HEAD, the album

The Monkees had been haphazardly recording since late 1967 for "The Birds, the Bees, and the Monkees". They all went into the studio and recorded separately and were left with too much material to fit on one album. When it became definite that they were to make a movie, work on the soundtrack album officially began in early 1968. Although not all of the songs were specifically written for the film ("Can You Dig It", for example, was demoed during the Headquarters sessions), the songs that eventually became the soundtrack were handpicked by Rafelson, Nicholson and the other Monkees. 
The first song recorded for HEAD, "Circle Sky", was first recorded on December 9, 1967. "Circle Sky" was recorded by Mike and his friends Bill Chadwick, Keith Allison (among others) and is the source of much debate between Mike and Peter. This recorded version took three sessions to complete and was originally not going to be on the soundtrack. Another version of "Circle Sky" was recorded nearly six months later, only this time it was a live concert by the Monkees at Valley Auditorium in Salt Lake City, UT on May 21st. Rafelson had envisioned a concert sequence for the film, so the Monkees trekked over to Utah to give thousands of Monkees fans a full concert where they were to play "Circle Sky" live for the movie. They recorded everything but the vocals that day, and returned to the studio three days later to cut Mike's vocal. Yet sadly, this energized performance of "Circle Sky" was left off the soundtrack album in place of the original studio version without the other Monkees. The inclusion of this version is unknown, some suspect that Mike or Jack Nicholson may have included it on the soundtrack for various reasons. No one really knows why, not even Nez himself; "I don't have any idea how that happened. I think that The Monkees always played it better. I can't remember a studio version being better than the way we played it live. 'Cause live it was just pure unbridled energy." Nevertheless, the live version remains the more popular cut today and is the version that appears on all box sets. 
The second song recorded for HEAD was another Nilsson tune, "Daddy's Song", which was in Davy's "Broadway rock" style. "Daddy's Song" features the usual Monkee cohorts (Keith Allison, Bill Chadwick, Eddie Hoh), and Monkees' (Mike Nesmith ). Interestingly, this song was originally sung by Mike (that version appears as a bonus song on the HEAD CD) in January of 1968. When it was decided that the filmmakers needed a song for Davy's dance sequence, the Monkees recut it in April of 1968 with Davy on vocals. This song was originally considered as a strong second single from HEAD, though it ended up only being released in the U.K. 
Peter's two HEAD tracks, "Long Title" and "Can You Dig It" were recorded in January 1968, along with his other songs "Lady's Baby" and "Merry Go Round". Peter's songwriting around this time was more prolific than ever, yet none of his compositions except for the two on HEAD were ever released. "Long Title" was a rousing power trio song that he had written in mid 1967. He explains; "I remember very well that the song just fell out of me one day. I was just playing those chord changes on the guitar and opened my mouth, and that's what popped out. Once I had the first verse, the second verse followed the theme for the first verse. The weird thing is that the song has been prophetic. I had no idea that that was going to be my attitude about anything having to do with music when I wrote the song. It just came out that way. I wrote the lyric in London." The song features Peter's pal Lance Wakely on guitar, Buddy Miles on drums, and Peter on guitar, bass, and vocals. 

"Can You Dig It?" was something Peter had been messing around with since his college days. He demoed an instrumental version during the Headquarters sessions, with a slightly different guitar part. The lyrics were written on the set of the TV show and were inspired by the Tao Te Ching. This song was first recorded on January 28, 1968 with Peter on electric guitar and bass, Lance Wakely on accoustic guitar, Dewey Martin (from the Buffalo Springfield) on drums. Buddy Miles is supposedly on the track, and it's rumoured that Stephen Stills played some role. Who knows. The song was originally recorded with Peter on vocals, but Schneider asked if Micky could sing it, since the song was to come right after Micky's solo scene in the movie. "CYDI" was recut with Micky on vocals in March of 1968. The movie version of "CYDI" actually has a different mix than the one on the soundtrack. I must say, I think the movie version kicks ass a tiny bit more than the soundtrack one. But maybe that's just me. 
The next song recorded, "Porpoise Song" began the phase of recording specifically for the movie. "Porpoise Song" was a psychedelic, dreamy, acid trip of a song that was specifically written for the movie by Gerry Goffin. The song was recorded with minimal Monkee input, chosing to use session players like Leon Russell, Ken Bloom (from the Lewis and Clarke Expedition) & Danny Kortchmar making the only Monkee involvement the vocal work by Micky and Davy. Micky insists to this day that Goffin wrote this song with him in mind; "I was told that by somebody. If you listen to it, it's about me committing suicide. It was written for the movie. It wasn't a song that she pulled out of a drawer. 'Riding the backs of giraffes for laughs,' I'm sure, was a reference to Circus Boy. At least I was told that." "Porpoise Song" was the only HEAD track released as a single, and it didn't fare well, mainly because it was unlike any other Monkee song to ever be released as a single. The teenybopper's didn't want their idols releasing psychedelic, drug induced songs. Needless to say, the song only got to #62 on the charts, and was only on there for six weeks. 

The last full song to be recorded for HEAD was "As We Go Along", a roaming, mellow accoustic number penned by Carole King and sometimes Rafelson paramour, Toni Stern. "As We Go Along" was recorded on May 30th, 1968 and features an incredible combination of the best session players and producers. None of the Monkees were involved, other than Micky's vocals, instead, "AWGO" features Neil Young (!!!!!), Ry Cooder (!!!!), Ken Bloom (from Lewis and Clarke Expedition), Carole King (!!!), and Danny Kortchmar on guitar. No wonder it's a kickass song. Neil freakin Young plays on it. Legendary arranger Jack Nitzche also participated. Yet even with these heavy names, "As We Go Along" never charted. It was released as the B-side to "Porpoise Song" and ended up bubbling under at #106 on the Billboard Charts. Yet even today, the song remains a favorite to many Monkees fans, and to the Monkees themselves. Peter remarks; "Carole King is an astounding creature. The 'Porpoise Song' is a great song, and I think 'As We Go Along' is even better. Carole King could write with anybody. She could write with Mike Nesmith, after all!" Micky agrees; "That was a bitch to sing. It was in 5/4 time or some bizarre signature. I had a lot of trouble picking it up. Typically, we didn't have a lot of time to rehearse this stuff. We were filming. I'd go in, and they'd play the song a few times. I remember that was a tough song to sing, but I loved it. I still love it. It's actually one of my favorites." 
The last two 'songs' recorded for HEAD were Ditty Diego, which was recorded in July of 1968, and Happy Birthday To You, which was recorded in August. "Ditty Diego" is unique in that it's probably the only pop song that Jack Nicholson received writing credit for. "Ditty Diego" (original title: "Movie Jingle") is the unofficial theme song of HEAD and serves to sum up the plot of the film. "Happy Birthday To You" was recorded to complete the "MIKE BIRTHDAY PARTY" sequence and featured three part chanting from Peter, Micky, and Davy. 
The remainder of the album consisted of collages of sound bites from the movie and Ken Thorne's instrumental tracks put together by the album's co-producer, Jack Nicholson. "Opening Ceremony", "Supplico", "Gravy", "Superstitions", "Dandruff", "Poll", and "Swami-Plus Strings" all serve the purpose of promoting the film and filling out the rest of the album. These sound bites are noteworthy, however, because of Nicholson's witty editing techniques. 
HEAD the album was released to the public on December 1, 1968 and was their first album not to reach the TOP 5 on the album charts. By this point in time, the Monkees' popularity was waning, as they were all getting older, getting married, and not in the public eye as much. This added to the fact that teen magazines were promoting newer and groovier teen idols like the Cowsills, Bobby Sherman, Sajid Khan and Brenden Boone (whoever the fuck that is), caused their fan base to look elsewhere. HEAD did reach #45 on the charts, perhaps buoyed by the single "Porpoise Song", but it was not on the charts for long and even today, it hasn't gone gold. The release of HEAD was an important one in Monkee history. It was the last Monkees album of the 60s to feature all four Monkees, the only Monkees album in the 60s not to feature a song by Boyce and Hart (maybe that's why HEAD is so good?), and it was the last Monkees project to have involvement from Rafelson and Schneider. It also is considered one of the Monkees' best works as a group. With the failure of the movie and the soundtrack, the Monkees began to start re-thinking their role in the whole Monkee project, and after HEAD, a lot of their interest in the band and project was lost. HEAD the album expresses the themes of the movie as well; the fight between the band and those who try to control them. While Mike and Peter both participated in the recording and writing of the songs on HEAD, the 'singles' and most of the songs were authored by the same people that were hired by Donnie Kirshner, and feature minimal Monkee involvement. This is perhaps to say that while they did "overthrow" the PTB during Headquarters, ultimately, the PTB never lost control of the Monkees music career. This concept is summed up in the movie of HEAD with the prophetic ending when Big Victor (aka RCA Victor, who owned Columbia/Colgems) captured the Monkees in the tank. 
But enough analysis, HEAD remains the weirdest Monkees album in history and also one of their best. I highly recommend it to anyone. 

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