Early Headquarters

If The Monkees hadn't decided to take control of their music, the odds are that they would have released an album very similar to Changes rather than Headquarters as their third album.

Below is an example of what the Monkees may otherwise have released as their third album if they hadn't taken control of their music and released Headquarters.

For CD bonus tracks listed below, I decided to include the tracks the Monkees had recorded in 16 January - 23 February 1967 outside Don Kirshner's control. This was partly due to those tracks being recorded around the same time, and that "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" was subsequently released as the B-Side of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You".

I was initially unaware that "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" which was recorded under the Monkees' direction, also featured them on accompaniment. I didn't realise that The Monkees had been given the opportunity to play their own instruments on any tracks recorded in the studio before Don Kirshner was fired. Despite this, I had read in the "All of Your Toys" article on the wikipedia, that the Monkees had played their instruments on the song that was originally going to appear as the A-Side of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere".

In addition to "All of Your Toys", "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" and "She's So Far Out, She's In", for bonus tracks I added the early versions of the four tracks that had been re-recorded for Headquarters - "I'll Spend My Life with You", "You Just May Be the One", and "Mr. Webster". "I Never Thought It Peculiar" which had been featured on Changes was added to this compilation as a bonus track as well.

Session Information:
"I Wanna Be Your Puppy Dog"
 * Written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Denny Randell
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 22 (1:00 - 7:30 PM) and 27 January 1967 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM)
 * Genre: Bubblegum Pop

"You Can't Tie a Mustang Down"
 * Written by Jeff Barry, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, and Hugh McCracken
 * Bass Guitar: Louis Mauro and James Tyrell
 * Drums: Herb Lovelle
 * Tambourine: Thomas Cerone
 * Piano: Stan Free
 * Organ: Arthur Butler
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 21 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 24 January, and 4 February, 1967
 * Duration: 0:03:00
 * Genre: Bubblegum Pop

"I Didn't Know You Had It in You Sally" (You're a Real Ball of Fire)
 * Written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell
 * Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Denny Randell
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Re-produced by Jeff Barry
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 22 (1:00 - 7:30 PM), and 28 January 1967 (4:30 PM - 7:30 PM) and 15 September 1969
 * Duration: 0:02:06
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * The track includes a vocal that Micky recorded in 1969.

"Love is on the Way"
 * Written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Denny Randell
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 22 (1:00 - 7:30 PM), 27 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 28 January 1967 (4:30 PM - 7:30 PM)
 * Genre: Bubblegum Pop

"Gotta Give It Time"
 * Written by Jeff Barry, Jerry Leiber, Joey Levine, and Mike Stoller
 * Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
 * Backing vocal: Michael Nesmith
 * Guitar: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, and Hugh McCracken
 * Bass Guitar: Louis Mauro
 * Drums: Herb Lovelle
 * Organ: Arthur Butler
 * Tambourine: Thomas Cerone
 * Originally produced by Jeff Barry
 * Reproduced by Adam Schlesinger
 * Originally arranged by: Jeff Barry
 * Originally engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 21 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 24 January 1967, and Lucy's Meat Market, Los Angeles, February 2016
 * Duration: 0:02:17
 * Genre: Bubblegum Pop
 * Leftover from the final Kirshner supervised sessions in January 1967, however no vocals were recorded at the time.

"Sugar Man"
 * Written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Denny Randell
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 22 (1:00 - 7:30 PM), 27 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 28 January 1967 (4:30 PM - 7:30 PM)
 * Genre: Bubblegum Pop
 * Another song "Sugar, Sugar" which had been recorded by The Archies, is said to have been earlier offered to The Monkees, although songwriter Jeff Barry denies this. Don Kirshner has said that Michael Nesmith put his fist through the wall of the Beverly Hills Hotel refusing to do "Sugar, Sugar". However, Monkees archival expert Andrew Sandoval has suggested that the band may actually instead have been offered the song "Sugar Man", but with the passage of time the parties involved simply mis-remembered it as being "Sugar, Sugar", in large part because it made a better anecdote. Peter Tork claimed in an interview that the band were offered "Sugar, Sugar", despite Jeff Barry's denial of this. A link to the interview can be found here.
 * Personally I think The Monkees could have been offered both songs at different times. The song "Sugar Man" was definitely on the list of The Monkees' song outtakes recorded during the sessions of "Headquarters". Except that Don Kirshner didn't get round to calling a Monkee in to record vocals for the track before he got fired. Peter Tork said that they were offered the song "Sugar, Sugar" during the beginning of the recording sessions for Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Limited which was more than a month after Don Kirshner had been fired.

"99 Pounds"
 * Written by Jeff Barry
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Backing vocals: Unknown
 * Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, and Hugh McCracken
 * Bass Guitar: Louis Mauro and James Tyrell
 * Drums: Herb Lovelle
 * Piano: Stan Free
 * Organ: Arthur Butler
 * Tambourine: Thomas Cerone
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered By: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 21 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 24 January, and 4, 5 and 6 February, 1967
 * Duration: 0:02:30
 * Genre: Rock and Roll
 * Recorded during the final Kirshner-supervised Monkees sessions for what would become known as Headquarters

"She Hangs Out"
 * Written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Backing vocal: Unknown
 * Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, and Hugh McCracken
 * Bass Guitar: Louis Mauro and James Tyrell
 * Drums: Herb Lovelle
 * Piano: Stan Free
 * Organ: Arthur Butler
 * Tambourine: Thomas Cerone
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered By: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 21 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 24 January, and 4, 5 February, 1967
 * Duration: 0:02:34
 * Genre: Doo-Wop, Jazz Music, Pop Music
 * While Jeff Barry is officially credited as the writer of the song, several sites and sources claim Ellie Greenwich to have co-written the track.
 * Later re-recorded and released on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Limited.

"A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"
 * Written by Neil Diamond
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Backing vocals: Neil Diamond, and Unknown
 * Guitar: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, and Hugh McCracken
 * Bass Guitar: Louis Mauro and James Tyrell
 * Drums: Herb Lovelle
 * Piano: Stan Free
 * Organ: Arthur Butler
 * Tambourine: Thomas Cerone
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered By: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 21 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 24 January, and 4 and 6 February, 1967
 * Duration: 0:02:51
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * Reached #2 on the pop charts
 * Both mono and stereo mixes of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" were made, the master recordings of the song disappeared after the 1960's, with later issues being made from dubs of the earlier mixes. The original stereo mix (with reverb added to the vocals, a longer fade, no handclaps, and David Jones singing "oh girl, oh girl" over the bridge) first appeared on the greatest hits album in 1969 and later on other collections, until the multi-track master was rediscovered by Rhino Records; a new stereo remix, more closely matching the mono version, was issued as a bonus track on Rhino's two CD deluxe version of Headquarters in 2007.

"Love to Love"
 * Written by Neil Diamond
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Guitar: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, and Hugh McCracken
 * Bass Guitar: Louis Mauro and James Tyrell
 * Drums: Herb Lovelle
 * Piano: Stan Free
 * Organ: Arthur Butler
 * Tambourine: Thomas Cerone
 * Produced by: Jeff Barry
 * Arranged by Jeff Barry
 * Engineered By: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 21 (11:00 AM - 7:00 PM) and 24 January, and 4 and 5 February, 1967, and 5 August, 1969
 * Duration: 0:02:31
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * The 1996 stereo mix of "Love to Love" is considered to be in an alternate mix, even though as of 2001 it is the most commonly used, and probably the most commercially known mix to date.
 * All versions of the song include a vocal that David Jones re-recorded in 1969.
 * A vocal track was recorded by David Jones for The Monkees Present, but left unreleased until 2016 when Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork contributed new backing vocals for Good Times!

"Poor Little Me"
 * Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 26 January 1967 (11:00 AM - 6:30 PM)

"If I Learned to Play the Violin"
 * Written by Joey Levine and Artie Resnick
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 26 January (11:00 AM - 6:30 PM), and 4 and 6 February, 1967
 * Duration: 0:02:48
 * Genre: Pop Music

"Black and Blue"
 * Written by Neil Diamond, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 26 January 1967 (11:00 AM - 6:30 PM)

"Eve of My Sorrow"
 * Written by Jeff Barry, Jerry Leiber, Joey Levine, and Mike Stoller
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 26 January 1967 (11:00 AM - 6:30 PM)

"The Love You Got Inside"
 * Written by Jeff Barry, Andy Kim, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller
 * Other personnel unknown
 * Produced by Jeff Barry
 * Arrangement: Jeff Barry
 * Engineered by: Ray Hall
 * Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, 26 January 1967 (11:00 AM - 6:30 PM)

Bonus Track Session Information:
"All of Your Toys"
 * Written by Bill Martin
 * Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
 * Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, David Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork
 * Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith
 * Bass Guitar: John London
 * Drums: Micky Dolenz
 * Tambourine: David Jones
 * Harpsichord: Peter Tork
 * Produced by Douglas Farthing-Hatlelid
 * Recorded at Goldstar Studios, Hollywood 16 January (10:00 AM - 6:00 PM), and RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, 19, 23, 24, January, and 26 (8:00 - 11:00 PM), 28 (2:00 - 6:00 PM), 30 (10:00 - 12:00 AM), 31 January (2:00 PM - 12:00 AM), and 2 February 1967 (8:00 - 10:00 PM)
 * Duration: 0:03:09
 * Pop Music
 * Unused track that was the proposed A-side of the next Monkees single, but song was not controlled by the Monkees' publishing company, Screen Gems; publisher Tickson Music refused to sell the copyright.
 * The track is also included as a bonus track on Headquarters, and the Listen to the Band and Music Box sets in slightly different mixes, and Monkeemania (The Very Best of the Monkees) in a slightly different mix.

"The Girl I Knew Somewhere"
 * Written by Michael Nesmith
 * Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
 * Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork
 * Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith
 * Acoustic 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith
 * Bass Guitar: John London
 * Drums: Micky Dolenz
 * Tambourine: John London
 * Harpsichord: Peter Tork
 * Produced by Douglas Farthing-Hatlelid
 * Recorded at RCA Victor Studio A, Hollywood, 23 February, 1967 (2:00 - 10:00 P.M.)
 * Duration: 0:02:36
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * Reached #39 on the pop charts
 * The 1987 stereo mix of the song which is more commonly used today features additional backing vocals during the harpsichord solo, while the mono mix doesn't. The original 1967 stereo mix does not include the additional backing vocals, so it is otherwise more similar to the mono mix, only it's in stereo.

"She's So Far Out, She's In" 
 * Written by Thomas Baker Knight
 * Spoken words by Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Unknown
 * Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith
 * Bass Guitar: Peter Tork
 * Drums: Micky Dolenz
 * Maracas: David Jones
 * Produced by Douglas Farthing-Hatlelid
 * Recorded at Goldstar Studio A, Hollywood, 16 January, 1967 (10:00 AM - 6:00 PM)
 * Duration: 0:04:00
 * Genre: Country Pop
 * A staple of the group's 1966-67 concert tour, this was the first official recording of the group with producer Chip Douglas. The group ran through several takes, but none came through to the satisfaction of Douglas. One full take (available on "Headquarters Sessions") came through in which Michael's lead guitar changed volume seconds into the performance.

"I Can't Get Her off My Mind"
 * Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Backing vocals: Unknown
 * Guitar: Wayne Erwin, Gery McGee, and Louie Shelton
 * Bass Guitar: Larry Taylor
 * Drums: Billy Lewis
 * Percussion: Gene Estes and David Walters
 * Tack Piano: Bobby Hart
 * Auto Harp: Bobby Hart
 * Marimba: Gene Estes
 * Produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
 * Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, 25 July, 1966 (7:00 PM - 3:00 AM)
 * Duration: 0:02:55
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * Later re-recorded by The Monkees and used on Headquarters.

"I'll Spend My Life with You"
 * Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
 * Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
 * Harmony vocal: Ron Hicklin
 * Backing vocals: Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart and Ron Hicklin
 * Guitar: Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee, and Louie Shelton
 * Acoustic Guitar: Tommy Boyce
 * Bass Guitar: Larry Taylor
 * Drums: Billy Lewis
 * Percussion: Gene Estes and David Walters
 * Produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
 * Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, 26 October, 1966
 * Duration: 0:02:30
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * Unused until Headquarters, when it was re-recorded by the Monkees.

"You Just May Be the One"
 * Written by Michael Nesmith
 * Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith
 * Harmony vocal: Micky Dolenz
 * Guitar: Peter Tork, James Burton, Glen Campbell, Al Casey, and Mike Deasey
 * Bass Guitar: Robert West
 * Dano Bass: Peter Tork, James Burton, Glen Campbell, Al Casey, and Mike Deasy
 * Drums: Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon
 * Percussion: Gene Estes and Frank DeVito
 * Piano: Larry Knechtel
 * Produced by Michael Nesmith
 * Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, 18 July, 1966 (8:00 PM - 12:00 AM)
 * Duration: 0:02:00
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * The song features the doubling of regular bass with Danelectro or "dano" bass, played by one of the other guitarists; the dano bass' distinctive twang gave Michael's 1966 tracks a country flavour. The doubling of bass proved difficult to master as some 35 takes were needed before the backing track was completed.

"Mr. Webster"
 * Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
 * Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz
 * Backing vocal: Micky Dolenz
 * Acoustic Guitar: Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee, and Louie Shelton
 * Bass Guitar: Larry Taylor
 * Harpsichord: Michel Rubini
 * Percussion: Alan Estes
 * Oboe: Norman Benno
 * Cello: Maggie Aue
 * Produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
 * Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, 10 September, 1966
 * Duration: 0:02:54
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * Originally featured on Missing Links Volume Two

"I Never Thought It Peculiar"
 * Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
 * Lead vocal by David Jones
 * Backing vocals: Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, and Ron Hicklin
 * Guitar: Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee, and Louie Shelton
 * Acoustic Guitar: Tommy Boyce
 * Bass Guitar: Larry Taylor
 * Drums: Billy Lewis
 * Organ: Bobby Hart
 * Violin: Harold Ayres, John DeVoogdt, James Getzoff, Joy Lulu, and Norman Serkin
 * Viola: William Hymanson, and Gareth Nuttycombe
 * Cello: Frederick Seykora
 * Saxophone: Jay Migliori
 * Trumpet: Chuck Findley
 * French Horn: Alan Robinson
 * Trombone: Dick Hyde
 * Bell: Gene Estes
 * Unknown: Michael Anthony
 * Produced by Tommy Boyce, and Bobby Hart
 * Arranged by: Jimmie Haskell
 * Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, 28 October, 1966, and The Sound Factory, Hollywood, 12 September, 1969.
 * Duration: 0:02:27
 * Genre: Jazz Music, Pop Music