Monkees - Head (1968 Film)
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Free Music Notes for Head (1968 Film)
Free Music Review: My Favorite Album, by my Favorite Group of All Time...
Hit: 5 Stars
My earliest childhood memory of listening to any kind of music, was having the pretty red and white Colgems 8-track tape of The Monkees album "Head" put in my parent's Hi-Fi for me, and I would listen to it over and over, at any opportunity. I was probably around 3 years old at the time. I was born in 1968, the year that the movie "Head" was released in theatres, but oddly enough, I did not get to see this film until the age of 15...Which may have been a good thing, because, looking back, I probably would have not understood the sad messages and imagery contained in this film, and been able to compare it to the happy-go-lucky Monkees I always watched on TV.
As said in "Porpoise Song" from this album,..."an overdub has no choice, an image cannot rejoice" which is part of what they were trying to express about their situation...but now I understand what they meant by that.
This album, and the later CD version, is a hallucinogenic journey into the world of The Monkees and their beautiful and unique entity, as four very talented and creative people. As the Guru says in the soundtrack on cut 14, "The central nervous system, which feeds its impulses directly to the brain, the conscious and the subconscious, is unable to discern between the real and the vividly imagined experience...." (paraphrasing Dr. Maxwell Maltz, by the way...) So go ahead and play this album, 8-track, or CD and imagine for yourself that you are there, and all this is happening now....just go with it, and let it carry you away. If you don't cry during Mickey Dolenz singing "As We Go Along" which is my favorite song in the universe, you might have a heart made of stone.
To program the CD to play in the exact order as the 8-track tape, enter the tracks in this order: 1,2,13,7,3,4,6,8,9,10,11,5,12,14. (skip the 6 bonus tracks.)
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Free Music Review: A must have for all Monkees fans
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a great record from a great moment in pop music history. If you don't know what "head" was or are unaware of the story behind it, go to a Monkees web page and get the long version, I will abreviate it here. After there TV show was cancelled the Monkees, for whatever reason, were slated to do a film. A full length motion picture. Rather then do a ninety minute version of there TV show, the band, and Writer Jack Nocholson, Director Bob Raphalson and some other triped out folkes came up with an original and somewhat disturbing phsycodelic, politicly charged film. Watch for the scenes of the Viet Nam war interspaced with the Monkees live performance. Disturbing becouse it is, saddly, pretty acurate about the times in which this film was made. The record is chock full of good, original material. From the spacey keyboard driven "Pourpose Song" (co written by Carol King") to the hard rockin "circle sky" (both live and studio versions available on this remake) to pop songs written by Harry Nilson. This is a nescessity for any Monkees listner. Saddly this film, and soundtrack, were doomed from the start. The Monkees were dead in the water in 1968-9. The audiance that might have enjoyed this sarcastic, serios commentary on entertainment and life itself, wouldn't be caught dead at a Monkees movie. Monkees fans, what few of them were left in 1968-9 would never have gotten the double meanings and weird imagery. In 1998 this film is as poignent as ever and truly deserves the title "best cult film of all time" If you haven't seen this, see it!! It is available on Rhino video cassettes and even plays once and a while at "arthouse" type movie theatres. Check it out. "Lost Johnny"Free Music Review: Monkees commit suicide and create high art in the process
Hit: 5 Stars
Head (the movie and the album)could only have been released in 1968. At the time the music culture was navigating that treacherous turn from Teenybopper to Relevance. The Monkees--poster boys of teenybopperdom--were at a crossroads. Their TV show was rapidly losing its audience and they were in constant battles over artistic direction. They were unfairly accused in the press of being completely fake, even though the album "Headquarters" was primarily played and sung just by the four and battled "Pepper" for chart supremacy.
By '68, they were spent. It was time to explode the image. They had nothing to lose but their careers. Time to die ungracefully.
So what to do? Create a movie featuring Sonny Liston, Annette Funicello, and Frank Zappa (I know that's what I would have done). Spend the entire film firebombing your "manufactured" image. Show screaming girls in tandem with Vietnam atrocities.
The result? When it was released (with virtually no promotion), no one got it. Too "hip" for the teenyboppers and too "teenybopper" for the hipsters.
Viewing it today though, "Head" reveals its genius. Songs merge seamlessly with the images. The film is far better than any of the other "freak out" films of the era, in that it's actually watchable.
Strong songs (penned by group members as well as Harry Nilsson and Carole King. Randomly juxtaposed audio sampling from the film soundtrack (courtesy of Jack Nicholson of all people. Did he invent the mashup?. The record complements the film perfectly; it makes you want to see the movie and vice-versa.
I just can't believe they thought they'd get away with this.
Free Music Review: Surprisingly Strong Undertaking
Hit: 5 Stars
This is equal to, if not superior to, the excellent film it is based on. I don't know exactly how this album happened, but it has several remarkable songs on it, great sound, gutsy playing (I understand that Ry Cooder, Leon Russell, and most of Buffalo Springfield serve as session people at various points), and unusual among Monkee projects, an ironic self-regard that doesn't turn into utter silliness. This record feels uniquely adult among their albums--maybe Bob Rafleson, the film director, gets some credit for that. Yet, an air of satire carries it, as a wild assortment of mid-twentieth cultural references becomes the palette for the picture and the album. The "Opening Credits/Porpoise Song" sequence is a literal launch point for the whole affair which dissolves into a series of crazy jokes and lyrical passageways. Chased by fans, The Monkees leap from the inauguration of "one of the largest suspended arts bridges in the world," from fame and urban efficiencies, into a watery oblivion, ushered further by the chorus, "the porpoise is laughing: good-bye, good-bye!" It's a marvelous Goffin/King piece; as is "As We Go Along"--both melodically moving with a wise playfulness: "Why think about/ Who's gonna win out/ We'll make up our story/ As we go along." The songs written by band members are strong, too; several simply rock, by any standards. A remarkable thing about this record is that despite being a work by committee, it has an acerbic wit and musical shewdness that are consistent features of the whole. If collage is the great principle of modern art, well, this is it. One of the neatest albums of the late 1960's, finally.Free Music Review: The Monkees meet Zappa
Hit: 5 Stars
This album comes as a big shock to fans of the Monkees early pop hits who have no experience with avant garde rock of the late 60s. That jarring effect explains the commercial failure of the film and record in 1968. But those who get over the initial shock will be pleasantly surprised to find the Monkees' best album, one that ranks among the better creations of late-60s psychedelia. To really understand this record, you need to first listen to Frank Zappa's late 60s masterpiece "Absolutely Free" (1967), because that is the template for this album. Absolutely Free like Head, featured a single track on each album side, linking the songs together with spoken interludes. Head is less ambitious than the Mothers' record, but adapts Zappa's format. Like those on Absolutely Free, Head's album sides featured a jarring mix of songs in different styles. It's no accident that Zappa himself has a cameo in the film.
This record is the Monkees trying a new direction, completely free of their manufactured roots in the aftermath of the spring 1968 cancellation of the TV series that was their genesis. While Head did not catch on commercially at the time, in retrospect the record holds up quite well. Porpoise Song is the real gem here, a beautiful song that floats across the room. That's followed up by the hard rocker "Circle Sky", a worthy contender for the best song here. The remainder of the original album's side one songs (Can You Dig It, As We Go Along) are all standout tracks as well. The CD's bonus track of note is a live version of Circle Sky that is every bit as good as the studio version.