But we digress… still nominally Journeymen the foursome spent a few weeks slumming it in the Virgin Islands perfecting a more electric noise. Once they cohered it was an odd combo, to say the least, because John had to be persuaded to embrace the then-new sounds of the British invasion but would later become one of the most ‘out there’ cats in California. Cass Elliot was another part-time Mugwump with an urge to go solo and sing standards. In 1965 husband and wife team John and Michelle Phillips were part of the folksy act the New Journeymen, while Canadian Doherty was in the Mugwumps. Happenstance or being in the right place at the right time are a prerequisite in most pop music histories but The Mamas & the Papas tale is particularly based on the fates. Basing their bag on glorious four-part harmonies, sweet semi-acoustic melodies and the brilliant songwriting of leader John Phillips – with fellow members Mama Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty and Michelle Phillips providing the visual foil to John’s upright qualities – the group released five studio albums and enjoyed a string of single hits, not to mention combined sales of 40 million records worldwide. Although their career barely spanned five years The Mamas & The Papas’ superb blend of traditional American folk music and the emerging pop beat sounds made sure that while they were hardly ‘hip’ in the jargon of the era at least, in the first instance, that didn’t matter because they forged a truly individual sound.
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