#0067: The Mamas & the Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears [***]

I didn't remember until the track came around the half way mark that California Dreaming was this lot.  I'm learning not to just assume it was their song but I have confirmed it was written by two of them a couple of years prior to the release of this album.  From my perspective it's their most famous song yet Monday Monday (the opening track) was their only number one.  

Maybe that's not so weird.  Cultural importance can push things to the forefront more effectively than record sales perhaps.  If that's true, I think that's a good thing in general.  But it does expose the extent of how fucked up the world is that a laborious dirge like California Dreamin' could outstrip a song like Monday Monday.  

Here was a tune that starts with a catchy tag but has the self awareness to get away from it before it causes irritation.  It not only uses those hooks sparingly but the changes create blue notes and genuine shiver points that mitigate the record sales.  It is a travesty then that a progression as arduously repetitive and lyrics so boring Dido could've written them could exceed the cultural endurance of this plaintive requiem for the weekend.

Their harmonies are without question, beautiful and that is sustained throughout this album.  I'll say no more about it.  Just assume that if I comment or don't comment on a track, I think the harmonies are lovely.

There are times when they're too nice, mind you, and in those moments the saccharin levels rise to nauseating levels that are only made worse by the arrangements.  Specifically, these low points are Do You Wanna Dance, Spanish Harlem and I Call Your Name, proving that I am not dyed in the wool with regards the Lennon and McCartney catalogue. 

Got A Feelin is a well placed song on the album, being a slow song at track 3, chilling us out after the up beat very-obviously-about-drugs Straight Shooter.   Got A Feeling is a song of suspicion in a relationship and concludes with a dark foreboding that the unfaithful will get what's coming to them.  Throughout the song the rhythm emulates the ticking of a clock, symbolising that time is running out for the subject, which I like.  

It appears Aretha Franklyn did the most successful version of Spanish Harlem.  I've not heard it but I can't imagine it's up to much considering the base material.   In context, this now means five tracks on the spin have been a disappointment with California Dreamin only offering relief cuz it's familiar.

In short, after a good start with the first 3 tracks, it's all starting to look a bit dicey for the foursome but then, just in the nick of time Somebody Groovy comes along.  This is a five star song on a two star album and thankfully, it is every bit as groovy as the title suggests.

Sadly, Hey Girl is a Beatles emulation that doesn't really hit the mark and You Baby, whilst a considerably better paint-the-fence[1] boogie is still not up to the standard I had hoped would endure throughout.  

The album closes with another addictive groove monster in The In Crowd and with the girls taking the lead vocal it's very reminiscent of Darlene Love or Nancy Sinatra and there's fuck all wrong with that.

It's short and at points it's very sweet but it lets itself down too often.  I can see that perhaps it was done in the pursuit of variety but they strayed too far from the path of grooviness for my liking.

[1] I don't know what the dance is called if it has a name at all.  But it's that 60s step where you alternate your weight every other up-beat from side to side while doing an exaggerated "paint the fence" move from The Karate Kid.