Search - John Phillips :: John the Wolfking of L.A.

A superfine John Phillips' music box

jayhikkss | 10/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The great, late John Phillips will forever be associated with "The Mama's And The Papa's" with whom he enjoyed terrific critical and commercial success, writing or co-writing 11 of the group's top 100 singles (5 others hits were covers).



After the group's split (due to internal frictions and a changing musical climate), John Phillips recorded this splendid solo album using his regular ace studio cats (augmented by steel guitarists Buddy Emmons and Orville "Red" Rhodes, along with Elvis Presley's guitarist James Burton.) The inclusion of the latter musicians certainly explains, in part, the country tinge apparent in the arrangements. The sound proves much more laid-back than the one previously associated with his former group. John Phillips composed every track on the original album and handled the lead vocals; vocal backgrounds came courtesy of the Blossoms, a superlative trio of back-up female singers, including the underestimated Darlene Love).

The "big voices" from Cass and Denny were gone, but John Phillips was endowed with a very pleasant, smooth voice that had more of a singer-songwriter feel to it. I often think that it's too bad that John was so unsure of his lead vocals that he kind of buried them in the mix whilst I think that they should have been brought up quite a bit more forward.

John Phillips' compositions on his first LP are excellent with supremely tuneful, finely crafted songs. The man is really at the top of his game here. The very good lyrics convey more sentiments of melancholy and world-weariness, as well as a darker edge, than those previously heard on the Mama's And The Papa's recordings. References to relationships old and new abound, either romantic or not. In the sometimes-cryptic lyrics, one gets the feeling that John was writing a lot about a coterie of LA friends and foes.



At the time of release, I recall reviewer Richard Williams stating in the (now defunct) "Melody Maker" that he felt like he would still be playing this album in ten years time. I have been regularly listening to this album on LP and/or CD for more than 36 years now and, not only has it retained its original freshness, but it has never stopped growing on me. To this day, it definitely stands as one of my all-time favourite albums.



Despite very good reviews, the album was, unfortunately, a commercial failure. Its best US showing was # 181 on the charts (May 1970) whilst the inferior (though IMO rather good) Mama's And The Papa's last studio album ("People Like Us") still managed to reach the # 84 slot one year later. This was hardly an isolated case. Look i.e. to Gene Clark's output after leaving the Byrds! He would only chart solo once in his lifetime with the beautiful, innovative "No Other" LP, which reached # 144 in late 1974, whilst the rather mediocre "The Byrds" reunion LP (on Asylum) made the top 20 in 1973 (with Clark's contributions almost the only points of real interest on it.)



I think that once people grow accustomed to a style that pleases them, they would rather have more of the same. Besides, John Phillips - as an artist - was far less well known than were the Mama's And The Papa's.



The new CD adds eight new-to-CD tracks to the original album. Most of them are slow and do not feature backing vocals. The already converted will not want to miss them. I will give a short appreciation of each new track:



11. Shady - very good melody; slow, country styled, finished track; James Burton and Larry Knechtel shine on dobro and piano, respectively.

12. Lonely Children - another pleasant, finished track; very laid back vocals from John.

13. Lady Genevieve - a monaural, demo version of a very nice tune that would be later reworked for "The Mama's and The Papa's" final studio LP ("People Like Us"); this stripped down version features John Phillips' vocal backed by acoustic finger picked guitar.

14. Black Girl - an (almost?) finished take of Leadbelly's "In The Pines" featuring steel guitar; a strange choice, IMO, even if John Phillips had already covered the tune, in 1961, with the Journeymen; nothing embarrassing but very average still. A bit of trivia here: the aforementioned Gene Clark also recorded a cover of this song on his 1977 "Two Sides to Every Story" LP.

15. French Man - this one is also average by John Phillips' standards.

16. 16mm Baby - a monaural, unfinished attempt at taping a song written by Matthew Reich, Michelle Phillips' first husband; vocals (and laughing!) backed by basic guitar strumming; a finished take might have proved interesting though.

17. Wolfking of L.A. - instrumental backing track featuring piano, electric guitar, bass and drums; pretty boring actually; it is my guess that this "tune" has nothing to do whatsoever with the album's title.

18. Mississippi - a different, shorter version of the tune that appeared on the original mono single version of the tune; it reached # 32 on the US pop single charts (a bit strange as, at that time, most singles by major artists were released in stereo).



For this Varese Sarabande reissue, brand new analogue-to-digital transfers are used whilst engineer supreme Dan Hersch (of Rhino fame) expertly handles the remastering. The original Dunhill/Warlock LP release was already state-of-the-art but the sound of this CD is truly outstanding. The rhythm section, in particular, has superb clarity and definition; it is also sounds more forward in the mix than on the LP.



Do not let this gem of an album pass you by.

"

PHENOMENAL WORK OF ART

Paul A. Amato | hollywood, CA, USA | 09/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am thrilled this CD has been reissued. Sound quality is much superior to the original Edsel CD release. I wore out my Dunhill/Warlok vinyl, so was nice to see Varese Sarabande re-release this collection with 7 previously unreleased tracks. I have been playing non-stop for approximately 30 hours now. Thanks Varese Sarabande. I doubt there is much profit in this for your company, but this gift is greatly appreciated. I also appreciate your past releases of the Denny Dohery "Waiting For A Song" and "Magic Circle..Before they were the Mamas and the Papas" CD."

Never liked the Mamas and Papas but this is great

James R. Parrett | toronto, canada | 10/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of my favorite all-time albums, this new reissue sounds great, if a tad different than the vinyl. I don't much care for digital, but this baby has presence and feel. Nice job. As for the music - every song is classic melodic pop/rock with superb instrumentation. I love the fact John's voice is buried somewhat in the sound. It provides an homogeneous feel that causes me to turn up the volume and surround myself with memorable music. The original collection of songs are quality, only diminished slightly by the new bonus tracks. Like another reviewer stated, this album will last a long, long time. It's a prime candidate for the Repeat button. A no-brainer."