Monkees Albums USA Colgems COS-109 COM-109 The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees

USA Colgems Albums
The Birds, The Bees
& The Monkees

COM/COS-109

Released In April 1968
Highest Chart Position:
Billboard: 3
Cash Box: 4
Record World: 3
$4.79

RIAA Certification:
Gold: April 1968
Platinum: August 1994

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Billboard Ad & Article

Go Ad

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Colgems began to produce company
sleeves beginning with this LP.

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COM-109

Mono

COS-109

Stereo

Front Cover LP Slick

All The LP Slicks

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RCA used the "RE" (revised) after the catalog number to indicate
that there had been a change to the album jacket.

1968 Repress

COS-109 RE

Stereo

Davy's quote that was attributed
to Edith Sidebottom has been removed.

Comparison Of Both Jackets

It might surprise some people that Edith was a real person.
She was someone Davy met while in England. He used a line from one of her songs
about a circus coming to town in the tune he wrote with Steve Pitts, The Poster.

In Andrew Sandoval's recent tome (p.448) Davy said that when the LP was released
he signed a copy and mailed it to Edith, but she was offended that Davy didn't at least
give partial credit of the song to her. So she had a lawyer contact him about it.
Davy mailed her a check for $3,000 and that seemed to settle it.

LP With Poem

(From the Collection of Katie Urquhart)

What was previously unknown is that RCA created an updated
version of this rear jacket as a direct result of Edith threatening to sue.

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The text of the copyright puts this revised jacket in the same time period as the first version:
between their Pisces LP (November 1967) and Instant Replay (February 1969).
More about the copyrights.

This was probably released in late 1968 when Colgems
had a big push to reissue their catalog to coincide with the release
of their movie/soundtrack HEAD (November 1968).
If that's true, they may not have created a mono version of this jacket.

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Mono Format Phased Out

Mono was phased out by RCA/Colgems in 1968 so this was the last USA release
of a Monkees LP in this format. It seems as if only a few hundred copies were pressed,
as most collectors have never even seen one for sale.

Some foreign countries also pressed this LP in mono, but not all have the unique
dedicated mix found in this USA pressing. The "fake mono" was created
by condensing the stereo mix into one channel.

A list of countries and their mono mixes.

This mono LP had some unique mixes for "Auntie's Municipal Court",
"Dream World" and "Tapioca Tundra".

You can listen to the mono mixes through Rhino's Handmade Box Set.

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Labels

Matrix Codes:

WZRM - 3517/ 3518
WZRS - 3519/ 3520

RCA Pressing Plant
Hollywood, CA

Mono

Type 3 Label