Head (The Monkees album)

Head is the sixth studio album by the American pop rock band the Monkees, released in 1968 by Colgems Records, and the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The album primarily consists of musique concrète pieces assembled from the film's dialogue, while the six new songs encompass genres such as psychedelic music, lo-fi, acid rock and Broadway theatre.

Head
Soundtrack album by the Monkees
Released	December 1, 1968
Recorded	December 9, 1967–August 3, 1968
Studio	RCA Victor (Hollywood) Western Recorders (Hollywood) Sunset Sound Recorders (Hollywood) California Recorders (Hollywood) Wally Heider (Hollywood) Original Sound (Hollywood)
Genre	Musique concrète psychedelic
Length	29:17
Label	Colgems
Producer	The Monkees Gerry Goffin
The Monkees chronology
The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees (1968) Head (1968) Instant Replay (1969)
Singles from Head
"Porpoise Song" / "As We Go Along" Released: October 5, 1968

Composition

After the TV series The Monkees was cancelled in Spring of 1968, the band regrouped and wrote the film Head with screenwriter Jack Nicholson,^[1] who later coordinated the soundtrack album, editing dialogue excerpts from the film into the album's composition.^[2] The album approximates the flow of the movie and includes large portions of the dialogue.^[3] CriterionCast has suggested that the album's composition was influenced by Frank Zappa's Lumpy Gravy (1967).^[4] Regarding the album's composition, Peter Tork said, "Nicholson made it different from the movie. There's a line in the movie where Zappa says, 'That's pretty white.' Then there's another line in the movie that was not juxtaposed in the movie, but Nicholson put them together in the [soundtrack album], when Mike says, 'And the same thing goes for Christmas' [...] that was very important and wonderful that he assembled the record differently from the movie [...] It was a different artistic experience."^[2]

PopMatters described Head as "a hypnogogic hallucination of a 60's pop record" whose composition encompassed musique concrète pieces and six new songs in the genres of psychedelic, Broadway and lo-fi rock.^[5] It was the first Monkees album to not include a song written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.^[1] Some of the album showcases the songwriting skills of band members, particularly Tork, whose acid rock song "Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?" and the "Eastern-flavored" song "Can You Dig It?" were described by AllMusic as being "not only among the best of the six original compositions on the soundtrack, but also among his finest Monkees offerings, period."^[1]

Release

In 1986, Rhino Entertainment repressed vinyl record copies of the album.^[5] In 1994, the album was reissued on compact disc with six bonus tracks, including a live version of "Circle Sky", and an alternate version of "Daddy's Song" featuring Michael Nesmith on vocals instead of Davy Jones.^[6] In 2010, Rhino reissued the album in a deluxe box set on three compact discs.^[5] The following year, Rhino Handmade reissued Head on vinyl for the first time since its original 1968 release.^[5]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
MusicHound	[7]

MusicHound described Head as a "trippy little souvenir of the times".^[7] AllMusic wrote that, "Without question, both the movie and album are the most adventurous and in many ways most fulfilling undertaking to have been born of the Monkees' multimedia manufactured project."^[1] PopMatters called Head "an almost accidental youngster's gateway to the avant-garde; there is a clear line for clued-in pre-teens leading from Head's 'Opening Ceremony' and 'Swami—Plus Strings, Etc.' to the Beatles' 'Revolution 9', and from there to Yoko Ono, Stockhausen, Krautrock, postpunk, and a million other directions."^[5] In 2013, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 25 in their list of "The 25 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time".^[8]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Opening Ceremony"		1:19
2.	"Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King)	Micky Dolenz, with Davy Jones	2:56
3.	"Ditty Diego—War Chant" (Jack Nicholson, Robert Rafelson)	Dolenz, Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork	1:27
4.	"Circle Sky" (Nesmith)	Nesmith	2:32
5.	"Supplicio"		0:49
6.	"Can You Dig It?" (Tork)	Dolenz	3:19
7.	"Gravy"		0:05

Side two

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Superstitious"		0:06
2.	"As We Go Along" (King, Toni Stern)	Dolenz	3:53
3.	"Dandruff?"		0:40
4.	"Daddy's Song" (Harry Nilsson)	Jones	2:29
5.	"Poll"		1:12
6.	"Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?" (Tork)	Tork	2:37
7.	"Swami—Plus Strings, Etc." (Ken Thorne)		5:18

Personnel

Credits adapted from Rhino Handmade 2010 "Deluxe Edition" box set.^[9]

The Monkees

• Micky Dolenz – lead vocals (tracks 2–3, 6, 9)
• David Jones – backing vocals (tracks 2, 13), lead vocals (tracks 3, 11)
• Michael Nesmith – lead vocals (tracks 3–4), guitar (track 4), organ (track 4), percussion (track 4), acoustic guitar (track 11), electric guitar (track 11)
• Peter Tork – lead vocals (tracks 3, 13), guitar (tracks 6, 13), backing vocals (track 13)

Additional musicians

• Ken Bloom – guitar (tracks 2, 9)
• Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar – guitar (tracks 2, 9)
• Leon Russell – keyboards (track 2)
• Ralph Shuckett – keyboards (track 2)
• Mike Ney – drums (track 2), percussion (track 2)
• John Raines – drums (track 2), percussion (track 2)
• Doug Lubahn – electric bass (track 2)
• Bill Hinshaw – brass (track 2), woodwind (track 2)
• Jules Jacob – brass (track 2), woodwind (track 2)
• Gregory Bemko – cello (track 2)
• David Filerman – cello (track 2)
• Jan Kelly – cello (track 2)
• Jacqueline Lustgarten – cello (track 2)
• Max Bennett – upright bass (track 2)
• Clyde "Whitey" Hoggan – upright bass (track 2)
• Jim Hughart – upright bass (track 2)
• Jerry Scheff – upright bass (track 2)
• Russ Titelman – cymbals (track 2)
• Michel Rubini – piano (track 3)
• Eddie Hoh – drums (tracks 4, 11), percussion (track 4)
• Lance Wakely – guitar (track 6, 13), bass guitar (tracks 6, 13)
• Ry Cooder – guitar (track 9)
• Carole King – guitar (track 9)
• Neil Young – guitar (track 9)
• Harvey Newmark – bass guitar (track 9)
• Earl Palmer – drums (track 9)
• Harry Nilsson – piano (track 11)
• Keith Allison – guitar (track 11)
• Bill Chadwick – guitar (track 11)
• Richard Dey – bass guitar (track 11)
• Pete Candoli – trumpet (track 11)
• Buddy Childers – trumpet (track 11)
• Tony Terran – trumpet (track 11)
• Dick Leith – trombone (track 11)
• Lew McCreary – trombone (track 11)
• Justin Ditullio – cello (track 11)
• Ray Kramer – cello (track 11)
• Emmet Sargeant – cello (track 11)
• Eleanor Slatkin – cello (track 11)
• Stephen Stills – guitar (track 13)
• Dewey Martin – drums (track 13)

Unconfirmed personnel and duties

• Additional guitar (track 2)
• Additional backing vocals, chimes (track 2)
• Bill Chadwick – guitar (track 4)
• Keith Allison – guitar (track 4)
• Richard Dey or John S. Gross – bass guitar (track 4)
• Peter Tork – other instruments (track 6)
• Lance Wakely – other instruments (track 6)
• Dewey Martin or Buddy Miles – drums (track 6)
• Chester Anderson – unknown (track 6)
• Don DeMieri – unknown (track 6)
• Michael A. Glass – unknown (track 6)
• Eddie Hoh – unknown (track 6)
• Bass, percussion (track 6)
• Denny Bruce – percussion (track 9)
• John Raines – percussion (track 9)
• John R. Hoening – unknown (track 9)
• Tony McCashen – unknown (track 9)
• Russ Titelman – unknown (track 9)
• Organ, flute (track 9)
• Stu Williamson or Carroll "Cappy" Lewis – flugelhorn solo (track 11)
• Tambourine, handclaps (track 13)

Technical

• The Monkees – producers (tracks 1, 3–14)
• Gerry Goffin – producer (track 2)
• Russ Titelman – conductor (track 2)
• Jack Nitzsche – arranger (tracks 2, 9)
• Shorty Rogers – arranger (track 11)
• Ken Thorne – arranger (track 14), conductor (track 14)
• Jack Nicholson – album coordinator

Charts

Album

Chart (1968)	Peak position
Canadian Albums (RPM)[10]	24
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[11]	53
US Billboard 200[12]	45

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Peak position
1968	"Porpoise Song"	Billboard Hot 100	62[13]

References

1. Head at AllMusic
2. Sandoval 2005, p. 204.
3. Baker, Czarnota & Hoga 1986, pp. 91–102.
4. Anthony, West (September 10, 2010). "RHINO HANDMADE TO RELEASE THREE DISC DELUXE EDITION OF THE MONKEES' ALBUM, HEAD, IN TANDEM WITH CRITERION COLLECTION BOX SET". CriterionCast. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
5. Staff (October 31, 2011). ""GETTING" HEAD… THE MONKEES' LAST GREAT ALBUM". PopMatters. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
6. Planer, Lindsay. "Head [Bonus Tracks]". AllMusic. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
7. Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 774. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
8. Dolan, Jon; Hermes, Will; Hoard, Christian; Sheffield, Rob (August 29, 2013). "The 25 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time". Rolling Stone.
9. Sandoval, Andrew (2010). Head (Deluxe Edition) (CD box set liner notes). The Monkees. Los Angeles, California: Rhino Handmade. RHM2 525670.
10. "RPM: The Monkees (albums)". RPM. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
11. "Oricon Archive - The Monkees". Oricon Albums Chart. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
12. "The Monkees US Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
13. "Head - Charts and Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved June 22, 2014.

Sources

• Baker, Glenn A.; Czarnota, Tom; Hoga, Peter (1986). Monkeemania: The True Story of the Monkees. New York City: Plexus Publishing. pp. 91–102. ISBN 978-0859652926.
• Sandoval, Andrew (2005). The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation. Thunder Bay Press. ISBN 1-59223-372-4.