UPDATE HISTORY
2015

MAY

MAY26:

Over the holiday weekend I got in this mono 'Birds' LP from Colombia:

Just like the other countries from South America, it has the fake mono mix.

So far, I've tested the mono 'Birds' LP from 12 countries
and here is an updated list:

*Asterisks* are the ones I own.

True dedicated mono mix:

*Australia*
*India*
*Israel*
*Mexico*
Puerto Rico
*USA*

 

Fake mono mix:

*Argentina*
*Brazil*
*Canada*
*Chile*
*Colombia*
*UK*

 

Only released in stereo:

*France*
Germany
*Italy*
Japan
Peru

 

Unknown or unconfirmed:

Bolivia
Greece
New Zealand
Philippines
South Africa
Spain
Uruguay
Venezuela

 

MAY 21

I just found a copy of "Head" on reel-to-reel:

The Monkees had 6 of their studio LPs and their first 'Greatest Hits'
appear in this format. "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees"
"Present" & "Changes" were never issued.

With the superior sound quality, reel-to-reel was the ultimate listening
experience for those who could afford it in the late '60s.

 

MAY 20:

The 'Pisces' LP from Taiwan:

Taiwan, at that time, did not recognize the intellectual property rights
of other countries, so there is no RCA label and no royalties were paid out.
In addition, it was probably sourced from a USA vinyl copy.

My copy has two side 2 labels so I grabbed a side one label from a previous ebay auction.

 

MAY 19:

And here is "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" LP from Argentina:

These are common down there, but the sellers just don't use ebay
making it difficult to track down a good copy. It's too bad because
this is a beautiful alternate cover for this LP and was used on the
Rhino Handmade box set as one of the CD sleeves.

I wanted this LP because of the cover and also just to personally confirm
that the mono is not the same version as the USA mono mix;
it is the fold over of the stereo mix.

 

MAY 18:

Finally found this Argentina EP:

I've had a promo copy of this record for years, and finally found a dealer
in Argentina who had a stock version with a good looking picture sleeve.

Like the LP, it's in that fake mono, but at least the sleeve looks sharp.

 

MAY 17:

I hit my local library and found the book, "The Cash Box Album Charts, 1955-1974"
and got their peak positions:

TM: 1
MOTM: 1
HQ: 1
PAC&J: 1
BBM: 4
Head: 24
IR: 40
GH:73
Present & Changes did not chart.

You can check their individual pages for comparisons but Billboard has
different positions for "Head" at 40 and their first "Greatest Hits" at 89.
I believe Cash Box measured their charts by total sales without any airplay factored in,
so it looks like these sold better than traditionally reported.

In addition, I found Cash Box had Davy's First LP "David Jones" at 73,
a much better position than Billboard's 185.

I couldn't find any Nesmith listings for that time period.

 

MAY 16:

The Arista release of 'Pisces' from Japan:

This was a part of the last round of vinyl reissues for the Monkees in Japan;
they were probably the only country to keep their LPs mostly in print,
with releases in 1973-74, the first two in 1976 and most of them again in 1980-81.
In the USA, their LPs weren't reissued until 1985-86.

In the late 80's when I was trying to track down a copy of "Instant Replay"
all I could find was the Arista Japanese version,
which was actually really cool, because it had the lyrics.

Although these Arista releases are easy to find today, I picked this one up
in my ongoing quest to find as many different versions of the 'Pisces' LP as possible.
Right now I'm at 20 out of 27 countries, with one more on the way from Taiwan.

 

MAY 15:

Instant Replay from Chile:

They retitled the LP as "Tear Drop City" which is translated as "City Of Tears".

As far as I know this was the last LP issued there.

 

MAY 14:

An alternate sleeve from Peru for "A Little Bit Me,..."

It seems like every picture sleeve I have from Peru has
gone through a washing machine!

 

An earlier stock copy of the Arista "Daydream Believer" from '76:

The stock copies (in nice shape) are hard to find.

 

 

MAY 8:

CDs from the Russian label "Some Wax":

I liked the artwork for the 'Pisces' CD and while searching for a copy I found
a seller from Russia that had all of them.
Really something for collectors and I think they did a great job with them,
except for some reason they didn't do "Headquarters".

 

MAY 1:

"Good Clean Fun/Mommy And Daddy" promo from Japan: