Instant Replay (The Monkees Album) - History

History

Although the Monkees had recorded dozens of tracks between the time of their last "studio" album, spring 1968's The Birds, The Bees & the Monkees (a soundtrack LP from their film Head had been released between the two studio LPs), several of the songs on Instant Replay actually dated from sessions up to two and a half years earlier.

The band's new music supervisor, Brendan Cahill, believed that releasing previously unused tracks recorded in 1966—prior to the group's seizing control of their own recording process—was the way for the group to get back to the top. The album's lead single, "Tear Drop City," was one of the songs taken from the vault. The song was sped up around 9% from the original recording, changing the song's key from G to A-flat. The single, notably similar to the group's first hit "Last Train to Clarksville", was identified by Mike Nesmith as their intended first single back in 1966. The track was not a major hit, only managing to reach #56 on the US charts, while reaching #34 in Australia. Despite the single's poor chart performance, the album itself reached the top 40 at #32.

Micky Dolenz's "Just a Game" had originally been written during the sessions of the Headquarters album, while Nesmith's "Don't Wait for Me" was the first released product of his 1968 sessions with Nashville studio musicians. Davy Jones' "You and I," with its lyrics bemoaning the fickle pace of teen stardom, featured guitar work from Neil Young.