Classic Rant #288 (June 30, 2010): Monkee See, Monkee Do

Well, here is another day with not much to rant about. The previous situation with my medical records remains unresolved, and the only other thing that I can rant about is my family's washer/dryer, which appears to have died an untimely death yesterday.

No, not much to write about, so I figured I would promote another one of my blogs that you might not be familiar with.

I was an original fan of the Monkees way back in 1966, and my fascination with them exists to this day. I have all of their American-produced records, and numerous foreign releases too. I guess I just can't get enough of the Pre-Fab Four.

But there are a finite number of releases that they put out on the label that was basically custom designed for them.

Colgems Records, a subsidiary of RCA and with a name that was sort of a conjunction between Columbia and Screen Gems, was best known as the Monkees' record label, but lo and behold, there are numerous other artists that recorded for that label, such as Sally Field (as The Flying Nun), Sajid Khan, Rich Little, and Quincy Jones.

So, as I got older, since I had all the Monkees stuff already, I figured I would investigate the other artists on this label. I was able to secure many of the 45s and albums that were produced on Colgems from 1966-1971--including a lot of soundtracks, which next to the Monkees, was the label's bread and butter--and a few years back, I started The Colgems Blog, which you can access at http://colgems.blogspot.com/.

Sure, the Monkees were the moneymakers on this label, but there were many, many fine recordings that had the Colgems name on it. In addition to the above named performers, other lesser lights, including The Hung Jury and P.K. Limited, called Colgems home.

The label even tried to morph the Monkees, country style, with the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, which included the artist later known as Michael Martin Murphey of "Wildfire" fame.

Yes, this was an interesting label with an interesting array of artists. And that is what the blog is all about.

I have posted everything on the label, less two Monkees albums that I hope to post over the next two months.

Much of the material has never been on CD, and it is hard to figure out who owns the rights to much of the music. But over the past few years, it could be accessed via my blog.

I have also had some of the artists contact me. No one has objected to the blog, they have only applauded it, so I am happy about that.

So, please, visit it on a lazy summer day like today.

And I promise that I won't write about my blogs again any time soon, because frankly, I have run out of blogs to write about.