The Mamas And the Papas

Didn't think you'd see this one here? So it goes, I always liked the pure California sound of this band with
their breezy harmonies and under appreciated lyrics (check "Crique Alley" for example).....Cass Elliott, Michelle Phillips, John Phillips, and Denny Doherty put out some exceptional "period piece" music in the late 60's, I don't know who all appreciates it these days, but I certainly do enjoy giving it a listen on occasion.....I think I have five albums here for ya, lets see what we can uncover......this is what they call an "acquired taste", some of you may hate this sound, but I always liked these guys n gals (Michelle in particular, she was a hottie in her day).......so let's relive some of their albums here, and remember VARIETY is the name of the game in THIS town!

The 1966 debut "Cass John Michelle Denny" has some reasonably good stuff on it, notably their cover of "Dancin' In the Streets", as well as lesser-known gems ("No Salt on Her", and "Words of Love" and all the rest, they include that unique guy/girl vocal harmony that the band was known for.) This is a pretty good one, and a pretty good place to start.

The following year they released "If You can Believe Your Eyes and Ears", which featured the single "Monday Monday", a reasonably good single, as well as maybe their best known song "California Dreamin'", which really is a fine single IMO (also lesser-known greats like "Straight Shooter")......perhaps if you want only one, it may be this one, can't say for sure, but a good album, I think.

Again, a year later they gave us "Deliver", which features the fab "Crique Alley" and "Dedicated to the One I
Love", both of which are fab period pieces, as is most of the album, even the quaaluded-out version of "Twist and Shout"......another good album for my cash.

1968's "Papas and Mamas" seems to take things a bit too seriously, perhaps taking a cue from "Sergeant Pepper" and similar albums......not bad but a little over-ambitious in my mind.....has a few decent vocal moments on it, for sure "For the Love of Eve", and the single "Dream a Little Dream of Me".......not my favorite, but a listenable album for certain.

Finally we have 1971's "People Like Us".....for me, this train had run it's course by now, not a great album, what once was, no longer was, if ya know what I mean.......the songs are decent, "Pacific Coast Highway" for example, but, they just don't, to me at least, have anything like the charm of the earlier efforts.

This band "was what it was".....a late-60's west coast harmony band, with some excellent male/female vocal interplay at times.....obviously, this is NOT Iggy & the Stooges, but not everything must be......these albums came from the stash of my Dad ("BigMike42", I like to call him), he was a WAY open-minded music guy, would listen to anything, and I've always been glad he left me his albums.......he did like the Mamas & the Papas, though, and I can't argue......some good stuff on these discs, I DO NOT have a singles compilation, but, so what? You can hear these they way they were intended to be heard, right?

By the way, under the links, there is another link which will give you selected lyrics to some of their tuns, found that on The bay......thanks BAY!

CASS-JOHN-MICHELLE-DENNY-01 No Salt On Her/02 Trip Stumble and Fall/03 Dancing Bear/04 Words of Love/05 My Heart Stood Still/06 Dancing In the Street/07 I Saw Her Again Last Night/08 Strange Young Girls/09 I Can't Wait/10 Even If I Could/11 That Kind of Girl/12 Once Was a Time I Thought

IF YOU CAN BELIEVE YOUR EYES AND EARS-01 Monday Monday/02 Straight Shooter/03 Gotta Feelin'/04 I Call Your Name/05 Do You Wanna Dance/06 Go Where You Wanna Go/07 California Dreaming/08 Spanish Harlem/09 Somebody Groovy/10 Hey Girl/11 You Baby/12 In Crowd

DELIVER-01 Dedicated to the One I Love/02 My Girl/03 Creque Alley/04 Sing For Your Supper/05 Twist and Shout/06 Free Advice/07 Look Through My Window/08 Boys and Girls Together/09 String Man/10 Frustration/11 Did You Ever Want To Cry/12 John's Music Box

PAPAS AND MAMAS-01 The Right Somebody To Love/02 Safe In My Garden/03 Meditation Mama/04
For the Love of Eve/05 Dream a Little Dream of Me/06 Manslons/07 Gemini Child/08 Nothings Too Good For My Young Girl/09 Too Late/10 Twelve Thirty/11 Rooms/12 Midnight Voyage/13 The Right Somebody to Love (Alternate Version)

PEOPLE LIKE US-02 Pacific Coast Highway/03 Snowqueen of Texas/04 Shooting Star/05 Step Out/06 Lady Genevieve/07 No Dough/08 European Blueboy/09 Pearl/10 I Wanna Be a Star/11 Grasshopper/12 Blueberries For Breakfast/13 People Like Us