The Monkees -"Head" Vinyl, LP, OST, Reissue, Remastered, 1968/2011 (Rhino)

The Monkees shouldn't be brilliant, but somehow due to sonic magic, classic Brill Building songwriting, great character, fantastic TV show, and the songwriting/performing talents of Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Mickey Dolenz - they became this great oddity.  In theory, two musicians and two actors, which when the camera is turned off shouldn't be a band.  Yet, somehow they not only became a band, but a weird hybrid of showbiz, commercialism, and art.  In the long run, maybe they're more important than the other Fab Four, The Beatles.

When the show died down, The Monkees made a film called "Head" written by Jack Nicholson and directed by The Monkees TV producer, Bob Rafelson.   No "Head" there will probably be no "Easy Rider" or "Five Easy Pieces" or the career of Jack Nicholson as the iconic star.   What makes "Head" so unusual is that the film questions the nature of a 'manufactured band" and how that, becomes a genuine work of art.   Malcolm McLaren wanted to do his own version of The Monkees by having the Sex Pistols, but the truth is, The Monkees were even more radical than the Pistols/McLaren.  

Which comes to this unique and great original soundtrack album, "Head."  On the surface, it is only six Monkees' songs, plus spoken dialogue from the film, and incidental music from Ken Thorne.  Supervised by Nicholson in some mysterious sense, and mostly self-produced by the 'band,' except for the magnificent track "Porpoise Song" produced and co-written (with Carole King) Gerry Goffin. "Head" is just as radical as the film.  The album is psychedelic but obviously made by pop songwriting geniuses, such as King/Goffin and Harry Nilsson, as well as Tork and Nesmith.  This is probably the one album that is the death of the Brill Building aesthetic as well as the idea of an organic band at work.  On one level, it's a f**k you to the world, but also an entrance way to another world.  The Monkees were contained by their songwriters, the TV series, showbiz schedule, and here they needed to break free from the constraints of their society.  They do so, without a chance that they will ever come back to their commercial 'home.'   A remarkable album or document of a time that can only be 1968. 

Also on a personal note, I visited the set of "Head" with my father, Wallace Berman, when I was 15, and watched the Mickey Dolenz performance of "Can You Dig It."   It was odd for me to be there, watching my favorite TV stars being part of the spectacle that's movie-making.