Weird & Interesting Album Facts: The Monkees' Pieces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. (1967)

1967 was an amazing year in pop music. Not only did The Beatles’ release “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” but it was also the year of  The Moody Blues’ “Days Of Future Past”, The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and Pink Floyd’s ever weird “Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”. The same year that all these groundbreaking albums were hitting the stores, The Monkees released, “Pieces, Aquarius, Capricorn And Jones LTD”. Okay, so it’s not on the same level as the aforementioned releases but it is one of The Monkees’ more eccentric and interesting records and it definitely is a reflection of the time from which it came.

Interesting & Weird Album Facts

—The album was produced by Chip Douglas who had also produced The Monkees’ previous album, “Headquarters”.  Douglas had been a member of the Turtles and had played bass and arranged their mega hit, “Happy Together ". He was asked to become The Monkees producer by Michael Nesmith at The Whiskey A Go Go following the Turtles performance there. Douglas had no previous experience as a producer.

—The big hit off of PAC&J was “Pleasant Valley Sunday”. The song was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and went to number two on the charts. The very cool opening guitar lick was written by Chip Douglas and played by Michael Nesmith. Micky Dolenz was the lead vocalist.

—Speaking of Nesmith, he is lead vocalist on five of the cuts while Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones have three a piece and poor Peter Tork is the lead voice on only the very strange, “Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky”. Nez had a huge hand in the making of the album as many of the songs were written by members of his pre-Monkees bands including, Craig Vincent Smith (“Salesman”), Michael Martin Murphy and Owen Castleman (“What Am I Doing Hanginn ‘Round) and John London (“Don’t Call On Me”).

--According to author Eric Lefcowitz in his book, "Monkee Business", Peter Tork only sang (actually. talked) on the one cut because he had worked for months on a would-be Magnus Opus called "Lady's Baby" that never came together. Legend has it that studio engineers with microphones, at Tork's request, followed a baby around the studio trying to record its babbling. When the song didn't come to fruition, Peter pretty much withdrew from the sessions.

--"Daydream Believer" was recorded during the PAC&J sessions but did not appear on the album. (It would  appear on their next release, "The Birds And The Bees And The Monkees") The song was written by John Stewart of Kingston Trio fame. (Stewart would go on to have a huge solo hit in the late seventies with his

song "Gold"). All four Monkees played on the recording and Peter Tork came up with the now iconic piano intro. The song was going to be on the B-side of the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil song, "Love Is Only Sleeping". But for some reason, and there are different versions on why this happened, the record company decided to scrap "Love Is Only Sleeping" and release "Daydream Believer" as the A-side and "Goin' Down" as the B-side. Reportedly the song had been turned down by several other bands including the We Five and Spanky & Our Gang and Davy Jones, who sang the lead vocal, supposedly hated it. Needless to say, it was the right choice to release it on the A-side.  "Daydream Believer" topped the charts for four weeks in December of '67. It was the last Monkees' song to hit number one.

—As mentioned, “What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round” was written by Michael Martin Murphey
and Owen Castleman. Michael Martin Murphey would go on to have a giant hit in the mid-seventies with “Wildfire”. He later became known as a western singer recording albums of cowboy songs. Owen Castleman, better known as Boomer Castleman, would go on to become a successful Nashville session musician playing on records by George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Roy Clark, Kenny Rogers and Linda Ronstadt. It’s weird to think these guys ever wrote a song for the Monkees.

—One of the best cuts on the album, “Cuddly Toy” was written by Harry Nilsson. It should have been released as a single, it could have been a hit. I imagine the suggestive nature of the lyrics prohibited the song from being released as a single. "Cuddly Toy" is The Monkees at their bubble gum best. Chip Douglas introduced Nilsson to the group and helped get the song on the album. He takes credit for giving Harry his big break.

—PAC&J is a weird mix of Bubble Gum Pop, Country Rock and Psychedelia. It could only have been produced in the sixties. Two of the trippiest tunes are Nesmith’s “Daily Nightly " and King and Goffin’s “Star Collector”. Both make use of the Moog synthesiser. It is believed The Monkees were the first pop act to employ the instrument on a record. Micky Dolenz plays the Moog on “Star Collector” and his solo sounds like eighties synth pop. Way ahead of it’s time.***

—A couple of people who contributed to the album would go on to become casualties of the sixties drug culture. Craig Vincent Smith and Eddie Hoh.

Smith was a former bandmate of Michael Nesmith and wrote the lead-off track “Salesman”. A musician, songwriter and actor, he bounced around L.A writing songs for Andy Williams and starring in the pilot of a TV show called, “The Happenings”. In the

Fast Eddie Hoh

late sixties, he traveled extensively falling farther and farther into drug abuse. Years of odd and destructive behavior ensued  including, declaring himself a prophet and savior (there seemed to be a lot of people doing this in the sixties), challenging people to machete fights and being charged with attempted murder after assaulting his mother. He spent time in prison and mental health facilities and was often homeless. He died in 2012.

Fast Eddie Hoh played drums on a number of cuts on PAC&J including "Pleasant Valley Sunday". He was an up and coming session and touring drummer having played with Donovan, The Mamas & The Papas, Charlie Musselwhite and The Flying Burrito Brothers. He also was the drummer on the infamous "Super Sessions" album with Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. He reportedly had some sort of drug related breakdown in 1970 and completely disappeared. Most people thought he was dead but was found to be living in an Illinois nursing home in 2015. He died not long after at the age of seventy-one.

--Do to the huge sales of Pieces Aquarius, Capricorn And Jones LTD, along with the proceeds from "Headquarters" which was released earlier in the year, The Monkees were the best selling pop group of 1967. Bigger than The Beatles. They would never reach such heights again.

***CORRECTION: Paul Beaver played the Moog on "Star Collector". Micky Dolenz played the Moog on "Daily Nightly". My mistake. Thanks to Tony September for the correction.

Written by Casey Redmond
September 12, 2019
Shangri-La, Ohio

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