I think they’re fantastic. I bought their Greatest Hits album last month, and it’s pretty much the only CD I’ve listened to since.
While I think they had some really great songs, I’m amazed at some of the crap–specifically the covers-- they put out too (“Twist and Shout” and “My Girl” I’m looking at you!)
Happy
I saw the Mamas and the Papas in concert in 1966 in Washington, DC. I loved them, and was over the moon to see them in concert. Also on the bill were Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, ? and the Mysterians (96 Tears), and **The Left Banke ** (Just Walk Away Renee).
I was still in grade school. It was pure joy to be a teenybopper on that day.
Not at the time I saw them. On of the singers was Mama Lisa, and the other I forget, but I would have recognized Mackenzie Philips on stage. I know they toured with many different women as singers.
I remember that at one time Spanky MacFarlane was with them.
I saw them in concert with Spanky taking Cass’ parts. (At that time Spanky was also pretty much able to match Cass’ profile). She was a good alto singer, and had enough stage presence to remind people she had fronted a group, but her voice was no competition for Cass Elliot.
I’d never heard about the story behind the band. Interesting.
I’ll have to see if they have that episode on dvd.
It’s cool to see that all you folks like them. They had some great stuff. But man, I bet some of their not-so-good songs are really bad. I can’t picture them doing Twist and Shout.
I don’t remember what other songs of theirs I like, besides Monday, Monday. I know that the last time my dad was listening to it in the car, I liked several of them, but don’t remember anything about them or know their names. Maybe I’ll have to borrow one of his cds- or even better, see if he has any of their albums on vinyl!
I like their Twist & Shout. What’s the point of a cover if you’re going to do it exactly the same? I don’t like their Dancin’ In the Streets cover much, thoug – it gets too silly.
–Cliffy
You evil woman you! (But delightfully so.) 
I’ve seen the 1988 documentary, Straight Shooters, about the group. It is a fascinating story. Their music was beautiful, their lives, not so much.
I saw them in Toronto in the early '90s with Spanky McFarlane as Cass and Mackenzie Phillips as her mom; their special guest was Scott McKenzie. It was pretty nice all around - nice to see them where I lived, nice to see that they were still working. This was a package show, with The Turtles and some other folks I can’t remember now.
A related aside: when my mom was going to buy me a record player for Xmas, she and a neighbor were shopping for records. Their choices came down to The Monkees’ “Headquarters” or The Mamas & The Papas’ “If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears”. My mother’s opinion was that TM&TP looked too much like hippies. I got the Monkees album.
So instead of Monday, Monday and California Dreamin’ you got Randy Scouse Git and Zilch? Doesn’t seem fair…
Even though I LIKE Randy Scouse Git…
In high school, four of us tried to do some of the Mamas and Papas songs…mind you, the four of us were in choir and had been singing for many years.
It was not easy trying to copy that sound, and even on our best days, we never came close.
Their songs may sound like easy fluff to the non-fans, but when you realize how tight those vocals were, what they accomplished was truly magical. I can only imagine how much fun it would have been to be a part of that group - in the beginning at least - and creating those songs and hearing them for the first time.
Well, I got “For Pete’s Sake” and “Sunny Girlfriend” and “No Time” and “You Told Me” and “Early Morning Blues And Greens” as well, so it wasn’t a loss by any means! “HQ” remains one of my favorite albums. And I love “Randy Scouse Git”!
I also own TM&TP catalogue now.
Definitely one of my all time favorite bands. They were big when I was a teenybopper, so many of their songs bring back fond memories of the hippie era. If I was forced to choose a top 10 favorite songs from that era, I am sure at least 2 would be from M&P.
California Dreamin’
Monday, Monday
I Saw Her Again
Creeque Alley
Twelve-Thirty (young girls are coming to the canyon)
Dream a Little Dream of Me
Great stuff.
Hmm. Half a dozen cover songs by a group who required studio musicians to achieve a goovy sound vs. the Monkees album on which they first wrote all the songs and played all the instruments? Seems like a pretty good trade-off to me. 
[nitpick]
Sorry to be hijacking this towards a discussion of The Monkees, but they didn’t write all the songs on this record. They just played most of the instruments. For songwriting credits, Pete gets one, Micky gets one, Mike gets three, they all get two. The rest are Boyce/Hart, Mann/Weil, Hildebrand/Keller, one’s by their producer Chip Douglas under a pseudonym, and they gave the writing credit for another to their engineer, Hank Cicalo, in appreciation.
[/nitpick]
I think I’d have to choose “Creeque Alley” as my fave TM&TP song. I’ve got “Straight Shooter” on videotape, too. Funny, fascinating and sad story.
What joke? It’s a fact that if Mama Cass had given Karen Carpenter a bite of her ham sandwich, both would be alive today.
What’s so funny about that?
One of the better vocal groups of the sixties. Their vocals were really tight. They were friends with the Byrds, Lovin’ Spoonful, Jefferson Airplane. Cass’s style, both vocally and lifestyle, influenced Grace Slick, Mama Cowsill, Janis Joplin, Spanky of our Gang.
The song was written while they were stuck on the east coast. Creeque Alley chronicles the groups history. All the love songs John wrote were about him and Michelle. As you can surmise from the songs, they were constantly breaking up and coming back together. Neither of them were exactly faithful to each other. What ultimately broke them up was two separate events: Denny’s attraction to and eventually hooking up with Michelle and John’s jealousy when they broke up, when Michelle started dating a Byrd.
The song was supposed to be the follow up hit for Barry Maguire of “Eve of destruction”. But the producer, Lou Adler liked the vocals in the demo without Barry so much, he decided to delete him and produce the MnP’s instead.