Customer Reviews

The Mamas & The Papas Deliver

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

 

 

Deliver came out in 1967, at the height of the folk rock era. Simon & Garfunkle's Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme was a huge hit Donovan was scoring big with Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow and of course Bob Dylan and the Byrds were the chief architects of the folk rock movement. Along come four kooky looking individuals with beautiful finely crafted four-part harmony and the rest as they say is history. Deliver catches the M's&P's at their creative zenith. There's not a bad song in the bunch. Another words they deliver the goods. Pardon the pun. This one is a true classic and sounds as great today as the day it came out. Long live the M's&P's.

A GREAT CD OF THE M&P'S 3RD, AND 4TH ALBUMS. THE ADDITIONAL BONUS TRACK OF 'THE RIGHT SOMEBODY TO LOVE' IS AN ADDED TREAT (AS IS THE M&P CHATTER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SONG 'DID YOU EVER WANT TO CRY'). THE ONLY NEGATIVE THING THAT I COULD SAY ABOUT THIS CD IS THAT IN THE LINER NOTES, IT REFERS TO THE LATE CASS ELLIOT'S DEATH AS BEING CAUSED FROM CHOKING ON A SANDWICH. THAT NEVER HAPPENED, FOLKS! EVEN A PASSING M&P FAN WOULD KNOW THAT SHE REALLY DIED OF HEART FAILURE. I FIND IT REALLY TACKY THAT SOME PEOPLE KEEP BELIEVING THIS URBAN LEGEND EVEN WHEN THEY ARE SHOWN HARD PROOF THAT IT IS A LIE.

This 2 albums on one CD contains the Mamas & Papas` 3rd and 4th album from 1967 and 1968.

Apart from their first album "If You Can Believe Your Ears" the Mamas and Papas' albums were all somewhat uneven. They all contained one or more of their great singles; mostly written by band leader John Philips.
But the group also covered old pop-classics like "Spanish Harlem", "Dancing in the Street" or "My Girl". This of course made it harder to keep the albums consistent.

Some of their covers were quite succesful, though. On "Deliver" their terrific cover of the old Shirelles hit "Dedicated to the One I Love" was included. The Mamas & Papas turned it into a completely different song, and one of their very best recordings and biggest hits.

They also gave a fine version of "My Girl" , but it may appear a little too "poppy" and mainstream for a group that had the ability to write first-class material themselves.

The autobiographical "Crequee Alley" is a charming and catchy tune which also made the top ten as a single.

Their cover of "Sing for Your Supper", sung by Mama Cass; seems completely out of place to my ears. Too much "family-pop".

Though I don't care much for their version of "Twist and Shout" either, at least they give the song a completely different and original treatment.

Their original album tracks are mostly pretty good. Especially "Look Through My Window" which strangely enough only made it to # 25 in the charts. "Did You Ever Want to Cry" was perfect for Mama Cass'; a little like her classic "Dream a Little Dream of Me" from their 4th album.

"Free Advice" and "String Man" are also good album tracks.

Michelle Philips opens the 4th album "Presenting" with a charming acapella version of the old Shirley Temple song "The Right Somebody to Love"; you might easily mistake her her for Marilyn Monroe on that one. The song goes directly into their majestic "Save in My Garden"; another John Philips masterpiece - it undeservedly on made # 53 in the charts.

"Medication Mama" is another strong track, nothing like their usual style,almost country and sung by John Philips ( or Doherty?)

"For the Love of Ivy" is another of their favourites, though not a hit, it's included on most Mamas and Papas compilations.

"Dream a Little Dream" is Cass Elliot's tour de force. A great recording.

Their cover of "Nothing's Too Good For My Little Girl" is okay, but apart from the terrific single-track "Twelve-Thirty", the rest of the album is pretty forgettable.

Still there are so many strong tracks on this "2 on 1" CD that I'll call it recommendable; if you want a little more than just their hit-records.

"Deliver" is the 3rd studio album released by the Mamas and Papas in the spring of 1967 and went all the way to Number 2 on the BillBoard Best Album chart. Even though "Deliver" isn't as perfect as their debut album ("If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears") or as experimental as their mostly original second album, it still has several wonderful songs and served to continue the Mamas and Papas reign as the "Royal Family of Pop".

The album opens with a beautifully arranged remake of the Shirelles "Dedicated to the One I Love" which features Mama Michelle Phillips on one of her few lead vocal performances. This record hit Number 2 on the singles chart and became the third biggest selling record of their career - behind "California Dreamin'" and "Monday, Monday". The other two singles from the album are the biographical "Creeque's Alley" which was written as a "road map" for producer Lou Adler which esplained how the group came together. The other single, "Look Through My Window", which was released in the fall of 1966, prior to the album's release, is still regarded as one of their most under-rated masterpieces. They also perform cover versions of the Temptations "My Girl" and the Beatles "Twist and Shout" - the latter a more slow and seductive interpretation. Other cuts on the album include an upbeat "Free Advice" which sounds like a good follow-up to "Straight Shooter and "String Man" - another Mama Michelle lead vocal recalling how she met husband John Phillips.

Mama Cass Elliot gets to shine on three lead vocal performances - the Rodgers and Hart "Sing for Your Supper" which was featured on the "Rodgers and Hart" television special where the group performed 4 of the duo's famous songs. "Boys and Girls Together" which sounds like a Herb Alpert and the Tiquana Brass selection complete with mariachi band. Her other lead on "Did You Ever Want to Cry" is yet another under-rated classic performnce reminiscent of the Lovin' Spoonful.

The only cuts of the album that clearly didn't belong here were 2 intrumentals -"Frustration" and "John's Music Box" which clearly illustrates that the group was running out of material to record. Even though these two cuts detract from the album I still gave it five stars because of the quality of the other material.

Even though the Mamas and Papas would record another studio album before they broke up the following summer, I feel this album only enhances their popularity and was clearly their last great effort cementing their status as the Kings and Queens of Rock and Roll.

I've always been a Mamas and Papas fan since I was 11 years old (being that I'm 23 at this time). I had listened to their greatest hits album for several years and recently had started buying each album they had released, getting a hold of the "not-so-greatest" songs. To tell you honestly, many of their songs that are not considered the greatest, are my most favorite as well. On the album, DELIVER, there are 7 songs that I didn't grow up listening to and 6 of those I like--excluding the song, "John's Music Box", which really has no point on the album and makes me want to hit the stop button on my CD player. Every other song is a work of 60's art.

"The Mamas and the Papas Deliver" is a perfect blend of the 1967 phsycadelic era and of the 1950s rock and roll era. In the height of their career, the Mamas and the Papas put out this album, and it seemed they could do no wrong. After two public - pleasing and sucessful albums they could now focus on being themselves and writing how they wanted to. A nice addition to your collection of Mamas and Papas discography.

I noted in my review of the Mamas and the Papas debut album IF YOU CAN BELIEVE YOUR EYES AND EARS that that album was the beginning of the decline of one of the best rock groups of all time. And it's true. Every album after that got worse and worse, which is unfortunate given the amount of amazing talent involved in the group. Every member of the group has their own solo songs, but of course Mama Cass steals the show, as always. "Dedicated to the One I Love", "My Girl", and "Sing for Your Supper" are overall the best songs on the album. The rarer, neglected songs on the "B-side" should remain that way, they are for the most part boring. This is, of course, a must-have for the Mamas and the Papas, but isn't an essential rock document like the previous album.