Was Colgems seriously considering reissuing
the Monkees’ catalog in late 1969/early 1970?
Part 2 Headquarters
By Ed Reilly
This is the “RE2” rear jacket that was first used by Rhino when they reissued this as a CD in January 1995. Speculation abounded as to exactly where the back booklet image came from and whether a US Colgems edition was really released with the revised catalogue number.
Rhino CD Booklet Headquarters
At the time, representatives from Rhino would not confirm the origin of this. Assumptions appeared to lean toward them utilizing the 1968 release from RCA Canada when both a mono and stereo edition were reissued to update the back cover with the infamous beard photo.
Canadian Edition
Now we know the image on the Rhino CD booklet was taken from a slick acquired from RCA’s internal archive.
RE2 Rear Slick (Photo - Ed Reilly)
This slick was labeled RE2, but it was never put into production. Unlike the Canadian counterpart, this was created simply for legal purposes. In 1967 the copyright went from 1967 RCA New York NY to copyright 1967 Colgems Records, Inc. on the bottom below the beard photo. This version must have been ready in late 1967 or early 1968 as the copyright to Colgems Records Inc. first appeared on the Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd vinyl release (November 1967).
RE2 Rear Slick Copyright (Photo - Ed Reilly)
Continue to Part 3 Golden Hits