The Monkees (album) scheduled around the work done by Boyce, Hart, and Keller. Famously, the Monkees were not permitted by their management to function as a working band for this album, with the group's contributions limited almost entirely to vocal tracks. Eight of the original LP's twelve tracks feature one lone Monkee singing lead vocal over instrumentation and backing vocals recorded entirely by a group of session musicians which varies from song to song. Other tracks feature multiple Monkees singing over session players; only on the two tracks produced by Michael Nesmith does a Monkee (Peter Tork) get to play an instrument (guitar).
Barrel Full of Monkees VPS prefix and listed for $5.98, which was the list price for "full line" single LP records at the time. The Monkees' double set also listed for $5.98 and carried a then-new "SCOS" prefix and new numbering series, "1001," making it unrelated to any other previous Colgems issue or pricing series. The 20-song collection included 13 of the 14 tracks found on The Monkees' first "Greatest Hits" compilation, the missing exception being "Zor and Zam." After the closing of Colgems in 1971, "Barrel Full of Monkees" was deleted, with the next Monkees compilation, "Re-Focus", being issued by Colgems' successor, Bell