Mamas & Papas - The Mamas & the Papas - Greatest Hits
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Free Music Notes for The Mamas & the Papas - Greatest Hits
Free Music Review: John, Michelle, Denny and Cass
Hit: 5 Stars
John Phillips was part of a folk group that released three undistinguished albums on CAPITOL records. Mama Cass (along with the Lovin' Spoonful's Zal Yanovsky) was originally a Mugmump-- another folkie band. This may be where the "folk-rock" image the Mamas & Papas labored under came from. Their music is decidely not folk-- it's more a blend of pop/bubble gum/Top 40 soft rock. However one defines this harmonic quartet, there's no question that from 1965 to 1968, the Mamas & The Papas made some really special music. Credit leader and composer John Phillips for that.
The group's first hit, "California Dreamin'" was originally meant to be Barry McGuire's follow-up to "Eve Of Destruction." Singles of this recording exist, with the precise same backing track (including the Mamas & Papas), McGuire's lead vocal and a harmonica substituted for the flute in the middle eight.
All twenty of the DUNHILL label sides on THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS GREATEST HITS are terrific. So's the liner note book, although it does attempt in places to obscure. An example would be the assertion that "Safe In My Garden" decries political assassinations, when any ex-hippie knows that this song is really about street protests and primarily pot plants:
Safe in my garden, an ancient flower blooms
And the scent from it's nature slowly squares my room
And it's perfume being such that it's causing me to swoon...
So is this the anachronistic music of a long ago time? Perhaps. No question though that production, performance and material make the M&P's one of THE best of the late Sixties bands. Enjoy
TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 61:13
Free Music Review: Just Excellent
Hit: 5 Stars
I bought this CD in late March while I was visiting my Mom in Phoenix and I finished listening to it a while ago. Fabulous! Thanks to this I have fell in love again with the Mamas & Papas. I am reminded of the liner notes to the "Forrest Gump" soundtrack in which they said that you fell in love with the songs, fell out of love, then fell in love again. Not only have I reconnected to their hits like "California Dreamin'","Monday, Monday," "I Saw Her Again (Last Night),"Go Where You Want to Go," "Words of Love","Creeque Alley," "(This Is) Dedicated To the One I Love," and "Dream a Little Dream of Me," but I've also been introduced to "Dancing Bear" (which I thought the title was somewhat amusing),"Glad to Be Unhappy," "Twelve-Thirty," "Safe in My Garden," and their versions of "I Call Your Name," "Do You Wanna Dance" (more subdued to what Bobby Freeman and The Beach Boys did), "You Baby," "Dancing in the Streets," and "Twist and Shout." But the one song on the CD that almost made my jaw drop was their version of "My Girl" and with the vocals of John, Michelle, Denny, and Cass colliding in together, they blew The Temptations' version right out of the water and that should be considered as one of the best harmonic songs of the decade. The cover of the CD is just a classic (Does Michelle Phillips' pantsuit look a lot like what Michael Keaton wore in "Beetlejuice" with yellow a stand-in for white?). For those who love 60's music, must get this.Free Music Review: All the essentials from their time together
Hit: 5 Stars
The Mamas and Papas were formed after the break-up of a little-known short-lived group called the Mugwumps. Other members of that group formed the Lovin' spoonful. This compilation contains all the essential hits of the Mamas and Papas while they were together.
The classic Mamas and Papas songs are all here including California Dreaming, Go where you wanna go, Monday Monday, I saw her again, Words of love and Creeque alley. These are classic slices of sixties folk-rock, some of which at least you must be already familiar with.
Also in this collection are their great covers including I call your name (Beatles), Dancing in the street (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas), Dedicated to the one I love (Shirelles) and My girl (Temptations). Do you wanna dance was originally an American hit for Bobby Freeman but later became a British hit for Cliff Richard and an American hit for the Beach Boys. Dream a little dream of me was over forty years old when the Mamas and Papas recorded it - this song was actually the first Mama Cass solo recording though the group was still united at this stage. Some of these covers were also hits for the Mamas and Papas.
None of the solo tracks recorded after the group broke up are here so if you want to hear Mama Cass singing It's getting better, Make your own kind of music and Disney girls, you must either buy a solo CD of her music or a more comprehensive double CD of music by the Mamas and Papas such as Singles and more.
If you just want a single CD of Mamas and Papas music recorded while they were together, this is a good one to choose.
Free Music Review: You can believe your eyes and ears,all over again !
Hit: 5 Stars
This is an awesome collection ,of the Mama's & the Papa's finest tunes.(John Phillips may have been a London chimney-sweep,in a past life.I can just sense it,in his song,the 'Dancing Bear'.Dancing Bear is also laureated by Denny Doherty,also his favorite M&P classic.)It's funny when you have four very different musicial personas,gathered as an incarnate group(-where's Harvey?),and the unforgettable magic they can make.Fate is cruel.The songs that John Phillips wrote for "WolfKing of L.A.",were meant for the now-defunct group.When Dunhill Records sued the four,they quasi-happily reunited,to fulfill their original contract agreement.The magic was there,yet it wasn't the same sparkling lustre.Papa John's stygian dope-journey through the 1970s,is shocking.(He really should have read ,'Diary of a Drug Fiend',by Aleister Crowley.)When the fog lifted,he was back to his musical best.Even in 1987,he co-wrote the number one hit, "Kokomo" ,for the Beach Boys.Think about all the tunes,he could have penned, if he wasn't in his own nepenthean lotus-land on Long Island.-This Mama's & Papa's repertoire is immense and still impressive! A 'Must Have',for all music fans! Updated+19.Jan.2007.Friday+Mr.Denny Doherty has entered the Summerlands.We will miss him here and will join him once again.Blessed Be!Free Music Review: Brings a lump to the throat
Hit: 5 Stars
I remember that when music changed from the 60s sound to disco, I heard the song "Monday Monday" being played on a radio station and I became teary eyed. Mama Cass was still alive so, it wasn't as though I was grieving for a band that could never be reassembled. Rather, I was grieving for a contemporary music style that would never be recaptured. In the sixties, there was the San Francisco sound and then, there was the more laid back sound from Southern California exemplfied by the Mamas & the Papas. Monday Monday was so evocative to me because that song epitomised this sound which was now relegated to the status of "oldies but goodies." Of course, "Monday Monday" and the equally laid back "California Dreaming" sre included on this cd, as well as the lively "Go Where You Wanna Go" (My favorite song on the cd). Another Favorite is the beautiful arrangement of the Shirelles standard "Dedicated to the One I Love" (Gosh!! weren't the Shirelles great too!!??). All in all, there are 20 well selected hits and I think you will love this collection. Now that a second band member, John Phillips, has died, it is time to revisit this group of my fond memories.