Good Morning, Afternoon, or Evening to you. Three days from today will be the 10th anniversary of the Good Times! album, and the upcoming Deluxe Edition flaunts an entire second disc of instrumentals from the album, as well as bonus tracks that were originally store-exclusives.
The question remains: Why this? Weren't there supposedly other songs considered for the album? What about the original deluxe edition? Where am I? What's going on?
I'll try to answer at least one of those questions below.
4 SONGS REJECTED FROM GOOD TIMES
1. Love Is On The Way - A Linzer/Randell composition recorded during the "Third Kirshner Album" sessions on January 22nd, 1967, with overdubs done on the 27th and 28th. The song, like many others from these fated sessions, will be cast aside once The Monkees begin their Headquarters album. Love Is On The Way will be given a second chance on October 3rd 1969, when Micky overdubbed lead vocals onto another song from this January 1967 period, Sally. Love Is On The Way either never recieved vocal overdubs or did (Micky was largely absent the week the overdubbed 4-track was transferred and has a couple dates the month prior with no surviving tapes), who knows. In 2015, the song was once again presented as a potential candidate for the next Monkees album, with Micky really interested in singing lead vocals, only for it to be rejected. What was recorded was released in 2022 on the Headquarters Super Deluxe.
2. Where Has It All Gone - Recorded March 7th. 1967. The Monkees struggled a little with this song, requiring 16 takes, 9 of those being false starts. The final take, labelled "closest to master" has yet to be released. When recording the Good Times! album in 2016, Mike declined any attempts to finish it. Perhaps the song was too rough for his tastes? It's still not known what the words to this song would be. Maybe the Nesmith estate has a lyric sheet lying around... Nez never revisited this tune. Two "versions" of this tune (done before and after a lunch break) were released on the Headquarters Sessions box.
3. Yours Until Tomorrow - Recorded June 22nd, 1967. A beautiful Goffin/King ballad. Various covers of this song exist recorded by Vivian Reed, Cher, Engelbert Humperdinck, Johnny Maestro, and The Accents, to list a few. The Monkees' recording, released very recently on the Pisces Super Deluxe Edition, is a lot more stripped back and focuses on a back-and-forth between Mike Nesmith's rhythm guitar and Peter Tork (or Chip Douglas's) bass. One could imagine Peter or Micky singing this tune if they attempted overdubs for Good Times! but sadly, it was rejected.
4. Today - Recorded May 12th, 1969. An entire 25+ piece orchestra will be called in to record the backing of Today, a fact that gets Chip Douglas into a small bit of trouble considering The Monkees were, by this point, low priority and low finance. The final master is the beginning of take 8, the body of take 6, and the tail of take 5. Despite this lavish effort, and a guide vocal from Chip done that same day, no Monkee would touch this song during the 1960s. In 2015, Chip put Today forward as a potential track for Good Times! but even after assessment, it was put aside for later. In 2018, during recording for the Christmas Party album, Chip Douglas even offered a new set of festive-themed lyrics, but it wasn't enough. The song would end up in the vaults, indefinitely.....
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