A Month of Monkees: Sold Only At Concerts

As we all know, The Monkees have performed numerous reunion tours starting with the giant 1986 20th Anniversary Tour and concluding with the 2002 tour featuring just Micky and Davy. (Ironic since the last original Colgems album featured just Micky and Davy). During those tours, live concert albums were sold at the merchandise table that were not available anywhere else. These releases are all long out of print and new copies will never be made again. However, we here at the World of Wonder are happy to announce that over the course of "A Month of Monkees" we will be offering these great live albums for your listening pleasure. The first, and hands down, the best of these live albums was offered on their 1987 tour. The 1986 Monkees Tour sold out every venue it stopped at, making it the #1 grossing tour of that year. The final two dates in Charleston, WV on December 1 at the Civic Center Arena and in Bethlehem, PA on December 3 at the Stabler Arena, were recorded and resulted in a quality record that can't help but make the listener sense the excitement & energy of the large crowds that attended the concerts. When The Monkees went back out on tour in 1996 for their 30th anniversary, this album was re-issued on CD and sold at the merchandise table. Instead of a pristine digital transfer of the original tracks, the CD was just a recording of a mint condition LP due to the fact that the master recordings had been lost. (there is a rumor that the masters may have been found since that time) It is interesting to note that both the original LP and the CD reissue were both credited to Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork and not The Monkees. The reason for this was that at the time of the original release in 1987, Columbia Pictures still held the rights to the Monkees' name and they would get a portion of the profits as a result. Already having to share their proceeds from their sold out tours and original album reissues, the boys were not about to share the profits from their new live album. By 1997, RHINO had purchased the rights to the name and saw to it that the guys received all that they had coming to them. However, the CD still did not carry the Monkees name. Interesting . . . Here is that live album. Enjoy!

Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork - 20th Anniversary Tour 1986