1966 started with Roberto Carlos's 'Quero que vá tudo p'ro inferno' (To hell with everything) at #1 in the singles' charts. Italian spaghetti-western 'Un dollaro bucato' ('Blood for a silver dollar' aka 'O dolar furado') was the most popular flick at the movies with its musical theme 'Se tu non fossi bella come sei' - whistled and arranged by band-leader Gianni Ferrio - playing non-stop on the radio.
I still kept on buying RCA's Italian compilation albums like 'Fortissimo' containing the latest hits from the Pensinsula. even though the fad was fading fast. By 1966, Italian pop had changed too and rock bands like the British expatriate The Rokes ('Che colpa abbiamo noi?') and Equipe 84 ('Bang bang') were on top of the world even though they hardly played on Brazilian air-waves which were busy with Brazilian rock and pop.
Around May 1966, on the Anglo-American front The Rolling Stones' (I can get no) 'Satisfaction' blasted on Brazilian radios on Sunday mornings and announced that rock kept on surprising everyone. A few weeks later, Odeon released The Beatles's 'Rubber soul' which was a step ahead of everything that had been done so far.
I don't remember exactly the first time I heard California dreamin' on the radio but it was around mid-1966 and it felt differently from everything I had heard so far. I've always enjoyed to listen to female voice on pop records and now they had a new rock-group out who had both male & female voices combined, blended in a most exquisite way. They were The Mamas & the Papas, a folk-rock vocal-group from California that would soon change the music scene.
I was transported to 7th heaven with the wizardry of the Mamas & Papas's vocal harmonies. I had been an Italian music fan up to that time and Italians - or Brazilians for that matter - are not exactly famous for vocal harmonies. The Mamas & Papas advent made what The Beatles and the British Invasion had not done: it pulled me towards the Anglo-American orbit.
I did not know English in 1966 and it took me a long time to start mastering the language. But becoming a Mamas & Papas fan put me on the road to New York. Even though I didn't understand English I would sing along with their record and tried hard to sort out their different harmonies. It was almost like taking a university-extension-course in harmony composition.
'If you can believe your eyes and ears' was like a Greatest Hits album. All songs were either good or excellent: 'California dreamin' and 'Monday, Monday' had been on the top of the charts in many countries.
'If you can believe your eyes and ears' was like a Greatest Hits album. All songs were either good or excellent: 'California dreamin' and 'Monday, Monday' had been on the top of the charts in many countries.
1. Monday, Monday (J.Philips)
2. Straight shooter (J.Philips)
3. Got a feeling (Doherty-Philips)
4. I call your name (Lennon-McCartney)
5. Do you wanna dance? (Bobby Freeman)
6. Go where you wanna go (J.Philips)
1. California dreamin' (J.Philips-Michelle Gilliam)
2. Spanish Harlem (Jerry Leiber-Phil Spector)
3. Somebody groovy (J.Philips)
4. Hey, girl (J.Philips-M.Gilliam)
5. You baby (P.F.Sloan-Steve Barri)
6. In crowd (Billy Page)
My favourite track was 'Got a feelin' sung magnificently by Michelle & Cass. Lennon & McCartney's 'I call your name' which had been a mere Beatles album-track became a superbly intricate ballad sung bewitchingly by Cass Elliot accompanied by a charming honky-tonky piano and ending in a rapturous finale with the word 'yeah' that somehow came to characterize the group.
Yeah, yeah, yeah from The Beatles's 'She loves you' had been re-defined by the Mamas & Papas. Peter, Paul & Mary would send them up in their 1967 Top 10 hit 'I dig rock and roll music': 'I dig the Mamas and the Papas at 'The Trip', Sunset Strip in L.A.; and they got a good thing going when the words don't get in the way; and when they're really wailing, Michelle & Cass are sailing; hey, they really nail me to the wall'... (It reached #9 at the Billboard singles' chart on 2 September 1967).
Since their very 1st album, Mamas & Papas would always cover a couple of hits done by Black acts originally: 'Do you wanna dance' had been #5 for Bobby Freeman in May 1958, Leiber & Stoller's 'Spanish Harlem' notched at #10 for Ben E.King in January 1961 and 'In crowd' (If it's square, we ain't there...) a #13 for soul-singer Dobie Gray in January 1965.
Cass . John . Michelle . Denny
Before 1966 was over RCA Victor released The Mamas & The Papas second album aka 'Cass, John, Michelle, Denny' - which featured 'I saw her again' and 'Words of love', the latter being sung solo by Mama Cass. The 2nd album was not as good as the 1st but it was a feast for the ears nevertheless.
This time they covered a standard classic; they transformed 1927's Rodgers & Hart's 'My heart stood still' (from 'A Connecticut Yankee') into something new and extremely pleasant.
Michelle & Cass made 'Strange young girls' seem like a strange landscape of mystery. Much later I read it was an 'acid-popping' song that John Philips wrote while into a fantastic LSD trip; 'Strange young girls covered with sadness; / eyes of innocence hiding their madness. / Walking the Strip / sweet, soft and placid / offering their youth on the alter of acid / thinking these gifts were sent by the dove / all for the trip accompanied by love'...
The long 'Dancing bear' also sent us to a mysterious world back in the Middle Ages. Danny Doherty high tenor: 'I'd rather be a gypsy whose camped at the edge of town / the one that has the dancing bear that follow him around / and he lifts his big foot up / he puts his big foot down / and bows and twirls and dances round and round'.
'Trip, stumble and fall' is an archetypal Mamas & Papas song where everyone has his/her chance. Besides it taught me 2 new English words: 'trip' and 'stumble'.
1. No salt on her tail (J.Philips)
2. Trip, stumble and fall (John Philips-Michelle Gilliam)
3. Dancing bear (J.Philips)
4. Words of love (J.Philips)
5. My heart stood still (Richard Rogers-Lorenz Hart)
6. Dancing in the street (Stevenson-Marvin Gaye)
1. I saw her again (J.Philips-D.Doherty)
2. Strange young girls (J.Philips
3. I can't wait (J.Philips)
4. Even if I could (J.Philips)
5. That kind of girl (J.Philips)
6. Once was a time I thought (J.Philips)
Deliver
1. Dedicated to the one I love (Pauling-Bass)
2. My girl (S.Robinson-R.White)
3. Creeque Alley (J.Philips-M.Gilliam)
4. Sing for your supper (Richard Rogers-Lorenz Hart)
5. Twist and shout (B.Russell-P.Medley)
6. Free advice (J.Philips)
1. Look through my window (J.Philips)
2. Boys and girls together (J.Philips)
3. String man (J.Philips-M.Gilliam)
4. Frustration (J.Philips)
5. Did you ever want to cry? (J.Philips)
6. John's music box (J.Philips)
'Deliver' is my favourite Mamas & Papas album. It's got everything the first two had plus something else I can't put my finger on. Musically, 'Free advice' is almost like 'Straight shooter'-revisited especially with the phrase 'If you know what I mean...' common to both recordings... but the group's intricate harmonies soar up to the sky in 'Free advice' and it is almost like harmonic ecstasy. There are at least 3 different takes going around. The one I like best is on the Brazilian LP Mono version.
Black girl-group The Shirelles had taken 'Dedicated to the one I love' to #3 in February 1961. Mamas & Papas's cover went one notch higher and got to #2 in 25 March 1967 and stayed there for 3 weeks being barred from the top by 'Happy together' by The Turtles.
My 2nd favourite in 'Deliver' was 'My girl' that I had no idea at the time it was actually a cover of The Temptations's who had taken it to #1 on 6 March 1965. Written by Smokey Robinson & Ronald White, musically, the song is notable because the 6 ascending guitar notes in the opening riff over the C chord are a perfect example of a C major pentatonic scale, played exactly from octave to octave. Similarly, the analogous riff in the song that is played over the F chord is a perfec example of an F major pentatonic scale, also with notes ascending from octave to octave (copyright: Wikipedia).
I actually still prefer Mamas & Papas's recording of 'My girl' to that of The Temptations's. I really love the interlude when there is a build up that leads up to a duet superbly done by Mama Cass & Denny Doherty.
Mama Cass sings another Rodgers & Hart show-tune: 'Sing for your supper' from 1938's 'The boys from Syracuse'. The lyrics describe a singer performing to earn his meals: 'Sing for your supper, / and you'll get breakfast. / Songbirds always eat / if their song is sweet to hear'.
'Twist and shout' was first taken up to #17 in June 1962 by the Isley Brothers; then The Beatles took it to #2 in March 1964. John Philips's treatment of the song was a complete change-over... it became a soft ballad with a lot of plaintive singing by Michelle & Cass. I like the end-result... it's just like another song.
'Creeque Alley' went up to #5 at Billboard on 3 June 1967. It's a folk tune telling the story of folk scene in New York with the Lovin' Spoonful, Barry McGuire and the members of the Mamas & Papas up to the time they recorded 'California dreamin'.
'Deliver's B-side was all written by John Philips containing beautiful ballads like 'Look through my window'; Mexican-flavoured 'Boys and girls together' has a lot of brass in the background; Michelle Gilliam co-wrote 'String man' beautifully rendered by herself & Cass; then there is an Instrumental called 'Frustration' which is self-explanatory.
'Did you ever want to cry?' is a ballad that could have been easily written in the 1930s; Mama Cass' rendition and the honky-tonky piano fashion it this way: 'You go honky-tonking every night / you get drunk and then you start a fight. / I know that you think that it's all right. / Wrong, it's not the way to live; / you only get what you give. / You can live your life just as you please, / but, when you lie with dogs, you gotta get fleas. / And now she's brought you down to your knees'
2. Safe in my garden (J.Philips)
3. Meditation Mama (Transcendental woman travels) J. Philips-Lou Adler
4. For the love of Ivy (J. Philips-Denny Doherty)
5. Dream a little dream of me (Fabian Andre-Wilbur Schwandt-Gus Kahn) **
6. Mansions (J.Philips)
1. Gemini Childe (J.Philips)
2. Nothing's too good for my little girl (Ned Wynn)
3. Too late (J.Philips)
4. Twelve-thirty (Young girls are coming to the canyon) J.Philips
5. Rooms (J.Philips)
6. Midnight voyage (J. Philips)
* 'The right somebody to love' was originally performed by Shirley Temple in the 1936 film 'Captain January'.
** 'Dream a little dream of me' was originally recorded in 1931 by Ozzie Nelson with vocals by Ernie Birchill.
Quoting Wikipedia: 'The Papas & the Mamas presented by the Mamas & the Papas' was their 4th album together before the group temporarily broke up before a brief 1971 reunion. With the exception of the very successful cover of 1931's 'Dream a little dream of me', the album's subject matter is often downbeat and world-weary, most notably in the lyrical content of 'Safe in my garden', 'Mansions', 'Too late' and 'Rooms'.
'Safe in my garden' refers to protests, police brutality, and a world-weariness about the 1960s, in particular the Sunset Strip Riots beginning in the summer of 1966. This is an especially beautiful example of how the Mamas and Papas blended their voices by 'layering vocal lines over and under each other that almost breaks your heart'. as quoted by Knoxville News in 2014.
Released in May 1968 in the USA with a de-luxe double-cover that opened up. In Brazil the cover was simplified to its minimum with some ridiculous bubbles added up to the group's photograph. Bad taste. No wonder RCA Victor was such a shitty label in Brazil while it prospered & grew in Italy and Argentina among other places.
By mid-1968, when I bought the album my private life had turned into a bad dream. In other words: I was deeply unhappy, probably suffering from depression and listening to such a music was not the best policy. Even though I hardly knew the meaning of the words of the songs I must have been influenced by its gloomy outlook. I remember being in my bed-room sniffing a piece of cotton-wool soaked in ether while the record-player blasted 'Too late'. I can still remember the organ sound mixed with Mama Cass's voice uttering: 'Get on your pony and ride...' and my head just going 'buzzzzzz', I must have passed out completely because my Mother (probably alarmed by the stench of the ether) entered the room, took the ether-bottle away and I never knew what on earth had happened.
Much later in the 1974, I could relate to Bernie Taupin's lyrics in Elton John's 'The bitch is back': 'I get high in the evening sniffing pots of glue'. I can safely say I used to get knocked senseless sniffing an ether-soaked-cotton-wool while listening to the Mamas & the Papas 4th album.
'Meditation Mama' (Transcendental woman travels) featured the first lead-vocal ever on a M&P track by John Philips. His voice was not that strong and the words are barely audible. I have a particular problem with some of these tracks: I really hate the sound of organ in pop music. That's one of the reason I dread 1960's Brazilian rock aka Jovem Guarda where the sound of tinny organ is ubiquitous.
'Gemini childe' opens the B-side. As the subject-matter itself - Gemini is supposed to have double-personalities - the song is split in two: the first part being repetitive and long-drawn even though its experimental Hendrix-like guitar accompaniment. Half-way through the song there is a complete change and the genius of the band takes over and we enter harmony heaven. I could say the 2nd part of 'Gemini childe' is one of my favourite songs by the folk-rock band.
'Rooms' is a beautiful song too. Scott McKenzie sings it marvelously in his first album for Ode Records.
'Twelve-thirty' had already been released as a single and it's perfection from beginning to end... but it doesn't seem to fit the album. 'Dream a little dream of me' was released as a single too, and as '12:30' it belongs elsewhere.
According to an interview Mama Cass gave sometime after the completion of the album, it took them a month to record 'For the love of Ivy' due to John Philips's perfectionist mood. I've always wanted to know why Philips wrote a song with the same title of a Sidney Poitier's 'For love of Ivy' shot in 1967 and released in 1968 with a music score composed by Quincy Jones.
I still don't know the answer to that question but David Hockin, a fan of the M&P, has written at YouTube that: 'Contrary to what people usually think 'For the love of Ivy' is not about marijuana. It is well documented that John Philips was an intra-venous drug user. The song is about the love of IV drug use. Beautiful yet creepy...'it takes up all of your time to fall in love with IV'...
The Isley Brothers in 1964.
The Temptations
My 2nd favourite in 'Deliver' was 'My girl' that I had no idea at the time it was actually a cover of The Temptations's who had taken it to #1 on 6 March 1965. Written by Smokey Robinson & Ronald White, musically, the song is notable because the 6 ascending guitar notes in the opening riff over the C chord are a perfect example of a C major pentatonic scale, played exactly from octave to octave. Similarly, the analogous riff in the song that is played over the F chord is a perfec example of an F major pentatonic scale, also with notes ascending from octave to octave (copyright: Wikipedia).
I actually still prefer Mamas & Papas's recording of 'My girl' to that of The Temptations's. I really love the interlude when there is a build up that leads up to a duet superbly done by Mama Cass & Denny Doherty.
Mama Cass sings another Rodgers & Hart show-tune: 'Sing for your supper' from 1938's 'The boys from Syracuse'. The lyrics describe a singer performing to earn his meals: 'Sing for your supper, / and you'll get breakfast. / Songbirds always eat / if their song is sweet to hear'.
'Twist and shout' was first taken up to #17 in June 1962 by the Isley Brothers; then The Beatles took it to #2 in March 1964. John Philips's treatment of the song was a complete change-over... it became a soft ballad with a lot of plaintive singing by Michelle & Cass. I like the end-result... it's just like another song.
'Creeque Alley' went up to #5 at Billboard on 3 June 1967. It's a folk tune telling the story of folk scene in New York with the Lovin' Spoonful, Barry McGuire and the members of the Mamas & Papas up to the time they recorded 'California dreamin'.
'Deliver's B-side was all written by John Philips containing beautiful ballads like 'Look through my window'; Mexican-flavoured 'Boys and girls together' has a lot of brass in the background; Michelle Gilliam co-wrote 'String man' beautifully rendered by herself & Cass; then there is an Instrumental called 'Frustration' which is self-explanatory.
'Did you ever want to cry?' is a ballad that could have been easily written in the 1930s; Mama Cass' rendition and the honky-tonky piano fashion it this way: 'You go honky-tonking every night / you get drunk and then you start a fight. / I know that you think that it's all right. / Wrong, it's not the way to live; / you only get what you give. / You can live your life just as you please, / but, when you lie with dogs, you gotta get fleas. / And now she's brought you down to your knees'
The Papas & the Mamas presented by The Mamas and the Papas
1. The right somebody to love (Jack Yellen-Lew Pollack) *
2. Safe in my garden (J.Philips)
3. Meditation Mama (Transcendental woman travels) J. Philips-Lou Adler
4. For the love of Ivy (J. Philips-Denny Doherty)
5. Dream a little dream of me (Fabian Andre-Wilbur Schwandt-Gus Kahn) **
6. Mansions (J.Philips)
1. Gemini Childe (J.Philips)
2. Nothing's too good for my little girl (Ned Wynn)
3. Too late (J.Philips)
4. Twelve-thirty (Young girls are coming to the canyon) J.Philips
5. Rooms (J.Philips)
6. Midnight voyage (J. Philips)
* 'The right somebody to love' was originally performed by Shirley Temple in the 1936 film 'Captain January'.
** 'Dream a little dream of me' was originally recorded in 1931 by Ozzie Nelson with vocals by Ernie Birchill.
Quoting Wikipedia: 'The Papas & the Mamas presented by the Mamas & the Papas' was their 4th album together before the group temporarily broke up before a brief 1971 reunion. With the exception of the very successful cover of 1931's 'Dream a little dream of me', the album's subject matter is often downbeat and world-weary, most notably in the lyrical content of 'Safe in my garden', 'Mansions', 'Too late' and 'Rooms'.
'Safe in my garden' refers to protests, police brutality, and a world-weariness about the 1960s, in particular the Sunset Strip Riots beginning in the summer of 1966. This is an especially beautiful example of how the Mamas and Papas blended their voices by 'layering vocal lines over and under each other that almost breaks your heart'. as quoted by Knoxville News in 2014.
Released in May 1968 in the USA with a de-luxe double-cover that opened up. In Brazil the cover was simplified to its minimum with some ridiculous bubbles added up to the group's photograph. Bad taste. No wonder RCA Victor was such a shitty label in Brazil while it prospered & grew in Italy and Argentina among other places.
By mid-1968, when I bought the album my private life had turned into a bad dream. In other words: I was deeply unhappy, probably suffering from depression and listening to such a music was not the best policy. Even though I hardly knew the meaning of the words of the songs I must have been influenced by its gloomy outlook. I remember being in my bed-room sniffing a piece of cotton-wool soaked in ether while the record-player blasted 'Too late'. I can still remember the organ sound mixed with Mama Cass's voice uttering: 'Get on your pony and ride...' and my head just going 'buzzzzzz', I must have passed out completely because my Mother (probably alarmed by the stench of the ether) entered the room, took the ether-bottle away and I never knew what on earth had happened.
Much later in the 1974, I could relate to Bernie Taupin's lyrics in Elton John's 'The bitch is back': 'I get high in the evening sniffing pots of glue'. I can safely say I used to get knocked senseless sniffing an ether-soaked-cotton-wool while listening to the Mamas & the Papas 4th album.
'Meditation Mama' (Transcendental woman travels) featured the first lead-vocal ever on a M&P track by John Philips. His voice was not that strong and the words are barely audible. I have a particular problem with some of these tracks: I really hate the sound of organ in pop music. That's one of the reason I dread 1960's Brazilian rock aka Jovem Guarda where the sound of tinny organ is ubiquitous.
'Gemini childe' opens the B-side. As the subject-matter itself - Gemini is supposed to have double-personalities - the song is split in two: the first part being repetitive and long-drawn even though its experimental Hendrix-like guitar accompaniment. Half-way through the song there is a complete change and the genius of the band takes over and we enter harmony heaven. I could say the 2nd part of 'Gemini childe' is one of my favourite songs by the folk-rock band.
'Rooms' is a beautiful song too. Scott McKenzie sings it marvelously in his first album for Ode Records.
'Twelve-thirty' had already been released as a single and it's perfection from beginning to end... but it doesn't seem to fit the album. 'Dream a little dream of me' was released as a single too, and as '12:30' it belongs elsewhere.
According to an interview Mama Cass gave sometime after the completion of the album, it took them a month to record 'For the love of Ivy' due to John Philips's perfectionist mood. I've always wanted to know why Philips wrote a song with the same title of a Sidney Poitier's 'For love of Ivy' shot in 1967 and released in 1968 with a music score composed by Quincy Jones.
I still don't know the answer to that question but David Hockin, a fan of the M&P, has written at YouTube that: 'Contrary to what people usually think 'For the love of Ivy' is not about marijuana. It is well documented that John Philips was an intra-venous drug user. The song is about the love of IV drug use. Beautiful yet creepy...'it takes up all of your time to fall in love with IV'...
the original USA pressing of 'Papas & Mamas'.
'Papas & Mamas' cover was designed by archicted Gary Burden who had designed Mama Cass' house in Los Angeles. Burden went on to create seminal album sleeves like Crosby, Stills & Nash and Neil Young's most cherished album covers like 'After the gold rush' and 'Harvest.
Denny Doherty (Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty) * 29 November 1940 in Halifax, Nova Scotia + 19 January 2007; Cass Elliott (Ellen Naomi Cohen) * 19 September 1941 + 29 July 1974 in Mayfair, London, England.
Albums
DLP-5001 - If you can believe your eyes and ears - 1966
DLP-5003 - Cass . John . Michelle . Dennie - 1966
DLP-5004 - Deliver - 1967
DLP-5009 - The Papas & the Mamas presented by The Mamas & The Papas
S i n g l e s (compactos-simples)
DC-3001 - California dreamin' (John Philips) / Somebody groovy (J.Philips) - 1966
DC-3003 - Monday, Monday (Philips) / Got a feeling (Doherty-Philips) 1966
DC-3005 - I saw her again (J.Philips-D.Doherty) / Even if I could (J.Philips) - 1966
DC-3007 - Dedicated to the one I love (Pauling-Bass) / Free advice (J.Philips-Michelle Gillian) 1967
DC-3009 - Twelve-thirty / Straight shooter - 1967
DC-3010 - Safe in my garden / Too safe - 1968
DC-3012 - Dream a little dream of me / Midnight voyage - Mama Cass com The Mamas & Papas
DCD-4001 - California dreamin' / Somebody groovy / Monday, Monday / Got a feelin' - 1966
DCD-4003 - I saw her again / That kind of girl / Look through my window / No salt on her tail 1966
DCD-4004 - Dedicated to the one I love / Creeque Alley / Dancing in the street / Words of love
DCD-4007 - Glad to be unhappy / Hey girl / Twelve thirty / Straight shooter
DCD-4008 - The right somebody to love/Safe in my garden / Do you wanna dance? / For the love of Ivy / Dream a little dream of me - 1968
DC-3005 - I saw her again (J.Philips-D.Doherty) / Even if I could (J.Philips) - 1966
DC-3007 - Dedicated to the one I love (Pauling-Bass) / Free advice (J.Philips-Michelle Gillian) 1967
DC-3009 - Twelve-thirty / Straight shooter - 1967
DC-3010 - Safe in my garden / Too safe - 1968
DC-3012 - Dream a little dream of me / Midnight voyage - Mama Cass com The Mamas & Papas
E x t e n d e d - p l a y s (compactos-duplos)
DCD-4001 - California dreamin' / Somebody groovy / Monday, Monday / Got a feelin' - 1966
DCD-4003 - I saw her again / That kind of girl / Look through my window / No salt on her tail 1966
DCD-4004 - Dedicated to the one I love / Creeque Alley / Dancing in the street / Words of love
DCD-4007 - Glad to be unhappy / Hey girl / Twelve thirty / Straight shooter
DCD-4008 - The right somebody to love/Safe in my garden / Do you wanna dance? / For the love of Ivy / Dream a little dream of me - 1968
I decline to review 'People like us', the group's last album released in 1971. Times had changed so much that it was like living in another planet. But I may change my mind one day.
Ralfe Rezende, Brazilian fan of Mamas & Papas who is an artist shows all the love in his heart... in a creative way.
Ralfe Rezendes with a drawing done by himself.
Ralfe with The Mamas & the Papas drawn by himself...
These were the best selling records in Rio de Janeiro in the week of 18 to 23 June 1966: Mamas & Papas' 'California dreamin' was going up the charts but it had not quite made it to top yet...TV guide Intervalo published its lyrics on their music page.
Obrigado Lulu. Gostei muito do seu review sobre o trabalho dos Mamas & Papas. Acho que somos contemporaneos e conterranos....Lembro-me desses singles,mas nunca vi o single de Mama Cass Dream a little dream /midnight voyage com aquela capa.Na época RCA tinha mudado o logo e a capa era simplesmente vermelha com o novo logo sem fotos.Essa que voce postou era inédita para mim.Meu album preferido foi o segundo album da banda.Anos depois comprei o Golden Era Volume II e para minha surpresa a versão estéreo lançada pela Odeon vinha com os vocais de Cass e Michelle em destaque em um dos canais fazendo contra-canto nas canções Trip,Stumble&Fall e No Salt on her tail, porque no original de capa cinza, não sei se foi problema de prensagem os vocais femininos nessas músicas assim como em Even If I could não se escutava.Alguns anos depois decidi re-comprar o segundo album novamente porem importado(assim como fiz com todos)com a versão estéreo original.O segundo album me foi dado de presente de aniversário em 66 por uma de minhas irmãs quando completei 11 anos e já tinha o primeiro compacto duplo da banda lançado no Brasil.É muito bom conhecer um "fanático" por essa banda e ainda por cima brasileiro.Uma coisa curiosa eu não sabia que voce tinha postado a letra de Gemini Childe no meu vídeo há muito tempo atrás.Youtube não me notificou sobre isso, aliás não esta notificando quase nada mais ...somente comentários..Prazer em te encontrar..grande abraço!
ReplyDeleteOlá Eduardo... é um prazer falar sobre Mamas & Papas... foram meus melhores professores na matéria de harmonia vocal... eu que estava acostumado com harmonias de duplas caipiras brasileiras ou, no máximo, dos Beatles e conjuntos 'beat'... fiquei boquiaberto qdo. escutava os LPs e 'singled out' as harmonias de cada um deles... As mais fantasticas do mundo do rock. Meus discos eram todos MONO, mas minha imaginação era em Quadraphonic... rs!!! Postar a letra de 'Gemini childe' foi um prazer imensurável, pois eu NÃO entendia quase nada que o Denny cantava... como também não entendia quase nada do que o John cantava em 'Transcendental woman'... Tive que esperar muitos anos até que alguma alma caridosa postasse essas letras. Você é mais jovem que eu. Qdo. os M&Ps surgiram em 1966 eu já tinha 17 anos (nasci em 1949)... Sim, gostaria de participar do Grupo do FB... eu tenho varios pseudônimos... no FB eu sou o Carlus Maximus... como dá para inferir eu fui fã de Rita Pavone e de musica italiana... embora sempre gostasse de coisas que viessem dos USA ou UK... com os M&Ps eu 'aderi' em cheio ao Anglo sound... mas demorou alguns anos para eu me 'aclimatar' à cultura anglo-germanica.
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