Reviews
The Mamas & The Papas 20 Greatest Hits
In the later half of the 60s images of slim, bronzed American girls with long straight brown hair were everywhere. I can’t recall now why but I would guess that the demonstrations against the Vietnam war, Flower Power and, later, Woodstock, had something to do with it. As might have the marketing expertise of the record companies, getting their groups’ pictures to feature prominently in newspapers and magazines. I had pictures of Michelle Phillips stuck to my school exercise books and simply thought she looked brilliant. Had I realised at the time that the considerably fuller figure of Mama Cass was responsible for the best of the female vocals then I would probably not have loved Dedicated To The One I Love as much as I did but I didn’t know and consequently this gentle and tender track introduced me to all the other work of this group. I tired of Dedicated . . . after a while and now it’s tracks like Do You Wanna Dance, Twist and Shout, Spanish Harlem and Go Where You Wanna Go that have established a seemingly permanent place in my list of All Time Favourites. This is one of the few albums I can play from start to finish without wanting to skip tracks.
The Byrds Greatest Hits
This was one of the first albums I bought. All I Really Want To Do and So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star were the tracks I had really liked on the radio and I knew about Mr Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn! Great cover simply encapsulates the era. more to follow . . . honest!