Pop focus: The Monkees meet the Beatles!

Here's an assortment of photos from occasions when members of the Fab and Pre-Fab Four met up - mostly from the 1960s when both groups were at their height.

When the Beatles started to get a bit weird with drugs, psychedelia and Eastern philosophy in the mid-1960s, the Monkees came along on TV, offering younger kids a "Help!" and "Hard Day's Night" influenced version of a fun and friendly rock'n'roll band to idolize. And they turned out some great music.

Though obviously aware the group originated as a rip-off of their younger selves, the Beatles were publicly friendly and supportive of the band:

“The Monkees are still finding out who they are, and they seem to be improving as performers each time I see them. When they’ve got it all sorted out, they may be the greatest.”- George Harrison. 
“I like their music a lot…and you know, their personalities. I watch their tv show and it is good.”- Paul McCartney. 
“They’re not really just copies of us, now, are they? The Monkees have a fine way of their own, you know?”- Ringo Starr. 
“Monkees? They’ve got their own scene, and I won’t send them down for it. You try a weekly television show and see if you can manage one half as good!”- John Lennon.















John Lennon vinyl box set and single LPs on the way - preview and pre-order here

Here's a teaser video and press release for the Lennon boxed vinyl collection out June 8.

John Lennon's eight remastered solo albums are gathered for Lennon, the 8LP boxed collection on heavyweight, 180-gram vinyl with authentically replicated original artwork 

Out on 8th June, Lennon is the first collection of John Lennon's solo albums to be released on vinyl, and the eight LP's will also be available to buy individually from 21st August.

The Music: All eight John Lennon studio albums were remastered in 2010 from the original analogue tapes by Yoko Ono and a team of engineers from Abbey Road Studios in London and Avatar Studios in New York.

Each new Vinyl Master has been cut from the 24-96 HD Digital Masters by Sean Magee at the world renowned Abbey Road Studios.
The LPs are cut on heavyweight 180g audiophile vinyl and manufactured for the world by Optimal Media in Germany.

The Artwork: Each of the LPs within LENNON is an authentic reproduction of its original UK pressing, faithfully replicated to the smallest detail In keeping with the original album artwork:
  • Imagine contains reproductions of its two postcards, poster and inner sleeve. Some Time In New York City includes reproductions of its original postcard and inner sleeves.
  • Walls and Bridges includes its sleeve with two fold-over flaps, an eight-page booklet and inner sleeve.
  • Mind Games, Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey also include faithful reproductions of their original inner sleeves.
All brought together in an exquisite rigid slipcase box.




 Lennon (8 LP Signature Box Set)


John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band


 Imagine


 Some Time In New York City


Mind Games


Walls and Bridges


Rock 'n' Roll


Double Fantasy


Milk and Honey

Avengers: Age of Ultron Featurette with Black Widow and Scarlet Witch



Fab Friday: Vintage Beatles pics

Visit The Glass Onion Beatles Journal for more Beatles posts!











New Ant-Man movie clip!



Video find: The Kinks perform "Sunny Afternoon"



Pop stuff: Brian Wilson; The Wrecking Crew

What I'm hearing, reading, watching, etc.


Brian Wilson - No Pier Pressure. This is a real grab bag of an album, but a successful one overall.

Most of the songs were intended for a followup to the Beach Boys' surprisingly strong 2012 LP, That's Why God Made the Radio. When that didn't materialize, Wilson elected to release the songs on his own (hence the LP's punning title). However, he did recruit fellow Beach Boys singer Al Jardine and the group's original guitarist David Marks to contribute.

Wilson also got tangled up with the idea of doing a duets album. And here he teams up with a number of younger acts: Sebu Simonian of Capital Cities; Zooey DeSchanel; Kacey Musgraves; Peter Hollens, and Nate Ruess of Fun.

And then, just to mix things up further, he recorded a few tracks where he's the sole lead vocal.

The common thread to all this, of course, is the gorgeous harmonies that only Wilson can write and arrange. Yet it still doesn't quite all tie together.

Of the duet tunes, "Runaway Dancer" with Simonian is the worst. The song's electronic beats don't blend with Wilson's harmonies and the lyrics are godawful. "Our Special Love" starts off promising, but its Beach Boys-style opening soon  devolves into Boyz to Men barbershop. Hollens' vocals on the tune don't have much character. "Saturday Night," with Reuss is much better, a decent song with a 1970s A.M. radio vibe. It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album, yet it's pleasant and catchy.

The women fare much better. "On an Island" with DeSchanel has a fun retro-lounge feel with bachelor pad organ and jazzy guitar fills by her She and Him partner, Matt Ward. And "Guess You Had to Be There" with Musgraves is one of the best tracks on the record, its light-hearted lyrics referencing Wilson's own rise and fall during the 1960s. Her voice and Wilson's blend well.

The piece also fits well with most of the rest of the songs, which tend to have a melancholy twilight spirit to them.

Highlights include the opening track "This Beautiful Day," a lovely prelude in the spirit of "Meant for You" off the Beach Boys' Sunflower album,;"I'm Feeling Sad," a sort of update to "Busy Doin' Nothin'" from the Friends LP, and the trio of songs prominently featuring Jardine: "Whatever Happened To," "The Right Time" and "Tell Me Why."

Jardine still has his youthful "Help Me Rhonda" voice, which puts a Beach Boys stamp on everything he and Wilson sing together. Their collaborations on this album rank with the best tracks on That's Why God Made the Radio.

Holland-era Beach Boys member Blondie Chaplin is on hand for the album, too, and he and Jardine sound great on the "Sloop John B"/"Sail on Sailor" nod, "Sail Away."

The album certainly features some Auto-Tune and other studio trickery, but not to distraction. On some tracks, Wilson's voice is more exposed than it's been in years and it sounds wonderful. You can hear the age, but -- in the studio at least -- his range and feeling is remarkable, as are all those harmonies.

It's not a perfect album by any means. But by judicious editing, you can turn it into a pretty dang good one.

Note: The version of No Pier Pressure reviewed here is the "Deluxe Edition," which has 16 tracks, three more than the "Standard" edition. These songs are: "Don't Worry," "Somewhere Quiet" and "I'm Feeling Sad." These are all great songs featuring Wilson on sole lead vocal, so you don't want to miss them. There's also a version of the Deluxe Edition at Target stores that includes two additional bonus tracks (a 1975 demo of "In the Back of My Mind" and an undated, alternate version of "Love and Mercy") for a total of 18 songs.



The Wrecking Crew. Brian Wilson also figures in this documentary, which focuses on the crack crew of Los Angeles session musicians - Tommy Tedesco, Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Glen Campbell and more - who played on hundreds of top hits of the 1960s.

The musicians could simply sit around naming all the tunes they've played on and it would be a jaw-dropping film. From the Beach Boys to the Monkees, most of Phil Spector's sessions to Frank Sinatra, to the 5th Dimension, the Association, Sonny and Cher and a zillion more, these musicians played with simply everyone. Nearly every tune you'll hear on oldies radio features at least some of them.

But the film, directed by Tedesco's son Denny, goes deeper than that, giving us an idea of what it's like to have lived the very busy, generally well-paid, yet completely anonymous life of a session musician.

Being constantly on call was stressful and meant days and weeks away from your family. You also didn't get writing credit for all the hooks and licks you created, and which made all the difference in making songs into hits.

There are some great group discussions between these musicians and input from talking heads ranging from Wilson to Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Nancy Sinatra to the late Dick Clark. There are nice musical moments, too, such as Carol Kaye - the sole woman in the Wrecking Crew ranks - demonstrating her classic bass line on the "Mission Impossible Theme." Yes, many TV soundtracks of the 1960s also featured these folks.

There are plenty of musical clips throughout. Getting clearances for them all took years. But "The Wrecking Crew" is finally widely available. You can stream it now on Amazon and it will be out on DVD June 16. Like the equally vital "20 Feet From Stardom" and "Muscle Shoals" it's a must-see for fans of classic pop and rock'n'roll.