UPDATE HISTORY
2015


MARCH

MARCH 30:

The 'Pisces' LP from Italy:

The cover is the same as the USA; most countries just did small variations
of this cover, sometimes highlighting the Monkees guitar logo which
is buried in the flowers. I went back and annotated all 5 of the known RCA Italian LPs.


Found another Rhino catalog this time covering their big push of their 30th Ann. back in '96:

Even though they still sold cassettes, they weren't promoting them anymore.
There wasn't an internet presence yet and everything was still VHS tapes.
Some nice info on the Lithograph; its interesting to see what the
original prices were for these things.



I've tried to list chart data for each country, but back then many did not even have
a chart system, and finding books or websites for the rest can be challenging.

It is interesting to note that Norway released at least 7 singles and the first 4 LPs,
but partly because there is no ebay in Norway these records never show up for sale,
at least I've never seen one.

Next update though I'll add a Norway button for quick referencing.

 

MARCH 19

Updated the website with the info from Joel Whitburn Presents
The Comparison Book 1954-1982. which has the chart position of the three
major journals back then: Billboard, Cash Box & Record World.

Cash Box reported sales from jukeboxes; Record World was like Billboard,
but was considered more hip or trendy. However RW back issues are tough to find
so chart data has been almost non existent, till now.

Davy, Micky & Michael all had records that charted. So Michael's "Joanne" in BB hit 21,
but in RW got up to 13. Davy's "Rainy Jane" in BB 52, but in RW hit 31.

 

MARCH 18:

Picked up the last of the 4 promo only picture sleeves from Canada:


"Last Train To Clarksville/Take A Giant Step"

I wasn't even sure this existed, as there wasn't any photos out there on this one,
but I thought there should be because Canada issued these sleeves from January 1965
to April 1967, which covered the Monkees first 3 records plus the withdrawn single
with the unique B-side "She Hangs Out".


MARCH 12:

Finally found a 45 record from Puerto Rico:

The label has the block letter style of the RCA logo, which was created sometime in 1969;
so this is most likely a later reissue. The USA did something similar when the show
began in reruns on Saturday mornings.
Like the records from Jamaica, these must have been pressed in very low numbers.

 

Also picked up a nice copy of the "Take A Giant Step" sheet music:

This was surprisingly hard to find, but I suppose as a non-charting B-side,
not as many people bought it. Released in October 1966, this would have been
one of the earliest Monkee collectables.

 

 

MARCH 8:

Found a great copy of a promo Pisces in mono:

From the Rockaway New Jersey pressing plant. Their labels usually have that
all caps version of the "MONO" or "STEREO"; making them easy to spot.

Because the promo stamp is not prominently displayed and there is no difference
in the label or jacket alot of times these go unnoticed.
However some collectors highly value these because they were pressed earlier in production
with better quality vinyl and will often be the best sounding copies out there.

The matrix numbers are UZRM-9727-2S and UZRM-9728-1S,
so a second stamper on side one and a first stamper on side 2.
Among people who care about such things the earliest stamped copies
would often be the better version.