The Monkees – More of the Monkees (1967):  The Monkees band was created to be the stars of a television show also called The Monkees, which ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1968.  The Monkees show combined sitcom and (mis)adventure elements and was quite entertaining.  Because of their origins, the Monkees became known by many as the Pre-Fab Four (the Beatles of course being the original Fab Four).  In truth, only Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork started out as musicians; Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz were actors – in fact, when I first saw The Monkees, I remembered previously seeing Dolenz in a TV show called Circus Boy.  However, by the time they went on tour in late 1966, all four members of the Monkees were accomplished musicians and put on as good a show as most American rock bands of that period; I saw them myself (I believe in Greensboro, NC), and I really enjoyed the show – probably the first major rock concert that I attended.  More of the Monkees is their second album and biggest seller – in fact, amazingly, More of the Monkees is the 12th largest selling album of all time.  Numerous top songwriters showed up for this album, including Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Jeff Barry, Carole Bayer Sager, Neil Sedaka, and Neil Diamond – not to mention one of the Monkees themselves, Michael Nesmith.  The album name More of the Monkees could be the title of a second “best of” album, and indeed, most of the songs on this album do appear on almost every Monkees greatest hits album:  “I’m a Believer”, “She”, “Mary, Mary”, “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone”, “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)”, “Your Auntie Grizelda”, and “Sometime in the Morning”.  The fact is that scarcely any other American rock musicians could match these pop gems in the mid-1960’s, and many even outshone the British Invasion.  The Monkees got a bad rap because the band was created out in the open, but they are hardly the only 1960’s band that was a studio creation; other examples include the New Vaudeville Band, Procol Harum, the Strangeloves, Sagittarius, and the T-Bones – famous for their instrumental hit “No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)” – who later reformed as Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds.  While the Monkees provided the vocals on all of their songs, studio musicians played the music.  But the dirty little secret of rock and roll, particularly in the 1960’s is that many American rock bands, including the best bands didn’t play their own instruments in the studio either.  A loose aggregation of session musicians that became known as the Wrecking Crew were particularly adept at playing any kind of music set in front of them, and they were better than just about anyone else in the country, so they provided the musical backdrop on literally thousands of recordings, hit songs and album tracks alike.  As examples, Hal Blaine is believed to be the most recorded drummer in history, while Tommy Tedesco is said to be the most recorded guitarist.  And their talents were not limited to records; from Wikipedia:  “Tommy Tedesco’s credits include the iconic brand-burning accompaniment theme from television’s Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Vic Mizzy’s theme from Green Acres, M*A*S*H, Batman, and Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special.”  The Wrecking Crew became so dominant in rock and roll that the center of popular music itself migrated from New York City to Los Angeles during this time period.