Rating: - THE MOST BIZARRE FILM SOUNDTRACK EVER!!!
The Monkees commercial fortunes were starting to slip in 1968. They cancelled their TV series after the idea to turn it into a variety hour was turned down. Their last album 'The Birds The Bees And The Monkees' had reached #3 which was good but was a mild letdown after four consecutive #1 albums. However during this time the band did not feel they were ending anything. They were busy in the production of their first feature film 'HEAD'. The project was essentially ment to change the Monkees from the pop teen idols they were to rock stars. With records sales still flourishing, TV reruns ratings still high there was no real reason why HEAD wasn't successful. However by the time HEAD hit theatres in November of '68 the Monkees had been out of the public eye for several months. Their last single 'DW Washburn/ It's Nice To Be With You' had inched into the top 20 in the summer. The weak single was a terrible choice for release though especially considering the Monkees were (at the time) attempting to try and shake off the weak pop image. The film was promoted terribly as well. The Monkees were not even mentioned in any of the tv, radio or poster ads. Therefore many Monkees fans didnt realize the Monkees were even in a movie. Despite the depressing and vague feeling of the time, two positive things came out of the whole 'HEAD' project; the first was the fact that this film was indeed different than anything the Monkees or anyone else had done before, it wasn't a 90 minute episode of the show. The second was the music from the soundtrack.

The Monkees were trying to shake off their old image and very few people had realized it had worked. The music produced for HEAD was some of the best and most mature the group had ever recorded. Unfortunately only 6 real songs were recorded (the rest is edited gibberish and dialouge from the film itself) and the general public never ever really heard the music or saw the film until years later. The album coordinator was none other than Jack Nicholson who had also helped write and direct the film. Nicholson is the man who edited all the witty dialouge in a very unique way on this album. OPENING CEREMONY the trippy opener which goes into the classic PORPOISE SONG (THEME FROM HEAD) which tells you the Monkees had something special in mind for the music buisness. The clever jingle DITTY DIEGO basically sums up what 'HEAD' is all about. Somehow the weak studio version of Nesmith's CIRCLE SKY ended up on the album's initial release. Still this track has nice guitar work. SUPPLICIO is another trippy spaced out moment. Peter Tork makes his most prominent musical outing here with two of his own songs. Peter's CAN YOU DIG IT has an outstanding eastern influence with Micky handling the vocals. Tork's other song here is the acid rocking LONG TITLE: DO I HAVE TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN? which features some great guitar work by none other than Peter himself. GRAVY, SUPERSTITIOUS, DANDRUFF? and POLL are just more little bizarre dialouge interludes into the songs. Davy's entry here is a Harry Nillson tune called DADDY'S SONG which fits well with Davy's style of Broadway rock. One of the true highlights (although all the songs here are) is Micky's beautiful rendition of Carole King's AS WE GO ALONG which ranks as one of the most beautiful songs the Monkees ever recorded. The closing tracks is more messed up dialouge called SWAMI-PLUS STRINGS(KEN THORNE, ETC. which is a good witty closer actually. The fun doesn't stop there though. The bonus selections are pretty good this time around. The first of which is The Monkees and Jack Nichlson rehearsing DITTY DIEGO. This is a hilarious recording which some extra lyrics that really shows how zany the Monkees were. The excellent live version of CIRCLE SKY makes it's appearance here too which proves the Monkees could have become an excellent band. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU has some great harmonizing even if it's only for a brief moment. The last songs here are an alternate version of CAN YOU DIG IT with Tork on vocals and an alternate version of DADDY'S SONG with Nesmith on vocals. These are great tracks but are weak compared to the originals. The final bonus track here is HEAD RADIO SPOT which basically sums up why HEAD bombed in theatres...poor promotion. With only seven true songs or so HEAD is a wildly uneven album for The Monkees. Despite it's interesting and experimental flavour HEAD bombed horribly when released. The soundtrack managed to do a little better peaking at #45 on the charts but the damage had already been done. The Monkees would go on to film a doomed TV special and when that wrapped up Peter Tork quit the group citing exhaustion. For the next year or so the three remaining Monkees would try to make a commercial impact but unfortunately they would never regain the success they once had.

Overall `Head' is one of those albums that you will have to take a risk buying. Monkee fans with love this for sure. The music here is excellent however it's the dialouge that might turn people (particularily people who have not seen the film) off from this. None the less Head is one of those memorable classic albums to come out of the year 1968. Highly recommended to Monkee fans Mildly recommended to the casual listener.

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