The Head Shop

Infobox Album
Name = The Head Shop
Type = studio
Longtype =
Artist = The Head Shop


Released = 1969
Recorded = 1969
Genre = Psychedelic rock
Length = 31:32 (LP)
Label = Epic
Producer = Milan
Maxim (Associate Producer)
Reviews =
Last album =
This album =
Next album =

"The Head Shop" is a psychedelic rock band from New York that released one eponymous album on Epic in 1969. The album cover features a swirling group of multi-colored (and numbered) boxes that surround a black-and-white image of a shrunken head. The back cover is mostly black with minimal copy but also includes a shot of the band lit from beneath.

Original Release

According to the original promotional material for the album, the band performs "9 musical chapters that will lead you into new musical and audiophile dimensions of psychedelic art of music". A commercial ad in New York's "Screw magazine" was blazoned with: "Do You Want Head? Blow Your Mind with the Head Shop Album!"

Guest Musician

Larry Coryell, a respected jazz guitarist is a "guest musician" that provides a second guitar solo on "I Feel Love Comin' On". Coryell's debut album on Vanguard was also released in 1969.

Cover Songs

Side 1 ends and Side 2 begins with two extremely familiar Beatles songs, "Yesterday" – reminiscent of the Deep Purple cover of "Help!" – plus a propulsive rendering of "Revolution". "Yesterday", along with an original song called "Where Have All the People Gone", are combined into "Opera in the Year 4000" that may function as a commentary on the state of the music world at the end of that decade: Even if all the people are gone in two thousand years, the then omnipresent Beatles standard would still survive.

The album also includes a melancholy version of another hit song of the period, "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb. Like "Yesterday", hundreds of other cover versions of "Sunny" are extant, but not like this: Eugene Chadbourne refers to this as the "so-called 'bad acid' version" of this song Chadbourne, Eugene. barnesandnoble.com, [http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/artistbio.asp?CTR=391366 Biography of the Head Shop] . Retrieved 6 Nov 2006 (where it was posted on Allmusic, though the entry is now missing). ] .

Recent Reviews

One recent reviewer describes the music as "a demented fusion of ’69 era heavy psych and ’66 era garage punk" [http://www.fufkin.com/columns/sampsel/sampsel_12_01.htm Kurt Sampsel Reviews] , Fufkin.com, December 2001. Retrieved 3 Nov 2006. ] . A 2006 promotion of the CD reissue on eBay by "Groovers Paradise" describes the album this way: "This underground New York psychedelic project has a unique sound – soulful vocals, fluid Hammond organ, fuzzy bass, distorted lead guitars, lots of weird percussion instruments, augmented by unexpected stereo effects." [Listing on [http://www.ebay.com eBay] . Retrieved 29 Oct 2006. ]

An anonymous Dutch fan calls this "a very special album" and makes a detailed track-by-track analysis of the record, citing influences on the album ranging from Arthur Brown to James Brown, and, regarding the "Revolution" cover: "The original idea was to mix Beatles with contemporary music (Schönberg and Mahler) into a new trip of music, making new music in a true ‘progressive’ edge." [ [http://progressive.homestead.com/Prog-4.html#anchor_153 Review page for the Head Shop] , progressive.homestead.com, a Dutch progressive/psychedelic website. Retrieved 19 Dec 2006. ] .

The accolades are not unanimous, however. The exhaustive "Acid Archives" describes the album as "full of sound effects, fuzz guitar and creative arrangements, but without the songs to elevate it to keeper status. A couple of Beatles covers are particularly ill-advised. The heavier songs are probably the highlights. Good but not great." [http://www.lysergia.com/AcidArchives/lamaArchiveH.htm Acid Archives listing] , www.lysergia.com. Retrieved 22 Dec 2006. ]

Connection with Milan

Although the band is obscure by any standard, "the Head Shop" is probably the best known and one of the last of the many projects masterminded by Milan, an enigmatic music industry professional who produced and performed on a variety of recordings released in the 1960's. Virtually all of the Milan projects, including "the Head Shop" are highly sought collectors' items, and original sealed copies of the Epic album surface occasionally. The album was produced by Milan, and the associate producer is Maxim; they are also listed as the songwriters on the original songs, which include "Listen with a Third Ear", "Heaven Here We Come" and "Prophecy".

Reissues

The album has been reissued on two different German labels, Synton in 1998 and World in Sound in 2004. The WIS reissue includes 7 bonus tracks, along with a copy of the 1969 "Screw Magazine" ad. The bonus tracks run the gamut from folk to flower power to psychedelic pop [ Wolfart, János. Review on a German site, [http://www.rocktimes.de/gesamt/h/head_shop/same.html www.rocktimes.de] . Retrieved 29 Oct 2006. ] and include songs by Household Sponge (the predecessor band to The Head Shop, according to some sources), Licorice Schtik (a band being promoted by Milan in the same time period), and other earlier projects including The Aladdins.

The Synton reissue includes four bonus tracks by Household Sponge and Licorice Schtik, but a full track listing could not be located.

Personnel

* Danny Prosseda, "Guitar"
* Drew Sbordone, "Bass"
* Joe Siano, "Vocals"
* Jesse Luca, "Drums, Percussion"
* Milan, "Rhythm Guitars and Screams"
* Geoff Wright, "Hammond/Farfisa Organ, Fuzz Bass" (on "Heaven Here We Come" and "I Feel Love Comin' On")
* Maxim, "Violin Solo" (on "Prophecy")
* Larry Coryell, Guest Musician, "Guitar Solo" (on "I Feel Love Comin' On")

=Release History=

* Original LP: Epic Records with yellow label (#BN 26476) – rel. 1969
* Bootleg LP: Same but with dark label – rel. 1990's
* Reissued LP (or possible bootleg): Same with yellow label – rel. 2000's
* Reissue CD (with 4 bonus tracks): Synton Records (#DR9856) – rel. 1998
* Reissue CD (with 7 bonus tracks): World In Sound Records (#WIS-1024) – rel. 2004

Track listing

Original LP

Side 1:
# Head Shop (Milan/Maxim/R. Craig), 2:56
# Heaven Here We Come (Milan), 2:40
# Sunny (Bobby Hebb), 3:11
# Listen with a Third Ear (Milan/Maxim), 2:30
# Opera in the Year 4000 (Milan), 4:25
#* Where Have All the People Gone (Milan)
#* Yesterday (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)

Side 2:
# Revolution (John Lennon/Paul McCartney), 2:28
# I Feel Love Comin' On (Milan), 6:20
# Prophecy (Maxim/Milan), 2:17
# Infinity (Milan), 4:45

Bonus Tracks, 2004 Reissue

* "Scars" (by The Aladdins), 2:34
* "Second Best" (by The Aladdins), 2:14
* "Flowers, Flowers" (by Licorice Schtik), 2:00
* "Kissing Game" (by Licorice Schtik), 2:03
* "Sunshine" (Milan), 1:12
* "Groovy Feelings" (Milan), 1:50
* "In Central Park" (M. Ellen), 1:53

=Compilation Albums [ [http://comps.ugly-things.com/compsproject/bandname.php?&lifilter=1&sbandid=&sbandname=the%20Head%20Shop&sboolwhole=True&ssource=filter&ipage=0&lispeed= Searchin' for Shakes" on-line database] , "Ugly Things" fanzine. Retrieved 24 Mar 2007. ] =

* "Head Shop" – Sixties Archives, Volume 8 (CD)

* "Heaven Here We Come" – Psychedelic Dream (LP)

* "Prophecy" – Psychedelic Vision (CD)

References