Additional information
The Mamas & The Papas: John Phillips (vocals, guitar); Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty, "Mama" Cass Elliot (vocals). Additional personnel: Larry Knechtel (keyboards); Joe Osborn (bass); Hal Blaine (percussion). The last Mamas And The Papas album before their fractious 1968 breakup, THE PAPAS AND THE MAMAS shows just what kind of strain the group was under, to the extent that Cass Elliott's soft-shoe showcase "Dream a Little Dream of Me" was released as a Mama Cass solo single. The album's other clear highlight is John Phillips' last truly brilliant composition, "Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)," a song that somehow captures that last bit of shimmering hippie idealism before hard drugs and Charles Manson destroyed it all. None of the rest of the album is nearly so perfect, of course. But all the songs are so of the moment--what can you say about a track called "Meditation Mama (Transcendental Woman Travels)" after you've realized that they don't seem to be kidding?--that the album is a fascinating document of the era.
