The third album issued by
The Monkees , this was their first LP recorded primarily by the four members of the group. After a struggle for creative autonomy, the group was allowed to record by themselves.
Michael Nesmith recruited fellow folk musician
Chip Douglas , a member of the
Modern Folk Quartet and
The Turtles , to produce the album. Douglas was credited under his birth name, Douglas Farthing Hatlelid. Along with ''
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones, Ltd. '', ''Headquarters'' constitutes what both critics and supporters alike believe to be the ultimate Monkees recordings. The gamble to attain full artistic control seemed to pay off when ''Headquarters'' moved nearly 2 million copies immediately upon its release.
During the early months of 1967, the four Monkees sequestered themselves in the RCA Music Center of the World studios, on Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street in Hollywood. Many of the songs were written by the four group members, or came together organically in jam sessions. A few of the songs were written by songwriters
Boyce And Hart , and had been previously recorded by session musicians and produced by Boyce and Hart.
The only session musicians used on the album were producer Douglas, who played bass guitar on some songs, and cello and French horn players used on a few tracks.
The album was released on May 22, 1967 and charted at the number one position in the United States. It stayed at that position for only one week, when it was replaced by
The Beatles ' ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''. The album was issued on the compact disc format for the first time by
Arista Records in 1987 remixed from the multi-tracks, then later from the original stereo mastertape in 1995 with several bonus tracks on
Rhino Entertainment .
In 2003,
Rhino Entertainment , through their
Rhino Handmade division, issued ''The Headquarters Sessions'', a multiple disc box of outtakes from the session as well as the album's original monophonic mix presented in an alternate running order that was rejected before release.
- Written by Michael Nesmith
- Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith
- The opening parodies the Beatles' " Taxman ", from their album ''Revolver''
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 3 & 9, 1967
- Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
- Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
- A remake by the band; the earlier version featured studio musicians
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 4, 9 and 18, 1967
- Written by Douglas Farthing Hatlelid
- Lead vocal by Davy Jones
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 7 and 8, 1967
- Written by Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork , and Micky Dolenz
- Spoken words by Chip Douglas
- A studio exercise, based on the '' Looney Tunes '' theme
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 2, 1967
- Written by Michael Nesmith
- Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith
- A remake by the band; the earlier version featured studio musicians
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 2, 1967
- Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
- Lead vocals by Davy Jones and Peter Tork
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 16 and 22, 1967
- Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
- Lead vocal by Davy Jones
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 17 and 19, 1967
- Written by Peter Tork and Joseph Richards
- Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
- An edited version became the closing theme for the show's second season
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 23, 1967
- Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
- Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
- A remake by the band; the earlier version featured studio musicians
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, February 23, 1967
- Written by Michael Nesmith
- Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 23, 1967
- Written by Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz
- Spoken words by Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz
- A Fugue made up of disparate phrases; the Monkees would sometimes enter public places performing it
- "Mr. Bob Dobolina" was a name heard over a paging system, "China Clipper..." came from the movie '' China Clipper '', "Never mind the furthermore..." from the Rodgers And Hammerstein musical '' Oklahoma '', and "It is of my opinion..." from a political speech
- "Zilch" was the 'hidden meaning' of it all; it added up to... nothing! It was simply entertaining nonsense
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, 1967
- Written by Hank Cicalo
- Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
- "No Time" was actually composed by the four Monkees, but as a reward for his hard work, the band decided to credit the song to engineer Cicalo, guaranteeing him a large royalty check
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 17 and 22, 1967
- Written by Diane Hilderbrand and Jack Keller
- Lead vocal by Davy Jones
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 22, 1967
- Written by Micky Dolenz
- Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
- Title is a British slang phrase gleaned by Dolenz from television, likely the UK sitcom '' Til Death Us Do Part ''; it roughly translates as " Lust ful fool from Liverpool "
- "The four kings of EMI" is a reference to The Beatles , who were signed to EMI 's Parlophone label at the time
- Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 4 and 8, 1967
- Unused track that was the proposed A-side of the next Monkees single, but song was not controlled by The Monkees' publishing company, Screen Gems ; publisher Tickson Music refused to sell the copyright
- Written by Bill Martin
- Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
- Recorded at Goldstar Studios, Hollywood January 16th, 1967 and RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood January 19, 23, 30 and 31, 1967
- Written by Michael Nesmith
- Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith
- First known recording for the ''Headquarters'' album
- Recored at Goldstar Studios, Hollywood, January 16, 1967
- Written by Michael Nesmith
- Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith
- Written by Janelle Scott and Matt Willis
- Spoken words by Micky Dolenz
The track line up for the album, complied on April 21, included the following songs:
Side 1:
# "For Pete's Sake"
# "I'll Spend My Life With You"
# "Forget That Girl"
# "You Just May Be The One"
# "Shades of Gray"
# "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"
# "Band 6"
Side 2:
# "Sunny Girlfriend"
# "Mr. Webster"
# "You Told Me"
# "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"
# "Zilch"
# "Early Morning Blues And Greens"
# "Randy Scouse Git"
- "Randy Scouse Git" was nearly replaced on the album for its UK release; writer Micky Dolenz had heard the title phrase on the BBC -TV programme '''Til Death Us Do Part'', not realising it was actually considered obscene (translating roughly as "horny Liverpudlian bastard"). Since the phrase didn't appear in the lyrics, their UK label was willing to accept an alternate title for the song, so Dolenz gave it the name "Alternate Title". So much interest had been generated from media commentary about the song, that a single was released, which later went to #2 on the UK charts.
- On The Monkees' 1967 summer tour, Jimi Hendrix was the opening act.
- Michael Nesmith: vocals, pedal steel guitar, 6-string guitar, organ
- Davy Jones: vocals, tambourine, jawbone, maracas, etc.
- Micky Dolenz: vocals, drums, guitar
- Peter Tork: vocals, keyboards, 12-string guitar, bass guitar, 5-string banjo
- Chip Douglas: bass guitar
- John London: bass guitar on "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" and "All of Your Toys"
- Vince DeRosa: French Horn on "Shades of Grey"
- Fred Seykora: cello on "Shades of Grey"
- Jerry Yester: additional guitar on "No Time"
- Keith Allison: additional guitar on "No Time"
- All information can be found on the Rhino Reissue of the Monkees' ''Headquarters''
- ''The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation'' by Andrew Sandoval
