The Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd

The Monkees could have split  in 1967. Hardly being paid peanuts (music supervisor Don Kirshner brought them a cheque for “a quarter million apiece” when an argument flared up, resulting in Mike Nesmith putting his fist through the wall and storming out), they were nonetheless fed up of fronting someone else’s music. Long story short: The Monkees won out, Kirshner was sacked and the band freed to record what they wanted.  Pisces…is The Monkees’ refined third album of 1967, it was a pop-psych triumph, with Americana signposts and the likes of Pleasant Valley Sunday and Daily Nightly making it the real challenger to The Beatles.