The Mamas and the Papas C/D

seems like she could never work out quite what or where she was supposed to be...musically.

I think the intent of that first album is quite clear, actually - a sort of affinity for a particular type of contemporary songwriting. I find it to be pretty cohesive. The album it reminds me most of is Chelsea Girl.

brotherlovesdub OTM

(xp) Yes, but she abandoned that approach pretty quickly, I guess because it didn't sell.

The Mann-Weill singles that followed are fantastic, though. Especially the first two. They have to be some of her most virtuosic performances.

I feel like putting The Papas and the Mamas on that 'last classic album you were knocked out by' thread (though I don't really know what its reputation is). That thing is something.

When I went looking for that John Phillips documentary the other day, discovered something I didn't know: Denny Doherty released a couple of solo albums in the early '70s. Checked Amazon, a little pricey, so I explored other options...sorry Denny Doherty estate.

The first one, Watcha Gonna Do, has a cover of "Got a Feelin'," my favourite Mamas & Papas song. You'd think that one would be a cinch, but Doherty's version is just okay--the exaggeratedly deep voice he pulls out for some of it is off-putting. The best thing on there for me is the weird Hank Williams cover, "Hey Good Lookin'," that was evidently unfinished. "Tuesday Morning"'s pretty good too. The second album, Waiting for a Song, didn't make an impression.

The documentary is Straight Shooter. Besides the Sullivan clip I mention above, there's another really sad clip of John and Michelle guesting on Doherty's Canadian TV show in the late '70s. John's in the throes of heroin addiction, and as he starts rambling during some post-song banter, the other two look mortified.

"Mansions," you guys...

Cloudy waters cast no reflection
Images of beauty lie there stagnant
Vibrations bounce in no direction
And lie there shattered into fragments

classic - i saw her again
monday morning
california dreaming

don't know much else tbh

"monday monday" is one weird-ass piece of songwriting. they step through four keys in the course of the song, going up a half step from the "monday monday" part to the "every other day" part, then another half step when they return for the next "monday monday" part and yet another half step when they go back to "every other day." but that's not the weird part. that's just '60s pop fun. the weird part is that the second chord of each "monday monday" part is the same chord as the second chord of the accompanying "every other day" part even though the parts are a half-step apart. that chord really shouldn't work in both parts. but it does. wikipedia says the song is in chromatic-minor and features the neapolitan chord. i have no idea what any of that means except that the neapolitan chord makes me hungry for ice cream. and that i love everything about this song.

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 25 June 2012 07:10 (six years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That was one of the best posts I have ever read.

― banjoboy, Monday, 25 June 2012 09:35 (six years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

otm

Watched the Criterion 'Monterey Pop' blu ray last week; Cass's dumbstruck-and-awestruck reaction to Janis Joplin is the absolute highlight.

the weird part is that the second chord of each "monday monday" part is the same chord as the second chord of the accompanying "every other day" part even though the parts are a half-step apart. that chord really shouldn't work in both parts. but it does.

I think it works because it's actually, for a moment there, the tonic chord.

Whoever plays her in Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood is good--you just see her (excitedly, theatrically leading Sharon Tate and Michelle Phillips onto the dance floor at the Playboy Mansion), but there's real presence in the way she bounds onto the floor. She shows up in Rocketman, too, or at least her name does; Elton and Bernie Taupin head over to a party at Mama Cass's after their first Troubadour show. She's widely seen as the number-one central figure of Laurel Canyon in the late '60s. Someone should make a real documentary on her (there've been a couple of TV things, and another one on the whole band).

Cass’s version of Judee Sill’s “Jesus Was a Cross Maker” off her S/T album fucking owns.

^ yeah! and a cover of "Disney Girls" on the same album? amazing

Michelle Phillips' birthday (77). Three of the most beautiful music-related moments on film ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP7OKxjObNo

"dedicated to the one i love" is a tiktok trend!

https://www.tiktok.com/@godsbigrod/video/6965170299545390341?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

Michelle's birthday today, 79.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A5M0YaUkOY

(Yes--my favorite song by them.)

Oops--meant to post a different clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35R47Ws_Mh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2710NcijHY