super groovy delicious bite: head

The Monkees made their choice and turned everything on its head with the adventurous artistic achievements of this commercial disaster. The group had started out as a fictional band conceived and put together for a television show; but Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones had struggled to find legitimacy and play their own instruments on their records. With the success of 'Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.', the various members of the band produced their own sessions with other musicians for much of 'The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees'. In the meantime, Nesmith released an instrumental solo album 'The Wichita Train Whistle Sings' with a full orchestra.

After their television show was cancelled, the Raybert Productions team of producer Bert Schneider and director Bob Rafelson worked with a then unknown Jack Nicholson and the Monkees to create a motion picture. The plot was conceived during a drug fueled weekend trip to Ojai, California with the brainstorming session tape recorded by Nicholson. Tork remembers: "Jack was fabulous. We adored him, all of us. Michael practically fell in love with him, in a manly sort of way." Dolenz concurs: "He was such a wonderful, charismatic, funny guy. Jack spent a lot of time with us. He hung out on the [TV] set and came out on tour, just picking up the vibe." In the end, The Monkees were frozen out of screenwriting credit and staged a protest at the beginning of filming. They never worked with Schneider and Rafelson again after 'Head'.

The surreal stream of consciousness film was touted in the trailer as the "most extraordinary adventure, western, comedy, love story, mystery, drama, musical, documentary satire ever made (And that's putting it mildly)." The film was a flop and the accompanying album only made it to number forty-five on the album chart.

The 'Head' album features snippits from the film interspersed with songs. Credits include The Monkees: Micky Dolenz on vocals and drums on live version of "Circle Sky"; Davy Jones on vocals, maracas, and organ on live version of "Circle Sky"; Mike Nesmith on vocals, guitar, electric organ, and maracas; and Peter Tork on vocals, electric guitar, and bass guitar on live version of "Circle Sky"; with Ken Bloom, Keith Allison, and Bill Chadwick on guitar; Danny Kortchmar on guitar on "As We Go Along"; Leon Russell and Ralph Shuckett on keyboards; Douglas Lubahn on electric bass; Harvey Newmark, Richard Dey, and John Gross on bass; Earl Palmer, Dewey Martin, and Mike Ney on drums; Eddie Hoh on drums and cowbell; Lance Wakely on guitar and bass; Brendan Cahill, Michael A. Glass, and Dennis Bruce on percussion; William Hinshaw and Jules Jacob on horn; Justin Ditullio, Raphael Kramer, Emmet Sargent, Eleanor Slatkin, Gregory Bemko, David Filerman, Jan Kelly, and Jacqueline Lustgarten on cello; Max Bennett, Clyde Hoggan, James Hughart, and Jerry Scheff on string bass; Michael Rubini on piano; Pete Candoli, Marion Childers, and Anthony Terran on trumpet; Richard Leith and Lewis McCreary on trombone; John R. Hoening and Tony McCashen performing some unknown function and some unknown musician on organ and flute. Jack Nitzsche did the arrangements on "Porpoise Song" and "As We Go Along"; while Russ Titelman was conductor on "Porpoise Song". Ry Cooder, Neil Young, and Carole King all played guitar on "As We Go Along"; and Stephen Stills provided guitar on "Long Title".