This Week's Monkees MUSIC & TV Milestones

[AaronHandy3]

NOVEMBER 11, 1972

The Monkees went on a 4-week hiatus on ABC in favor of the College Football Pre-Game Show.

NOVEMBER 13, 1967

"The Wild Monkees" (prod. #4765) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 42nd episode of The Monkees.

The week's sponsor was Yardley Of London™, and the songs heard were “Star Collector” written by Gerry Goffin & Carole King, and “Goin’ Down” written by Diane Hilderbrand, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz & David Jones. These were the first appearances of both songs on the series.

NOVEMBER 13, 1971

"Everywhere A Sheik Sheik", Episode No. 35 of The Monkees (first aired on NBC September 25, 1967), was repeated at Noon Eastern on CBS.

NOVEMBER 14, 1966

“Here Come The Monkees” (prod. #4091) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 10th episode of The Monkees.

The original sponsor was by Slicker and Black Label by Yardley Of London™, and the songs featured were “I Wanna Be Free” and “Let’s Dance On”, both written by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart. This was the series' original pilot film, as well as the only episode of the entire run of the The Monkees series to feature a Monkees song (Boyce and Hart's “I Wanna Be Free”) in two different versions.

NOVEMBER 14, 1967

This historical date saw the release of of Monkees’ album #4, otherwise known to one and all as Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. (Colgems #COM/COS-104), on LP and 8-track. The record represents what Peter Tork called "a compromise," between The Monkees having control of their music and the original production methods of their first two albums. In a time of great Monkee-bashing, they felt this was the best move to make.

The 13 tracks on the album were recorded from April 26 to October 15, 1967, at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood; RCA Victor "Nashville Sound" Studio, Nashville; American Recorder, Studio City; and in Chicago. Proceedings were slightly hampered by The Monkees' hectic touring schedule that summer, resulting in a great trove of tracks left unfinished. Micky Dolenz even retired from studio drumming at this point as another result; the only track on the entire album featuring Micky on the drums was the first one recorded: “Cuddly Toy”, written by Harry Nilsson. "Fast" Eddie Hoh took over as Monkee studio drummer.

Sessions transferred from regular four-track facilities to newer eight-track facilities in August 1967, which allowed further overdubbing and gave Micky and the late Paul Beaver room to use the Moog synthesizer (on Goffin and King's "Star Collector" and Michael Nesmith's “Daily Nightly”), the first time such a device was used on a rock record. Its mono version features a longer version of Jeff Barry's “She Hangs Out” unavailable elsewhere. Mann and Weil's “Love Is Only Sleeping”, a candidate for a future single release, was added to the album at the last minute when plans for the single were aborted; it replaced Diane Hilderbrand and The Monkees' "Goin' Down", which would later be held down as a flipside of a revamped single. Both sides of The Monkees' fourth single (#1007, realeased on July 10, 1967), Goffin-King's “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, b/w Boyce-Hart's ”Words,” was also included. The only 2 tracks on the album not included in TV episodes were "Hard To Believe" and "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky."

This would be the last Monkees album produced by Chip Douglas, to reach the #1 position on the charts, and to be recorded by The Monkees as a combined unit.



NOVEMBER 14, 1970

"The Monstrous Monkee Mash", Episode No. 50 of The Monkees (prod. #4767, first aired on NBC January 22, 1968 ), was repeated at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS, with a new song added: "Bye Bye, Baby, Bye Bye," written by Micky Dolenz.

NOVEMBER 15, 1969

"The Picture Frame" (a.k.a. "The Bank Robbery"), Episode No. 34 of The Monkees (prod. #4759, first aired on NBC September 18, 1967), was repeated at Noon Eastern on CBS.