Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones LTD. by The Monkees (Rhino/1967) - 9 out of 10 simians agree: this opus from Fall of 1967 was The Monkees finest album. Drifting back towards more outside input in playing and songwriting, though really, as far as players, it is much the same as Headquarters, with the exception of Micky bowing out on the drums, and producer Chip’s pal, Eddie Hoh, taking over. Generally, Mike on guitar, Pete on keyboards, Chip on bass and sometimes guitar, plus horn players on a few tracks. Micky plays his brand new Moog modular synthesizer on Daily Nightly — while session player Paul Beaver plays it on Star Collector (Micky’s work is a lot more interesting). A consistently good batch of tunes with strong production. Another in Rhino’s series of 2-disc Deluxe Editions, with stereo and mono versions, alternate mixes, out-takes, etc. — so you also get the essential, but non-album Goin’ Down in a couple of versions. Are The Monkees in the tank yet? With tunes like Salesman and Pleasant Valley Sunday, I think not. Entropy and dissolution crept in the following year, 1968.

Headquarters by The Monkees (Rhino/1967) - The third Monkees album, the first one they actually got to play on and have some say about. Yes, they really do play their own instruments here (with producer Chip Douglas chipping in on bass, generally). Is it the most amazing album ever? No, but it is a darned good mid-1960s poppin’ rock album (especially if you like the Beatles’ pre-Pepper folk-rock-ish phase). And it has a lot more heart than the earlier albums (especially compared to the Kirshner driven More Of The Monkees, with its heavy dose of Davy goo-goo ballads). Was it a flop? No way — it made it to number 1 before Sgt. Pepper came out and took over. And then rode shotgun with the Sarge for the rest of the summer. This continues Rhino’s series of 2-disc Deluxe Editions, with stereo and mono versions, alternate mixes, out-takes and etc. The song demos with Micky and his sister Coco harmonizing together are absolutely charming. They should have had an album of their own.

The Legend and The Legacy by Les Paul (Capitol/1991) - A four disc boxed set documenting Les and Mary Ford’s pioneering work in overdubbed music from the late 1940s through the 50s. It’s like listening to musical test pilots do amazing things for the first time in history. Dazzling electric guitarisms from Les, and Mary’s vocals are wonderfully pure and precise. It includes an excellent little book, featuring song by song commentary from Les himself. A very classy package, foolishly out of print at present. However — out this week on DVD is Les Paul: Chasing Sound — a rather good documentary which aired recently on PBS.

Songwriter, schemer, singer, producer, performer, provocateur, Lee Hazlewood has been beaten by his cancer. The man is gone, and that’s all she wrote. Well, that seems like the sort of blunt, folksy thing he would say. I don’t know what to say, but… Thanks for everything you did, man.

New in the sidebar, Miss Fidget has converted her domain to a bloggy format, tracking tidbits “about F words, like Fashion, Feloniousness, Found Photos and my fave, Forteana.” It’s Fun.