Customer Reviews

California Dreamin

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

California Dreamin' is a budget priced CD of some great hits by The Mamas & The Papas. Some people say that the sound is tinny--and yeah, at certain points on this CD I think they're right. However, the overall quality for what you pay is still rather good; and I think casual fans of this group would do well to consider this CD.

The CD starts with the title track, "California Dreamin'." This song came out at a time when many young people were disillusioned about life and the song became a calling to them to move to California. Young people hoped that if they lived in California they could enjoy a better quality of life and more inner peace as well. The group really harmonizes well on "California Dreamin';" and I know you'll like this tune. Listen also for a slower than normal tempo on "Spanish Harlem;" The Mamas & The Papas do a fine interpretation of this classic ballad; and the percussion works very well on this number.

"Go Where You Wanna Go" features more perfect harmonizing as The Mamas & The Papas sing this out with style, heart and soul. I like the tempo changes and they sing this out strong like the pros that they always were! "Monday, Monday" is clearly one of the biggest hits for this timeless group; "Monday, Monday" swings gently with just enough of a rock flavor to make this an exceptionally fine ballad. They sing "Monday, Monday" very well; and this was always one of my very favorite tunes by The Mamas & The Papas.

"No Salt On Her Tail" has a mixture of rock and folk rock to make this a memorable tune; I really like "No Salt On Her Tail." This ballad makes great use of the guitar and percussion as The Mamas & The Papas sing it out strong!

"Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)" has the group's vocals squarely in the spotlight as the guitars, percussion and more make a solid musical arrangement. ""Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)" is clearly a major highlight of this album.

The CD ends nicely with Mama Cass belting out "Words Of Love" as her peers help her out on background vocals. Cass sure could sing this well and the music helps the melody along.

Overall, despite a few moments when I thought the sound was sub par; I still like this CD as a good one for fans of The Mamas & The Papas. Casual fans will profit from this CD the most because this single CD is certainly far from a deep and thorough retrospective of the group's artistry.

The MCA (AAD) recording ruined the music. I have other recordings of the same, which are superb. This CD goes into the garbage where it belongs.

While I only paid $5.99, that was still WAY too much for such a horrible recording! All the songs sound tinny and like they were recorded in a can. Even the "transfered from analog tape" disclaimer doesn't excuse the poor quality. I'd take it back if I could. My advice is find the vinyl and make your own CD!!!

I only bought this album for Calafornia Dreamin and it was 3.99! You don't pass up an album that cheap! I was never a Mamas and Papas fan (In fact, i wasn't born when their recordings came out)I love this album! Songs I already knew like Monday Monday and Spanish Harlem were the best on the album, but htere were a few surprises! I really enjoyed this album!

I was only 13 when the Mamas & the Papas released their first single "California Dreamin'." The single and the band were touted as an integral part of the emerging "folk rock" boom. To me, that meant, beautiful harmoning, intelligent lyrics with a hint of a backbeat. It didn't really occur to me at the time that, like Sonny and Cher and a few other "folk rock" acts, they really were more of a standard pop act than an actual blend of folk and rock music--musically speaking anyway. In terms of image and actual life style, they fit in quite well with the So. Cal. neo-folkie scene. Point was, you could hear "California Dreamin'" and "Monday Monday" on ANY radio station of the era (even the ones that were banning "Eight Miles High" and--even--"Puff the Magic Dragon."

(I've always wondered if John Phillips tragic descension into drugs--including the poppy--had something to do with misplaced guilt over being to "poppy.")

Whatever, "Monday Monday" and "Dreamin'" were gorgeous tunes. The fact that succeeding songs were more "pretty good" than "downright brilliant" however suggested that there was at the group was experiencing something of a sophomore (or was it "junior") jinx. "Twelve Thirty" is a nice number, but it probably would have gone nowhere if it had the group's FIRST release.

This bargain sampler would seem to have pretty much many listeners would ever need: three of the bigger hits ("Dreamin'," "Monday," and "Twelve Thirty"). It also has one of Cass's better solo vocals with "Words of Love" (along with a lesser one, "Sing For Your Supper"). Solo vocals were something of a rarity for the group, at least as far as their singles went. If "Words" had been a bigger hit, it might have given the group a little more leeway as to what they could try to release for the radio. The four-way harmony thing was getting formulaic, actually, and the solo numbers were refreshing in a very real way.

Sweet voiced Denny Doherty got a few solos too. At least, I'm pretty sure that's him doing the soul thing on "My Girl" and "Spanish Harlem" here. The arrangements are less than inspired, but Denny sings them well enough. Some will have a problem with him doing these numbers more as conventional ballads than as something more, well, Motown. I'm not one of those. These are pleasant (though not brilliant renditions: Laura Nyro would show the world a few years later just what a white singer could do with a number like "Spanish Harlem," but Laura was something else again.

The frustation one might get from listening to this unabashed sampler stems from at least two sources. The non-hit tracks are, in the main, unremarkable. Not really a good indication of what the group could actually do. More importantly (and as other reviewers have noted) the record is tinny. There is stuff out there that's been re-mastered, is more comprehensive, and is NOT that expensive at this point. Unless you really only want these few hits and nothing more, you'd probably be wise to look a bit further.

I get chills listening to this CD -- that incredible voice of "Mama" Cass Elliot (She HATED the MAMA thing), just raises the hair on the back of your neck, especially if you were 'on the bus' back then.

'California Dreamin'' is just one of the great old classic rock songs of all time, in the top ten of them all, really. "Monday, Monday' is also a masterpiece. But a LOT of folks forget that they really liked the song 'Twelve-thirty'. Some will find it the premiere cut on the album.

In the end, I see that this CD is selling pretty darn cheap and I think that it's a must for any serious student of classic rock music. See my listmania lists for more.

I actually purchased this collection back in the early 1990s on cassette, but its the same.The best part of this CD is that if your into compilations, this ones a little diffrent.Its got some of their "big" hits but it also features a lot of their deeper album cuts, quite a interesting collection of their songs. I do have to agree that MCA recordings are not great at all, I dont think they really thought a lot about their products. If you own any of the mamas and the papas 4 albums (not including the live at the Monterey pop fest album)on cd or 33&1/3 rpm you know that their 2nd album (cass dennie john and michelle aka: self titled) has never been released on CD. My guess of what happend is that MCA didnt think that they were ever going to release any of their original albums on cd,so they used the photo from their 2nd album cover for a "16 of their greatest hits" compilation. And of course they couldent have 2 different cds being sold in stores with the same picture on the front, therefore the mamas and the papas second album is still waiting to be heard in cd quality.

If you want to know this group ,this is your chance, because it won't cost you much.Two of their biggest hits are present:CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' and MONDAY MONDAY ,that you probably heard on radio many years ago.Three cover songs are simply delightful:SPANISH HARLEM and two RODGERS AND HART songs that made me wonder why they didn't do a whole album of their songs;GLAD TO BE UNHAPPY receive a grade A pop treatment and SING FOR YOUR SUPPER is done like a cabaret song.If you like this, then you can go to the longer CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' collection, a more complete greatest hits album three times the price of this one.THE MAMAS AND PAPAS had great flair for covering songs by others ,if you except MY GIRL, but in that case, even OTIS REDDING could not beat THE TEMPTATIONS'S original.

This was the first Mamas & Papas stuff I ever owned and it was released LONG before 1995!!
Its a nice set of tunes and I had the cassette which I found in the cheap bin in a store and took it home and liked it very much.I was a happy kiddo. And the sound quality is just fine. These songs were probably taken straight from the original cuts. Which I prefer. Most people dont realize the down side to digital remasters. But anyway....this is a nice album. Just a dinky little compilation that is fun.

California Dreamin Mamas and the Papas-60's Dreamin music from My High School years. Fun and sincere.