Something to Make You Happy; Dave Mason & Cass Elliot

Cafe Society
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Years ago, about 35 to be exact, my Dad worked for a religious music company, Word Records. This made for some very nice perks like meeting several famous recording artists and, periodically, receiving albums from other companies in the business. Occasionally they were real gems. I got Badfinger Straight Up in this manner and another that even all these years later still haunts me by it’s beauty yet mystifies me by the fact it never really met with any commercial success. It is, as you may have guessed, a self titled collaboration between Dave Mason & Cass Elliot.

I was fairly young in '71 but very much into the rock of the time that of course later was labeled “folk” and “classic” rock. This album so perfectly embodies the feel of the time with many of the same elements you might enjoy with CSN&Y, The Grass Roots, James Taylor, Canned Heat and the like. It was my home album for years, listened to over and over until it finally was so worn and scratched that I was hesitant to play it for anyone else. With the advent of cassettes and then cds, the worn piece eventually made it’s way to a cardboard box in the garage since I, like many others, no longer had a turntable with which to enjoy it’s used self. Unfortunately, the album was for a long time unavailable on any of the newer mediums.

Yesterday by chance I happened to check and much to my surprise it’s been re-released. A bit pricy at $45 (can someone explain that?) and still unbelivably rare but it does exist. It’s the only thing I’ve ever ordered online if that tells you anything. I’m not suggesting anyone but the most die hard fans of Momma Cass and Dave Mason make such an investment, but if you are…

Walk to the Point
On and On
To Be Free
Here We Go Again
Pleasing You
Sit and Wonder
Something to Make You Happy
Too Much Truth, Too Much Love
Next to You
Glittering Facade

Has anyone else ever heard this work before? It’s absolutely marvelous and I can’t remember being so excited about a package’s pending arrival since I believed in Santa. I’m going to feel at home again… and it’s going to be a real joy.

Thanks Dave. Thanks Cass. This captured you both at your very, very best.

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I heard it when it first came out – I was working at our college radio station, which had a copy. I do recall liking “Too Much Truth, Too Much Love” and putting it on our playlist.

The issue was culture clash. Mason had just finished “Alone Together” and was a critical favorite. Cass was part of the Mamas and the Papa and was considered too pop oriented by the people who liked Mason (and derided for that – 70s music fans often looked down on pop tunes). Mamas and Papas fans didn’t know who Mason was (and may not even have associated “Cass Elliot” with “Mama Cass”). It also was on Blue Thumb Records – not one of the major labels (though one with a lot of high-quality stuff).

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That you were “working at our college radio station” only begins to account for the musical knowledge I’ve seen you share here in Cafe. I’m so pleased that you, whose opinion I’ve anything but a small amount of respect for, remembers this issue. Yeah, Too Much Truth, Too Much Love is a memorable piece, as is Walk to the Point, Sit and Wonder, Something to Make You Happy, and Mason’s guitar work on Glittering Facade.

It’s funny, it’s probably been twenty to twenty five years since I’ve actually heard the album, yet most of the songs still ring clear in my mind. Such was the power of these two. From several of the reviews in the link provided, Momma Cass was very keen to do more albums but Dave was cool to the idea. There’s obviously a story there and it’d be nice to be privy to more. Maybe that and other insights, like the work itself, will continue to become more accessable over time.

I may, upon receiving this and playing it for the first time in decades, come back and post another opinion. Maybe not. I know the enjoyment of music is as much a reflection of the time and world you first experienced it in as an appreciation of it’s intrinsic worth. But I’m really pleased to see that over time more folks have been exposed to this cut and overwhelmingly seem to appreciate it’s worth.

To each his own but damn, this is a really memorable collaboration.

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Thank you for your kind words.