Next year marks the 60th anniversary of The Monkees, an occasion soon to be commemorated by last Monkee standing Micky Dolenz with a new tour.  The group's home of Rhino Records has started the party early with the recent release of the latest (and last?) of the label's series of lavish album reissues.  1967's Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. has been expanded as a comprehensive 4CD/1-7" box set by producer/annotator Andrew Sandoval, and as usual, the result is manna for longtime fans and collectors.

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. found Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork taking advantage of the hard-won freedom they'd earned with Headquarters-even if only for a short period of time.  Sessions began in April 1967, less than two weeks after Headquarters had been completed and the second season of the group's NBC-TV sitcom had begun filming.  The result was one of the group's most musically varied albums-possibly their most varied-with songs by established songwriters, up-and-comers, and their most prolific resident tunesmith, Michael Nesmith.  Though producer/bassist Chip Douglas and drummer Eddie Hoh did join the group along with various string, wind, and horn players, the four Monkees all played on the LP and selected its songs.

Over four months before the album's release, it was previewed by "Pleasant Valley Sunday" on 45 RPM.  The pulsating Carole King/Gerry Goffin rocker acerbically commented on the suburban setting to which the couple had relocated (on seemingly bucolic Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange, New Jersey).  Persuasively sung by Micky Dolenz with a killer guitar riff devised by Douglas and played to perfection by Nesmith, "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was a biting slice of pop bliss.  It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and set the stage for the full album named for the group members' astrological signs.  (Dolenz is Pisces, Tork was Aquarius, and both Jones and Nesmith were Capricorn.)

Nesmith made the biggest impression on the album, taking the lead on five songs including Craig Smith's psychedelic opener "Salesman," Chip Douglas and Bill Martin's folk-rock anti-war lament "The Door Into Summer," Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's dreamy "Love Is Only Sleeping," his own lounge-styled ballad "Don't Call on Me" (co-written with John London and an "experimentation in major seventh chords," per Nez in the liner notes), and Michael Martin Murphey and Boomer Castleman's surging country rocker, "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round."  Nesmith additionally penned "Daily Nightly," a Moog-flecked meditation on the Sunset Strip riots, sung by Micky Dolenz.  Davy Jones shone on Harry Nilsson's jauntily subversive "Cuddly Toy" as well as with Goffin and King's timely meditation on a Hollywood "Star Collector" and Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller's bubblegum rocker "She Hangs Out."  Davy's own "Hard to Believe," a rare foray into songwriting during the Monkees period, was a soft pop standout.  Stalwarts Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart supplied the group with the garage-style nugget "Words," featuring another full-throated Dolenz lead.

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. proved innovative, too, with one of pop's first ever appearances of the Moog on both "Daily Nightly" and "Star Collector."  (Dolenz played it on the former, while Paul Beaver handled it on the latter.)  The jaunty country-rock fusion on "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round" (with electric banjo played by Doug Dillard) anticipated Nesmith's future sojourns into the hybrid genre.

The new box set leaves virtually no stone unturned in telling the story of the album, its songs, and the surrounding productions by the band.  The first disc presents the original stereo album plus a selection of bonus tracks.  The heart of this disc is a new remix of the album's songs by Sandoval, with the remixes varying in sound and style in big and small ways from the originals.  There's a greatly extended "Salesman" and "She Hangs Out" (with Davy and the boys cutting loose on the latter) as well as an alternative, composite version of the attractive "Door Into Summer."  The psych-pop of "Love Is Only Sleeping" also benefits greatly from the remix.

Davy's "Hard to Believe" sparkles even more in the remix.  Sandoval quotes the singer-songwriter speaking with Phil Hunter in 1968: "My roots are on Broadway.  It's the kind of a song that your mother can listen to, or your dad.  You know they won't be offended by that.  And music, especially pop music, has gotta go that way to be accepted by the adults...You gotta add some roots to the song.  And I think Broadway music has a lot of roots...I think it's going to hit a peak soon.  Because the industry's really dying for some kind of music, some kind of trend.  And my feeling [is it] will move to Broadway rock."  With groundbreaking musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar around the corner, Jones was more than prescient.  His penchant for theatrical pop shines through, too, on Harry Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy," recorded at the final session until 1996 to feature all four Monkees.  (This was mid-1967; they would continue playing together as a live unit through late 1968.)

Monkee Christmas perennial "Riu Chiu" makes its first, but not last, appearance on the box on this disc with a beautiful, previously unreleased rendition featuring Nesmith and Douglas' vocals.  Sandoval has also unearthed rarities including the extended mix of the wild "Goin' Down" from the 1986 Arista Then and Now...The Best of The Monkees CD.

The second disc of the box takes the same format, opening with the mono album and continuing with a host of mono bonuses.  Various mono mixes are reprised from the excellent 1995 and 2007 expanded editions, including the alternate vocal version of "The Door Into Summer" and the single version of "Goin' Down."   (Perhaps the time is right for a complete Monkees singles collection?)  Among the previously unissued tracks is the unedited TV mix of "Goin' Down," only some of which was heard on the episode "A Coffin Too Frequent."

The third and fourth discs add up to a potpourri of sessions and even more alternate mixes.  Harry Nilsson pounds the piano on the Version Three backing track for "The Story of Rock and Roll" (a number which Chip Douglas would soon take to The Turtles) while Stephen Stills joins on bass for Jo Mapes' "Come On In," later recorded by The Association.  Mapes' song is heard in two versions, the second (and more flavorful) also featuring Nesmith on electric guitar.  Other might-have-beens here include "A Man Without a Dream" (heard here in demos with Tork on acoustic guitar and then piano, and later recut with producer Bones Howe) and Goffin and King's soul ballad "Yours Until Tomorrow."

The numerous backing tracks display The Monkees' growth and proficiency as musicians, including some familiar favorites ("Words," "Daydream Believer," "Pleasant Valley Sunday").  The alternately laconic and exultant "Daydream Believer" particularly reveals lovely instrumental nuances; the song would appear in finished form on the band's next album, The Birds, The Bees, and The Monkees.  "Don't Call on Me" is a treat sans overdubs.  (A new 2025 stereo mix of "Daydream" offers some additional, tasty Jones vocals, as well.)  The backing track of "Hard to Believe" emphasizes the brass and woodwinds.

A handful of mystery tracks persist, too, such as the country-rock groove of "I Don't Know Yet" (composer unknown) and a groovy "Jam # 1" on which Tork shines.  (He's also represented by three previously unheard acoustic pieces.)  "Jam # 2" is a bluesier burst of spontaneity with the same group of Nesmith, Tork, Douglas, and Hoh.  For fans of the fly-on-the-wall experience, Micky deals with a strained voice during the vocal sessions for "Words."

Disc Four also premieres more of the television mixes-eight in total.  Multiple versions of "Riu Chiu" appear including its TV Mix and sessions with some very spirited chatter.  A lengthy session rehearsal of the "Palmer House, Chicago" spoken word segment of "Don't Call on Me" is also present, with producer Bob Rafelson tickling the ivories (as he does on the master).  While there's not much repeat listening assured for these tracks, they add to the comprehensive quality of this lavish collection.  The CD portion of the set closes with a rarity: the mix of "Star Collector" from the 1986 Rhino reissue of the Monkee Business compilation.  The final component of the set, a 7-inch 45, boasts previously unreleased period mono mixes of "Goin' Down" and "Love Is Only Sleeping."

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. has been beautifully designed by Now Sounds' Steve Stanley with attention to every last detail.  That includes a 32-page booklet with Andrew Sandoval's in-depth liner notes and copious photos and memorabilia images, individual CD sleeves with rare variant artwork from German and Japanese releases, and precise Colgems-style Rhino labels.  All four CDs are housed in inner protective sleeves within the jackets.  Dan Hersch has mastered the set with customary care.

While Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. is believed to be the final box in this album series-a set for Changes, featuring just Micky and Davy, is unlikely-one hopes that Rhino will continue, perhaps with a similarly-formatted box rounding up the band's remaining albums through 2018 with bonus material.  Until then, this definitive collection is truly one to savor.

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. is available now at The Monkees' official store.​