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. 

The Smiths - "Strangeways, Here We Come" Vinyl, LP, Album, Remastered, Reissue, 1989/2009 (Rhino)

"Strangeways, Here We Come" is the best Smiths album.   For me, the weakest album was the first, then the second is better than the debut, and then the third is better than.... till we reach the best, SHWC.  As a singles band, always brilliant from the very beginning.  Overall I feel Morrissey/Marr & company are true believers in the 45 rpm single.  That is one reason why some of their compilation albums are so superb.   When I listen to a Smiths album, I think of it as a collection of B-sides waiting for their better half (the A-Side) to show up.  Then again, I do greatly admire the aesthetic of a good B-Side song or set of songs. 

"Strangeways, Here We Come" is the last Smiths album. In fact, I think they broke up before the album's release in 1987.   A hardworking band with one of the most incredible front man of all times. Morrissey never fails as a lyricist.  Like Serge Gainsbourg, he has the knack of turning a phrase around to give the song its complexities.  Highly literary as well as working in the pop format of a song, Morrissey was (and still is) an exceptional talent. Also as their albums get better so does Morrissey's singing.  This maybe an argumentive statement, but I truly believe Morrissey solo is a better artist than he was in The Smiths.  I feel The Smiths was a training ground or a University for Morrissey.  Johnny Marr was a perfect partner.  In his looks as well as talents on the guitar and melodic songwriting.   Mike Joyce on drums and Andy Rourke on bass are equally important in The Smiths.  They were truly a band. 

Listening to this album, I realize that the Smiths couldn't go any further   As mentioned each album was a springboard to the next, and "Strangeways" was the end of the road.  This is not a tragedy.  Although there were tears, them breaking up at this point was the best thing that they have done as a band.  To leave on a perfect note is perfection in practice.  Johnny Marr made that brilliant choice to leave.  Oddly enough, I would think his career would take off like a missile, but as fate would have it, Morrissey had put together many other collaborators.  Marr seemed to like the position of being in a band or partner with other acts - all a great distance from his previous singer.  

"Strangeways" appeals to me because I feel that the band knew exactly what they wanted to do, and they could make the noise that will serve their purpose.  "Death of a Disco Dancer" is a troublesome song, due to Morrissey's odd sense of humor.  It is also my favorite piece on this album. The way Morrissey distances himself from the world, and in this case, he is reporting news that he heard, but it's not precisely known what or who the Disco Dancer is, or why they are defined by the term "Disco Dancer."   Morrissey is very much a coded artist, in that I feel everything he has done is related to one or the other or everything.    I can see The Smiths' albums being one long narrative or novel, perhaps in the sense of Marcel Proust's "In Remembrance of Things Past."   The same goes for "Girlfriend in a Coma."   Is he joking?  Or is he just stating a narrative in place of him?  It is these type of Morrissey lyrics that one goes back to him again and again because it's like a story coming out of the fog.  That's, in a nutshell, is his genius. 

The most beautiful and of course, dramatic is "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me."  It's classic Morrissey woe me, but clearly, I don't think he really cares if someone loves him or not.  He likes to project an image of him in pain, but in his own way, he's delighted in his world.  Morrissey is all about projection of a picture, a style, a piece of cultural (usually Gay) history, and pain as a theatrical presentation.  Like Andy Warhol, the surface has lots of information, and all we need to do is to rub our hands on it.  However, he stirs controversy (his bread and non-animal butter) as an art form, and he is the artist who keeps on giving.  

Big Star - "Keep An Eye On The Sky" CD Box-Set

Big Star – Keep An Eye On The Sky

4 x CD box set, U.S. , 2009

Rhino Records

If only for Alex Chilton's haunted version of “Nature Boy” with photographer William Eggleston on piano, that this 4 CD box set by Big Star is a must. It's funny due to this version of the classic, I think of Chilton as being Chet Baker's younger soul brother. Lost, but on solid ground with his music. They also share a real sense of cool, not movie cool, but cool that one can only be born with.

Keep An Eye On The Sky is very much an essential package to get, not only for the demos of Big Star and Chris Bell classics, but the way it packages and frames the career and vision of Chilton & Co. Listening to Big Star and all of its off-shoots is a highly emotional ride into a dark night that has no answers. In a way it is a hopeless meditation on one's place on this earth. Blues music that is not technically the blues, but expresses the anxiety of those who wander into the myst that's culture. In this case its strongly placed in the Memphis landscape. I rarely buy box-sets (I have about five, and they're all pretty essential, and will get to them later here), but Big Star is a band that is often seen in fragments, so this set places them in a bigger frame. Wonderful.