{"id":41057,"date":"2008-08-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/if-you-can-believe-your-eyes-and-ears\/"},"modified":"2008-08-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-17T00:00:00","slug":"if-you-can-believe-your-eyes-and-ears","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/if-you-can-believe-your-eyes-and-ears\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBa da, ba da da da\u2026<\/i>\u201d So begins the one album that everybody seemed to own on both sides of my family, If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears <\/i>by the \u201860s folk\/pop foursome known as the Mamas & The Papas. The first thing you can\u2019t help but notice is the great cover shot of the group in a bathtub (which also features an \u201cobscene\u201d toilet covered up by a placard that announces the many hits to be found on the record). The immediate impression is that the Mamas & The Papas are a motley bunch who have a penchant for fun times and tomfoolery. Producer Lou Adler must have had his hands full.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As with most debut albums of the period, nearly half of Eyes And Ears <\/i>consists of cover tunes, though the group makes each one their own. Among the familiar songs to be found within are the Beatles\u2019 \u201cI Call Your Name,\u201d Phil Spector\u2019s \u201cSpanish Harlem,\u201d and a slow version of Bobby Freeman\u2019s \u201cDo You Wanna Dance.\u201d Straight out of a bordello in the Wild West, Mama Cass Elliot tries \u201cI Call Your Name\u201d on for size and continues to strut her stuff on \u201cIn Crowd,\u201d a track that is quite similar to Petula Clark\u2019s \u201cDowntown.\u201d\u00a0 Though I could have done without hearing \u201cDo You Wanna Dance\u201d again, I was pleasantly surprised by what was done with \u201cSpanish Harlem,\u201d which was given an Asian spin despite its title.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

However, the John Phillips originals are what really put this album on the map. With the number one hit \u201cMonday, Monday\u201d as the opener, you are immediately struck by the sweet harmonies of these four disparate characters. Helping to kick things into an even higher gear are the rockin\u2019 \u201cStraight Shooter,\u201d the sexy \u201cGot A Feelin\u201d and the totally swingin\u2019 \u201cSomebody Groovy.\u201d These tracks are sure to keep the hippie kids dancing, swaying and movin\u2019 to the groovin\u2019. And then there are the other two hit singles. As one of my earliest favorites, \u201cGo Where You Wanna Go\u201d has a dynamic string section, while \u201cCalifornia Dreamin\u201d is an ironic song if ever there was one. In 1991, my own \u201cdream\u201d came true when I went out to California<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and got an entry level job at my favorite television network, CBS. Little did I know at the time that my dream would eventually turn into a nightmare. Now, whenever I hear \u201cCalifornia Dreamin\u2019,\u201d a feeling of dread and regret come over me. I guess you really do have to watch what you wish for\u2026<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Like the Beatles, the Mamas & The Papas faded out as soon as the tumultuous \u201860s were over. In representing the flower child generation, they helped to prove that folk music didn\u2019t have to be dull. After going their separate ways, Cass accidentally choked to death in July 1974, former couple John and Michelle wanted nothing more to do with one another, and Denny Doherty moved back to Canada, where he would perform solo until the day he died (in January 2007). Previously, John and Denny had briefly reunited for a tour in the \u201880s, but without Michelle or Cass, it just wasn\u2019t the same. John\u2019s extreme drug abuse had taken its toll by then and his health deteriorated quickly as a result. Papa John Phillips died in March of 2001. Today, Michelle Phillips is the final surviving member of the Mamas & The Papas and has fond memories of those days, as chronicled in her autobiography, California Dreamin\u2019<\/i>. Even though I didn\u2019t get to experience the \u201860s myself, discovering the Mamas & The Papas\u2019 warm first album was the next best thing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":29478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8258],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41057","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-mamas-and-the-papas","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41057"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}