It's been decades since Saturday night TV has had much of anything worth watching, but this past weekend found this baby boomer in front of the tube for an hour watching PBS and CPTV. This time, California Dreamin': The Songs of The Mamas and the Papas, originally released in 2005, brought back some great memories in a beautifully produced retrospective of the group's relatively brief time in the spotlight of sixties pop culture. This unlikely foursome had a familiar sound that defied labels. Their hits and even a few of their misses sound as fresh today as when you couldn't put on an AM radio without hearing them. Steeped in early sixties folk, the counter culture and then peaking in 1967's "Summer of Love," these Rock n' Roll Hall of Famers weren't strictly rock at all. Their autobiographical hit "Creeque Alley" says they decided to "leave the folk music behind," but I think they just refined it with great lyrics and lush vocals arranged by John Phillips. Mama Cass Elliot was one of a kind and was clearly destined for greater things in a solo career before her untimely death in 1974. Drugs and the tension within the group eventually brought them to the breaking point, although the group did tour with a shifting roster of members for years afterward. When I saw them at WDRC-FM's Oldies Fest in 1996, Denny Doherty was the only original member still on tour. Of all their songs, the one that still stops me in my tracks only made it to number 20 on Billboard: "12:30 (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)". Just like the clock that always says 12:30, it's easy to get frozen in time with any of their songs.
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