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Peter: Side two kicks off with “For Pete’s Sake.” It’s a terrific song. A personal favorite.

Peter co-wrote this. He’s on guitar. Mike’s on the organ. Micky on the drums and lead vocals.

The lyrics are a great time capsule. Some real flower-power stuff going on here. “We were born to love one another/We must be what we’re goin’ to be/And what we have to be is free.”

Tyler: Oh yeah.  Real hippie-eyed sentiments all around.  But hey, I dig it, too.  It’s rock-solid, smartly-arranged sixties pop-rock.  You wouldn’t hear it as a passive observer and think “Oh, it’s The Monkees.”

I don’t mean that to disparage the band so much as their reputation.  I certainly didn’t expect anything like “For Pete’s Sake” coming in.

Peter: Totally understand. And I agree. They’re firing on all cylinders here.

They used this for the end credits of the TV show during the second season. Are you familiar with the show at all?

Tyler: I’m not. Antics?

Peter: Like you wouldn’t believe.

Tyler: Is that streaming?  Do you own it?  Salivating readers want to know.

Peter: I saw the re-runs on TV when I was young. Not sure if it’s available today. It’s really quite good. The debt to the Beatle films, especially Help!, is obvious, but the show is more than just a cheap Beatle ripoff. John Lennon called them, “The greatest comic talents since the Marx Brothers.”

That’s high praise!

Tyler: Goodness.

It appears that at least some of the episodes are available on YouTube.

Peter: There you go. Enjoy, dear readers.

Next up is “Mr. Webster.”

Tyler: I’m into this one.

Nice melancholy character sketch.  It’s compelling.

I suppose it’s not that melancholy.  It just sounds like it.

Peter: They’d recorded this previously with session musicians, but it didn’t make it onto the first two albums. I really like that version, but yeah, it’s a good tune. I agree.

It’s a little story about a guy who works at a bank. He thwarted 27 robberies! What is going on? That’s a lot of attempted robberies!

But, also, the criminals went 0 for 27? Why keep trying? You’re not going to get past Mr. Webster. He’s the Michael Jordan of bank tellers. Apparently.

Tyler: You’d think the local criminals would give up on that bank.

Peter: Exactly!

Tyler: How is he doing all the thwarting from behind a teller’s counter?  Lots of unanswered questions.

Peter: So true.

Now that I think about it, the Michael Jordan of bank tellers would probably be good at making change and depositing checks and stuff. Whatever.

Tyler: He would probably bankrupt the bank with gambling debts.

Peter: Which fits, because our Mr. Webster ends up stealing all the money from the bank!

He flies away with all their money, the song tells us.

Tyler: The town in ruins!

Peter: Alright, next is “Sunny Girlfriend.”

Another Mike number.

Tyler: True to its name, it’s a happy tune.

Peter: For sure. I like this one. I like most of Mike’s songs.

Tyler: It’s got kind of an “Another Girl” thing going.

Peter: Yeah, I can hear that.

He’s a good songwriter. He had a good run as a country artist in the 70s. Sort of a cult classic kind of situation.

Tyler: That’d be a fun record store hunting quest.

“Zilch” coming in hot.  This thing is odd.

Peter: It is!

Tyler: Didn’t the “Mr. Dobalina” bit get sampled in the ‘90s?  I’d never heard this track, but that part was familiar.

Peter: Yes! Del tha Funky Homosapien sampled it for his excellent, “Mistadobalina.”

Tyler: There it is.

Peter: It’s funny that The Monkees had a small part in Hip Hop history. Run DMC had previously covered “Mary, Mary,” another Monkees song, back in the 80s.

Tyler: I’ll be damned.  I had no idea.

“Zilch” is fine, I suppose.  One of those “It wouldn’t be the album without it!” asides.

Peter: We should explain, the song is the four Monkees each repeating a phrase over and over. And they kind of play with the rhythm and pace of it. It’s like a spoken word collage?

It’s not terrible. And it’s relatively short.

Tyler: It’s just short enough that it’s not a real bother.

Peter: Agreed.

Tyler: Now, if I were Peter Travers, I might write “Make time for ‘No Time,’ the bitchin’ hot track off Headquarters.”

Peter: Peter Travers! I remember him. Is he still around?

Tyler: A quick search revealed that he’s currently reviewing for ABC.

Peter: Nice. Love that for him. “No Time” is super fun. They’re having a great time in the studio. You can hear Peter mess up on the piano at one point but they left it in. It’s rambunctious and spirited. Micky sounds great on the lead vocals. He’s a great, great singer.

Wikipedia says “Written by the four Monkees (according to Peter, composition was done primarily by Micky and Mike). However, as a fiscal ‘thank you’ for an extra week spent on the album, as well as his patience & technical mentoring, the band credited the song to recording engineer Hank Cicalo, guaranteeing him a sizable royalty check, from which (Hank) bought a home.”

Tyler: Hey, now that’s a fine gesture.  Love hearing something like that.

Peter: The next one is “Early Morning Blues and Greens.” Call me crazy, but the melody is similar in spots to Dark Side of The Moon. I’m not saying Floyd nicked it or anything. Just an observation.

Tyler: You never know.

I’m all about this one.  It’s moody and has a vaguely hypnotic air to it.

Peter: Yes! Hypnotic. That organ or electric piano part is great.

Another example of a Davy song I enjoy.

I love how weird they went. Having finally won creative control, they really let their freak flag fly.

Tyler: The label must’ve been thrilled.

Peter: Can you imagine? They must have hated the whole exercise.

But, it was a hit. Headquarters debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. It was dethroned in its second week by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They sat at 1 and 2 for the entirety of the Summer of Love. Not too shabby for a “fake” band!

Tyler: Mercy.  Not too shabby at all.

We’ve come to the final track.  “Randy Scouse Git.”

Peter: A masterpiece.

This went to #2 in England, but wasn’t released as a single here. They had to re-name it in England cause the title is mildly offensive English slang. It was called “Alternate Title” there.

Tyler: Love that.

Peter: Micky wrote it. It’s about visiting London in 1967. “The four kings of EMI,” are The Beatles. “The girl in yellow dress,” is Cass Elliot, who was also visiting London at the time.

Tyler: Got some generation-gap commentary going, best I can gather, as well.

Peter: Absolutely. “Why don’t you cut your hair?”

“Why don’t you be like me?/Why don’t you stop and see?/Why don’t you hate who I hate/Kill who I kill to be free?”

It’s a weird and wonderful psychedelic pop masterpiece.  And a groovy time capsule.

Tyler: A suitable ending to a surprising creative success.

What a good album!  I absolutely did not expect to have such a pleasant time listening when we settled on it.  It’s a worthy release.

Peter: I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I think I learned that I am a Monkees super-fan after all. An apostle, even. Glad to have shared them with you. My work here is done.

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