Changes (The Monkees album)

The album's title had originally been considered for the Monkees' movie (released in 1968), and a song with that title (cowritten by Jones with Steve Pitts) had been recorded. The movie was retitled Head, however, and the song was subsequently shelved, remaining unreleased until 1990, when it appeared on the archival compilation album Missing Links Volume Two.

Changes reunited Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz with producer Jeff Barry, who now had his own successful record label, Steed Records. As with the earliest Monkees recordings, Jones and Dolenz provided only their vocals, despite the album cover featuring them playing percussion, while the backing tracks were provided by session musicians. Several of the songs selected for the album were outtakes from previous album sessions: Barry resurrected his own produced outtake of his composition "99 Pounds" from the final Don Kirshner-supervised Monkees sessions in January 1967 that also yielded the hit single "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"; Micky's "Midnight Train" was recorded during sessions for The Monkees Present and had been featured in CBS-TV reruns of The Monkees television show (most notably in "The Chaperone"); "I Never Thought It Peculiar," with vocals by Jones, was written by frequent Monkees collaborators Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and was recorded during the sessions for More of the Monkees (1967).

Jones later stated that Changes was his least favorite Monkees effort, going so far as to comment in the 1994 Rhino Records CD version's liner notes that the album "was Jeff Barry and Andy Kim doing an Andy Kim album," adding that he had terrible memories of the recording sessions. Dolenz, while not lavishing praise on Changes, said that he was pleased to be invited to record new material. "I was quite happy to do it as long as somebody wanted to record me. It was simple as that." Dolenz added, "by that time, it was pretty obvious that the Monkees were over. Davy and I were still getting along, but we were mainly fulfilling a contractual obligation to a record company — that's what Changes is all about".[3]

"Oh My My" became the first single from the album and made the Top 100 in the Billboard charts. Written by Barry and Kim, it is unrelated to the later 1973 Ringo Starr single of the same name. In addition to being the album's opening track and lead-off single, "Oh My My" was also accompanied by a rare promo film directed by Dolenz, showing him and Jones riding their motorcycles and horses. "Acapulco Sun" was released as a single in Mexico, becoming a minor hit there.

Changes appeared in June 1970 and initially failed to make the charts. Consequently, its initial pressing (COS-119) was limited and has become one of the more valuable Monkees albums. Jones announced shortly after its release that he was resuming his solo career, but he and Dolenz would release one more single together before reuniting with Boyce and Hart in 1976 as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart. In the wake of the success of the Monkees' television show being rebroadcast on Saturday mornings by CBS (in which all but two tracks from Changes were featured in the reruns), the duo recorded "Do It in the Name of Love" and "Lady Jane" in September 1970. Instead of appearing under the "Monkees" name on Colgems Records, however, the single was released on Bell Records, the successor label to Colgems, and was credited to "Mickey Dolenz [sic] and Davy Jones". This was due to the prohibitive costs of licensing the Monkees name in the US; however, in Japan, the record was issued under the name "the Monkees".

Like all of the original Monkees albums from 1966 to 1970, Changes was reissued in September 1986 by Rhino Records (RNLP-70148) and made a belated entry into the Billboard album charts, reaching No. 152. The Rhino vinyl reissue was transferred from a vinyl copy of the album, the master tape having been lost over the years. For the 1994 CD reissue on Rhino, a first-generation master tape was used, which had been found at the Screen Gems publishing division.

"Time and Time Again", a track written by Jones and Bill Chadwick and recorded in 1969, was originally slated to be on the album but was ultimately not chosen. The track later surfaced on the 1987 Monkees rarities collection Missing Links and again in remixed form as a bonus track on the 1994 CD release of Changes.[3]

Another song, "Steam Engine", was recorded in 1969 and was written and produced by Chip Douglas, featuring Dolenz on vocals. The song was not released at the time, due to a disagreement between Screen Gems and Douglas over session costs, and only saw the light of day via a Saturday morning rerun of the Monkees' TV series episode "Monkees on Tour". In 1979, it was finally issued on the semi-official Australian compilation album Monkeemania - 40 Timeless Hits, and in 1982 it was issued in the USA on the Rhino picture disc compilation Monkee Business.[4]

Two known outtakes from the sessions—"Ride Baby Ride" and "Which Way Do You Want It"—were thought to be lost as of the release of the 1994 Rhino CD.[3] On February 17, 2023, the latter was unveiled during the "Jeff Barry & The Monkees" event in Los Angeles, featuring Barry in conversation with Monkees historian Andrew Sandoval and broadcast online over Zoom.[5]

"Shake 'Em Up", a 1968 outtake from the sessions for The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and sung by Dolenz, was offered up for consideration to be included on Changes but was ultimately rejected by Barry in favor of new material. It was first issued in 1996 on another Monkees rarities collection, Missing Links Volume Three.[6]

"Oh My My"

• Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Other personnel unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, February 5, 1970
• Issued as Colgems Records 45 RPM single 5011, April 1970 (No. 98)

"Ticket on a Ferry Ride"

• Written by Jeff Barry and Bobby Bloom
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Other personnel unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, March 25, 1970

"You're So Good to Me"

• Written by Jeff Barry and Bobby Bloom
• Lead vocal by Davy Jones
• Other personnel unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, March 25, 1970
• While Jeff Barry and Bobby Bloom are officially credited as the writers of the song, several sites and sources credit Robert Stone as co-writer.[7] These findings are incorrect, as the song "You're So Good" by Robert Stone which was recorded by the Monkees in 1969 is a completely different song from the one co-written by Barry and Bloom.

"It's Got to Be Love"

• Written by Neil Brian Goldberg
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Other personnel unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, April 2, 1970

"Acapulco Sun"

• Written by Ned Albright and Steven Soles
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Other personnel unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, April 2, 1970

"99 Pounds"

• Written by Jeff Barry
• Lead vocal by Davy Jones
• Backing vocals: Unknown
• Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas and Hugh McCracken
• Bass: Lou Mauro
• Drums: Herb Lovelle
• Clavinet: Stan Free
• Organ: Arthur Butler
• Tambourine: Thomas Cerone
• Handclaps: Unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Ray Hall
• Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.), and February 4 and 6, 1967, during the final Don Kirshner-supervised Monkees sessions for what would become known as Headquarters (1967)

"Tell Me Love"

• Written by Jeff Barry
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Other personnel unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, February 5, 1970

"Do You Feel It Too?"

• Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim
• Lead vocal by Davy Jones
• Other personnel unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, March 26, 1970

"I Love You Better"

• Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Backing vocals: Davy Jones & unknown
• Guitar: Hugh McCracken
• Bass: Chuck Rainey
• Drums: Gary Chester
• Unknown: Ned Albright, Bobby Bloom, Andy Kim and Steven Soles
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, February 5, 1970
• Issued as Colgems Records 45 RPM single 5011, April 1970 (No. 98)

"All Alone in the Dark"

• Written by Ned Albright and Steven Soles
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Harmony vocal: Davy Jones
• All others unknown
• Produced and arranged by Jeff Barry
• Engineered by Mike Moran
• Recorded in New York City, March 26, 1970

"Midnight Train"

• Written by Micky Dolenz[8]
• Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
• Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz and Coco Dolenz
• Electric Guitar: Louie Shelton
• Bass: Joe Osborn
• Banjo: James Burton
• Drums: Hal Blaine
• Harmonica: Tommy Morgan
• Produced by Micky Dolenz
• Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, CA, July 16 (7:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.), 1969, during the sessions for The Monkees Present (1969)
• While Micky Dolenz is officially credited as the writer of the song, several sites and sources claim Chris McCarty, Kenny Lee Lewis and Steve Miller to have co-written the track.[8] These findings are incorrect, as the song co-written by McCarty, Lewis, and Miller is a completely different song from the one written by Dolenz.

"I Never Thought It Peculiar"

• Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
• Lead vocal by Davy Jones
• Backing vocals: Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart and Ron Hicklin
• Guitars: Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee and Louie Shelton
• Acoustic Guitar: Tommy Boyce
• Bass: Larry Taylor
• Drums: Billy Lewis
• Violins: Harold Ayres, John DeVoogdt, Jimmy Getzoff, Joy Lule and Norman Serkin
• Violas: William Hymanson and Gareth Nuttycombe
• Cello: Frederick Seykora
• Saxophone: Jay Migliori
• Trumpet: Chuck Findley
• French Horn: Alan Robinson
• Trombone: Dick Hyde
• Bell: Gene Estes
• Unknown: Michael Anthony
• Produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
• Arranged by Jimmie Haskell
• Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, October 28, 1966, during the sessions for More of the Monkees (1967), with further recording done at The Sound Factory, Hollywood, September 5 (12:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.) and 12 (1:00 P.M. - 5:30 P.M.), 1969