“The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees is the fifth studio album by the Monkees released in April 1968. It was the first Monkees album not to reach Billboard{{'}}s number one, peaking at No. 3 in the U.S. charts. It was also their first album to miss the UK charts altogether, with their four previous efforts all having reached the top ten. The album has sold over a million copies.

History

While 1968 would go on to present several misfortunes for the band (their television series was canceled; their first motion picture project, Head, failed at the box office; their television special, 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee, arguably fared even worse; and in December, Peter Tork left the group), 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 No. 1 in "Daydream Believer," written by former Kingston Trio member John Stewart. Coincidentally, both songs had been holdovers from previous albums: "Valleri" had originally been recorded more than a year prior for the television show (the version on this album is a new production) and "Daydream Believer" had been recorded for their previous album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.. "Tapioca Tundra," an experimental piece of poetry put to music by Nesmith, charted well as the B-side to "Valleri" and reached No. 34.

After gaining complete artistic control over their musical direction and being allowed to play instruments on their own records in early 1967, the success of Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. began to somewhat rebuff the critics who viewed The Monkees as 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 evaporated after the Pisces album, when 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. According to Chip Douglas, “Peter kind of drifted away first, and then everybody did. Everyone wanted to do their own songs and produce them the way they wanted to hear them." An agreement was made to label all finished efforts as "Produced by The Monkees," but in reality, beyond a few exceptions, the recordings featured on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees reverted to the recording process of the first two albums (fewer 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 and associates rather than relying on Douglas as the central figure. Douglas continues, "I was ready to do that Boyce & Hart song ‘P.O. Box 9847’ – it sort of had that ‘Paperback Writer’ feel on the demo. We passed on it for Pisces, and I began to think, ‘Well, we should do that one now.’ Then somebody said, ‘Chip, we’re not working with you anymore; we’re gonna do our own thing.’”

While being credited as the producers, in reality the Monkees were assisted in the studio by Colgems President and head of Screen Gems-Columbia Publishing Lester Sill, jazz musician and arranger Shorty Rogers, or future manager and later, MCA Vice President, Brendan Cahill. “At that point their contract read that they were to be credited as producers on any product of theirs that came out,” Rogers recalls. “Brendan Cahill and I really did all the studio work and production with Lester Sill. When we finished the album, Lester said, ‘We’ll put you down as producers,’ but The Monkees didn’t want it, so that went by the wayside.”

Davy Jones' Broadway rock, Michael Nesmith's country and western leanings and psychedelic experiments, and the rock and soul of Micky Dolenz made for a diverse album. Several of Peter Tork's compositions were considered for release on Birds; however, they were all rejected (for reasons unknown). Aside from playing piano on "Daydream Believer," he did not participate in the making of the record at all. Veteran Monkees tunesmiths Boyce and Hart returned to the fold to contribute the psychedelic "P.O. Box 9847," as well as a new version of the aforementioned "Valleri."

The rare U.S. mono album (COM-109) was released in a limited quantity, as mono albums were being phased out by 1968, and has become a highly sought item for its unique mixes that differ from the common stereo versions. Mono copies from Australia, India, Israel, Mexico and Puerto Rico are known to have the same mix as the U.S. There may be others as well. Most countries' mono versions — including the UK's — feature a "fold-down" mix where the stereo channels are reduced to one monaural channel (a mono version of the stereo mix).

Artwork

The front cover of the album shows a shadow box that contains some memorabilia from the 1940s through 1960s, including a Cootie 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). Alan Wolsky, whose agency created the cover, put a picture of himself in the bottom center square, partially obscured by some flowers. The rear cover ^[6] contains the term "MIJACOGEO" alongside Micky's photo, a term that is an acronym for the members of Micky's family (Micky, Janelle, Coco and George, respectively). Another quirk was that while Davy and Peter signed autographs in a traditional manner on their rear cover photos, Michael Nesmith signed "Carlisle Wheeling" to be superimposed onto his picture. This was the title of a song that did not make it on to any Monkees release at that time. However, it appeared on his post-Monkees album Loose Salute with the First National Band, having been renamed "Conversations". The song also was later released on various Monkees rarities collections.

Reissue

On February 8, 2010, Rhino Records' Rhino Handmade released a 3-CD boxed set reissue of the album. It was made available only online directly from Rhino. 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".

The mono mix was re-released on October 2014 by Friday Music, as part of "The Monkees in Mono" box set. This pressing features messages in the dead wax reading "Thanks to the Monkees" and "In memory of Davy Jones" on sides 1 and 2, respectively.^[7]

Track listing

Original 1968 Colgems vinyl issue

Aborted track listing

The original track lineup for the album, compiled in March 1968, included the following songs:^[8]

1994 Rhino CD reissue

1996 Sundazed vinyl reissue

2010 Rhino Handmade deluxe CD reissue

Personnel

1994 bonus tracks session Information

2010 bonus tracks session information

Other personnel

Charts

Album

Singles

Certifications

References

1. ^{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r44968|pure_url=yes}}
2. ^{{cite book|last1=Graff|first1=Gary|last2=Durchholz|first2=Daniel (eds)|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|edition=2nd|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|page=774}}
3. ^{{cite web|url=http://popdose.com/cd-review-the-monkees-the-birds-the-bees-the-monkees-rhino-handmade/|last=Harris|first=Will|date=February 22, 2010|title=CD Review: The Monkees, 'The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees'|publisher=popdose|accessdate=March 24, 2015}}
4. ^{{cite news|last=Easlea|first=Daryl|title=The Monkees – The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees|url=http://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/the-birds-the-bees-the-monkees|date=June 2010|work=Record Collector|accessdate=March 24, 2015}}
5. ^Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). [https://books.google.com.au/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA553&lpg=PA553&dq=%22The+Monkees%22+Rolling+Stone+Album+Guide&source=bl&ots=BjJnnm0TS-&sig=1TluSt5Z1imnJk2IVBmYFesOUkc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sMYQVeuKHI738QXAlIGwAg&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22More%20of%20the%20Monkees%22&f=false The New Rolling Stone Album Guide] (4th ed.). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 553. {{ISBN|0-7432-0169-8}}.
6. ^{{cite web|url=http://web.295.ca/stpat/birds.html|title=birds|website=web.295.ca}}
7. ^{{Cite web|url=http://monkee45s.net/Albums/FRM1966.html|title=Monkees Albums USA Friday Music Mono Box Set FRM-1966|website=monkee45s.net|access-date=2016-07-10}}
8. ^The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, Rhino Records, 1994, liner notes
9. ^¹Physical copy of LP, UPC code 90771-5049-1
10. ^{{cite web|url=http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/monkees-on-sundazed.136105/|title=Monkees on Sundazed|website=Steve Hoffman Music Forums}}
11. ^{{cite book|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|last=Kent|first=David|publisher=Australian Chart Book, St Ives, NSW|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|format=doc}}
12. ^{{cite web |url = http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=h6banu1fsvdt9pof8c4m7dun24&q1=village+people&q2=Top+Albums%2FCDs&interval=50 |title = RPM: The Monkees (albums) |publisher = RPM Magazine |accessdate = April 8, 2017 |deadurl = yes |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20171014084220/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=h6banu1fsvdt9pof8c4m7dun24&q1=village+people&q2=Top+Albums%2FCDs&interval=50 |archivedate = October 14, 2017 |df = }}
13. ^{{cite book | first= Timo | last= Pennanen | year= 2006 | title=Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 | edition= 1st | publisher= Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava | location= Helsinki| isbn= 978-951-1-21053-5 | page= 263 | language= Finnish }}
14. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/170825/|title=Oricon Archive - The Monkees|publisher=Oricon|accessdate=April 8, 2017}}
15. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/418654/monkees/chart?f=305 |title=The Monkees US Chart History |publisher=Billboard|accessdate=April 8, 2017}}
16. ^¹²{{cite web|title=The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees - Charts and Awards|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-birds-the-bees-the-monkees-mw0000201270/awards|accessdate=23 June 2014}}
17. ^¹{{cite web|title=UK Charts - Monkees|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/monkees/|accessdate=24 June 2014}}