The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees - History

History

The year 1968 brought mixed returns for The Monkees. Their television series was canceled more or less at their own request (as the four Monkees now desired a variety show format, which NBC rejected); their first motion picture project, Head, failed at the box office; and in December, Peter Tork left the group. However, earlier in the year, The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees proved to be another successful album, yielding the group's sixth million-selling single in "Valleri" and yet another number one in "Daydream Believer", a bittersweet pop song from the pen of former Kingston Trio member John Stewart. Perhaps no other two tracks define Davy Jones as a pop music singer more than these two hits. (Ironically, both songs were holdovers from previous albums: "Valleri" had originally been produced more than a year ago for the TV show — the version on this album is a new production — and "Daydream Believer" was a holdover from their most recent album.)

After gaining complete artistic control over their musical direction and finally being allowed to play instruments on their own records in early 1967, the monumental success of Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. began to somewhat rebuff the critics who propagated that The Monkees was a band of talentless individuals who were simply lucky enough to gain recognition through their "manufactured" origins.

The desire and focus, however, to remain as a complete band unit in the studio quickly evaporated after the Pisces album, when, much to the dismay of Tork, each individual band member began to produce his own sessions with his own selected studio musicians, often at entirely different studios around the Los Angeles area. An agreement was made to label all finished efforts as "Produced by The Monkees," but in reality, beyond a few exceptions, most of the recordings featured on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees revert back to the recording process of the first two albums — less group dynamics — except now each band member was fully in charge of the sessions. Chip Douglas, producer of The Monkees' previous two albums, fully expected to continue as the band's representative in the studio, but found the individual Monkees more interested in exploring their diverse musical backgrounds with their own friends rather than relying on Douglas as the central figure.

Those diverse backgrounds, while making for an interesting mix of styles and sounds on Monkees albums, most likely also contributed to the downfall of The Monkees as a self-contained studio band. Four different musical outlooks resulted in less and less harmony in the recording process after Headquarters, and the results of that fracture are found on this album. Jones' Broadway rock, Michael Nesmith's country and western leanings (and psychedelic experimental songs), and the rock and soul of Micky Dolenz meshed together uneasily. Unfortunately for Tork, even though several of his compositions were considered for release on Birds, his participation is almost zero on this album; he appears only playing piano on "Daydream Believer." He spent the rest of his Monkees tenure struggling to find his footing in the studio now that the band was no longer working organically.

Despite all the intrigue surrounding the sessions that produced The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, several songs stand out as some of their finest recorded work. "Tapioca Tundra", an experimental piece of poetry put to music by Nesmith, charted well as the B-side to "Valleri" at #34. "Auntie's Municipal Court", another Nesmith composition, featured an excellent double lead vocal by Dolenz and Nesmith, and "Zor and Zam" boasts some of the best Dolenz vocals ever recorded. Veteran Monkees tunesmiths Boyce and Hart contribute another classic to the proceedings in the psychedelic "P.O. Box 9847", while Jones submits perhaps his finest composition to date in the orchestral "Dream World".

For record collectors and diehard Monkees fans, the extremely rare U.S. mono album (COM-109), released in a limited quantity as mono albums were being phased out by 1968, has become a highly-sought item for its unique mixes that differ from the common stereo versions (most notably on "Auntie's Municipal Court"). Mono copies from Brazil, Israel and Puerto Rico feature the same mix as the USA. All other countries mono versions feature the stereo mixes reduced to one channel.

The front cover of the album shows a Shadow box that contains some memorabilia from the 1940s through 1960s, including a Cootie (game) bug, a popgun, a fan that folds out into a paper flower, ceramic birds, various paper flowers, and stick flowers (which were popular in 1968). The rear cover contains the term "MIJACOGEO" with Micky's photo, a term that is an acronym for the members of Micky's family: MIcky, JAnelle, COco, GEOrge. (List of The Monkees episodes)

In January 2010, Rhino Records' Rhino Handmade website announced that they would be releasing a 3-CD boxed set reissue of the album. It was released on February 8, 2010 and is available exclusively online via rhino.com. The set is housed in a 7 inch by 7 inch box with a 3D lenticular cover. It contains the original stereo and U.S. mono versions of the album in miniature vinyl replica sleeves, over 60 demos, rehearsals and outtakes from the original album's sessions, a commemorative pin and a booklet of essays and session information by Monkees historian Andrew Sandoval. The first 1,000 orders include a bonus vinyl single featuring two more unreleased tracks, acoustic versions of "St. Matthew" and "Lady's Baby".