People Like Us

On this 1971 final effort by The Mamas & The Papas, the recording sessions were thick with tension, and the attendant push-me-pull-you energy is audible (and highly listenable) in even the most beautiful, breezy passages. Band leader/album producer “Papa” John Phillips attempted to contemporize things by going for a slightly R&B-enhanced stoner vibe over the group’s patented California dreamy sound; he eschewed the Wrecking Crew session musicians (whom he’d used on the previous albums) mostly in favor of Motown’s Funk Brothers. The Brothers’ heft and swing illuminate throughout, particularly on “ Snowqueen of Texas,” “Lady Genevieve," and the Janis Joplin .

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