33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee

"33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkey" was intended to be only the first of three TV specials for NBC following the cancellation of the TV series, filmed Nov 23-27 1968, for broadcast Apr 14 1969 (pre-empting an episode of LAUGH-IN). The result was so discouraging that no further specials appeared, the group reduced to a trio by Dec 30 1968, as Peter Tork bought out his contract and bid farewell to his three years of Monkees mayhem. Sunk singlehandedly by producer/writer Jack Good, previously seen as an actor in the episode "Monkees Mind Their Manor," who should have allowed the four to carry this videotaped fiasco themselves; instead, it becomes a psychedelic freakout like "Head," minus the charm, The Monkees reduced to supporting players in their own special. Best known for the British OH BOY!, plus America's SHINDIG, Good slapped together a disastrous script focusing on newcomers Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll, British imports little known elsewhere, with at least a warm tribute to 50s rockers Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Fats Domino. Only at the beginning and the end are The Monkees well served, a crushing disappointment with so many unnecessary extras cluttering things up. The plot rehashes the group's manufactured image yet again, this time in insulting fashion, as if any four guys could have been hired and enjoyed the same kind of success. The songs were all produced by Bones Howe, famous for his work with The 5th Dimension, except for three produced by Michael Nesmith himself. Micky duets with Julie Driscoll on a slow, blues-based rendition of Neil Diamond's "I'm a Believer"; Peter sings Michael Martin Murphey's "I Prithee (Do Not Ask for Love)," a slower, sitar-based version than the one recorded July 25 1966 by Nesmith (with Micky's lead vocal, available on MISSING LINKS 2); Nesmith duets with himself on his own "Naked Persimmon," a schizophrenic masterpiece depicting Monkey Mike battling with alter ego Papa Nes, the Cosmic Cowboy, making sharp jabs at former Colgems president Don Kirshner ('the Devil incarnate'); Davy dances to "Goldie Locks Sometime," a fairytale pastiche adding Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. This track was composed by Bill Dorsey, who also wrote the very brief "Darwin" (sung by all four Monkees), the slightly longer "String for My Kite" (Davy), and "Wind Up Man," depicting all four as mechanical singers laughing at the brainwashed audience. The group embarrass themselves in costume for "I Go Ape" (sung by Micky), a cover of the 1958 hit from Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, then the guest stars gather for the 50s salute: Micky sings Danny and the Juniors' 1958 smash "At the Hop" (composed by Artie Singer, John Medora, and David White); Davy and Peter take turns with The Diamonds' 1957 hit "Little Darlin'" (composed by Maurice Williams); all four share vocals on "Shake a Tail Feather" (composed by Otha Hayes, Verlie Rice, and Andre Williams), originally a 1963 recording for The Five Du-Tones, more recently a hit from James and Bobby Purify. It's certainly a grand sight to see Brian Auger, Jerry Lee Lewis ("Whole Lotta Shaking' Going' On," "Down the Line"), and Little Richard ("Tutti Frutti," "Long Tall Sally"), all atop Fats Domino ("I'm Ready," "Blue Monday"). More extras take up space before the truly bittersweet finale: as Davy's "String for My Kite" fades, Peter comes in and sits at the clavinet, doing an amazing solo performance of Bach's "Solfeggietto," followed by Nesmith and Dolenz, on guitar and drums, beginning the only group performance of Nesmith's "Listen to the Band," issued as the group's tenth single Apr 26 (12 days after this telecast). The 45 was recorded in Nashville June 1 1968, with Nesmith on electric guitar, but no other Monkees present; this take is slower, but features all four for the last time during the 60s (unfortunately, at the three minute mark, more extras arrive, and the whole thing just collapses into cacophonous chaos). The closing credits feature the rip off "California Here It Comes" (from the 1921 standard by Al Jolson, Buddy De Sylva, and Joseph Meyer), the final vocal for Peter Tork (the four would first reunite on two occasions during the 1986 revival). By the time this was broadcast, the group (now a trio) had already issued their seventh LP Feb 15, INSTANT REPLAY, followed by THE MONKEES PRESENT Oct 11, then (minus Nesmith) the June 1970 release of CHANGES.

I would have given this a 1, but the most of the Monkees' performances saved it.

What they did with "33 1/3 Revolutions" was done better in "Head". While "33 1/3 Revolutions" had some great music (most notably Peter's keyboard solo and "Listen to the Band"), the story was muddled and less comprehensible. I fast-forwarded through much of this, usually whenever "the wizard" came on and started babbling about whatever. Even the 50's medley was a bit painful to watch.

I understood what they were trying to get at but it just felt like it had "contractual obligation" written all over it, nobody really putting in any effort to make it a better program. Considering the Monkees' history, however, they were probably glad when the entire ordeal was over.

One of my biggest regrets is that I'll never get back the 55 minutes I spent watching this. The network was right to run it against the Oscars. It spared most people the excruciation. And I'm normally a Monkees fan. This was their "Magical Mystery Tour".

This is the TV special which was the final nail in the coffin for the Prefab Four. Its like the little brother of Head, full-on psychedelia, with great guest appearances from Fats Domino, Jerry Lewis, Little Richard and Clara Wood. A disaster for their career. I liked it quite a bit.

I saw "33-1/3 Revolutions Per Monkees" (IMDb's spell-check won't let me use the singular of "Monkees") when it was aired in Britain on BBC1 in May 1969, six weeks after it was aired Stateside. The Beeb transmitted this show in black and white, so I was surprised later on to learn that it was shot in colour.

Along with "Head", this was one of the Monkees' two efforts to prove they deserved to be taken seriously as musicians. The opening scene is excellent, with each of the four men trapped in a giant test tube and interrogated by a disembodied voice. One by one, each man attempts to assert his individual identity ... only to be zapped, assigned a number, and left speaking in a zombie-like voice. This is all done rapidly, with rhythmic dialogue spoken to a steady pulsing beat. I wish the entire special had been as imaginative as this. The opening scene is clearly the Monkees' response to the charge that they were 'manufactured'.

Later, we get some preening hipster with a cod cut-glass accent who introduces himself as Charles Darwin. (Geddit? ... Darwin? Monkees?) He makes dire comments like: 'And the fittest shall survive.'

There is one fairly interesting sequence in which each Monkees-member performs a solo number. 'Darwin' tells us (while shifting his accent to sham Viennese) that these four numbers represent four psychiatric disorders: fixation, withdrawal, schizophrenia, regression. First comes Mickey Dolenz, doing a weird Warholised number. Second comes Peter Tork, the dullest Monkees-man, doing the most boring number: a shameless George Harrison imitation. Mike Nesmith does a novelty song as himself and a rhinestone cowboy in split-screen, which apparently is meant to symbolise schizophrenia.

By a long chalk, the best is the 'regression' number, performed by Davy Jones, who was definitely the most talented of the Monkees. This is a very weird number. Dressed as a little boy in a Buster Brown suit, Jones wanders through an over-sized nursery and sings along to a tinkly music-box tune. In the nursery he meets women dressed as little girls from children's stories (Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Goldilocks, Raggedy Anne, etc) and he dances with them whilst he sings. If any other adult male performer had done this number, it would have seemed dangerously paedophilic, but Jones is artless (in the favourable sense of the term) and he manages to make this sequence seem genuinely innocent. The women are all virtuoso dancers, pirouetting expertly and doing hitch-kicks in petticoats: very delightful, but killing the illusion that they're actually little girls. I was impressed ... but only with this sequence and with the opening number.

The rest of this TV special was rather dire. I've not seen it since its original UK airdate. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't want to see it again. Well, maybe the number with Davy and all those petticoat girls.

A side comment for David Bowie fans: it's well-known that Bowie's real name was David Jones, and that he changed it so as to avoid confusion with another performer named Davy Jones. Bowie fans in America usually assume that the "Davy Jones" in this story was the Monkees' vocalist. Wrong! Despite his Mancunian origins (and his stint as a child actor on 'Coronation Street'), Davy Jones of the Monkees was never well-known in Britain. The performer who prompted Bowie's name change was a completely different Davy Jones: a Jamaican calypso singer who was very popular in England in the early 1960s.