Name: Headquarters
Brand: The Monkees

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

FRM00103

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "FRM00103"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Colour

Colour details

Red Vinyl

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "Red Vinyl"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

55th Anniversary Mono Edition

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "55th Anniversary Mono Edition"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2022-08-19

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Orchard

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

829421001034

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "829421001034"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / red

Artist

The Monkees

Genre US

60s & 70s

Label US

Friday Music Two

In 1967 after two number one albums, a plethora of hit singles and a smash television show, The Monkees were on top and knew they each had true musical talents not championed by their label executives.

Michael Nesmith spearheaded a change in direction before sessions began on their legendary "Headquarters" album. This action resulted in the much covered dissolution with music mogul Don Kirshner, and Chip Douglas (The Turtles) was now recruited by Nesmith to work with the band.

In rapid succession, things began to fall into place in February 1967. With initial tracks like country rocker "Sunny Girlfriend" and the acid rock imagery of "Mr. Webster," the band set the stage for what would become one of the most loved works in their catalog and one of the finest rock albums of a generation.

A definite album opener, "You Told Me" begins their masterpiece "Headquarters." The track features a brilliant 12 string guitar and the rockin’ vocals of Nesmith, as Tork’s incredible banjo fills the track alongside Dolenz’s driving drum work. With Jones’ percussion and all three fine-tuning their background vocals with Nesmith, it became the very first song that many of us remember as we opened up our sealed copies back in the summer of ’67.

Not straying too far from previous success, the band scored a few more of Boyce and Hart compositions like Micky Dolenz’s folk rock ballad "I’ll Spend My Life With You." The solid steel guitar work of Mike Nesmith would go on to become a precursor to his groundbreaking Nashville sessions in the late sixties and early seventies.

Davy Jones has several watershed moments here with both "Forget That Girl" and "Early Morning Blues and Greens." "Forget That Girl" employs a unique English northern soul vibe, while the latter shares a wonderful Peter Tork background vocal and keyboard making it one of the more psychedelic infused and standout tracks on the LP.

Michael Nesmith’s handiwork is evident on the entire album. "You May Just Be The One" rocks the album into full gear and makes it one of his definitive landmark tracks.

"Headquarters" also brought rightful acclaim to Peter Tork, as his first recorded Monkees’ song "For Pete’s Sake" soon became a prolific standard. The song transcended with the times and became one of the more insightful tunes from the quartet. "For Pete’s Sake" also replaced the familiar Monkees Theme at the end of season two, giving the song more TV exposure over the years.

Peter also shares a brilliant vocal duet with Davy on the reflective "Shades Of Gray", which unfortunately has a different meaning these days to a lot of us since the untimely passing of Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith.

And as always, you can count on Micky Dolenz to deliver – whether it’s his hard rocking vocals of "No Time" or "For Pete’s Sake" or his prog-rock feel on "Mr. Webster. " The album was definitely a great showcase for the Micky. Albeit no singles were released from the album stateside, his own composition "Randy Scouse Git" closes out the album with a furor not heard on previous efforts and became one of his finest tunes ever in The Monkees catalog.

The Monkees’ "Headquarters" was one of 4 albums of The Monkees that topped the charts in 1967. This fact alone is enough to warrant the importance of this album in musical history. But there are other amazing feats that "Headquarters" managed to deliver to millions of fans on its eventful release back in May of 1967. The album hit the stores before "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles. Friendly rivals as they were, "Headquarters" rose to number one and also opened the door to “The Summer of Love”.

It remained in the upper rung of the retail charts until their fourth platter "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn &amp; Jones Ltd." (now on Friday Music vinyl) became a number one album to close out the year. Wow!

Most notably, "Headquarters" showed the real world the transition of four talented guys on a hit TV show evolving into a self-produced, self-reliant and one of the most loved bands in musical history.

Mastered impeccably from the original Colgems Records monophonic tapes by long time Monkees associate and re-issue producer Joe Reagoso, this super limited edition masterwork will be one of the most important revisits to this much loved band this year.