The Mamas & The Papas: People Like Us : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

With John–and good of Lou Adler–in control, the early Mamas & Papas stuff was often pop dynamite, a superb mix of crisp, clean, creative harmonies, dynamic instrumental chops, and John's clever lyrics, pop admittedly, but apotheotically so. The Mamas and the Papas singing, winging, soaring out over the air waves were almost always the high spot of the radio day.

Lo, how the mighty have fallen. People Like Us indeed. People like that foursome should leave off the posturing, should know better and deliver so much more. As in the fondly remembered past, John has gathered numerous excellent studio musicians (among them guitarist Louis Shelton, horn man Jim Horn, and–special kudos to–fine percussionist Bobbye Hall and rocking bassman Tony Newton), all of whom acquit themselves admirably, even remarkably. No, the blame this time lies with the superstars themselves: John's lyrics fall flat here and there, Mama Cass is almost totally wasted, and the group's harmony vocalizing rarely exceeds limpness. That perfect, triple-threat, definitively Mamas & Papas attack of voices, words, and music is conspicuously absent.

The title tune is pleasant, but empty; "Shooting Star" sounds like a demented Morse Code freak; "Lady Genevieve" and "No Dough" submerge their intriguing images in some of that equally recognizable Mamas & Papas muzak that the glib four can always fashion at the drop of a hat or a quarter-note and keep spewing out all night long. And so it goes for a tune or three more.

But the rest do some better. The initially irritating chorus of "Pearl" (John's de rigucur tribute to Janis), that "first star I see" nursery chant, gradually becomes effective, even memorable; and Newton's stuttering bass and the wham! final piano chord are a total delight. Or dig Miss Hall's agile congas, plus the steel drums and steely bass of "European Blueboy," moving along so righteously even the group's insipid "la, la, la"s can't destroy the mood. And "Blueberries for Breakfast" glitters with some of the flash and filigree of yore, blending congas, vibes, a romping piano, stunning overlays of vocal finesse, and a Wolfking bizarro-beautiful lyric: "Blueberries for breakfast/Love in the afternoon/Butterflies in my trousers/Under the August moon."

Pick of the litter is "Pacific Coast Highway"–good - knowin' rock & roll with drums going like sixty, wah-wah fills and chrome frills, happy, honk-his-Horn sax, and thumb's-up, high-spirited vocalizing coupled with lyrical hijinx like this: "She looked like a swan/But brown as Chuck Berry." It's a pacan to the unexpected joys of hitching and driving, in the musical class of John's recent "Mississippi." Better yet, it's the Mamas and the Papas as we haven't heard them since "Twelve-Thirty." Encore!

All told, People Like Us seems six of one–the good stuff–and a half-dozen of the other. Flip a coin if you like, then bid a sad and fond farewell to the last, diminished return of the first golden era.