'Headquarters'

They were inspired by The Beatles, but they sound like The Byrds. They were hip and cool and funny. Stylistically, there may not have been anything better to come out of the 1960s.

And that TV introduced a ton of dorky young kids to rock music long before The Beatles, heavy metal or radio would ever get to us. At age 10, I knew a billion times more about The Monkees than I did about The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, U2, Aerosmith or Ozzy Osbourne put together. At the time, I was a Mike Nesmith guy, but with time I think I'm a Peter Tork guy.

While trying to make a buck, Don Kirshner created a pretty good band. Headquarters is the first album Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork would record and release as an independent group, out of the clutches of Kirshner and the TV execs. Why they kept Jones around is a mystery. Probably because he made them 75 percent more pretty.

Headquarters is a really good album. It's chockful of country-rock pop songs reeking with banjo and steel guitar. Mixed in are Dolenz' and Jones' really sweet vocals. A very beautiful album.

You won't find a hit, but you will get what was bubbling underneath the skins of these guys, who all really wanted to make music for a living. It's better than 90 percent of albums produced by "real" bands.

Headquarters debuted at No. 1 in the United States upon release in 1967. It was supplanted the next week by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band.