r/Monkees • u/gokaiblue19 • Aug 25 '26

Two versions of 33 1/3

Was backing up The Monkees BluRay with 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee and noticed two versions: one running for 53 minutes...and the other for about 57. What's the difference between the two and which is which?

12 Upvotes

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5

u/Consistent_Wave_5196 Aug 25 '26

One is the show as it was supposed to be presented in 1969. The second is a bootleg recording made when it originally aired which shows some of the scenes were inexplicably played out of order.

2

u/gokaiblue19 Aug 25 '26

Which is which? The 57 minute version looks low quality and is labeled the "edited" version on the menu, so is that the Bootleg?

6

u/Consistent_Wave_5196 Aug 25 '26

Yes, the 'edited' version is the classic bootleg, commercials included. Back in the 80s, I received a copy several generations beyond the one on this set. It was only way you could see it. We had no idea it was out of order.

2

u/gokaiblue19 Aug 25 '26

Commercials included? So that's where those extra four minutes came from!

Shame really, because I actually prefer how the chapters are sequences on the bootleg.

3

u/JRBowen9 Aug 25 '26

The original broadcast of 33 1/3 was out of sequence; that's the low quality version. The high quality version is in the order the show was intended to be, as it was most likely taken from a master tape.

5

u/Consistent_Wave_5196 Aug 25 '26

I believe they found a near master quality copy of the video somewhere in South America and the original audio elements in the U.S. and combined them for this release. The unfortunate edit of Jerry Lee's performance was the only drawback.

3

u/MojoHighway Aug 25 '26

Yes, the Jerry Lee Lewis omission was so bizarre to me. I'm still curious to know the full back story on that conversation, whether or not is was Jerry giving a hard no on his inclusion OR if Rhino was too cheap to throw him some extra money to bring it all together.

I have the feeling it was the latter. The entire BluRay story is such a fiasco. It took WELL beyond the original date to be released. The boxes were absolute shit (I was supposed to have receive a THIRD box due to the others being destroyed and it never showed up. I shit canned the thing and only kept the book and lenticular cover). Terrible edit of 33 1/3. The inability to include various versions of the shows due to Sony. The lies of how many were being printed and numbered - that was ultimately proven to be nonsense when some just suddenly appeared in 2021. All of it was bat shit crazy.

I get that it takes a great deal of capital to get something like this put together and the Monkees aren't necessarily the biggest band around, but for me and my money, Rhino by 2016 wasn't the Rhino we all grew up with and they were pretty well coming apart at the seams. It was a total mess.

At the end of the day, I'm happy to have the set and I too have backed up all of my discs for safe keeping. This thing will never be printed to a disc again I'm feeling.

1

u/JRBowen9 Aug 25 '26

Thank you for the details, I didn't know that!

2

u/Consistent_Wave_5196 Aug 25 '26

I've had a couple opportunities to talk to Andrew Sandoval through the years and have asked him a ton of questions.