"Monkee Vs. Machine"

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkee Vs. Machine" - the third episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (26 September 1966).  It was written by David Panich, directed by Robert Rafelson, and featured the songs "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Saturday's Child."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "Stan Freberg stars as a headstrong company man, Daggart, who plans to automate an old-fashioned toy company." 

"Monkee See, Monkee Die"

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkee See, Monkee Die" - the second episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (19 September 1966).  It was written by Treva Silverman, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" and "Last Train to Clarksville."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "When an eccentric millionaire leaves The Monkees an unexpected legacy, the group must spend the night in the deceased's haunted mansion." 

"Monkee See, Monkee Die"

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This morning I watched Monkee See, Monkee Die, the second episode of the Monkees (which is the first episode of the Monkees I ever saw, something like a decade ago), and I noticed a couple things.

After Micky connects some elements of the telephone to the radio in order to get a signal out, he says, "Laugh will they."

I'm not sure about this, but I think that line is a reference to the Gershwins' "They All Laughed."  The song exhibits anaphora with the title line "they all laughed," and there's a line about radios: "They told Marconi wireless was a phony."

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During the "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" romp, there are two shots of the Monkees lying on the ground with their heads together:

This lookt familiar to me, and it wasn't too long before I remembered that there's a picture of the Beatles in this same configuration.  I think the reason I remembered is that it's also the cover image for Bob Spitz's biography of the Beatles:

[source]

I dug out my copy and lookt at the credits, which say this picture was taken by Bob Whitaker.  I couldn't find a specific date for it, but I did find a short biography of Whitaker that says he photographed the Beatles during 1964 to 1966.  So it's possible that those two shots in "Monkee See, Monkee Die" were inspired by this particular image.

"Let's Dance On"

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A couple days ago, I learned (most of) the guitar parts for the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout."  The opening guitar phrase reminded me of "Let's Dance On," so I learned that guitar part in order to compare the two.  Both start with a four-note diatonic ascent (A B C# D in "Twist and Shout;" G A B C in "Let's Dance On"), then there's a considerable drop (a fifth in "Twist and Shout," down to G; a sixth in "Let's Dance On," to E), and then a bit of an ascent (up a second in "Twist and Shout" to A; two notes (F and then G) for a total interval of a third in "Let's Dance On").  Both songs also have rather lengthy chromatic phrases.  There's a six-note string (A to D) at the very end of "Twist and Shout" and an eight-note string (F to C) in the second and third phrases of the introductory figure in "Let's Dance On."

I checkt the credits on The Monkees album, and "Let's Dance On" was written by Boyce and Hart, so 1) there's precedence for that Beatle influence (I remember something about their writing "Last Train to Clarksville" based on "Paperback Writer," although that's a couple years after "Twist and Shout" in the Beatles' catalogue) and 2) it's likely that the song was written specifically for the Monkees and - because they were modeled on the Beatles - it's possible that the resemblance to "Twist and Shout" was intentional.

"Take a Giant Step"

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When I watched "Royal Flush" yester-day, I noticed what I think is a glockenspiel part in "Take a Giant Step" and figured it would be easy to learn.  It's only five notes (and only three pitches), so I'm not going to bother recording it, but I realized later that the same musical phrase (A B C# B A) is played by the bass during the "Come with me; leave yesterday behind…" sections and by both bass and guitar during the instrumental section, starting at about 1:28.  It's repeated with the A note linking the phrases though, so it's more like |: A B C# B :|.

"Royal Flush"

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Manufactured Monkees:

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Royal Flush" - the first episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (12 September 1966).  It was written by Peter Meyerson and Robert Schlitt, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Take a Giant Step," "This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day," and "Last Train to Clarksville."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The Monkees foil a fiendish plot to assassinate Princess Bettina, the Duchess of Harmonica."

I watched this episode this morning (three times actually; once for the episode itself and then twice more for the commentaries by James Frawley and Davy Jones).  I found some things to write about.

I don't think I noticed this before, but at the beginning of the episode, Peter is wearing mis-matched socks:

After Otto explains his plan of poisoning Princess Bettina, there's a close-up of the bottle of poison, in which there's a continuity error.  The hand in the close-up has a ring:

but Otto isn't wearing one in the wider shot:

There are also a couple shots that match the lyrics of the songs playing during them.  When Sigmund is chasing Micky on the beach during "This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day," the camera turns upside down for the line "My whole world is upside down":

And during the party at the end, one of the extras stares at an-other during the line "You stare at me in disbelief" in "Take a Giant Step":

Those might just be coincidences, but I thought them interesting.

I read the trivia for the episode on the DVD menu, and apparently "Last Train to Clarksville" was in this episode only when it aired as a re-run.  It replaced the short interview at the end.

"Royal Flush"

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Royal Flush" - the first episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (12 September 1966).  It was written by Peter Meyerson and Robert Schlitt, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Take a Giant Step," "This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day," and "Last Train to Clarksville."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The Monkees foil a fiendish plot to assassinate Princess Bettina, the Duchess of Harmonica." 

"You Just May Be the One"

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Like I mentioned in my introductory post, I've been reading Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation.  Two days ago, I read the entry for Thursday 16 March 1967, and I discovered that Mike Nesmith played an electric twelve-string guitar on "You Just May Be the One."  When I recorded a version a couple days before reading that, I used just electric six-string guitar.  As far as I'm able, I want to make my recordings accurate (even if they are incomplete), so I'm a bit annoyed at learning that only now (but also a bit amused by the timing) because I have an electric twelve-string guitar, and - had I known "You Just May Be the One" uses one - I could have played it and made my recording a little bit more accurate.

I'm assuming the electric twelve-string guitar that Nesmith used is the Gretsch that's also featured in the show.  I have a Burns Double Six (because that's the kind the Zombies' Paul Atkinson had), so while it's not accurate as far as brand, at least it's an electric twelve-string.  At some point, I'd like to be able to have brand-specific instrumental accuracy, but I don't have the money for that now.  I'm making it a principle to get instruments I don't have any type of before I get specific brands of instruments that I already have some make of.  I already have an electric twelve-string guitar, so instead of a Gretsch twelve-string guitar, I'm saving up to buy a flute.

"Last Train to Clarksville" b/w "Take a Giant Step"

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Last Train to Clarksville" b/w "Take a Giant Step" - the Monkees' first single (Colgems 1001) - was released in the U.S. fifty years ago to-day (16 August 1966).  The U.K. release (RCA 1547) followed on 14 October.

"You Just May Be the One"

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I know the chords for "You Just May Be the One" (although I think there might be some subtleties with suspended 4th chords I'm missing, and I'm sure I don't have the strumming rhythm right), but rather than have just the chords, which I think would be rather boring to listen to, I attempted the vocals too.  Some of the harmony parts aren't right (because I drifted back into the lead vocal), and I don't think the "ah"s are very good (they're a bit high for me), but it's not the worst thing I've ever recorded.

"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"

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I thought I knew the bass part for "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," but in reviewing it before recording this, I discovered that there were a couple notes I was missing.  I know the organ chords, but I haven't lookt into the song closely enough to know when they're played and when they aren't.  Years ago - when I learned this - I thought they were played throughout, but when I listened to it earlier this year, I discovered that that's not the case.  So I have only one section of the organ part.

"She"

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On to More of the Monkees with "She."

I don't know the introductory guitar figure perfectly yet (I know a couple notes, but I don't know what effect is going on there or how to achieve it), so I didn't include that.  I listened to the original recording quite a few times, and I think the guitar drops out at the beginning of the chorus and then plays a tremolo on an E note.  I'm still not very good at tremolos though, and because I played both an open E string and the E note on the fifth fret of the B string, it sounds a bit messy.

I probably could have included more of the organ part (I have just the solo), but while I know the chords, and I don't yet know how the organ plays them.  In what rhythm and fingering, I mean.

I learned the bass part of this first, and then I learned the organ solo, and I was surprised to find that while the song is in E major, both the bass part and the organ solo include D natural notes in chromatic phrases (although they go different directions; the bass ascends from C# to E, and the organ descends from E to C#).  That chromatic phrase is in the vocal too, so there's a strong coherence among the parts.

The bass figure after "Why am I standing here" is different in the second chorus.  I actually think it's just a mistake and that it was supposed to have been the same as it is in the first and third choruses.  I played it the same, partially because I think it sounds better and partially because I don't know how to play the erroneous version.