The Mamas & the Papas - All The Leaves Are Brown

If I had to describe The Mamas & The Papas in one word, it would have to be special. Not really a rock band, more than a pop band, not a folk band, and not just a bunch of hippies. What were they, anyway? They were a sound, really. The sound of those voices, apart but especially together, was magic. I am not aware of anything like them since their break-up. They put out only four albums in their few years together (one in 1966, two in 1967, one in 1968) and in one of the great bargains I've seen, all four of those albums are collected in the double-CD All the Leaves Are Brown plus a few bonus tracks thrown in. You don't have to hunt down the individual albums or make sure some greatest hits album has all the tracks you want because this album has them all. Well-known classics like California Dreamin' but also the lesser-known but still amazing songs like Twelve Thirty, Even If I Could, and the really lesser-known Dancing Bear. Listening to the music you alternate being overjoyed at the sounds and then your heart breaks when you think how it all fell apart so quickly and then Cass Elliot passing away a few years later. Well, I do, anyway. The cup's half full, though, gang so focus on the joy. Such a deal, this album.

Having written all that, though, while getting this ready I did find the ultimate (so far) Mamas & Papas collection. Not really a bargain but if you're a completist (and I usually am), it's a must. It's an import-only four-disc set called Complete Anthology and it has everything. It has the four classic albums plus People Like Us, Live at Monterey Pop and a disc of unreleased material including the songs they did with Barry McGuire. What, you didn't know that Barry sang the original version of California Dreamin'? It's true.