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I didn’t begrudge Peter Brown the 1983 book The Love You Make as I figure that a Beatles insider gets a chance to make some money off the association. THIS book, however, is just a compilation of the source interviews done for the book.

It’s sparingly typeset, and they couldn’t be bothered to make a real index or hyperlink the footnotes, or at least put the footnotes at the end of every interview section.  I also don’t think much of Steven Gaines as a coauthor…the projects he’s involved in tend to be “sensational”. (This was true of the published 1983 book.)

With all of those negatives, three things were apparent to sum up this aired research.

1. They had an axe to grind, or at least a theory/thread they wanted credence for, against “Magic Alex”(Alexis Mardas). He comes up a LOT in their questions, much more than I would say he’s a part of their story.
2. Maureen Starkey must have been a lovely person.
3. Allen Klein really comes off as an unlikable character.

Unless you are a Beatles fanatic, skip this one.

It’s been about a solid month of doing a lot of listening and reading about the Mamas and the Papas. I first heard expert Richard Campbell on the Discograffiti podcast series about the group, and his intro covered a lot of the same ground as this book. I could have stopped there, but I’m glad I didn’t. Campbell has a lifelong love for the band and it shows in the exacting detail in this book. The Mamas and the Papas show up only at the end, really to close the story’s loop. After hearing Campbell and reading the book, I now believe that the Mamas and the Papas were really rock’s first “SuperGroup” since all the members came from established bands that had recorded and toured extensively.

If you have any interest in U.S. folk groups and the start of ‘folk rock’ you would like this book.  Campbell has hundreds of interesting artifacts collected and shown in the book, including every LP front AND back cover, large enough that you can read the liner notes. To create an immersive experience he’s curated both Spotify and YouTube playlists of the music he writes about which is an incredible perk I wish more music authors could do.  The scholarship/research that went into this book is incredible, with hundreds of footnotes and the author not afraid to say if something isn’t known.  Interested, or want to hear the folk music that begat the Mamas and the Papas? Visit the link for the book.