Reviews (page 6 of 7)
A worse version of The Beatles. I don't enjoy The Beatles to begin with.
Fuck this!
2.5
They should have stuck to session players and singing songs written by others.
Hey, hey we’re the Monkees! I remember coming home from middle school and for some reason MTV would show episodes of the Monkees TV show every afternoon. I think it was kind of like a live action Scooby-doo where they went around solving problems every week or something and then they’d break into song. Maybe I’m making that up… I didn’t really understand what was going on or why it was on back then and I guess I still don’t now. So, this is saccharine sweet pop music and nothing more. Not much to dig into here.
Too long
Nop
2.5
I feel for the young teeny boppers who had to defend this when Sgt Peppers came out and really showed the difference between Monkee and Beetle.
Bubble gum pop
Was told psychdelic rock, heard 60s country music, was very confused
4/10
very much what I expected, they kinda suck though
Nursery rhyme stuff. Always a chore to listen to “the greats” from this era.
This was all a bit nice. The opening track is the best on the album and mainly because it sounds like The Beatles. Maybe if they didn’t monkey around so much they might have made something better.
These guys really are a worse version of the Beatles. It’s really just kinda disappointing to hear it, it just made me wanna listen to the Beatles. It’s like seeing something really interesting and cool and trying to remake it in the most inauthentic way possible. Favorites: Zilch, Early Morning Blues and Greens
Much more mature and dark than I expected. Not just kiddy pop.
La unica parodia que deberia estar en esta lista es Weird Al
It was ok, nothing special
Of it’s time
it's fun music to listen. it didn't felt special particularly.
I remember watching The Monkees tv show on Nick at Night (or something like that I imagine). Apart from being a Beatles knock-off band, they clearly had their own talent, and were quite popular for a while. I listened to the Deluxe Version (which contains 36 tracks and is an hour longer), and I actually prefer many of the songs that weren't included on the original album. If we're talkin' about the original 14-track version, I wasn't too moved by any of it.
Shhh, don’t tell, but I kinda like The Monkees. However, there’s very little on this loooong album that I like. Self indulgent and dated.
no thanks
I dont know man ... maybe the Monkees should just stick with letting other people write their songs.
I have a mental block with the monkees where I equate them with bubble gum pop- like the proto boy band. Admittedly this album exceeded my expectations but they were very low to begin with.
Mamma, kan vi få den nye Beatles skiva? Vi har Beatles hjemme. Beatles hjemme:
Det erhelt greit 60-tallsmusikk- Men de kommer aldri helt unna at dette egentlig er FirstPrice Beatles
Sloppy effort by a low talent Beatles cover band.
goof
Disappointing album from such a big name. Still passable though. 2.5 stars.
Never listened to the Monkees besides I'm a Believer and sadly so far I do not see much value in this, just your average 60s pop rock band trying to be the next Beatles and severely lacking it seems. I'll give another go after work. Rated 2.5 on RYM, just plain average. Looks like strong 2 stars here.
?? Earlyearly Pop wo bleibt der Beat...? c
I typically think of the Monkees as bargain bin Beatles. Listening notes: -Can't put my finger on exactly what is different, but this is in between Beatles and a band I can't quite place (folksier). That is, it's a bit more unique than I expected, by my expectations were low -Randy Scouse Git: this is actually pretty cool and structurally more interesting than the rest of album -The second half of the album is much weirder and imo better. Review: I liked Randy Scouse Git a lot. But the rest feels like a collection of forgettable Beatles outtakes. So I think I'll say 2.5, rounding down?
I made it to the second song, heard the overuse of hand-held percussion instruments, and decided that The Monkees are just The Jingle Jangle Beatles. Nothing will shake me from this belief. Not even if you shook me as much as they shook a tambourine on this album.
You Told Me - 7/10 I'll Spend My Life With You - 5/10 Forget That Girl - 4/10 Band 6 - N/A You Just May Be The One - 6/10 Shades Of Gray - 6/10 I Can't Get Her Off My Mind - 6/10 For Pete's Sake - 5/10 Mr. Webster - 5/10 Sunny Girlfriend - 6/10 Zilch - N/A No Time - 5/10 Early Morning Blues And Greens - 4/10 Randy Scouse Git - 7/10
Well, crap. Now Spotify thinks I like the Monkees.
Just don't really have anything to say about it - didn't care for it, but it wasn't painful I suppose
It's okey but way to long (Might have been the deluxe version). mostly Cheesy 60s music parodying the Beatles. This album does not contain the hit's they're known for so I don't really know why it's on here but one album should be enough for a short lived fun cultural phenomenon
🤷🏻
Was interesting to listen to the first Monkees album where they had any input into the song writing, but save for a few moments it’s kind of obvious that they weren’t great song writers to begin with. The bizarre soundscape of Zilch pushes this up a star, but otherwise it was quite derivative.
Monke
this didn't really do anything for me. like beatles without the magic. off brand
Если честно, Beach Boys и Beatles на тот момент делали то же самое, но куда более интересно
Nja, även om det är "min" genre väcker vanligen inte The Monkeys några stora känslor.
★★½
I only know a couple of Monkees songs, but I do have a personal anecdote about one of the fellows in the band. Over twenty years ago, I briefly chatted with Mickey Dolenz, when I called into a local AM talk radio show. He was a guest on the show that day, and I called in as part of a weekly trivia contest, and was able to score two tickets to see Boston. So shoutout to Mickey Dolenz for not knowing who Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon from. But back to the album at hand: I remember The Monkees TV show airing on Nick at Nite when I was a kid, and I thought they were kind of a parody of The Beatles. I know now that there’s sort of a partial-truth in that, but a lot of folks have a fondness for their music. I have a pretty decent idea of what to expect from this album, but whether or not it lands with me remains to be seen! Sorry Mickey, Michael, Peter, and Davy, but this is a Headquarters I could have done without touring. This album wasn’t bad, per se, but I certainly didn’t think it was good or memorable either. I’m sure Headquarters’ legacy suffers some, as a result of being compared to its peers, which might seem unfair at first, but that’s just how art works. There were some cool musical choices sprinkled throughout this album, and the vocals were nice, but the sound and moods were really scattershot, with nothing tying this album together. To me, Headquarters felt like an uneven and jumbled mess. I think these guys are talented, and some of the songs were good, but this album was mostly full of forgettable clunkers to me. As for the few things that I did enjoy, I liked the usage of the pedal steel guitar on “Shades of Gray” and “Mr. Webster.” “No Time” was pretty fun, and I enjoyed it’s old-school rock sound with the piano. “Sunny Girlfriend” had an overall sound that I enjoyed, and the guitar playing stood out to me as well. But even with those few things that I did enjoy, it wasn’t enough to really elevate this album much.
I dunno man. I loosely knew the deal with the Monkees as a bit of pop culture history. Sitting down and listening to a full album of the Monkees did not really add or subtract anything. Can’t give it a 1 though because it’s definitely not the worst Shitty Beatles version I’ve heard off this list. Can’t even imagine the dozens of Shitty Beatles that didn’t make the cut. Grim.
So many songs!
I don't know how this is true, but this sounds like it was even dated when it came out. 2.5/5
I’m ready to listen to something that doesn’t fade into the background
Can't work out why this is on the list. It's fine.
It has some good Pop moments but it’s not as good as other records from that year.
Como escuchar los beatles,
This apparently wasn’t one of the many Monkees albums my brother listened to every night. For the most part, these lacked the whimsical poppiness that I associate with them. I was only familiar with two songs. The irony is that because it sounded so unlike the Monkees to me, the Monkees that I have been sick of for decades due to hearing them every night, I had a lot of difficulty getting into this. Was it really the Monkees? Or were they just on the cover and someone else making the music? Anyway, didn’t much care for it, and if a Monkees album is going to be on a must listen list, it should probably be one with their hits, not the one where they were finally allowed to stretch their wings and make their own songs. Highpoint: finding out Mistadobalina was based off a sample from these guys.
Empty saccharine pop
Below average 60's pop, like i get the hype of the band it's just 60's fun and i'm not into that 60's stuff so i find it to be pretty, like, alright.
2.3
2 reminds me of the tv show so a bit of nostalgia there but way too much filler that can only be appreciated by true monkees fans. even the “pro” songwriter material is weak.
I think this is plenty forgettable considering the musicians themselves didn’t even flesh the songs out much, although I do like some ideas and will probably steal some of them for my own music. A xerox of a xerox.
We're just like The Beatles, honest! See how we make the same kind of music and sound and look a bit like them and can do the silly charming chatter on the album as well? No. You're not and you can't. Twee and boring.
Nope
I grew up in the suburbs of Colorado and spent a lot of time in my mom’s car listening to the oldies on KOOL 105 and they played Daydream Believer a lot, which left me thinking I was a huge Monkees fan. I learned later in life that they kind of suck but was still rooting for them when I went into this one and somehow they still managed to even more than kind of suck.
There was nothing memorable about this. 2/5
Just sounded like every other pop style generic music out of the 60's. Not bad, just whatever
Dad- 2 Mom- 3.5 Mike- 3 Lori- 4 Michael- 3 Miles- 3 Cole- NA Avg- 3.08
Thanks. I hate it.
This was ok. I think I had fonder memories of this from the MTV reruns of the show. Also, 3 dozen monkeys is a lot of Monkeys. 2.5/5
Super bland. This felt like the lowest common denominator of this kind of 60s pop, and I think if you’re in the mood for this it would be pretty easy to find something better.
Man, I was not in the mood for this 60s poppy boy band shit. Needed a shower afterwards. The tambourine and rattles also bothered me. Learn how to spell assholes!
It’s actually not that bad. I’m just done with 1967 and cute psych pop…
Just what I love when I listen to music… satire.
Sounds like the early Beatles
so boring oh god
The music is mostly fine but there is an overwhelming whiff of corporate glibness to the music, which is particularly damning with the knowledge that this is supposedly the first album on which the band members got to write their own songs.
eh
zzzzz
It felt bland, didn't grab me in any way. Pleasant enough but lacking in any substance.
Frère 1h30 l’album, il a cru j’étais la que pour lui ? Rien que pour ça il mérite 1 étoile Après la musique c’est un peu osef mais pas nul
I was thinking "this feels like it is a formula" and then reading the wikipedia, it is! But it sounds like it is at least an interesting take on a formula, so... I'll give it something.
Pop pap.
I dont really understand the determination to critically rehabilitate The Monkees, especially the supposedly more worthy stuff they played on themselves. Just let them be what they were - a fun corporate cash in on Beatlemania. Mike Nesmith would go on to write A Different Drum but there's nothing on here that get even remotely close.
Nå må det komme noe bra snart
Starts off mundane but it improves. It's very long also. It's alright
Just seems so unoriginal and contrived.
Pretty standard 60s pop. Was surprisingly super commercially successful without really any legacy or lasting hits… ? 4/10
A discount Beatles knockoff group from the US - Much less personality and attention to detail. Very very meh. 2/5
31 minutes to learn I never need to listen to the Monkees again.
Not very good. All music gives this 4.5? Seriously wow. Maybe 4 decent songs on album, a few written by Nesmith, one decent Tork tune and a decent Dolenz tune. Bland unoriginal pop 2.1 stars .
A lot of songs that sound like nothing special. Same thing from start to finish.
I wanted to like this, but it just didn't feel special in any way. It just sounded sort of generic 60's. So bland.
The Opening "You Told Me" sounds exactly like The Beatles. From the vocals to the guitars. The closest i found to narrow it down to a track was "If I Needed Someone" by the Beatles. Other than that, not much stayed with me. Some blues rock pastiches. Strong 2. It's not bad, just nothing really stuck with me.
This is album is great if you just want to listen to clips of people talking. Not bad but a little corny when it's actually music. 1.55
why do their legs look like that? This didn't do it for me, it felt like knock off Beatles. Nothing unlistenable (except maybe zilch), but nothing memorable either, actually the closer was pretty good. 2/5
I don't actively dislike this like other 2s, but I can't give it any higher on first listen. Pleasant and not memorable whatsoever.
Just ok; I get they're respected but it's not my thing. 5/10.
Too much of a Beatles rip to be overly enjoyable. The genre is still very easy listening but there’s no originality or stand out good songs.
Lacking any of the hits of its predecessor albums, it's surprising to see Headquarters make an appearance on this list. As other reviewers have pointed out, it's just about the most generic 60s pop one can get, capped off by the ever-so-clever homages to the Beatles' techniques from four years earlier. (Nowhere near the Fab Four's level of quality, though.) We've got double-tracked vocals, wishwashy drum production, ultra-60s song structure and texturing, and basslines that perhaps sound more interesting than they are. Clearly this album hasn't aged, either – for even if we give the Monkees the benefit of the doubt with regard to sound, the Spotify numbers speak for themselves. Modern listeners (including me) are unimpressed and it shows. Actually, from background listening only, it's fine. Passable. The band does have that palpable British Invasion energy, observable in the best of the Kinks, the Who, and the Zombies. The vocals in particular are delivered so earnestly that it's obvious they're unaware of the turning tides in the musical scene. ("This is the start of something great" ahh.) But dive into the instrument sound quality and you'll realise this band is not all that the record labels tout them to be. Chasing the success of early-60s bands in 1967 is a risky move. Revolver had been released, as had Pet Sounds; the world was starting to move on. 2/5 Key tracks: For Pete's Sake (Closing Theme), Randy Scouse Git
60s pop-rock from guys that thinks their funny, but aren’t. There are some ok tracks in between, but most are cringe and/or pale and boring. Also, the album is way too long.
Long.
Beatles esque guitar pop from 1967. Obviously they were a parody but when you strip away most of the talent and creativity you get something a bit bland. Pretty amazing how dated this must have already sounded, given how much the fab four had pushed things forward
Maso
Wait, so that girl on Marge’s school bus was wrong? The Monkees DID (occasionally) write their own songs! And they’re… not bad! Actually, Randy Scouse Git is pretty great. Taken as a document of 60s TV popsters beginning to spread their wings and take some creative control, this is a reasonable effort. But they were a few years behind the curve; compared to what other groups were producing at this time it’s nothing special. 2.5
Can't say I was too excited when I woke up to this as today's album. 1960's radio friendly pop has its charms, but it's rarely something I seek out. For me The Monkees fall into a category of music where there are just so many more interesting alternatives to listen to, that they end up a bit forgotten. Obviously big in the day, but I feel like we've moved past them. Heading into this with low expectations, though I'm hoping to be surprised. You Told Me Doesn't sound great. The guitar is kinda awful. Don't like where the vocals sit in the mix. Very simple structurally, doesn't evolve or pull any interesting tricks. Sluggish and boring. There are some vocal moments which produce some pretty harmonies. Did not like. 2/5 I'll Spend My Life With You It's pleasant enough. The steel guitar adds some uniqueness. The vocalist has a decent voice. Sounds extremely sanitized, and safe. Isn't a very challenging or stimulating listen, but works fine for what it is. The premise is pretty sweet, though extremely cliche for the time. Fine. 3/5 Forget That Girl Oddly unsettling. I feel like I'm being threathened. The backing vocals are incredibly strange. Uncanny. 2/5 Band 6 That was a bit pointless. Doesn't qualify as a song. NA/5 You Just May Be The One I don't like that voice. Extremely dated. Dorky and cheesy. Average instrumentally, lot's of tambourine. Strongly dislike. 1.5/5 Shades of Gray Pleasant vocal melody. Has some nice harmonies. Refreshing lyrics. Bringing in some strings for the instrumental was a decent choice, adds some life. Decent. 3.5/5 I Can't Get Her Of My Mind Cliche and uninspired. Sounds manifactured and sanitized. The use of "little girl" is quite concerning, feels very uncomfortable listening to it. Nightmare fuel. 1/5 Oh For Pete's Sake Lazy and cliche songwriting. Sounds like someone listing off '60s buzzwords. Overdone and pandering. Get me out. 1/5 Mr. Webster Cute and quirky little story, presented in a fun way. A nice distraction from the sea of boring love songs. Still not incredibly interesting, but I'll take it. Fine. 3/5 Sunny Girlfriend A cute and positive song. Just someone singing about how much he loves his girlfriend. Unspectacular, but charming in a dorky way. Average. 2.5/5 Zilch The band goofing around. Shows some personality. NA/5 No Time A fairly decent rock 'n' roll track that shows a lot of personality from the band. Genuinely sounds like they're having fun here. Has a bit of a spontaneous vibe to it, and shows a bit of attitude severely lacking on this album so far. Decent. 3.5/5 Early Morning Blues And Greens Peaceful and calm until that horrible organ comes in. A bit of a boribg track that really does nothing for me. Did not like. 2/5 Randy Scouse Git Fun and bouncy tempo. The vocal melody is also quite fun. Ther are some great discriptions in the lyrics. Great chorus. Finally a song with some variety, even the scatting is alright. Has a lot if explosivity to it. Ends really well. Good. 4/5 It's hard to discuss this without drawing Beatles comparisons - this sounds like a mediocre pastiche of early Beatles. With that out the way there's not much more to say. Middle of the road manufactured, formulaic love songs that neither excite nor impress. Sure some of them have charming moments, and some are even a bit quirky, but there is very little here of any value. There are just so many tiny variations of the same concept that it gets really tired after a while. It's not all love songs though, but even then these songs only stick out on a first listen as they are about a different topic. Even then they cannot escape the undramatic and flat songwriting style which haunts the album. The performances are fine, though mostly extremely sanitized and safe. There are a couple of tracks where they let themselves loose a little bit, where they're allowed to show some personality and attitude. Those are the songs that work best in my opinion, and offer the most interesting experience. Apart a from a few notable exceptions every song on here sounds virtually the same, leaving you with a very bland and uninspiring album which never really finds its footing. It is what it is. 2/5 Fave track. Randy Scouse Git Least fave track. I Can't Get Her Off My Mind
Old time vibes, reminds me of the beach with a radio playing these oldies. They're fine, didn't finish album because too long
– «¿Te gustan los Monkees? Sabrás que ellos no componen sus canciones.» – «¡Eso es mentira!» – «¡Pero si ni siquiera saben tocar!» – «¡No! ¡NOOOOO!» Con este álbum, los Monkees intentaron hacer callar a sus numerosos detractores, como la compañera de colegio de Marge Simpson, componiendo sus propios temas. Y, vale, la mayoría de temas fueron compuestos por ellos mismos, pero ¿y qué? Tampoco vamos a poner el listón tan bajo. Es un álbum predecible de pop sesentero típico, al estilo de los primeros álbumes de los Beatles. Ninguna canción destaca en especial. Un álbum tan alegre como inofensivo, que me ha dejado totalmente indiferente.
Tsja, het is een soort Beatles adjacent bandje? Ik kan ze niet echt. En ik ben er ook niet echt ondersteboven van. Het is echt gewoon een soort ali express beatles, en ik ben al geen echt Beatles fan. Het is vrij saai en gezapig allemaal. Dit is weer precies het soort muziek waar ik niet van hou; Saaie muziek. Het album duurt niet zo lang, als je niet de super expanded deluxe edition pakt, maar nog steeds was ik meerdere keren aan het kijken of het al bijna klaar was. Zijn 10 Beatles albums niet genoeg dat we ook slappe aftreksels daarvan moeten gaan luisteren? FAVO: I'll spend my life with you
This album does not deserve to be on the list. Zilch was the only track that provided a moment of interest, then rest sound like what they are: Forgotten tracks from the Monkees' back catalogue. One for the bargain bin.
it's ok. I like the 60s production: the jangly guitars and the harmonizing they do. but the songs are slight in concept and super literal in lyrical meaning. it really is bagain bin 60s pop, which means I like it better than most anything in the last twenty years of pop music, but I'd never choose to listen to it again.
Pretty milquetoast outing. Zilch! was the most interesting track. The rest is, of course, nakedly ripping off the Beatles late 1964-1965.
Can we try again? Basic 60's pop, sounding more like the Beatles than a real band. Just.... no. Sorry. My Rating: 2/5 It was bearable, but barely so.
Didn't think much of it - very dated sounding.
I had a friend group that comprised of old souls whom were obsessed with any band that had "The" followed by an animal. The Monkees, of course, were one of those bands. I am huge on The Beatles, but that's about it. Despite their popularity, all the other "animal" bands, like The Animals, The Byrds, and The Monkees all fell short. Their tunes sound like nursery rhymes: Too simplistic and imitative. While The Monkees were seen as pivotal in the 60's, in an age where music is easily accessible and diverse (w/ genres like Japanese fusion music), this album was quite lacking comparatively.
MRE of pop rock 4/10
Like a poor imitation Beatles, formed in America to try and compete. One decent song and that wasn't the one about Randy scousers.
It's all just so fake innit. Like AI early Beatles. The vibe is pleasant enough, the vocals are fairly decent-ish, but come on.
It started out as a possible 3. Ended as a possible 1
Listenable but forgettable.
sober beatles. about lame as the cover forget that girl is fire though
#512. Are there any Spinal Tap or 2ge+her albums on here too? 2/5: exactly as you'd expect
Bland 60's pop rock. The Beatles with all of the creativity removed.
The Monkees, a band that was always meaningless to me. Not because they were cast together, as is common in pop music today. Not because they were actors rather than musicians - hey, it's often the other way around these days. The Monkees were just not on my radar and still aren't. Only "I'm a Believer" convinced me, and that's by Neil Diamond. I also think Robert Wyatt's version is much better. What should I do with the album now? "Headquarters" isn't really anything either. I like the keyboard at the beginning of "Forget That Girl" - that's about it. Two stars is actually too many, but never mind.
"I heard the Monkees were a huge influence on the Beatles." Better than I thought it would be. It really is just a Beatles Rip off. Which is fine.... But not innovative at all. The Beatles did so much for music that a quote unquoted satire parody band could never do... So it's almost just double worse.
I'm as big of a Monkees apologist as you'll find. But, I mean, this album is slightly stupid. Some good tracks and I'm glad the boys started playing their own music, but it doesn't really stand up to the all-time greats on this list.
A little bit me, a little bit you, and a little bit of the same old same old.
2.75
Ok to listen but boring 60's stuff. A bit of Beatles in there and I'm happy to forget about this band
Not offensive. I have memories of watching the Monkees show and thinking they were cool as hell. Maybe on Nick at Night? Goin Down is a cool Monkees songs.
I'll be honest, I listened to like 3 songs on here and it felt like such a ripoff of the Beatles that I dismissed it. They were apparently a made-for-TV band (like O-Town plus a sitcom), so I can't get on board. Why is this on here
I am not sure what I was expecting, but it was not great.
Ingen direkt dålig skiva men ingen riktig wow-faktor heller, tycker det saknas ett sammanhang, känns mer som en lösryckt samling låtar än ett album. Vissa låtar är väldigt mycket Beatles fast sämre. 2 av 5
sonically tiring. All highs, zero lows.
This was an okay album. I feel like everything with The Monkees is contrived. They don’t really have their own sound (they sound like the Beatles or the Byrds.) Their television show was little more than a rip off of the Beatles movies. And it seemed like they were trying too hard. I think it would be difficult for a group like this to try for legitimacy but, unfortunately, I don’t think they pulled it off.
I was actually looking forward to this. I’ve enjoyed a couple of singles from The Monkees understanding that they’re sugary sweet pop. And so I was very disappointed that most of this is just bland. 2/5
The Monkees are the dumbest thing ever.
ugh, boring beatles style rundimentary rock with myriads of 2-minute pop songs one after another.
Ehhh.. Ok they gained a little creative control, it's still not great.
It just feels like they were trying to apply a formula to mimic what had already been successful for someone else. The biggest success of the record is getting “Mr. Bob Dobalina” in en endless loop in my brain. For that, I hate this record.
While it's fine, there is absolutely nothing on this album that wasn't done better (and much better) by other bands.
Look, good on them for getting the freedom to write and play instruments on their 3rd album, but this pleasant but underwhelming and mediocre collection of songs isn't exactly a must-listen is it?
As a manufatured pop brand (rather than band), Some of the Monkees' singles were really rather good. I don't really know the ins and outs of who actually played on their records, but with this album they were flexing their creative muscles. The problem is that this just isn't a great album. from the opening Beatles pastiche, the songs are just dull.
Nåja. Det är inte Beatles direkt. Två
It's not for me. But it's slightly better than terrible.
Beatles did it better
I couldnt get into this one. A couple good songs, but a snooze fest for the most part. Kudos to them for making their own record though!💪🏻
A made-for-TV band is something I have to hear before I die? I'd have preferred Josie and the Pussycats or the Banana Splits.
If you love the tambourine this shit is for you. While I don't love the way this was mixed, overall I enjoyed this more than I expected. It's a bit more gritty than I expected, I thought The Monkees would be more polished. There's some interesting experimental tracks that I'm unsure about, but credit for taking chances. I wasn't expecting strings, banjo & steel guitars but it all fit. This is the kind of stuff I think of, when I think 60s pop, I just usually think of better bands. It was fine, a bit boring.
Listened to trash and didn’t even get I’m a Believer!?!? I would’ve rather listened to Smash Mouth. It only got a 2 because I liked the last song
“Ew! You like The Monkees? You know they don't write their own songs.” “They do so!” “They don't even play their own instruments.” “No! No!” “That's not even Michael Nesmith's real hat.” Ehhh, it’s a fine little Beatles knockoff. Not sure why this album is on the list, when none of the hits are on it and what is on it isn’t anything too spectacular. Solid 2.5 ⭐️ middle of road very ok album.
How did this get on the list? No "Last Train to Clarksville"...no "I'm a Believer." Boring and bland album. It reminds me of all the worst Beatles songs. The only time it really picks up is the final track....why not throw that in somewhere in the middle?
A perfectly middle of the road 60's rock album. There are twee moments ("I'll Spend My Life With You") goofy moments ("Band 6"), Chamber pop songs ("Shades of Grey"), and "Zilch" contains the "Bob Dobalina" sample that Del The Funky Homosapien would use decades later. It's perfectly fine, but for the life of me, I don't understand why it's on this list.
Lekent, tullete, middels. Zilch er sample til the funky homosapien?? :O
Not sure really how to interact with this. Probably fine but so not for me
Bleh
Eww, you like the Monkees
Beat, 1967 -> 2-3
Dull album. Unremarkable earworms.
God no. Just felt fake. Turns out it is, to a certain extent. It's rare to get music that sounds so ok but is just annoying me the entire time. 1* would be my current preference but I know that's unfair.
Lame and uninteresting
Twee, gross 2.1/5
This would be really great if it was made like 5 years earlier, but it just doesn't really stand out to me as a late 60s record. Perhaps that's my Beatles supremecy talking, but who knows. I love what they did with songs like I Can't Get Her Off My Mind, No Time, and Randy Scouse Git.
This is early 60’s pop-rock done in 1967. It’s like they are trying to experiment on songs like Band 6 and Zilch but the experimentation is the equivalent of a middle school science project. Favorite songs were You Just May Be The One, No Time, and Randy Scouse Git.
Not sure why all the persistent hype or renown surrounding the Monkees. They are a perfectly serviceable Beatles clone, manufactured and bred to be a perfectly serviceable Beatles clone. Not much else.
Absolutely unremarkable.
Stupid chimps
Putting this Beatles 'parody' out after they'd already released Revolver and just about to drop Sgt. Pepper's is nothing short of embarrassing really.
Wannabe beatles, de rossz volt ez jaj. Nincs olyan obnoxious és kísérletezo, mint Lennon, de olyan kifinomult és bájos se mint McCartney, ez simán csak unalmas. 🤣 A no time a little richard(ot feldolgozo beatles) vibeokkal nem volt rossz, meg a randy scouse git se, de jhajj nope.
los escarabajos no quiero escuchar 1 hora y media de esa wea gracias
Like the Beatles but slightly different. And I already dont care much for the Beatles.
Another horrendous choice. A lesser known Monkees album that has no notable songs on it, and sounds like a poor imitation of the Beatles.
Couldn't keep my ear tuned to this one.
Not bad 60's pop. I liked watching reruns of the TV show when I was a kid. Sort of a wacky comedy show. Not sure if I would listen to this again but it's nice to hear it for the memories.
Pleasant and clearly a historical artifact, but not something I plan on listening to again.
The beetles if they were mid
Pleasant enough whimsical 60s British pop tunes that are completely forgettable. The identity was tough to follow here, some very straightforward pop, occasional tinges of psychedelia, a weirdly experimental vocal jam…I’m just not sure what they were going for other than Beatles knockoff. A handful of fine songs, but an album that I’ll forget about by tomorrow and probably never think of again.
Why are the Monkees on this list? They are a poor man's Beatles. The songs on this album are mostly terrible. "Shades of Grey" is the only good song here. I guess this is the worst album I had in a while. 2 stars for "Headquarters".
Kinda samey and a little weird. Too much harpsichord
Coming to terms with the fact that I don't really like sunshine pop. How bland! Never really tuned in to this one until Zilch played, what an odd track. Won't be returning to this one.
Boring wannabe Beatles without the talent.
I mean this is fun but in no way essential
Reasonably pleasant, but surely not a Must-hear album.
I don’t understand why this is on the list. This is generic Beatles and it’s not even that good
I expected something more along the lines of Last Train to Clarksville, or the Monkees Theme song, overall it’s not bad although, probably not making itself into my heavy rotation. I was surprised to hear the future sample from Mistadobalina, did not realize that was from a Monkees’ song!
Didn’t expect to find the sample for Mistadobalina by Del tha Funky Homosapien in the song Zilch on this album. That’s a win, otherwise it was a bog standard late 60s pop/psych (sorta) album. Little Americana thrown in for good measure. Nothing caught my attention. I guess I’m more an early Monkees fan because of Last Train to Clarksville and Daydream Believe.
shouldve given this 3 and jerry lee lewis 2 but it's all a bit boring
Het eerste concept-bandje? Door een producer bij elkaar gezet om als 'Amerikaans antwoord op de Beatles' onder andere door middel van een tv-programma een karrevracht geld op te brengen. En zo klinkt het ook: als tweedehands Beatle-muziek. Af en toe hoor je letterlijk van welk Lennon/McCartneynummer het gejat is. Verder zit er niks memorabels tussen, of het moet die sample zijn die begin jaren negentig werd hergebruikt door ene Del the Funky Homosapien. Zelf waren de Fab Four tegen 1967 al een stuk verder dan deze zwijmelmuziek. Tot slot een puntje aftrek vanwege de vieze smaak van de commercie.
Het huismerk der huismerken, Beatlesque, vergeetbaar. Hebben we nog meer cliches te melden? Ik vergeet er vast een paar. Het verhaal van de Monkees kennen we inmiddels wel: het Amerikaanse antwoord op de Beatles, dus het moest ook daadwerkelijk op de Beatles lijken. Dat is ze redelijk gelukt, met wat hippie popfolk ertussen om toch net even dat Amerikaanse sausje er overheen te gieten. Maar dan: de keuze van het album. Ik ben absoluut geen kenner van the Monkees, dus ik heb echt geen idee wat ze allemaal gemaakt hebben. Maar dit album heeft geen bekend hitje, geen I'm a believer of Daydream Believer. Klaarblijkelijk is dit het eerste album waarop ze zelf wat zijn gaan componeren, een soort van 'debuut'. Ik heb het idee dat ze het toch beter gewoon door Neil Diamond hadden kunnen laten doen. Maar het verklaart wel waarom de snobs dit album in de lijst hebben opgenomen. Anders begrijp ik het niet zo goed. De wegen van de snobs zijn ondoorgrondelijk zoals gewoonlijk. Blijft eigenlijk maar een suf albumpje over, zonder hits. Knap dat ze met die rommel en amper een handvol hits zo bekend zijn geworden.
Subpar even by the Monkees standards. 1.5/5
only one good song - little bit me, little bit you - i do like the Monkees though
Was so uninteresting that I didn't even notice the music stopped once the album was over for a good 30 minutes later.
It sounds a long way behind what other bands were doing at the same time. Not particularly interesting or enjoyable.
beatles für arme. just mid
This album was kind of flat, especially with the knowledge that The Monkees had a handful of incredible songs around this time. Unfortunately nothing was especially catchy on this record and it very much felt like a Beatles rip-off, with the title track sounding like a far less interesting Tomorrow Never Knows. A side note does need to be made for Zilch which is a kind of mediocre track but ended up being sampled in a fantastic Del the Funky Homosapien track
Funny how music history is filled with surprising connections no one would dare imagine... For instance, who during the nineties was aware that hit single "Mistadabolina", released by nineties rapper Del Tha Funky Homosapiens, actually took inspiration from a vocal skit found within an goofy interlude from this Monkees album? That fun interlude is named "Zilch", and I encourage every nineties hip hop fan to jump on it right away... This unexpected connection aside, there's not much that I really found crazy or even notable in *Headquarters*. Oddly enough, it's an album that actually doesn't harbor any famous hits from the Monkees. Under that light, you would then expect a record that takes "risks" at least... yet *Headquarters* doesn't push the envelope in meaningful ways either, quite sadly. It was nice to hear that the band took some amount of creative control with this LP, after two albums where each and every artistic choice was decided by music industry goons and the people responsible for their popular TV show. Yet it feels like fans of the sixties pop-rock outfit still decidedly favor their two first LPs (of "Last Train To Clarksville", "Stepping Stone", and "I'm A Believer" fame). And a lot of those fans still prefer the two other LPs that follow this one (which also contain their fair share of little gems), at least if you take the current streaming numbers into account. Besides, given that there's the same mix of covers and originals in *all* those albums (the originals either written by members of the band, or by in-house songwriters), it's not as if this relative autonomy as artists is retrospectively *that* striking anyway. So all in all, having this transitory record in the list feels like quite a weird choice, to be honest... Not that there aren't pleasant--or even pretty great--highlights in *Headquarters*. Opener "You Told Me" is an enticing textbook sixties Californian pop number, and second track "I'll Spend My Life With You" nicely anticipates the country-rock developments that would occur later in that same US state (with a cute and wonderful use of glockenspiel towards its conclusion to boot). "You Just May Be The One" is so effective that it's the track where you think the album hits its stride at last (too bad it never really does). And I admit that the finish line is close to awesome, with two surprisingly nervous, almost *angry*, cuts about, let's say, "girl issues" ("Randy Scouse Git" and "All Of Your Toys"). I had not realized the Monkees were able to tick some relatively disturbing boxes at times--even if they never fully abandoned their usual boyish charms as they did so... The thing is, the rest is almost instantly forgettable, and the stylistic twists and turns neither rhyme nor reason. Worse, you also have appalling clunkers... Third track "Forget That Girl" is so bad and hackneyed, and its lyrics are so on the nose that they instantly made me think of a "song" written by current AIs. Quite the wrong way to be "prophetic", I would say--even if the thing was unwittingly hilarious... "I Can Get Her Out Of My Mind" is also incredibly quaint, and if "Shades Of Grey", "For Pete's Sake" and "Sunny Girlfriend" are not *that* offensively bad, they're still far from being memorable. In that sort of airy, happy-go-lucky line of work, only "Mr. Webster" leaves some sort of imprint, thanks to its funny nonsensical yarn... So when it comes to include *Headquarters* in a list such as this one, well, let's just say that I am not a believer indeed. Truth be told, I'm not a believer for those other sixties Monkees albums either, even if it seems to me that most of them are less patchy, or at least slightly more cohesive. There are lots of nice (and often cheap) Monkees compilations on CD out there... And they do the intended job better than any of the band's LPs, at least as far as I know. 2/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential" albums. And 7/10 for more general purposes (5 for musical competency + 2 for the artistry). Number of albums left to review: 84 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 393 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 229 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 295 (including this one)
Je ne sais pas s'ils sont arrivé avant ou après les Beatles, mais j'avais vraiment l'impression d'écouter une copie de ces derniers. C'était très correct comme rock, mais de savoir que ce ne sont même pas les membres qui ont composé ou même joué les instruments, ça fait perdre énormément en valeur artistique. 4/10
yeah -I am old enough to remember the TV show - which was the best, when I was 5... the music is not that clever - pretty easy...Sounds like they spent about 1 hour making. Cannot believe that Jimi Hendrix opens for them on a concert tour. No shit.
Meh 2/5. Taka parodia Beatlesów.
In an alternate universe, a band from the '60s started to play joyful pop/rock, but they were on the other side of the Pond, took another animal as a band name, and never took an experimental turn making their music remotely interesting. I prefer to stay in my very own universe with our bugs.
I can't take the Monkees seriously. I'll say it's not nearly as band as I thought it was going to be. That's not to say that it's good, mind you. It's sort of stereotypical sappy 60s pop.
Not my thing.
Maybe dope if you’re an oldhead
There a couple of good moments. A little interesting, but maybe trying to hard to be weird for the 60s sake.
OK easy listening 60’s pop-rock, although quite dated, and somehow gets boring after a while
We, as a society, should do stuff like this again. Let's pick a random woman and dress her up like Taylor Swift, make her sing like Taylor Swift, and name her Baylor Smith or something. We have too many regular industry plants - nobody has the balls to create a true homunculus anymore.
Just finished it but can't say I remember any of it
..
i'm real player out on this era of sound rn
"how bad can this one be it's only 31 minutes" [31m of rhymey-wimey 60's pop ensues]
Hey Hey They're the Monkees! A cheap American knock off of the Beatles, with worse music. Very little outside of the radio hits has any hint of memorability. It all sounds the same and blends together.
I did not care for this album. It has some good lyrics and some interesting instrumentation but was overall very flat to me and not my favorite.
Best Song: Randy Scouse Git. Goofy rock and roll with goofier scatting. Sure. Worst Song: Zilch. This sits in an ugly purgatory between skit and song, and succeeds at neither. Overall: This certainly didn't hold up. Sometimes the past is best left in the past.
Not great. There are a couple good tracks here! But there are some bad ones and the copying of the Beatles (first track is Doctor Robert) was a bit offensive to me haha
Eeeh it's like the beatles but I got tired of it
Not even the best album released that week.
More fun when you were 10 and they were doing stupid shit on a silly tv show than when you’re 55 and listening to complete albums.
Arse music, sur ethey gotta couple of hits but they aint a serious band and this was just arse.
Not all bad but doesn't stack up well against its contemporaries. At least they showed that they could step out of the comedy manufactured band schtick I suppose.
I won’t be Monkeeing around with this one again, that’s for sure.
2.3/5. listened 1x to original mono + 1x to 2007 remaster (1h33m).
So boring. No musicianship
Meh
Very breezy vibes but easily forgettable
It’s pleasant enough, but it feels vacant..empty. Devoid of an animating force. Almost like they were conceived in a board room.
Dull, uninspiring, boring.
This is decent late 60s pop. There are several pretty good songs, as well as a few that pass me by. No real high points, but some fun moments.
nobody would be happier than i to find a monkees record to be an underrated gem but this just isn’t
I want to be kinder, because for a Made for TV band, it's pretty impressive that they even got to make their own thing. But, also, maybe they were a Made for TV band for a reason.
Boring Beatles
Boring and way too long
This is a good set, but not great. It was nostalgic!
Sometimes I forget how bad pop music was during the early Beatles era. Luckily I have the monkeys to remind me.
2/5 Ok
I’m only part way through but I’m doing the review anyway because 36 tracks?! There does not seem to be an original thought on here. Disappointing
The most straightforward sunshine pop ever made. I do not much care for sunshine pop.
It's pretty dire. If it wasn't for Zilch this would be a 1 star album, but it barely scrapes 2 stars, partly due to the production cleverly hiding the lack of talent on display.
What are there like 47 songs on this? Ha. You know, I had always hated the Monkees from watching their stupid TV show occasionally back in the day. And while I'm reluctant to admit it, there were a couple of tracks here that weren't so terrible.
Hey hey, we’re the… former boy band trying to make it as real musicians? But who other than Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson have made it beyond the manufactured malaise? I remember watching “The Monkees” as a kid. Must have been the revival on Nickelodeon in 1986. And I must have been the right age to dig it? What I didn’t know as a 6-year-old watching reruns of a 60s show in the 80s was the behind-the-scenes struggle in the creation and evolution of The Monkees. It’s an interesting story. Maybe more interesting than most of the music it produced. Their two preceding albums may have been cranked out by the machine, but the iconic hits from those albums stand out more than the “Headquarters” tunes the Monkees wrote themselves.
People may say they monkey around....but they would be wrong. Monkeying around implies something interesting would happen. This was just boring.
Cute I guess, but blandly outdated and unexciting.
I guess this is the first Monkees album where they were afforded (some) creative freedom, after the band was originally a fictional group for the TV show with the music written by others and recorded by session musicians. I hate to say it, but the industry machine that created The Monkees did a better job making songs than the Monkees themselves. At least at this stage before “Daydream Believer” was released.
Nice effort, sweaty
Light pop
Not one of their better efforts
Some nice songs, just so difficult to endure as a manufactured effort to copy the Beatles
Not really for me. It was a bit all over the place and hard to distinguish.
Songs so inoffensive it almost becomes offensive again
The Monkees are a bad Beatles imitation, albeit one who had a song in Daydream Believer that was every bit as good as anything the Beatles wrote. That's not on this album though, and so this is really just prosaic 60s pop that isn't at all memorable. Forget That Girl has a nice riff/hook but that's it, Sunny Girlfriend is jaunty and bouncy in welcome relief from a mid-record delve into psychedelia, and No Time might be the best song as it's straight up rock and roll, just nothing loads of others hadn't already done before them. Not sure it warrants more than a 2.
This is really lightweight, unimpressive twinkly pop. If you compare to Sergeant Pepper, or the albums that the Beach Boys, Velvet Underground, The Doors, or Hendrix were releasing at that time it shows how backward looking to the early 60s this was. Maybe that's a harsh set of comparisons, but this is supposed to be a list of the best albums of all time and this just doesn't get close. 2/5.
Goofy oude muziek weer. Kan me voorstellen dat dit in de jaren 60 hip was. Maar toen was m’n pa net geboren. Nee sorry
It’s fine.
It sounds like a version of Help! from an alternate universe in which John has no edge and he and Paul have mysteriously lost their talent for writing melodic hooks. It's well-engineered though.
“Mom I want to listen to the Beatles at home” The Beatles at home: Idk, I’m just not a fan of bands from this time that literally sound like clones of other popular bands. This feels like the equivalent of the radio crafted music I despise in modern times. There’s nothing that particularly stands out or sets the Monkees apart on this album, which is yet another reason I’m not feeling this.
Too long :(
Maybe it was the bestseller of that time; but i found it repetitive and uninteresting
I always liked The Monkees cuz of the show and how camp it was but when you remove that and just listen to them it really is nothing but a wannabe Beatles and has very little to offer on it own musically.
Interesting Monkees album that doesn’t contain any of their big hits but is the album where they had creative control. If this came out early 60’s I think it would be a comfortable 3 star albums, but given it comes out the same time as stg pepper it’s going to be compared to it, and very quickly feels very dated for late 60’s. Therefore I can’t agree that this album deserves to be on the list.
This album has some strong moments but they are few and far between. The band keeps falling into their tired, sanitized Beatlesque pop. As Oscar Wilde said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”. If this album is anything it’s mediocre.
Blind album, know the artist. Zilch interest but not the worst thing in the world I guess...
The Monkees were one of the many Beatles cover bands in the last 1960s. Inoffensive, poor man Beatles. 4.3/10
The Beatles but make it bad
Very forgettable
They’re like The Beatles but worse. All the songs seem similarly hollow to me. I thought it was bearable at the start but the album itself is long which made it seem to drag
It's very pleasant and safe, but also incredibly bland and uninteresting, not a lot of substance to the music, however, as far as 60s boy band rock groups go, they're relatively competent, not got a lot of replay value though
Ganz hübsch. Viel L-C-R Panning für 1967. Zwei Sterne.
The Monkees are just a shallow imitation of the Beatles and that’s all they’ll ever be
Taking elements from The Beatles. Fair to middling.
A bit all over the place. One of the tracks ‘Zilch’ physically repulsed me. Looks like this was the first album that The Monkees wrote and fully played on the tracks themselves, and you can kind of tell. It’s no ‘I’m a Believer’.
Meh this was underwhelming and completely bland. Not very good.
The album was okay. Not many songs stood out to me and it feels like a Beatles copy. It is not terrible, but I would not listen to this album again. Favorite Song(s): "For Pete's Sake", "Mr. Webster", "Randy Scouse Git", "All of Your Toys"
p107. 1967. 2.5 stars Average 60s pop album from an average 60s pop group. A couple of standout tunes, but there is a lot of filler. On the plus side, it is short.
Holy Shit. I hate the 60's music. I cant, its just so boring so much of the time. The beatles are good, but goddamn everything else is so bland and boring.
The Monkeys! Funny how there were lots of bands named after animals back then, The Monkeys, The Turtles, The Beatles, etc.
2,5
Meh...not so much.
It was nice enough, didn't really grab me
plain
This really did very little to me. I'm hearing and reading this is a huge improvement on their first two albums and they showed they really could make music. Well, I'm not hearing it.
Not my favorite, might be a product of my generation but why listen to this when you could listen to the Beatles.
Nothing special, wasn't a big fan tbh
Good albums for the 60's. Forget That Girl was the best song. Randy Scouse Gilt sounded the most modern.
Seems bland and a pale copy of the Beatles
Rock viejo, suena bastante bien pero tampoco es la gran cosa.
I have to admit being surprised that any Monkees is on this list. My Mom was a huge fan so I heard a lot of Monkees growing up. I got to take her to see them (or at least some of them) live a few years ago. It was a fun if inconsequential show, not unlike this album. 2.5 I want to round up in honor of my Mom but it's really not that good overall.
This album was way too freaking long
2.5
The album sounds a little like early beatles and early beegees but not really as impressive or inspiring as either. By 67 you'd hope for something a bit different. The latter half of the album is better than the first half, apart from zilch, which was a waste of time Between a 2 and a 3 depending on how nice I feel in the morning
I feel it hasn’t aged well. Didn’t get anything out of listening.
Meh...bubblegum pastiche Beatles half arsed twaddle. Is this on because they started to write their own songs? Lame
Boring and annoying, they somehow managed it, guys. Marge deserved the shit she got for liking them honestly.
“The album was released on May 22, 1967, and charted at No. 1 in the U.S., only to be replaced the following week by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” Lol rekt
Track 1 seems to be a rewrite of the Beatles 'Doctor Robert'. I steadily lost interest. Formulaic, fluffy sixties nonsense.
Wasn’t a fan, felt very hollow and boring. Nothing caught my eye or held my attention on this one.
Woof. I know the Monkees have a place in history, and some hits out there, but goodness gracious so much of this feels like Beatles imitation, and not the good Beatles music that they were making by the time this album dropped, but the mediocre bubblegum poppy stuff. "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind" feels ripped from that "With the Beatles" album that I despise with a passion. Most of this whizzed by me, but there were a couple standouts, especially "Zilch," that song is weird as hell. Guys just chanting over each other until they run out of gas and just start laughing. Do they have more weird stuff like that? Seems like something Zappa would do, love it. Album's weak though. Favorite tracks: Zilch, You Just May Be the One. Album art: Professional cutesy photo of the band, not much to say. Font stuff is kind of cool though. 2/5
Mr. Dobalina, Mr. Bob Dobalina.
Wat zoetjes allemaal
Mjah, antwoord op de Beatles toch? Niet echt een antwoord, meer een vraagteken.
Blegh.
Not sure if the Monkees belong on this list, and if they do this isn't the album. 2/5
Too safe
I wanted to love this...