Today is the official release date of the new 60th Anniversary Monkees collection entitled “The A’s, The B’s & The Monkees” which I featured in my last blog post here about three weeks ago.

That particular blog highlighted the wonderful 2 CD set of “The A’s, The B’s & The Monkees”  but today I’m taking a look at the 2 lp vinyl version which was just released in stores.

I had ordered the 2 CD version from Monkees.com in November I believe and weirdly enough it was sent out in the mail and I received it in late December much to my surprise. The vinyl version was held until today so having marched myself to the local Barnes & Noble (the only place in my town carrying the vinyl set) I duly purchased it to see how it compares to the CD.

Now I mentioned in my last post that the liner notes stated that the CD collection was mastered by Bernie Grundman with digital mastering by Dave Schultz with Bill Inglot. I can see in the run-off groove that Bernie Grundman’s initials are etched into the matrix (see photo above) so I’m guessing he mastered this vinyl set while the CD was done by Dave Schultz with Bill Inglot.

As I also previously mentioned in my last post the CD set sounded wonderful but I wasn’t expecting the 2 vinyl set to sound much better – but I was wrong. 

I have to say as much as I enjoyed the 2 CD set this new 2 vinyl version sounds even better! For starters the bass is SO much louder and more present but the overall sound is also warmer and a bit more dynamic which really made me glad I sought out the vinyl issue as well.

I love that all the original mono hit mixes were used and this vinyl set was excellently pressed; it was very flat and played flawlessly without a hint of any pops or clicks or distortion which has marred quite a few modern Lp pressings I’ve encountered.

If you’re a fan of The Monkees and like and play vinyl you owe it to yourself to track this beauty down. It really is one of the better sounding Monkees collections out there and with all their hits from 1966-1970 plus their b-sides, you really can’t go wrong.

Of course the 2 CD set is fantastic so if you don’t do vinyl you’ll be very happy with that but if you have access to playing vinyl I think this new vinyl set might just be the way to go if you decide to purchase it.

Anyway, just a quick update.

As usual you can see photos of the new 2 Lp set of “The A’s, The B’s & The Monkees” above with it’s lovely large four-page pamphlet and groovy top-opening cover and great Colgems like record labels.

I hope your 2026 has started out well and it finds you healthy and sane.

Until next time be safe and see you back here soon!