was apparently a heart attack. He was less than two weeks shy of his 65th birthday.

Kastner achieved stardom early, beginning as a child actor in the early days of Canadian TV and winding up in Hollywood as the star of Francis Ford Coppola's 1966 comedy You're a Big Boy Now.

But after starring in a disastrous ABC sitcom, The Ugliest Girl in Town, in which he played a young man disguised as a young woman, his career tanked, and his life story turned into a bizarre twist on Sunset Boulevard, with Kastner turning into an updated Canadian male incarnation of Norma Desmond, the deluded former star of silent movies.

After moving back to Toronto from the U.S. a few years ago, Kastner played coffee houses (including Free Times Café) and comedy clubs (including Yuk Yuks) with a one-man show. He not only milked the irony of his own career crash but attacked his mother, the late Rose Kastner, resulting in a bitter estrangement from his three siblings and other members of the family.

"We all adored him when we were growing up," says his brother John, Gemini and Emmy-winning documentary director. "He was hugely talented and seemed blessed by the gods. But he left home at 18, and we don't know why he became so troubled. We just did not recognize the Peter Kastner of the last decades.

"We were all estranged from him, but we wished him well. He seemed to be mired in a bitter, angry attack on the family that loved him so much. And in our view, it was full of lies, especially about our mother. We couldn't understand it."

Peter was the second of four children who grew up in the family home backing onto a Forest Hill ravine. Their parents, prominent leftists, were in the printing and publishing business.

Peter's older sister, Susan, was a Star staff writer for many years. John, who followed in Peter's footsteps as an actor early on, went on to a distinguished career as a film producer-director. Their younger sister, Kathy Kastner-Berns, worked for a time as host of a Toronto CBC current-affairs show.

With encouragement from Rose, Peter gained acclaim as an amateur in the Dominion Drama Festival and was spotted by a CBC casting director who gave him his big break in a children's drama called Emil and the Detectives. He remained a busy child actor and, at age 18, starred in the popular Canadian variety show Time of Your Life.

Nobody Waved Goodbye, directed by Don Owen, was supposed to be a National Film Board documentary but became an improvised drama with Kastner earning acclaim for his performance as an endearing, misunderstood teenage rebel. The movie had a fresh, authentic flavour, and Kastner's performance combined bite with charm.

When it played the New York Film Festival in 1965, it was called "marvellous" by The New Yorker's Brendan Gill and was chosen one of the year's best by critic Judith Crist.

The next year Kastner was starring in Coppola's coming-of-age comedy, with a supporting cast that included such icons as Rip Torn and Geraldine Page. That performance came close to landing Peter the lead in The Graduate – but Mike Nichols gave the role instead to Dustin Hoffman. Kastner also had a success on Broadway in The Playroom opposite Karen Black, who was his girlfriend for some time.

His ABC sitcom, The Ugliest Girl in Town, made him some serious money but turned out to be a career-killer he could never live down. It was high on TV Guide's list of the 50 worst series ever made.

In the 1970s and 1980s Kastner appeared in minor movie roles and acted frequently on episodic TV series including King of Kensington. But his career was on life support by the time he made his last movie, Unfinished Business – Owen's sequel to Nobody Waved Goodbye – in 1984.

"He has been a mythic figure for much of my life," says Jamie Kastner, his nephew, "but I have this sense of someone with huge talent who somehow went awry."

Last year when Jamie's film Kike Like Me was being screened at Hot Docs and the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, his uncle Peter distributed flyers promoting his own one-man show, including a video attacking the Kastner family. The flyer featured the Star's glowing obit for Rose, along with a promise to tell the real truth about his mother.

Besides his siblings, Kastner leaves his second wife, Jenny.

New Upload: The Complete Colgems Singles (Vol. 4)

2008-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here is another volume of Colgems singles. This volume highlights the Monkees, Fountain of Youth, Paula Wayne, and the Lewis and Clarke Expedition.

Through 1968, the Monkees were still riding high as among the top pop groups in the world. Their strong single, Valleri/Tapioca Tundra, showed just how strong they were, with both sides charting on the Hot 100 chart. Later, they would hit again with D.W. Washburn/It's Nice to Be With You, but the end was coming near for them as chart champions.

Other Colgems artists were beginning to make their mark. Paula Wayne, like Davy Jones, was a seasoned Broadway performer when she recorded a few sides for the label. Yours Until Tomorrow/It's a Happening World might have been her best single.

The Fountain of Youth should have been huge, but they weren't. They put out a number of singles on the label, but could never make it to the next level. This volume highlights three of their top sides, including a fine cover of fellow labelmates' the Monkees "Take a Giant Step."

The Lewis and Clarke Expedition were the label's No. 2 act behind the Monkees, but that was like finishing second in a two horse race. Chain Around the Flowers is one of their top tunes, a perfect meld of country and pop.

You can find this album at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Albumania/

The next volume in the series currently has one hole in it that to date I have not been able to fill. Peter Kastner's Time Out is desperately needed--anybody out there have it and is willing to share it with the rest of us? Please let me know!

Thanks.

Colgems-Need Your Assistance

2008-08-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

I hope you are enjoying the Complete Colgems Singles posts as much as I enjoy putting them up.

Now I have to turn to you for help.

I don't have every Colgems release, and for a future volume, I need the following two songs:

Now That I Need Him (Paula Wayne)
Time Out (Peter Kastner)

Would anyone have both or either of these? If you can help us out, please send them to my email address at l_lapka@yahoo.com. MP3s preferred.

Thanks.

New Upload: The Complete Colgems Singles (vol. 3)

2008-08-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the third in a continuing series of singles from the Colgems label.

This volume highlights the eclectic mix of artists on the label. The volume begins with one of the Monkees' all-time favorite B sides, Goin' Down, which is their (and Diane Hildebrand's) treatment of Mose Allison's Parchment Farm. The song gave Micky Dolenz his chance at James Brown-like immortality, and remembering the TV series, one of the most beloved videos is of Micky doing a great impersonation of the hardest working man in show business.

But this volume is more than just the Monkees. Two of the most controversial films of the 1960s are represented by songs on this volume--tunes by Quincy Jones (In Cold Blood) and Frank DeVol (Guess Who's Coming To Dinner) gave these films as sharp a musical edge to go with their inherent sharp social themes.

In addition, two celebrities that are better known for other things than singing--Sally Field and Rich Little--are highlighted on this volume.

One special note is the inclusion of Field's Golden Days and The Louder I Sing (The Braver I Get) single. Some discographies state that this record never was actually released; perhaps it was quickly pulled, but it is included here anyway.

Enjoy this volume; there is much, much more to come in this series.

You can access it at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

What Do You Think?

2008-07-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

A member of one of my Yahoo Groups asked me to upload all of the Monkees material that I had, primarily the albums (both mono and stereo).

As you know, my main purpose with this blog and my Colgems group was to highlight the other acts that populated the Colgems roster. I purposely stayed away from the Monkees because that material is widely available.

However, I know a lot of my members were completely dissatisfied with the mono and stereo mixes on the latest rereleases of the Monkees' first four albums. They have told me that the original mixes were much better and should have been used, but weren't.

Does this warrant the task of digitizing these albums? I am putting that question to you, because I simply can't decide on my own.

What do you think?

This Month's Upload-The Complete Colgems Singles Volume 2

2008-07-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

I have uploaded the next in the series of Colgems singles.

This group features a diverse number of artists, including Sally Field, Jewel Akens, the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, the Hung Jury and the Monkees.

The label was in high gear during 1967, and it showed with this slowly expanding talent roster. The real surprise here might be the Hung Jury tracks, which are 1960s power pop at its best.

Although the Monkees continued to get the majority of attention, the tunes by Sally Field (as the Flying Nun) and the LCE were also getting some attention as the label tried to show that it was something more than a one-hit-act entity.

These files can be accessed at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

More next month.

This Month's Colgems Upload: The Colgems Singles Collection

2008-06-16T20:59:00.001-07:00

I have been fascinated with the Colgems label since childhood, and my Monkees records are among my most cherished possessions.

However, as an adult, I have been able to dig a little deeper into the Colgems catalog, and found that the label not only was home to the Monkees, but to a slew of other acts at one time or another, including the Lewis and Clarke Expedition and Hoyt Axton.

I have wanted to post the Colgems single catalog in chronological order for the longest time, and now is the time I start this project.

This first piece of the catalog contains 11 songs, which amounts to five singles--or is it six. You see, Colgems rush released the Monkees "A Little Bit You, A Little Bit Me"/"She Hangs Out" in the midst of the Don Kirshner controversy. It was pulled almost immediately, and I, personally, have never seen the 45, although it is rumored to exist--but I have since been alerted that it never actually came out in the U.S., only in Canada. So what I did is that rather than upload one of the album versions of this song, I uploaded the version heard on the TV show. It is less a horn section, which makes it a bit different from other versions of this song.

Hoyt Axton had a long career, both as a singer and actor, and on this collecton is his lone single for the label.

The Lewis and Clarke Expedition, which featured future country star Michael Martin Murphy, was perhaps Colgems' second most successful pop act, although in comparison to the Monkees, they weren't really too successful. I have included their charting single in this collection.

Stay tuned for further volumes of this series. I promise you that the material will get rarer "as we go along" (the title of a Monkees B side from the movie "Head").

You can access the first volume of this catalog in the files section at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

Happy Birthday To The Colgems Blog

2008-05-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Due to my illness, it completely escaped me that this blog reached its second birthday on April 27--the day I actually went into the hospital.

This has been a true labor of love for me, and I have had lots of fun putting it together and searching for all of these lost albums and 45s. I have found many of them due to this blog and my Colgems Yahoo site, and I can't thank you, the visitors to this blog, enough in helping in my searches.

As the (non-Colgems) song goes, I'm feeling stronger every day, and I hope to continue this blog into the future.

Thanks again for your support.

New Colgems Uploads

2008-05-09T05:08:00.000-07:00

Coming off my recent surgery, I have to thank JP outright for supplying us with links to two of the missing Colgems albums.

Still recuperating, these will be the uploads for May. I hope to have something new for June, but my whole schedule was thrown off by this unexpected surgery.

If you still do not have the links to these two albums, Otley and The Southern Star, here they are.

And again, thanks to JP for supply them.

http://rapidshare.com/files/110097837/Otley.rar

And The Southern Star:

http://rapidshare.com/files/110095860/The_Southern_Star.rar

Where Have I Been?

2008-05-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

You might have wondered where I have been for the past week or so, so let me fill you in on some developments in my life over the past seven days.

Early last Sunday morning, I had very bad stomach indigestion, so bad that I had to be taken to the hospital. I had never had such pain before, and believe me, I hope to never feel such pain again.

Anyway, the pain was so great that I passed out in the waiting room. To cut to the chase, I had numerous tests performed on me last Sunday, and it all led to one conclusion: that my gall bladder had to be removed.

I guess I was due--in my first 50 years I never had an operation of any kind, and was only in a hospital a few times--never for myself directly--including when my two kids were born.

Without going into all the gory details, I had the operation--on my birthday yet, Monday, April 28--and there was a minor complication, but literally a week later, I feel pretty good.

A number of restrictions had been placed on me, which I am following to the letter. I hope to be back driving and back at work later this week.

Anyway, again, I feel pretty good now, so I am back, hopefully for good.

Thanks for your patience.

Larry Lapka

This Month's Colgems Upload: The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees (mono)

2008-04-15T20:17:00.001-07:00

In my quest to release every single record that was released on the
Colgems label, I have decided to go against what I said when I began
this crusade: "I will never upload a Monkees record," simply because
all of their records are so readily available ...

That is, all but this one. Although Rhino Records will soon re-
release this album in both stereo and mono formats, I decided to
jump the gun a bit, giving everyone a chance to listen to the album
first, and then buy it later from a legitimate record source.

The Birds, the Bees, and the Monkees is kind of a schizoid type
affair, and that might be why, unlike its four predecessors, it
failed to hit the top of the chart. You've got material that made it
onto the show, like "I'll Be Back Up On My Feet," you've got Don
Kirshner-era material, like "Valleri," you've got hits,
like "Daydream Believer," and you've got material that never made it
to the show, like "Magnolia Sims."

Yes, it is a hodgepodge, lots of great stuff mixed with lots of
filler, whether you listen to this in stereo or mono.

Personally, I kind of like the mono mix of "I'll Be Back Up On My
Feet," but all in all, if you liked the stereo version of this
album, there's no reason why you won't like the mono version.

This album will remain available until May 15, and you can find it
at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/.

"Singalong At Shea" With Colgems

2008-04-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

This is a news item that probably isn't making much of a presence outside of the New York Metropolitan area, but within the New York area, this has been a major news item for about a week.

It appears that the New York Mets are trying to choose an official song, which they will play at home games during the eighth inning whether they are winning or losing. They had an online poll, and rather than choose the various suggestions Mets management made, some unscrupulous Internet-ites chose a horrid Rick Astley song.

The Mets were backed into a corner, and had to play that song to see how it would fare amongst fans. It was roundly booed.

The next day, the Mets played a Bon Jovi song, which met with a collective "who cares" from the fans.

Then, on Thursday, April 10, the Mets played the Monkees' "I'm a Believer." Guess what? The fans loved it!

According to news reports, this song surged ahead of the others "based on the hearty singing [of fans] that accompanied it."

Next up is long-time New York area favorite Billy Joel's "Movin' Out."

What any of this has to do with baseball is anyone's guess. I'm a Yankee fan, anyway.

But I still would go with "I'm a Believer."

Next Colgems Upload

2008-04-05T21:33:00.001-07:00

For the next Colgems album upload later this month, I am going to go against my original plan, which was never to upload a Colgems album by The Monkees.

The reason that I am uploading this one particular album is that the version that I am going to make available is extremely rare--although it will be out legitimately, hopefully in a few months.

This upload will give you a taste for the actual release, and you'll get it several months earlier than the release I'm sure you'll purchase.

This latest upload will take place on or around tax day, April 15.

Colgems: Please Help!

2008-03-19T05:13:00.001-07:00

With the uploading of the long-searched-for Lawrence of Arabia soundtrack, I am down to just three albums that I don't have, either via LP or digitally, from the Colgems catalog.

I do not have Otley, Southern Star, or Film Festival as of yet.

Does anyone have any of these in MP3 format.

When I finally get these (and I will, eventually), I will gladly post them.

One visitor told me in an email that he will be sending two of the LPs to me, and I hope to have them soon, and I really appreciate the effort he is making to get them to me.

But I just want to cover all my bases and get them all!

Can anyone help?

This Month's Colgems Upload: Lawrence of Arabia

2008-03-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

Lawrence of Arabia has an interesting history both on film and on record. The film, starring Peter O'Toole and Sir Alec Guiness, won a number of Oscar awards in 1962, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography, although its three hour and 42 minute length made it, according to some critics of the day, a film that needed substantial editing.

On record, the soundtrack to this movie, by the omnipresent Maurice Jarre, was originally released on the Colpix label in 1962, where it reached number two on the charts. When Colpix gave way to Colgems in 1966, the album continued to be available on Colpix, one of the last of the Colpix records that was still available at this time.

In 1967, it finally made it to Colgems, albeit with a different cover. It stands as the only original Colpix release ever to have a later Colgems release (for the record, the only three artists to transfer over from Colpix to Colgems were Hoyt Axton and Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones of the Monkees).

When Colgems went out of business in 1971, the album remained in print on a variety of labels for the next quarter century, give or take a few years.

Incredibly, the album is currently out of print in the United States.

Enjoy the lushness and grandiose of this epic until April 15, when I will upload another Colgems LP--somewhere, but I don't know where just yet.

You can find the LP at http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/AlternativeTop40-Comedy/

Colgems Interlude Soundtrack Moved

2008-02-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

I was quite surprised at the interest in the Interlude soundtrack.

Due to this interest, I have re-uploaded and moved the files to this soundtrack to http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/AlternativeTop40-Comedy/

Enjoy!

This Month's Colgems Upload: Night of the Generals (1966)

2008-02-15T20:15:00.001-08:00

This month's Colgems upload is the soundtrack to the fairly obscure 1966 film Night of the Generals.

I know very little about this film, and I don't think I have ever seen it. According to Wikipedia:

"The Night of the Generals is a 1967 suspense/thriller set in World War II, adapted from the novel of the same name by Hans Hellmut Kirst. It stars Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Charles Gray, Philippe Noiret, Joanna Pettet, and Coral Browne."

The film's music is by Maurice Jarre, who was kind of the staff composer at Colgems, with his stamp on such soundtracks as Lawrence of Arabia and Interlude.

This album will remain available until March 15, and you can pick it up at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/ until March 15.

Colgems: MIA LPs

2008-02-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

I have just nicked one off my list, but I am still missing the following Colgems albums in LP and/or MP3 format:

Otley
Film Festival (this is a compilation, which I might be able to compile with the tracks and files I do have)
Lawrence of Arabia
The Southern Star

I ask, once again, if anyone has any of these albums, preferably in MP3 format. Once I get these albums, I will post them for those who read this blog and for those who belong to my various Yahoo groups.

Eagle-eyed readers will note that one album has come off the list. I finally found it, and will post it on Feb. 15. I won't let on about which album it is--try to figure it out.

Thanks.

This Month's Colgems Upload: Best of Colgems Vol. 2

2008-01-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

Here is this month's upload, a collection of singles from the Colgems label.

I originally put this out a few years ago as "Best of Colgems Vol. 2," so I would assume that many of you already have this. However, for those who don't, put the Monkees out of your mind for a moment, and listen to the vast array of artists that called Colgems home during 1966-1971.

These tracks will remain up until around Feb. 15.

You can get these tracks at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

We Are All Getting Older At The Colgems Blog

2007-12-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

Today is a memorable day in Colgems history, as two of its major performers, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones, celebrate birthdays on the same day.

Mike is 65 and Davy is 62. If this does not signify that we are all getting older, I don't know what does.

Happy birthday to both of them! More uploads around January 15.

Have a Great (Colgems) Holiday

2007-12-21T05:35:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again.

During 2008, I hope to secure a few more Colgems albums and post them to my various Yahoo Groups.

My wish is to have every Colgems album and single uploaded to the Internet in 2008--the entire catalog, less the Monkees stuff, which is readily available. I know that's a big wish, but we will see how things turn out a year from now.

Have a great holiday, and a Happy New Year.

Larry Lapka

Monkees on Bio Channel

2007-12-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

A documentary on the Monkees will be airing on the Bio channel tonight. Contrary to other reports I have read, it will be brand new, not a re-airing of any other of the numerous TV documentaries there have been on the band in the recent past.

Check it out.

(I did. It was a little lame, and mainly focused on 1965-1967, only touching on the years past that. Mike Nesmith wasn't interviewed--no surprise--but somehow, I think what was on the cutting room floor was probably more interesting than what was shown. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.)

New Colgems Upload: Interlude Soundtrack

2007-12-15T05:03:00.000-08:00

Well here it is. This is one of the rarest records on the Colgems label, the soundtrack to a little remembered 1968 film starring Oskar Werner and Barbara Ferris.

It features both classical and movie pop tunes, and admittedly, might not be to everyone's taste. Yet, it is part of the Colgems legacy.

Pick it up at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/albumania/

I'm Still Here At Colgems

2007-12-07T05:26:00.000-08:00

I will bet that many of you believed that this site was dead. I have not posted anything in many weeks, and you could easily make the assumption that I have done all I could here, and that I had left.

Nothing could be further from the truth! I have been pretty busy lately, but I have not abandoned this site by a long shot.

In fact, come mid-month, we will have another Colgems LP post--and I can promise you that this one is probably the weirdest, most obscure LP I have ever made available.

So stay tuned. I am still here. Are you?

New Colgems Upload: Hammerhead

2007-11-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, finally, I have the soundtrack album for Hammerhead all ready to go.

But this one we are going to do a little differently. A good friend of this blog had posted it at his own blog, and as a very friendly gesture, answered my previous post and offered the LP to us.

Here is the blog, and if you haven't visited it, it is a real good one:

http://thecrimelounge.blogspot.com/

The album is available here: http://rapidshare.com/files/57806578/Hammerhead_OST_-_David_Whitacker.rar

Simply copy the addresses and paste into your browser.

Again, thanks to Jason for making this LP available for all of us to enjoy.

Colgems Head Case

2007-11-07T05:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, November 6, 2007, was the 39th anniversary of the film premiere of Head, the Monkees lone movie. Although virtually ignored when it came out, the film has since become a cult classic, and is regularly shown on cable movie channels. The soundtrack certainly is one of the most bizarre soundtracks of the era, but it features some of the Monkees' best work.

Why am I bringing this up, and doing this a day late? I didn't forget about the anniversary yesterday, but I wanted to plan out what I wanted to say.

Ironically, yesterday saw the DVD release of the film Help!, the Beatles second film. Although released about 10 years ago on DVD and quickly pulled, this new release has all the special features one would want from such a release, and actually comes in two versions--one cheaper version with a lot of special features, and a ridiculously priced version with so many extras that it may justify the price.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that with the release of Head approaching its 40th anniversary, wouldn't it be nice if it could be re-released in 2008 with the same care--and extra features--that Help! came out yesterday with?

I have heard that Bob Rafelson had been approached a few years back to do just such a approach, but refused. Head is readily available on DVD, but wouldn't it be great to release it bigger and better than ever before, and match it up with the upcoming re-release of the Head soundtrack--with lots of new features--on Rhino Records?

Just a thought. Anybody care to post theirs?

Colgems Want List

2007-10-26T05:02:00.001-07:00

Okay, it is getting down to the wire.

I am running out of Colgems material to upload.

I still have a few things that haven't been made available yet, and I will do that as the year runs out. However, the time is coming when I won't have anything left to post.

I need some singles from the label, but right now, I want to concentrate on the albums, most notably the soundtracks. Here is a selection of LPs I do not have:

Hammerhead (COS-110)
Lawrence of Arabia (COSO 5004--only the Colgems release, not the release on Colpix or any other label)
Night of the Generals (CCOSO 5002)
Otley (COSO 112)
Southern Star (COSO 5009)

Does anyone have these? If you have them on MP3 format, please let me know, off list if you can. I am sure we can work something out.

Thanks.