The Monkees: Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork.
Additional personnel includes: Neil Young, Leon Russell, Ry Cooder, Dewey Martin, Russ Titelman.
In 1968, combating charges that they were a pre-fab Beatles knockoff with no real talent, the Monkees went the Liverpudlians one better by making HEAD, a wild, experimental film that made A HARD DAY'S NIGHT look like a drawing-room drama. The soundtrack has some freewheeling moments to match, but more significantly, it contains some of the Monkees' best tunes from the period when the runaway train of their huge pop hits started losing speed. Seemingly influenced by the band's (particularly Mickey Dolenz's) love of Tim Buckley (who was a musical guest on the Monkees' TV show), "As We Go Along" is an incredibly moving slice of balladic folk-rock that could have fallen off of Buckley's seminal HAPPY SAD. The beloved "Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" is a sun-drenched psychedelic gem that stands up to anything on SGT. PEPPER'S or PET SOUNDS. A batch of previously unreleased tunes appended to this reissue sweeten the pot some, but regardless, HEAD is a vitally important, often undervalued chapter in the Monkees' history.

• Released: 10/24/2011
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop