This week has been interesting. I’ve been on vacation so I’ve had some time to explore some of my favorite record/antique store locations and I must say I’ve found some true gems.

As I’ve said many times before you just never know what you’re going to find especially at some of the most unlikely hole in the wall places and this week that has never been more true.

Much to my surprise the first finds of the week popped up in a small town in the Midwest about an hour from where I live, someplace I would have never guessed I’d find two obscure imported mono Monkees records from 1967!

As luck would have it I found a mono copy of The Monkees “Headquarters” from Argentina (“Cuartel General”) and a mono copy of “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd.” (“Piscis, Acuario, Capricornio Y Jones, S.A.”) from Mexico.

Trust me when I say that original imported copies of Monkees albums are a rare find in the Midwest, at least in my experience. I have on occasion come across a beat up UK copy of “More of the Monkees” but I have never, until now that is,  come across some really interesting albums especially with different cover art.

As it would happen I was rummaging through a huge stack of albums in the “M” section of a off the beat store that had stacks of records everywhere and having no luck at all. Now this store is one of those cool off the beat hole in the wall places where nothing is really alphabetized (one of my pet peeves) and to find anything takes a lot of persistence.

After about twenty minutes of scrounging through beat up copies of “The Monkees”, seriously there was about ten copies and all of them looked like they were used as coasters, I was about to give up and move on.

As luck would have it I spotted an huge bin toward the front of new arrivals with another huge stash of randomly shelved vinyl. I almost decided to walk away as most of the vinyl albums in the store so far were very common and not in the best of shape but since I was on vacation I thought why not take a look.

Midway through the first bin I spotted a decent stereo copy of “More of the Monkees” so I thought oh that’s at least in nice condition so I decided it was worth plowing through the other three bins of new arrivals.

Much to my surprise and shock I was frantically flipping through the last bin when my eye caught the deep red color of the word “Monkees” and I instantly recognized it as the “Headquarters” cover even though I had only seen the upper left corner of the front cover.

(Note: I’ve grown used to flipping fast through stacks of vinyl and can spot a Monkees album from ten paces lol)

Need less to say my head almost exploded when I pulled it up and not only was the cover glossy and made of very firm cardboard (not the feel of the standard US Colgems album) when up popped the title “Cuartel General” and I was speechless.

Not only was this a mono copy from Argentina but it was marked $3.99 and was in really good condition. The vinyl in fact was a very solid VG++ and the cover was solid as well.

After perusing the cover for a few moments I hurriedly decided to finish the row and take my prize to the counter.

It’s a good thing I decided to look at all of the bin as near the very back I spotted a weirdly cartoonish yet colorful album cover that had a drawing of the Monkees on it.

I pulled the cover up and knew that this was the Mexican cover of the Monkees fourth album and turned it around to find the title “Piscis, Acuario, Capricornio Y Jones, S.A.”

The album cover was taped on the bottom and top with some old masking tape that was falling off (and luckily peeled off just fine) but the vinyl inside was again in VG++ condition and the price was definitely right at $4.99. Why this one was a dollar more and seemed more beat up than the other one is beyond me but I wasn’t going to argue.

Again I was truly amazed. Never in my life have I found such lovely imported Monkees albums and never with such lovely condition vinyl.

That was all I needed, I ran to the counter and paid for the albums and bopped home with a huge smile on my face.

I cleaned up both albums and played them that evening. Both of them sounded terrific and both contained the true mono mixes. I found the Mexican “Pisces” album was a bit bass shy but played very quietly and was well pressed.

The true highlight was the pressing of “Headquarters” from Argentina which sounded amazing! Nice bass and crisp treble and nice vocals – one of the best and quieter copies I own of this album, truly superb sounding.

I have no idea how these gems made their way into my corner of the world but I tell you what I’m keeping that store on my list for sure.

That’s all for now. Just a quick story of the first of some truly amazing finds this week.

I have to say that while I read people finding a lot of high priced used vinyl I have found some really rare records lately for amazing prices. I tend to go to more out of the way antique places then record stores so maybe that’s why but great nonetheless.

As usual you can glimpse photos of these albums above.

There are more finds from this week to follow.

Until next time be healthy and well and see you soon!