Straight Shooter: the Story of the Mamas and the Papas
Prod: Rhino Video (no director listed) (1989); with John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Joe Cocker, Paul Schaffer, Mick Fleetwood.
More correctly, the title of the video should be The John Phillips Story, since he, indeed, was the mastermind behind the Mamas and Papas. Poor John Phillips! A brilliant songwriter and arranger who peaked early, was unable to ignore the allure of drugs and alcohol, and died last month. The Mamas and Papas defined the new California folk sound in a way that allowed us to look past the British Invasion. Following Phillips’ career from his early folk music roots, where he met and performed with future wife and Mama Michelle, the video contains astounding footage documenting the formation of the group. John and Michelle met Denny Doherty — he of the baritone as rich and mellow as fine cognac — and began performing as a trio. Denny had long been pursued by an ardent suitor, Cass Elliot. Straight Shooter shows John, Michelle, and Denny holed up in their New York hotel room with a sizable amount of liquid LSD, while Denny introduces John to the music of the Beatles — and alters the course of pop music along the way. During the same drug-addled binge, Denny’s friend Cass shows up, imbibes the same drugs, and the unlikely foursome is created. Cass’ silvery vocals completed the palette, which offered a range of sounds that were delicate and mesmerizing but forceful. Their notorious trip to the Caribbean, financed with an American Express card, and famously chronicled in their song “Creeque Alley,” is well-represented here — it is on this trip that many of the Mamas and Papas’ earliest hits were written. When paradise turned bad, they returned to New York, with little hope for a future together as a group. And one night John woke up Michelle to help him write down a song that was going through his head, a little tune that turned out to be “California Dreamin’.” California became their home, and suddenly their future was as glistening and alluring as the liquid LSD they were so fond of. “California Dreamin'” skyrocketed to the top of the charts and into music history as one of the most relentlessly listenable and timelessly lovely creations ever written, weaving harmony and melody in a style that would become the signature of John Phillips, as well as the Mamas and Papas. They were living on the fast track, turning out one hit after another, and carousing with the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Producing the legendary Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Phillips was at the zenith of his career, with a dazzling future as part of the Mamas and Papas and as a producer. So dazzling that Phillips was blinded by the glare, and the future exploded in a syringe loaded with the seductive promises of various drugs. The group dissolved unhappily. John and Michelle broke up, and John Phillips never again approached the brilliance that he achieved with the Mamas and Papas. This is a classic tragedy, incompletely played out in the video, begun in a time of charming innocence and dreams of immortality, when the Mamas and Papas were rock royalty.
This article appears in April 6 • 2001.