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". 

Micky Dolenz considers:   "The movie was using the Monkees to deconstruct the studio system," Dolenz reckons. "There's a scene with me and Teri Garr in the old west and I get hit by arrows and I say, 'Bob, I can't do this fake shit any more.' Well, that was a metaphor for people being fed up with the studio system...It was misunderstood by a lot of people...Most of our fans couldn't get in because there was an age restriction and the intelligentsia wouldn't go to see it anyway because they hated the Monkees."

Davy Jones thought Rafelson and Nicholson were just "practising their film techniques. They were throwing us to the 'gators at that point...We were pawns in something we helped create but had no control over.  We should have made Ghostbusters, OK?"

Tork says:   "The movie dropped like a ball of dark star.  The simile of a rock in the water is too mild for how badly that movie did...My whole goal had been to be a member of a band that worked. The next thing I know we're making a movie and it doesn't have anything to do with the business of being in a band together...There's some weight behind the idea that Bob and Bert wanted to wreck the Monkees, to stop it cold in its tracks.  I've never known for sure. Bert and Bob might have thought out loud: 'Let's kill the Monkees!' Or they may have not thought so out loud but at some unconscious level, they were sick of the Monkees and wanted to do something else...It was a joy seeing a movie being made, but I didn't like working for Bob Rafelson.  I did what he told me, but I can't say that I ever had any heart connection with him...It was probably more confusing to me than it was to the average moviegoer...Most people are dazzled by the psychedelia, and that's fine, but for me finally the point of the movie is the Monkees never get out...Which is to say Bob Rafelson's view of life is you never get out of the black box you're in. There's no escape...There might have been a scene where we get out...We jump in the water and get away."
 
Mike Nesmith reflects:   "I never thought of the Monkees negatively. The public rejection of the show and the band was hard to take but understandable. People were confused in those early days of TV, especially about what constituted authenticity, and there was a fear that corporate interests were at work and somehow manufacturing a hit. Everyone in the arts knows this is impossible, but it was an easy sell and an easy scandal to create by the press of the times. So a few journalists led the charge of "condescension...But as you point out, that charge fell on many deaf ears, especially among the kids at the time who not only got a good taste of well-made music but also understood TV and where it fit in their life. Many very accomplished players started their musical careers based on those Monkees shows and records, and I feel most gratified to have been a part of that. It is a nice legacy, and I'm proud of it and happy to see it finally get the recognition."







http://www.monkees.com/







'Head'
full album:


01. 0:00 Opening Ceremony
02. 1:12  Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)
03. 4:17 Ditty Diego (War Chant)
04. 5:14 Circle Sky
05. 8:16 Supplicio
06. 9:02 Can You Dig It
07. 12:25 Gravy
08. 12:32 Superstitous
09. 12:40 As We Go Along
10. 16:32 Dandruff?
11. 17:12 Daddy's Song
12. 12:42 Poll
13. 20:56 Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again
14. 23:36 Swami (Plus Strings)
15. 28:57 Ditty Diego-War Chant (Prev. Unissued Version)
16. 33:28 Circle Sky (Live Version)
17. 36:31 Happy Birthday To You (Prev. Unissued)
18. 36:50 Can You Dig It (Prev. Unissued Mix)
19. 40:16 Daddy's Song (Prev. Unissued Mix)
20. 42:22 Head Radio Spot (Prev. Unissued)





Side 1
1. "Opening Ceremony" Charles Irving 1:20
2. "Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones 2:56
3. "Ditty Diego – War Chant" (Jack Nicholson, Bob Rafelson) Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork 1:25
4. "Circle Sky" (Michael Nesmith) Michael Nesmith 2:31
5. "Supplicio" 0:48
6. "Can You Dig It?" (Peter Tork) Micky Dolenz 3:23
7. "Gravy" Davy Jones, I. J. Jefferson 0:06
Side 2
1. "Superstitious" (Dialogue from The Black Cat) David Manners, Bela Lugosi 0:07
2. "As We Go Along" (Carole King, Toni Stern) Micky Dolenz 3:51
3. "Dandruff?" Bela Lugosi, Charles Macaulay, Logan Ramsey, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Bob Rafelson, Peter Tork, Davy Jones 0:39
4. "Daddy's Song" (Harry Nilsson) Davy Jones 2:30
5. "Poll" Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Frank Zappa, Timothy Carey 1:13
6. "Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?" (Peter Tork) Peter Tork 2:39
7. "Swami – Plus Strings, Etc." (Ken Thorne) Abraham Sofaer, Micky Dolenz, Teri Garr, I. J. Jefferson 5:21

bonus:
"Ditty Diego — War Chant" (Alternate Take) (Nicholson, Rafelson) - 4:30
"Circle Sky" (Live Version) (Nesmith) - 2:20
"Happy Birthday to You" (Mildred Hill, Patty Smith Hill) - 1:02
"Can You Dig It?" (Peter on Lead Vocal) (Tork) - 3:25
"Daddy's Song" (Mike on Lead Vocal) (Nilsson) - 2:06

"Head Radio Spot" - 2:03

'Head'
motion picture




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFibqE5qqm8

i'm a believer

The Monkees' second single became their second chart-topper, although none of them actually played any instruments on the song. 'I'm a Believer' was written by Neil Diamond: "I was thrilled, because at heart I was still a songwriter and I wanted my songs on the charts. It was one of the songs that was going to be on my first album, but Donny Kirshner, who was their music maven, hears 'Cherry, Cherry' on the radio and said, 'Wow, I want one like that for The Monkees!' He called my producers, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich - 'Hey, does this kid have any more?' And they played him the things I had cut for the next album and he picked 'I'm A Believer,' 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You' and 'Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow),' and they had some huge hits. But the head of my record company freaked. He went through the roof because he felt that I had given #1 records away to another group. I couldn't have cared less because I had to pay the rent and The Monkees were selling records and I wasn't being paid for my records."

Diamond actually played guitar on the Monkees version; but none of the Monkees were allowed to do so, since their producers didn't think they could play together. Micky Dolenz did the lead vocal while Davy Jones and Peter Tork helped with backup. Michael Nesmith insisted the song would not be a hit and was banned from the studio during the sessions. The song hit number one the last week of 1966 and stayed there for seven weeks, becoming the best selling record of 1967. It has sold more than ten million copies worldwide.

Diamond made a deal where he could record his own version.

Robert Wyatt had a hit in the UK with Fred Frith on violin, Andy Summers on guitar, and Nick Mason on drums.

Robert Wyatt with Nick Mason- I'm A Believer... by doleho

I thought love was only true in fairy tales

Meant for someone else but not for me.

Love was out to get me

That's the way it seemed.

Disappointment haunted all my dreams.

Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer

Not a trace of doubt in my mind.

I'm in love, I'm a believer!

I couldn't leave her if I tried.

I thought love was more or less a given thing,

Seems the more I gave the less I got.

What's the use in tryin'?

All you get is pain.

When I needed sunshine I got rain.

Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer

Not a trace of doubt in my mind.

I'm in love, I'm a believer!

I couldn't leave her if I tried.

'Steppin' Stone' was the B-side of the Monkees' hit version.

last train to clarksville

The Monkees hit the top of the charts with their debut single, which was secretly written as a protest of the Vietnam War. The songwriting team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote many songs for the Monkees. Hart recalls: "We were just looking for a name that sounded good. There's a little town in Northern Arizona I used to go through in the summer on the way to Oak Creek Canyon called Clarksdale. We were throwing out names, and when we got to Clarksdale, we thought Clarksville sounded even better. We didn't know it at the time; there is an Air Force base near the town of Clarksville, Tennessee, which would have fit the bill fine for the story line. We couldn't be too direct with The Monkees. We couldn't really make a protest song out of it. We kind of snuck it in."

The guitar sound of 'Last Train to Clarksville' was heavily influenced by the Beatles' 'Paperback Writer', just as the Monkees television show was inspired by their film 'A Hard Day's Night'. Even the "Oh, No No No"s were a deliberate response to the Fab Four's famous "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah"s. Session musicians played on the song, which was recorded before the members of the band had even been selected, with lead vocal by Micky Dolenz recorded later.

The Monkees took a lot of heat from other musicians for not playing on their songs. Drummer Micky Dolenz says: "I think there was a lot of resentment in the recording industry that we’d come out of nowhere, left field, and sort of just shot right to the top without having to kind of go through the ropes. The music industry back then was pretty crooked, and some people say even to this day. And I didn’t know at the time anything about the business end of it, but all of the sudden, the radio stations, the rack jobbers, the distributors, all these people that had a lot of power at that time. All of the sudden, they had to start playing the Monkees songs; they had to start racking them, they had to start distributing them. They had no choice. It was just so huge because of the television show. And that’s the first time anything like that had ever happened. And I think that probably created a lot of resentment."

http://www.monkees.com/

Take the last train to Clarksville,

And I'll meet you at the station.

You can be be there by four thirty,

'Cause I made your reservation.

Don't be slow, oh, no, no, no!

Oh, no, no, no!

'Cause I'm leavin' in the morning

And I must see you again

We'll have one more night together

'Til the morning brings my train.

And I must go, oh, no, no, no!

Oh, no, no, no!

And I don't know if I'm ever coming home.

Take the last train to Clarksville.

I'll be waiting at the station.

We'll have time for coffee flavored kisses

And a bit of conversation.

Oh... Oh, no, no, no!

Oh, no, no, no!

Take the last train to Clarksville,

Now I must hang up the phone.

I can't hear you in this noisy

Railroad station all alone.

I'm feelin' low. Oh, no, no, no!

Oh, no, no, no!

And I don't know if I'm ever coming home.

Take the last train to Clarksville,

Take the last train to Clarksville