THE MONKEES 1st ALBUM RARE ORIG '67 COLGEMS LP w/WITHDRAWN "TRANSGENDER" COVER

$

56

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  MORE THAN 200  LISTED ITEMS

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·      THE MONKEES – THE MONKEES (THE GROUP’S FIRST ALBUM, ALSO KNOWN AS ‘MEET THE MONKEES’) - ORIGINAL 1966 COLGEMS STEREO LP COS-101

·      ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·      VERY RARE FIRST VERSION OF THE ALBUM WITH THE TITLE OF THE SONG "PAPA GENE'S BLUES" MISTITLED AS "PAPA JEAN'S BLUES" ON THE COVER AND ON THE LABEL

·      DEEP GROOVE PRESSING

·      RCA VICTOR CUSTOM PRESSING.

·      ORIGINAL RED AND WHITE COLGEMS LABEL

·      THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·      ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

·      COVER IS STILL IN ITS ORIGINAL SHRINK (CELLOPHANE) WRAP

·      THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·      CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

·      MACHINE-STAMPED MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) OF THE RECORD

·      MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-1S/-4S'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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The Monkees' first album was a huge success, following on the number one single "Last Train to Clarksville." The Monkees spent 78 weeks on the Billboard chart including an astounding 13 weeks at number one. The record wasn't only a commercial juggernaut, it also stands as one of the great debuts of all time, and while the record and the group have faced criticism from rock purists through the ages, it stands the test of time perfectly well, sounding as alive and as much fun 40 years later. Prefabricated? Yes. After a fast buck? Yes. Exhilarating? Yes! Fab? Definitely! The music may have been created by studio cats instead of the band themselves but the pros weren't merely phoning it in. Listen to the aggressive guitars on "Saturday's Child," the raw romp of "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day," or the cascading wall of guitars and fiddles on "Sweet Young Thing," and you know they weren't just padding their bank accounts. They were playing some real rock & roll and you can credit the producers for that. Producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart aren't craftsmen on the level of Phil Spector (who was actually approached to produce the band but probably laughed the Monkees' team right out the door), but they knew how to craft razor-sharp and exciting pop tunes with lots of spark, soul, and the occasional psychedelic touch.

And they knew how to get great vocals from their group. While the Monkees themselves didn't do much more than sing, the singing they did was first-rate. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better pop/rock vocalist than Micky Dolenz; his work on "Take a Giant Step" and "Last Train to Clarksville" is thrilling and bursting with life. The other lead vocalist, Davy Jones, thankfully doesn't get a chance to show off his full range of annoyingly whimsical mannerisms; Boyce and Hart keep him under wraps and his vocals on "I Wanna Be Free" and "I'll Be True to You" are achingly sweet, even a little soulful in a very British way. Boyce and Hart weren't the only great producers involved with the record, as a listen to "Papa Gene's Blues" and "Sweet Young Thing" show that Mike Nesmith also knew how to produce great pop music, despite what Don Kirshner may have thought. The various producers, supervisors, and coordinators were also savants when it came to both writing (in Boyce, Hart, and Nesmith's case) and picking songs for the group. Indeed, the only songs that feel like filler are the rudimentary rocker "Let's Dance On" and the silly "Gonna Buy Me a Dog," but even these throwaways are charming and stand up to repeated listens. It's easy to see why kids were buying this record as fast as the label could press them up. Despite the origins of the group and the behind-the-scenes machinations, the music itself is young, exciting, and free. Who cares who did what and who didn't do what when the results are as rock-solid as "Last Train to Clarksville" or "Sweet Young Thing"? You could stack The Monkees up against almost any record of 1966 and the competition would be fierce, with this record coming out on top except in only a few cases.

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY TIM SENDRA, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

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This 1966 Monkees set was one of their finest works from the early, peak period of their career and is becoming increasingly scarce, particularly THE ORIGINAL pressings such as the one we are presenting here. What makes this album particularly rare is the misspelling of the title of "Papa Jean's Blues" (the correct title is: Papa Gene's Blues) on BOTH cover and label. Only the very first batch of pressings has this misprint; these have later been withdrawn, possibly because of the, um… "transgender" implications…these copies are tens, possibly hundreds of times rarer than the common, correct version.

To put things in perspective, the year 1966 was a big year for corporate censors: mind you, within less than a year, the Mamas and the Papas had to endure humiliating censorship of their ►“Toilet Seat” cover, the Beatles were forced to suffer retraction of the ►“Butcher” cover  (on their ‘Yesterday and Today’ album), Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons survived no less than three encounters with the artwork police (on their “Four Seasons sing Bacharach-David and Dylan” album -- for absolutely no rhyme or reason), Jefferson Airplane’s first album was altered in both content and form (cover had to be changed, too), Bob Dylan (presumably on his own volition?) changed the layout on his ► “Blonde on Blonde” album, deleting the image of Claudia Cardinale; the Fugs’ first album underwent no less than 4 (four !!!) alterations, ►Buffalo Springfield’s first album had to have a song excised from BOTH record AND the cover; Simon and Garfunkel’s second album (The Sounds of Silence) underwent no less than three cover revisions; Velvet Underground’s first album ►(Velvet Underground & Nico, also known as the “Banana Cover) had to have back cover significantly modified because of a legal dispute. In other words, corporate censors and self-censors were out in full force back in 1966.

TO SEE IF WE HAVE OTHER LISTED ITEMS BY THIS GROUP OR ARTIST ►  CLICK HERE

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·                          CONDITION:

·                          RECORD

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)         WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG++ and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial  and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant).For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)         The record has a "deep groove" (an indent in the label about 1/2-inch from the edge of the label, which on SOME labels is associated with very early or first pressings).

(c)         The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(d)         Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·      COVER (THIS IS ORIGINAL “MISSPELLED” COVER)

COVER IS NEAR MINT,  STILL IN ITS ORIGINAL ►SHRINK WRAP  (A PIECE OF SHRINK WRAP  [ <10%]- IS MISSING)

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-       Cover has a minor tape residue (yellowish discoloration from the removed piece of old and aged scotch tape) on the back panel (less than 1/2 square inch in size)

-       Cover shows some light yellowing on back side, apparently from aging.

-       Cover has one corner slightly worn (nothing significant)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

We offer three postage rates for domestic orders: USPS Media Mail, USPS Priority Mail and USPS Express Mail and three rates for international shipments:  USPS First Class, USPS Priority International Mail, and USPS Express International Mail (in a small number of cases, we will, at our discretion and for purely technical reasons, substitute First Class Mail with eBay's Global Shipping, which is fundamentally the same service at about the same cost). INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND (BUT DO NOT INSIST) that you select USPS International Priority Mail when making a payment.

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates vary from one region of  the world to another. For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage rates, please click on " Shipping, returns, and payments" tab in the header of our listing.

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CRITICALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

(A) All orders valued at $50.00 or more will be shipped fully insured against loss, damage or theft by ShipCover, eBay's contracted insurer, at our expense (B) Yes, we do combine items into a single shipment; in order to enable this feature, the winning bidders should WAIT until their last item of interest ends and ONLY THEN make a payment. Doing otherwise will result in multiple shipments to the same customer and forfeiture of multiple shipping charges already paid. (C) Because we do not play-grade our items, we do not know how the purchased item will play on the buyer's equipment. We can only make reasonable inference on the record's playing condition based on its visual appearance. (D) This seller will NOT cancel erroneous, frivolous and prank bids. The bidders can do so on their own, by visiting eBay's Site Map, then clicking on Bid Retractions link. (E) This seller does not specifically grade or describe certain items, such as: shrink (cellophane) wrap and accompanying extras (inserts, booklets, etc.); however, the presence of these items WILL be noted and accompanied by the gallery photo(s). (F) Please do not submit any bids on our items if you have insufficient user history. (G) Other than in very rare justified cases, failure to pay for the item you won amounts to a fraud and will result in a permanent ban on bidding on our future listings. (H) We will NEVER deliberately, knowingly or willingly provide a false, deceitful or misleading information.

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OUR REFUND POLICY :

WE OFFER UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE (POSTAGE INCLUDED) WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM THE RECEIPT OF THE MERCHANDISE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED; STILL SEALED ITEMS MUST BE RETURNED SEALED IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A REFUND.   NO EXCEPTIONS!

FINE (BUT IMPORTANT!) PRINT

 (1) The year indicated in the title bar is the year of the original release,  NOT necessarily the year of the actual pressing; for the actual generation of the pressing, please see our item description (top section, the text in red letters). (2) Please do NOT bid based on the title bar, subtitle bar or item specifics box alone; instead, please read the entire description before bidding; (3) Absolutely NO order cancellations after the auction closes. ever, under any circumstances. We can ONLY cancel bids before the item closes. (4) We are unable to provide matrix-, stamper- or other pressing  information in the final 24 hours of the auction. (5) All disagreements and miscommunications can be - and will only be - solved in a civil and mutually respectful manner; please avoid puerile, offensive, abrasive or menacing language (6) This seller will accommodate all reasonable requests and - unless seriously molested - is generally a flexible, pragmatic and agreeable person.

Our love & appreciation for your trust, loyalty and business, always and forever;  Thank You & Good Night!

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