Mamas & The Papas mono 2nd album UK Decca pressing is still awesom

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

omg X 1,000 are you guys following this...

are any of you guys going to read Mackenzie phillips new book, "high on arrival". i mean omg. lucky for bud shank they just called him, payed him, and he was off with it: Mackenzie grew up with the band-

i dont think papa john phillips was a bad scary weird person i think he was just compeletly crazy and must of took too much lsd early on.

do you know what im more pissed off about? i the 45 mono mix isnt like the mono lp mix its compelely different and so far i only have the mono 33 and stereo 33 counterpart but the 45 only on youtube.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i wonder what Schneider thinks of all this

[Jazzmoose]

I didn't even know there were mono and stereo mixes of this stuff. I'm learning something from a thread in the political forum!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

the creeque alley 45 has these horns on it and its the original single mix

the lp has a good mono mix but different than the single

the stereo lp is a stinker cause they pan some of the voices to the L and some to the R and then they keep the instrumental tracks more or less in mono so the instrumental part of the mix is louder and the vocals are "cancelled out" and anyways weve been talking about it too long it sucks but i have discovered the UK Decca pressings can also be good: shipping a copy of the master overseas can sometimes be a GOOD thing: the vinyl quality actually is far superior to ABC Dunhill or whtever, defineltly

[Jazzmoose]

Hopefully I'll get the chance to hear them together some day, though I'll pass on the LP with the split vocals; sounds like it would be too much like listening to that early fake stereo garbage.

[Teasing the Korean]

Supposedly, during a house cleaning period, ABC multi-track masters and mono mixes were all trashed. The stereo mixes are all that is left. Too bad in the Mamas and Papas case, cause those stereo mixes are really weak. I have several of the 45s I've picked up over the years.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I don't recall the Mamas & Papas being released in the UK on Decca. Memory is that they came out here on Dunhill, which was manufactured and distributed by EMI. I could be wrong about this, because that band was rather off my radar, but that's how I remember it.

MG

[J.A.W.]

I don't recall the Mamas & Papas being released in the UK on Decca. Memory is that they came out here on Dunhill, which was manufactured and distributed by EMI. I could be wrong about this, because that band was rather off my radar, but that's how I remember it.

MG

The Mamas & Papas' singles were originally released on RCA in the U.K., not on Dunhill, their original American label:

RCA 1503 - California Dreamin' (1966)

RCA 1516 - Monday Monday (1966)

RCA 1533 - I Saw Her Again (1966)

RCA 1564 - Words of Love (1967)

RCA 1576 - Dedicated to the One I Love (1967)

RCA 1613 - Creeque Alley (1967)

The original U.K. albums:

RCA Victor RD 7803 - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966)

RCA Victor SF 7639 - Cass, John, Michelle, Denny (1967)

RCA Victor SF 7880 - The Mamas and Papas Deliver (1967)

I couldn't find an original U.K. release of their fourth album, The Papas and the Mamas, Presented by the Mamas and the Papas.

(edited to correct a few errors)

Edited September 26, 2009 by J.A.W.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I don't recall the Mamas & Papas being released in the UK on Decca. Memory is that they came out here on Dunhill, which was manufactured and distributed by EMI. I could be wrong about this, because that band was rather off my radar, but that's how I remember it.

MG

The Mamas & Papas' singles were originally released on RCA in the U.K., not on Dunhill:

RCA 1503 - California Dreamin' (1966)

RCA 1516 - Monday Monday (1966)

RCA 1533 - I Saw Her Again (1966)

RCA 1564 - Words of Love (1967)

RCA 1576 - Dedicated to the One I Love (1967)

RCA 1613 - Creeque Alley (1967)

The original U.K. albums:

RCA Victor RD 7803 - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966)

RCA Victor SF 7639 - Cass, John, Michelle, Denny (1967)

RCA Victor SF 7880 - The Mamas and Papas Deliver (1967)

I couldn't an original U.K. release of their fourth album, The Papas and the Mamas, Presented by the Mamas and the Papas.

Ah yes! I remember better now. Thanks Hans.

MG

[J.A.W.]

I don't recall the Mamas & Papas being released in the UK on Decca. Memory is that they came out here on Dunhill, which was manufactured and distributed by EMI. I could be wrong about this, because that band was rather off my radar, but that's how I remember it.

MG

The Mamas & Papas' singles were originally released on RCA in the U.K., not on Dunhill, their original American label:

RCA 1503 - California Dreamin' (1966)

RCA 1516 - Monday Monday (1966)

RCA 1533 - I Saw Her Again (1966)

RCA 1564 - Words of Love (1967)

RCA 1576 - Dedicated to the One I Love (1967)

RCA 1613 - Creeque Alley (1967)

The original U.K. albums:

RCA Victor RD 7803 - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966)

RCA Victor SF 7639 - Cass, John, Michelle, Denny (1967)

RCA Victor SF 7880 - The Mamas and Papas Deliver (1967)

I couldn't find an original U.K. release of their fourth album, The Papas and the Mamas, Presented by the Mamas and the Papas.

(edited to correct a few errors)

If I remember correctly, RCA was distributed in the U.K. by Decca at the time. The RCA Mamas and Papas LPs I bought in the U.K. in the mid-1960s were "manufactured by the Decca Record Company Ltd."

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

If I remember correctly, RCA was distributed in the U.K. by Decca at the time. The RCA Mamas and Papas LPs I bought in the U.K. in the mid-1960s were "manufactured by the Decca Record Company Ltd."

That's correct - RCA had been handled here by Decca since about 1957. The early Elvis records came out here on HMV (EMI) - Victor having owned HMV way back in the early years of the century, the two firms had a long standing relationship. Decca's capture of rights to RCA, along with its heavy exploitation of American indies on the London American label, made it a more important firm than EMI in those days.

MG

[J.A.W.]

If I remember correctly, RCA was distributed in the U.K. by Decca at the time. The RCA Mamas and Papas LPs I bought in the U.K. in the mid-1960s were "manufactured by the Decca Record Company Ltd."

That's correct - RCA had been handled here by Decca since about 1957. The early Elvis records came out here on HMV (EMI) - Victor having owned HMV way back in the early years of the century, the two firms had a long standing relationship. Decca's capture of rights to RCA, along with its heavy exploitation of American indies on the London American label, made it a more important firm than EMI in those days.

MG

Yep, I remember those early RCA records on HMV and the switch to Decca.

I loved Decca's "London American" imprint. Ace has recently released the first CD in their new "The London American Label - Year by Year" series: 1960.

(edited to correct another error - I'm getting old...)

Edited September 26, 2009 by J.A.W.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I loved Decca's "London American" imprint. Ace has recently released the first CD in their new "The London American Label - Year by Year" series: 1960.

The track listing there gives a good idea of how widely among the US indies London spread its net (the write-up doesn't mention Savoy, though). Decca also manufactured Vogue/Vocalion and had Contemporary, Aladdin and Duke/Peacock coming in that way, though King had gone to EMI by about 1958.

MG

[AllenLowe]

anybody else ever notice what a lousy voice Cass Elliot had? She's always touted as this great singer, but she only sounds ok when buried in all that bad reverb they used on the Mamas and the Papas - on the solo stuff she sucks -

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

anybody else ever notice what a lousy voice Cass Elliot had? She's always touted as this great singer, but she only sounds ok when buried in all that bad reverb they used on the Mamas and the Papas - on the solo stuff she sucks -

I only ever noticed what crummy records the group made. Never interested enough to wonder why. Just poor pop music.

MG

[JSngry]

I would disagree with that.

[Stereojack]

anybody else ever notice what a lousy voice Cass Elliot had? She's always touted as this great singer, but she only sounds ok when buried in all that bad reverb they used on the Mamas and the Papas - on the solo stuff she sucks -

I only ever noticed what crummy records the group made. Never interested enough to wonder why. Just poor pop music.

MG

Well, I disgree with both you guys, so there!

And, I like the stereo mixes. So there, again!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I would disagree with that.

You were younger than me then.

Are you still?

MG

[J.A.W.]

I would disagree with that.

You were younger than me then.

Are you still?

MG

I would also disagree, I loved the Ms and the Ps, both when I was younger and now that I'm still younger than you

[JSngry]

I'll give Lou Adler as much credit as anybody, probably more, but those records just had a certain soaring quality then that was part of the whole Spector/Wilson/California sound-as-message thing.

[Jazzmoose]

anybody else ever notice what a lousy voice Cass Elliot had? She's always touted as this great singer, but she only sounds ok when buried in all that bad reverb they used on the Mamas and the Papas - on the solo stuff she sucks -

I only ever noticed what crummy records the group made. Never interested enough to wonder why. Just poor pop music.

MG

I strongly disagree. California Dreaming is one of the classics of pop music as far as I'm concerned.

[AllenLowe]

way too much reverb - and listen to Cass solo on Dream A Little Dream of Me. She had a prom-band voice, in my opinion. Ok in harmony, mediocre as feature.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

anybody else ever notice what a lousy voice Cass Elliot had? She's always touted as this great singer, but she only sounds ok when buried in all that bad reverb they used on the Mamas and the Papas - on the solo stuff she sucks -

I only ever noticed what crummy records the group made. Never interested enough to wonder why. Just poor pop music.

MG

I strongly disagree. California Dreaming is one of the classics of pop music as far as I'm concerned.

You may well be right. Growing up in the early fifties with such ubiquitous delights as "How much is that doggie in the window", "Music, music, music", "Sugarbush" and "Bimbo" (not what you think) turned me right off pop music for life. Well, until I realised that black pop music was proper stuff.

MG

[AllenLowe]

even as a teenager I thought the Mamas and the Papas were too fake, overproduced -

and now that I know what a degenerate John Phillips was, I have even less use for the band -

[Stereojack]

even as a teenager I thought the Mamas and the Papas were too fake, overproduced -

and now that I know what a degenerate John Phillips was, I have even less use for the band -

I think it needs to be said that one must separate the artist from the art. I have little use for John Phillips the man, but still admire his talent. I think the Mamas & the Papas were the perfect synthesis of folk and British Invasion rock. I've been a big fan for a long time, and I'm not gonna let the recent "revelations" change my opinion of the music.