Instant Replay (The Monkees album)

Side one

"Through the Looking Glass"

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart produced a version of "Through the Looking Glass" for The Monkees in 1966, although it was not used on the Instant Replay album. Boyce said, "I think it was an imaginary song we wrote about a couple of girls we knew. Sort of like an Alice in Wonderland type of thing: you walk through the mirror, 'Through the Looking Glass' ... and go through this glass into a different world."^[11] The basic track for the version of the song featured on the album dates to December 1967, when Boyce and Hart produced several remakes of unreleased Monkees songs they had written.^[12] The recording was further augmented in February^[13] and in December 1968.^[3]

"Don't Listen to Linda"

"Don't Listen to Linda" was another song which Boyce and Hart had originally produced for the group in 1966, but was left unreleased at the time. Boyce recalled that the song was named after the wife of record producer Richard Perry, and stated, "Even though it said, 'Don't listen to Linda,' I didn't really mean that when we wrote it. It just was a great title. Of course, I apologized to her later and said I didn't really mean all these things. She liked the song."^[14] The song had initially been recorded as an uptempo number, but when Boyce and Hart remade the backing track in December 1967, they rearranged the song as a "love ballad".^[12] The track received a guitar overdub in December 1968, as did "Through the Looking Glass" and "Me Without You" during the same session.^[3]

"I Won't Be the Same Without Her"

Michael Nesmith produced the group's version of the Gerry Goffin and Carole King song "I Won't Be the Same Without Her" over the summer of 1966. Peter Tork was one of five guitarists who played on the track, though Andrew Sandoval notes "it is only possible to precisely discern that Glen Campbell plays the tremelo'd 12-string guitar part on this track."^[8] Sandoval notes that the song was "most likely" completed before Instant Replay was released.^[15]

"Just a Game"

"Just a Game" was written by Micky Dolenz, who said he was encouraged to record the song after playing the song to Nesmith. In March 1967, Dolenz recorded a demo of the song, then titled "There's a Way", during sessions for The Monkees' Headquarters album.^[16] The following year, Dolenz produced a version of the song for the group, with a large ensemble of session musicians conducted by Shorty Rogers. Michael Rubini played harpsichord, and Dolenz played acoustic guitar on the track with Tommy Tedesco. According to Sandoval, the song was announced at the April 1968 session as "French Song".^[17] Dolenz completed "Just a Game" in June.^[18]

"Me Without You"

Boyce and Hart wrote and produced "Me Without You", which was modeled after The Beatles' song "Your Mother Should Know". Boyce recalled the song was inspired in part by "a couple of our friends that were splitting up, that shouldn't have been splitting up." The backing track to "Me Without You" was recorded in December 1967,^[19] and augmented with a guitar overdub the following year.^[3] The song's original mix featured "a prominent solo played on a calliope",^[20] which was ultimately dropped from the version featured on the album.

"Don't Wait for Me"

Michael Nesmith's "Don't Wait for Me" was originally copyrighted in January 1966 by Randy Sparks' publishing firm Country Music, Inc.^[21] which owned the rights to a number of pre-Monkees Nesmith compositions at the time.^[22] In May 1968, Nesmith recorded the backing track during a series of Monkees sessions he produced in Nashville with session musicians. Nesmith stated, "It's just a pop tune. No particular inspiration at all. It's just me noodling on the guitar, playin' a song."^[23]

Side two

"You and I"

Bill Chadwick wrote "You and I" as "kind of a poem to a friend. We were both moving up in the entertainment business and realized that it's not a lasting thing, to say the least." Davy Jones helped Chadwick complete the song, in addition to performing the lead vocal. Neil Young performed a "blistering guitar solo" on the track. Jones produced the backing track in May 1968 at Wally Heider Recording.^[24] The following month, Jones added his lead vocal and additional guitar overdubs by Chadwick and Young to the song at Sunset Sound Recorders.^[25] In September, Jones completed the track at RCA, where Chadwick and Louie Shelton added additional guitar parts.^[26]

"While I Cry"

In November 1967, Nesmith produced a version of "While I Cry" as an instrumental for his first solo album The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, where it was titled "While I Cried".^[27] In January 1968, he recorded a version for The Monkees as a slow ballad with lyrics. Nesmith said, "It's me playing guitar, a guitar lick that I was just foolin' around with and wrote a song around the lick. Not an uncommon move."^[28]

"Tear Drop City"

Boyce and Hart wrote and produced "Tear Drop City" for The Monkees in 1966. The song was based on a riff similar to one used in the Sir Douglas Quintet's "She's About a Mover". Hart stated the song was built around a seventh chord progression similar to The Monkees' first hit "Last Train to Clarksville". "Tear Drop City' was recorded as a potential album track for More of the Monkees,^[29] but was shelved until January 1969, when it was mixed in preparation for release as a single.^[30] The song charted at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"The Girl I Left Behind Me"

Neil Sedaka and Carole Bayer wrote and produced "The Girl I Left Behind Me" for The Monkees. The version of the song included on the Instant Replay album was tracked on November 23, 1966 as a potential track for More of the Monkees. Sedaka recalled that the group's music coordinator Don Kirshner passed on including the song in the final track listing, but assured him it would be on the group's next album. Sedaka said, "I was so discouraged because it was left off the album. As a result I lost a lot of money. I don't think it ever came out."^[31] Davy Jones produced his own version of the track for the group in late 1967,^[32][a] followed by another remake in early 1968 with co-producers Sill and Rogers.^[34] Jones' 1967 version was released as a bonus track on the 1994 Rhino CD of The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees.^[33]

"A Man Without a Dream"

Between 1967 and 1969, four studio versions of Goffin and King's "A Man Without a Dream" were recorded for, or by The Monkees. According to Sandoval, the group "apparently taped" a version in May 1967 with Chip Douglas as producer.^[35] In June, Peter Tork recorded a demo of his arrangement for the song on acoustic guitar for Douglas.^[36] Douglas began work on a new version of the song for the group in August, using Tork's arrangement. Tork played piano during the session.^[37] In September, George Tipton conducted a "12-piece brass and string ensemble", which was added to the track. The recording was abandoned afterwards.^[38] In March 1968, when the group were filming Head, producers Sill, Rogers and Jack Keller tracked a new version of the song without any direct Monkee involvement, but still using Tork's arrangement. This version was also never completed.^[39] The final version of the song, produced by Bones Howe, would appear on the Instant Replay album. On November 7, 1968, Howe tracked his version of the song for the group. Additional overdubs were recorded in January 1969,^[9] including a lead vocal by Jones.^[2] In February, the song was released as the B-side of the "Tear Drop City" single.^[40]

"Shorty Blackwell"

Micky Dolenz wrote "Shorty Blackwell" about his life, and was also inspired by his cat, whom the song was named after. Dolenz recorded the basic track in January 1968, on which he played piano.^[41] Over time, Dolenz added more sections to the song until it was "well over five minutes" in length.^[13] Dolenz added more instrumentation in February^[13] and to a greater extent in April, at the same session as "Just a Game". Shorty Rogers arranged the track, which featured various brass, strings, percussion, cello, and flute parts. Rubini played piano on the track, and Tommy Tedesco played electric 12-string guitar.^[17] Additional brass and percussion were added to the backing track at the end of the month. Micky and his sister Coco recorded their vocals in May,^[42] before Micky completed the song the following month.^[18] In later years, Dolenz disaparaged the track, calling it "a typical kind of 1960s spaced-out ... my feeble attempt at something to do with Sgt. Pepper".^[41]

Album

Single