The Headquarters Sessions is an 84-track 3-CD set by The Monkees

The Monkees

The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

 containing 60 previously unreleased recordings from the sessions that produced the band's third album, Headquarters

Headquarters (album)

HeadquartersThe sleeve and record both render the title as The Monkees' Headquarters. was the third album issued by The Monkees and the first written and recorded primarily by the four members of the group, rather than by session musicians and professional songwriters...

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The detailed set included nearly hours of alternate takes, demos, backing tracks, and recording session audio banter. To this end, The Headquarters Sessions includes only recordings from those sessions where the band had control over all aspects of the recording process and where they played most, if not all, of the instruments.

All vocal masters from the sessions that were not included on the original stereo album are included as well as the surviving vocal demos and a few tracks with vocals which were never completed. In addition, the original mono masters are presented in an initially proposed, but ultimately unused, running order.

The packaging contained a gatefold digipack with a 40-page booklet contained photographs and detailed liner notes written by Andrew Sandoval

Andrew Sandoval

Born in Santa Monica, California Andrew P. Sandoval is a songwriter, musician, author and Grammy nominated producer and engineer. His career in music began in 1986 as the editor and publisher of a fanzine called "New Breed", a project that blossomed into work as a reissue producer for such labels...

 and Bill Inglot

Bill Inglot

Bill Inglot is an American music engineer and producer, best known for remastering older recordings to high quality digital standards.Inglot worked for Rhino Entertainment and other Warner Music Group labels from 1982 to 2007. He was largely responsible for reintroducing historically popular pop...

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The Headquarters Sessions was a limited edition release, with 4,500 copies being made available by Rhino HandMade.

Track listing

CD 1

1. "She's So Far Out, She's In" TRACKING SESSION TAKES 1 & 2
2. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (First Version) TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE TAKES 1 TO 16
3. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (First Version) MASTER BACKING TRACK TAKE 22
4. "All Of Your Toys" REHEARSAL
5. "All Of Your Toys" TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE TAKES 1 TO 10
6. "All Of Your Toys" MASTER BACKING TRACK TAKE 20 MONO MIX
7. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Version) TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE FEATURING TAKE 15
8. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Version) TRACKING OVERDUB SESSION TAKES 1 & 2
9. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Version) MASTER BACKING TRACK TAKE 13A
10. "Seeger's Theme" DEMO
11. "Can You Dig It?" DEMO
12. "Nine Times Blue" DEMO VOCAL
13. "Until It's Time For You To Go" DEMO VOCAL
14. "She'll Be There" DEMO VOCAL
15. "Midnight Train" DEMO VOCAL
16. "Sunny Girlfriend" ACOUSTIC REMIX OF MASTER VOCAL
17. "Sunny Girlfriend" TRACKING SESSION TAKE 7 WITH SCRATCH VOCAL
18. "Mr. Webster" TRACKING SESSION TAKE 28
19. "Band 6" STEREO MASTER
20. Setting Up The Studio for "Randy Scouse Git
    Randy Scouse Git
    "Randy Scouse Git" is a song written by Micky Dolenz in 1967, and recorded by The Monkees. It was the first song written by Micky Dolenz to be commercially released, and ended up a top 5 hit in the UK where it was retitled "Alternate Title" after the record company complained that the title was...
    
    "
21. "Randy Scouse Git" TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE
22. "Randy Scouse Git" ALTERNATE VERSION TAKE 18 VOCAL
23. "You Told Me" MASTER BACKING TRACK
24. Monkee Chat STUDIO DIALOGUE

CD 2

1. "You Told Me" TAKE 15 WITH ROUGH LEAD VOCAL
2. "Zilch" PETER TORK VOCAL TRACK
3. "Zilch" DAVY JONES VOCAL TRACK
4. "Zilch" MICKY DOLENZ VOCAL TRACK
5. "Zilch" MICHAEL NESMITH VOCAL TRACK
6. "I'll Spend My Life With You" MASTER BACKING TRACK TAKE 9
7. "Randy Scouse Git" MASTER BACKING TRACK TAKE 23
8. "Forget That Girl" REHEARSAL
9. "Forget That Girl" MASTER BACKING TRACK
10. " Where Has It All Gone?" (First Version) TRACKING SESSION TAKE 1
11. "Memphis Tennessee"
12. Twelve-String Improvisation
13. "Where Has It All Gone?" (Second Version) MASTER BASIC TRACK TAKE 12
14. "Jericho"
15. "Forget That Girl" ROUGH BACKING VOCALS
16. "Peter Gunn's Gun"
17. "I Was Born In East Virginia" INFORMAL RECORDING VOCAL
18. "Forget That Girl" REJECTED OVERDUB SESSION VOCAL
19. "Randy Scouse Git" ALTERNATE MIX WITH UNUSED TAG VOCAL
20. Micky In Carlsbad Cavern STUDIO DIALOGUE
21. "Pillow Time" TAKE 1 VOCAL
22. "Shades Of Gray
    Shades of Gray (song)
    Shades of Gray was written in 1965 by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and was recorded by The Monkees for their 1967 album Headquarters, the first in which the group played all its own instruments...
    
    " MASTER BACKING TRACK TAKE 9B
23. "Masking Tape" TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE TAKES 6 TO 8
24. "You Just May Be The One" TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE
25. "You Just May Be The One" MASTER BACKING TRACK
26. "No Time" (First Version) TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE TAKES 3 TO 5
27. Blues (Excerpt)

CD 3

1. "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind" MASTER BACKING TRACK
2. Banjo Jam (Excerpt)
3. "Cripple Creek
   Cripple Creek (folk song)
   Cripple Creek is an Old Time Appalachian folk song for the fiddle, though it is often played on the banjo as well.. No one knows when it was composed, but there are theories about just where Cripple Creek is. Some say it is Cripple Creek, Virginia, while others say it is based on Cripple Creek,...
   
   "
4. Six-String Improvisation
5. "The Story Of Rock And Roll" (First Version) TRACKING SESSION TAKE 23
6. "Early Morning Blues And Greens" MASTER BACKING TRACK
7. "Two-Part Invention In F Major" INFORMAL RECORDING
8. "The Story Of Rock And Roll" (Second Version) TRACKING SESSION TAKE 5A
9. "Don't Be Cruel"
10. "For Pete's Sake" MASTER BACKING TRACK
11. "No Time" (Second Version) TRACKING SESSION COMPOSITE
12. "No Time" (Second Version) MASTER BACKING TRACK TAKE 7A
13. "Just A Game" DEMO TAKES 1 To 3
14. "Fever"
15. "Sunny Girlfriend" MASTER BACKING TRACK
16. "No Time" (Second Version) MASTER TAKE 7A WITH BACKING VOCALS
17. "All Of Your Toys" MONO MASTER
18. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (First Version) MONO MASTER
19. "For Pete's Sake" MONO MASTER
20. "I'll Spend My Life With You" MONO MASTER
21. "Forget That Girl" MONO MASTER
22. "You Just May Be The One" MONO MASTER
23. "Shades Of Gray" MONO MASTER
24. "Band 6" MONO MASTER
25. "Sunny Girlfriend" MONO MASTER
26. "Mr. Webster" MONO MASTER
27. "You Told Me" MONO MASTER
28. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Version) MONO MASTER
29. "Zilch" MONO MASTER
30. "Early Morning Blues And Greens" MONO MASTER
31. "Randy Scouse Git" MONO MASTER
32. "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind" MONO MASTER
33. "No Time" MONO MASTER