f**k the monkees

F**k the Monkees. And F**k Rhino records.

Less than a week after the new Monkees album, Good Times!, is released, Rhino puts out a "deluxe" edition with two extra tracks, in a nakedly transparent attempt to get fans to buy two copies in quick succession.

Now, I am not immune to the completist tendency, and there are lots of albums that I have bought multiple copies of. Since we're talking about the evil Monkees, let's look at the case of their first album, The Monkees.

• When I was in high school and getting interested in music, I bought a used copy. It was out of print, so new copies were unavailable. At the time, I generally bought my records used.
• When I was in college and the evil Rhino Records rereleased all nine of the classic albums (on vinyl, given the times), I got a copy. Maybe we shouldn't count that; I got that one for free. I got all nine for free, since I was reviewing them for the college newspaper.
• Once CDs got a foothold, and the album was released in that format, I bought a copy.
• In the 1990s, evil Rhino rereleased all nine classic albums on CD,each with bonus tracks. I bought them all, including the album in question.
• Ten or so years ago, evil Rhino put out the first four evil Monkees albums as two disc sets. Each contained the original mono album (with bonus tracks) and the original stereo album with bonus tracks. Of course, I bought them.
• A couple years ago, evil Rhino put out the album as a three disc set. This had the original album in bo th mono and stereo formats, bonus material, lots of session stuff (which, admittedly, should never have been released to the public for actual money), Davy Jones' pre-Monkees' solo album (in both mono an stereo), some Michael Blessing (evil Mike Nesmith, using his pre evil Monkees pseudonym) singles, and some other crap. Check!

So, yeah, I've bought material I already owned in order to get other material.

But this? Less than a week later? That's just too blatant for my taste.

And, looking into this, I learned that there are another two tracks that were released as a limited edition single just for those who bought the album on vinyl from Barnes and Noble.

They can all go to hell and die.