HEAD,film and soundtrack review

Jack Nicholson was relatively unknown when he and Raybert Productions took on this film project.

Monkeemania was coming to a grinding halt,with the television series cancelled,all four members had enough of the touring,demands to record new material,would take it's toll,Peter Tork who gave out his Monkee earnings like candy,often handing his wallet out for friend's to pluck money out of,even bought scumbag Stephen Stills a boat who would later disown the former Monkee when Mick Jagger came to visit his flat. [Below is a screen cap of Lady Pleasure played by the lovely Mireille Machu preparing to plant a kiss on Mike after kissing the other 3 rating their passions with a giggle.]

 This was the same singer who began his fame with The Buffalo Springfield that would tell the world to ''Love the one your with'',a great message for Vietnam Vet's wives to hear while their husbands were fighting for our country in Asia. In the summer of 1967,Davy was called by Uncle Sam via the draft card to preform his tour of duty,but because of his height and weight was able to bail out,below Mr. Jones discusses the incident 10 years later on a talk show.Fans at the time protested adamantly with protest signs hailing slogans such as ''Hands off Monkee Davy''. The Doors drummer John Densmore would elude the draft by stating he was a flaming fag as homosexuality was one sure way out.

 Peter paid a stealthy sum to buy himself out of his contract,a foolish move that left him bankrupt. It was at this point even mentioning the word Monkee was as uncool as using the term ''groovy'' today,their albums that were once one #1,were now found in cutout bins,by 1969,their albums were no longer being pressed.

Below,the gorgeous Porpoise Song chock full of beautiful lyrics,and almost hypnotic chords that only peaked at # 62 on the Billboard charts when it was released,the song contains lyrics that give reference to Micky's role as Corkey in the series Circus Boy [riding the backs of giraffes and laughs is alright for a while],goes to show what happens when a band gets branded as bubblegum. The song is the band's suicide note,basically saying ''hey man,we tried'',goodbye!

Micky reached a point where he quoted ''I just got so tired of being a Monkee, I didn't give a shit what the people thought anymore. [Below Jack Nicholson with all 4 Monkees talking HEAD,lol]

The idea for Head was evoked while Nicholson and Bob Rafelson were doing acid on Ojai California,things came to a HEAD between The Monkees and Rafelson when the earnings promised never arrived,the film bombed at the box office and for good reason as the trailer gave no reference The Monkees were even in the film teaser leaving ticked off movie goers demanding a refund.The hippies always hated them,and their former 12 year old fans didn't want to see Peter popping a pimple in a men's room,Davy being beat up by boxer Sonny Liston,or all of the boys being kissed on the mouth by the same woman in the films beginning,nor committing suicide by jumping off The Golden Gate Bridge,or a transvestite for that matter,after all,this was not the same family oriented Pre Fab Four seen on tv.Below The Criterion collections promotional poster for the 2012 DVD release remastered in DTS 5.1 surround,problem is you''ll pay a whopping $90.00 as this is sold as a Rafelson film collection,and is not available separate as of yet.

 Below,Circle Sky performed live in Australia,after viewing this,no one can accuse the Monkees as just a bubblegum band.The song written by Nez is his willfully enigmatic lyrical style is an anti war song written at the peak of the Tet Offensive,the film clip is quite graphic showing the horrors of war as the song emphatically dictates,the end of the video shows the boys getting torn apart by rabid fans using mannequins in their place.

HEAD was financed by the earnings of album sales and the television series and would finance the films Easy Rider [made the same time HEAD was filmed,Dennis Hopper is seen for a fleeting moment during the diner scene,also the restaurant set used for the fictional New Orleans eatery is seen as a prop for HEAD,Toni Basil who played a whore opposite Karen Black is seen dancing with Davy during The Daddy's song scene] Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens.Below,clip from film with the ultra gorgeous song ''As we go along'' I think is one of the most beautiful ballads ever written.

HEAD was released in Nov 1968,an obvious swiping of The Beatles Hard Days Night and Help,and much better than the Fab Fours lame film offering The Magical Mystery Tour released a year earlier,and was jeered by the BBC as bathetic nonsense. HEAD has no plot to follow,was jeered by critics,but has now reached a cult status and deservedly so as it's an excellent film with superb soundtrack that was initially going to be a double album,having only 6 songs,Nicholson managed to add film fillers to compensate for the lack of songs quite brilliantly I might add,Below,another gorgeous Tork penned song ''Can you dig it''

Jack can be seen briefly in the films diner scene,character actor Timothy Cary is cast perfect as a villain.Above is a beautiful rocker Peter Tork wrote himself with Neil Young on guitar.Below,diner clip from Head,Dennis Hopper can be seen in Easy Rider garb for a split second.

The soundtrack is a masterpiece I reviewed earlier,the film is available on DVD I would not pass up.Below is a concept drawing I did of Micky from the film.The sountrack is available from Rhino on 180 gram vinyl

The Monkees,Headquarters

My copy of Headquarters

When the band broke free of greedy manager Don Kirchner,they set off to what I consider the greatest album of all time. Part of the Monkees huge poplarity is hitting the scene when the Beatles were now in relationships breaking the hearts of their many fans,Davy Jones would become the top teen idol of all time and was on almost every cover of Teen Beat magazine,and having hundreds of fan clubs that still go strong today after his death.

The Monkees who are hated by many but once outsold The Beatles and Rolling Stones combined,were typecast as a bubblegum band I fail to understand,this status was a result of their second album ''More of the Monkees'' that  though isn't bad,is my least favorite,the cover looking like an ad for J.C. Penny. Headquarters though no Sgt Pepper is better in many ways,the songs are more personable,and Mike Nesmith's contributions are unforgettable masterpieces.Below Micky smoking a ''little help from his friend,lol'' Micky and Peter both smoked weed and dropped acid.

Headquarters recorded in 1967 was produced by Chip Douglas who Nez had approached a few months earlier,Kirchner was fired for releasing a Monkees single that went against his contract..

The album opens with You Told Me, a Nez penned swipe of The Beatles Taxman,with Peter flaying wildly on amphetamine driven banjo that was encouraged by George Harrison,Micky's drumming though a bit off beat fills this song wonderfully. Below,Early Morning Blues and Greens,one of Davy's best songs as a Monkee with haunting lyrics and beautiful guitar opening

Next,Micky offers I'll spend my life with you following Davy's Forget that Girl.

Band 6 is a mockery of hey,were playing the best we can,just bear with us,lol.

Mike then offers ''You just may be the one'',an absolutely gorgeous love song,and one of the albums best!.
Side 2 starts with Peter's own ''For Pete's sake,a gorgeous coming of age song that was used as the closing song in the TV series second season,nothing bubble gum about this. Mr. Webster is an audacious song with a rather ambiguous ending,did he close the door and commit suicide? Below,Going Down,another song about suicide co written by Micky with superb saxophone,notice the musician is hooded in this video.This went on to become Lou Reed's alltime favorite song,was released as a single,and is found as an extra on the Rhino CD release,but not the Sundazed vinyl

Below is the video ''For Pete's Sake'',Written by Peter himself,the true anthem of the Summer Of Love in my opinion.Released before The Beatles ''All you need is Love'' contains lyrics we all can learn from,Peter practiced what he preached,was a generous man who would never turn a deaf ear to a friend in need.

Next,Sunny Girlfriend,a gorgeous Nez penned rocker that you''ll never forget.
Zilch is the band clowning around between takes.

Randy Scouse Git is the albums closer,a song Micky wrote while visiting The Beatles in England where he met Samantha Juste I believe he refers too as Wonder Girl in the song. The song was actually banned in England,ironic as it payed homage to the U.K. Below,the being known as Wondergirl Samantha Juste with Micky who would go on to be married .RSG was Peter Torks favorite Monkee song.

Headquarters is available from Sundazed Music with 2 outakes,the list price is $18.99 and worth every penny.

The Birds The Bees &The Monkees [Rhino Records]

Back cover

My copy of album
 

I first saw a Japanese import of this album in a record store I frequented in Northern New Jersey in 1981 I was very tempted to buy enticed by it's gorgeous cover,and curious as to why they were selling Monkee albums as the resurgence in thier poularity didn't start til 1985.

O.K.,now on with the review.I'm a huge Monkee fan,I once owned everything I could get my hands on including their vinyl picture discs that is everything but this album.I had always heard and read mediocre reviews about TBTBATM so just avoided it,I always backed up Headquarters as being their greatest effort that is until I heard this Gem.

The album features some of the groups best efforts,althoughTork is almost minus with the exception of the opening piano in Daydream Believer where Davy can be heard stating in the songs opening ''What number is this Chip? [Douglas] 7A!,then quotes Davy ''O.K,no need to get excited just because I'm short I know'' [not giving reference to his stature,but meaning short on recording takes,as this song took several]

The Birds The Bees and The Monkees was released in 1968 just after the tv series was cancelled,coined as The Monkee's ''White album'' and appropriately so as this was primarily the boys solo efforts with Peter Tork's departure and final contribution.

The reviews of this album have not been kind,ranging from terrible to abysmal,and I could not disagree more,Davy's contributions have been lambasted by critics as being sappy sentimental slop,again,I beg to differ,on the contrary,I think this is Davy's best who also penned 2 of the songs.

The album starts off with Dream World with Davy on vocals,yea a tad on the sappy side,but still love this.

The second song penned by Nez,Aunties Municipal Court to me was not only one of the best Monkees song,but one of my altime favs with Micky giving his best vocals,this Psychedelic word salad delight is supposed to be about the Vietnam protests,Micky gives us the reverberated Oyeeee,Oyeee,oyeeeee I think is quite brilliant. This ''Byrd-ish'' delight also had Clarence White of The Byrds on guitar.

We were made for each other sung by Davy is another great song.
  Tapioca Tundra,here Nez uses his vocals quite interestingly,almost like another instrument.

Magnolia Simms,another Nez masterpiece,written before Paul McCartney's Honey Pie is hauntingly similar to it's style,it was said that Nez went to an antique shop,and purchased $100.00 worth of 78's to achieve the sound of a worn record and a tonearm being sweeped across a record.I love this song,Mike's vocals are incredible.

Daydream Believer,the 5th offering is the only song to make # 1 and was the groups last #1 hit,also the last song Peter Tork would be heard playing on til the lame 1987 album ''Pool It''

Side 2's highlights are another Davy penned song called ''The Poster'',to heck with what the critics said,this song is brilliant,I mean you can almost taste the peanuts and popcorn while Mr. Jones takes you to the circus,the keyboard work in this is shere genious,yea,a bit like The Beatle's For the benefit of Mr. Kite but much better.

Before there was Plenty of Fish,or Match .Com dating,or home computers for that matter ,there was P.O.Box 9847,a Micky ditty about classified dating I think is the albums wittiest song.

In closing,this is almost equal to Headquarters,is available brand new from Sundazed,and nothing against Sundazed vinyl,I just find the 80's Monkee Rhino record releases to be superior  in quality and sound.Sundazed offers bonus songs not found on the earlier Rhino releases.

Take it from a Monkee maniac,this is a fantabulous listen!
Below,painting of Davy by me

The Monkee's debut album

Albums back cover

My copy of the album reviewed,this is the original Colgems 1966 pressing

It's hard to believe that this manufactured pop group would go on to outsell The Beatles and Rolling Stones combined,that is until the Fab Four recorded Sgt. Pepper in 1967.

The Monkees had the same share as The Beatles of screaming and fainting female 12 year olds equipped with their own security guards,and like The Beatles would have been torn apart had one wondered from the safety of their limos and police escorts.

Concieved in 1965 by Bob Rafelson and partner Burt Schieder,no one would have dreamed this pre Fab Four would become a phenomenon. Below,ad for Monkee love beads.

The Monkee's debut album is a wonderful mix of gorgeous pop tunes,well crafted from such writers as Carol King,Boyce and Hart,and David Gates featuring studio musicians like Glen Campbell.

The album opens with the bands welcoming hit [theme from]  The Monkees letting us know that ''were the young generation,and we've got something to say'',a lyric that almost got bleated by the censors then takes us to Saturday's Child,a gorgeous riff written by future Bread leader David Gates with Micky on vocals. I want to be free is Davy's first Monkee offering that is ok,but no classic,not the case with the third ''Tommoros gonna be another day'' with guitar riffs that rival anything the Beatles ever offered.

Papa Gene's Blues,a Nez self penned beauty was originally and mistakenly called Papa GENE'S Blues,and was later corrected.

Take a giant step is a semi psychedelic Carol King written song sung by Micky that is absolutely gorgeous,using vocal overdubs,and is one of the albums best songs,with lyrics that are hard to rival.

Side 2 starts off with the anti war song ''Last Train To Clarksville'',again,another song The Beatles could not top,with the haunting TRAAAIIIIN harmonies in the background,an audacious song to begin with as it's lyrics were a tale of a man drafted to the Nam who tells his lover I don't know if I'm ever coming home again sung wonderfully by Micky. Clarksville stayed at #1 on the charts for weeks in 1966.

The remainder of the album is fabulous but not superb,Gonna Buy Me a Dog with Micky and Davy is a witty novelty song. This album is not what I call bubblegum like the album that followed ''More of The Monkees released the same year,and without the bands knowing.

Listening to this,it's not hard to understand how Mike Davy,Peter and Micky outsold the band they were trying to emulate,this album is pure beauty. Below,painting by me.