Monkees USA 66-1001 Last Train To Clarksville

USA Colgems Singles

Last Train To Clarksville/
Take A Giant Step

66-1001

Released on August 16, 1966
Highest Chart Position:
Billboard: 1/-
Cash Box: 1/-
Record World: 1/-
94¢

RIAA Certification:
Gold: October 1966

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August 27, September 3 & 10, 1966
Billboard Ads

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Sheet Music

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Picture Sleeves:

The early ads featured in the trade magazines
(Billboard, Cash Box & Record World) show the B&W sleeve
with no stripe at the bottom. In addition this radio station copy
(dated August 19) & photo confirms this:

NYC's Broadway
on September 9

Type 1
B&W/Glossy
East Coast

Straight-cut

Type 1
B&W/Matte
West Coast

A-side thumb tab 1

A-side thumb tab 2

The glossy sleeves are darker and the matte have more of a sepia tone.

The shading differences could be due to time & fading (55 years now), glossy vs. matte
or variances in the production plants themselves.

The straight cut sleeves were printed by Queens Litho in NY (East Coast)
and
the thumb tab version by Bert-Co in CA (West Coast).

It's also possible one plant, such as Queen Litho, got the original artwork,
then Bert-Co received a 2nd generation print to work off of. This is what happened with
some of the Beatles picture sleeves.

Type 2
B&W/Glossy

Straight-cut

Promoting their first LP (released in September)
with a red stripe at the bottom.

Type 3
Color/Glossy

Straight-cut

Full color sleeves were much more expensive to print
so it is curious why they decided to do this.

This was still promoting their first LP but they also added
"Write to Monkees" on the reverse which matches what it says
on the back of the first LP.

Type 4
Color/Glossy

Straight-cut

The stripe at the bottom matches their second single
& second LP promoting the "Monkees Fan Club"

Sleeve featured in this in-store promotional poster: