~
vinyl LP back cover detail
back cover photo by Tom Gundelfinger
detail photo of cover by Styrous®
Today is the birthday of John Phillips, the leader of the vocal group The Mamas and the Papas, and one of the chief organizers of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. He was born on
August 30, 1935, in Parris Island, South Carolina.
He only had five studio albums with The Mamas and the Papas but those albums have some of the great pop songs of the era. When he went solo, he only produced two albums. The first one, John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.), was a knockout! It is on my The Viewfinder 'desert island' vinyl LP list (link below).
John Phillips ~ John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.)
vinyl LP front cover
cover photo by Tom Gundelfinger
photo of cover by Styrous®
It
is mostly a quiet, laid back kind of album with songs that are wonderful.
Some of the tunes have a country feel to them with a Pedal Steel Guitar
played by Buddy Emmons and Red Rhodes helping that feeling along.
As usual I have favorite songs; Topanga Canyon is at the top. To me Topanga Canyon is VERY much a California song with the gentle feeling of a sunny afternoon in LA. It is one of the laid back tunes but it has a bouncy, gentle beat with bass played by Joe Osborn and a beautiful back up chorus with Darlene Love, Fanita James and Jean King that make it a good song to listen to (lyrics link below).
Mississippi a close second to Topanga. It is the most upbeat song on the album with an infectious beat that makes your feet move (lyrics link below).
John Phillips grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. From 1942 to 1946, he attended Linton Hall Military School
in Bristow, Virginia. According to his autobiography, he "hated the
place," citing "inspections," and "beatings," and recalls that "nuns
used to watch us take showers." He formed a musical group of teenage boys, who sang doo-wop songs. He traveled to New York to gain a record contract in the early 1960s. His first band, The Journeymen, was a folk trio, with Scott McKenzie and Dick Weissman. Phillips wrote San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) in 1967 for former bandmate Scott McKenzie.
He was the primary songwriter and musical arranger of the Mamas and the Papas. Their hits were California Dreamin', Monday, Monday, I Saw Her Again, Creeque Alley, and 12:30 (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon).
Phillips helped promote the Monterey International Pop Music Festival
held June 16 to 18, 1967, in Monterey, California; he performed with
the Mamas and the Papas, as part of the event as well. The festival was
planned in just seven weeks, and was developed as a way to validate rock
music as an art form in the way jazz and folk were regarded. It was the
first major pop-rock music event in history. He also co-produced the
film Monterey Pop (1968) with the group's producer Lou Adler.
Phillips released his first solo album John, the Wolf King of L.A.
in 1970 but it was not commercially successful, although Mississippi was a minor hit, and Phillips began to withdraw from
the limelight as his use of narcotics increased.
With Terry Melcher, Mike Love, and former Journeyman colleague Scott McKenzie, he co-wrote the number-one single for the Beach Boys, Kokomo.
On March 18, 2001, Phillips died of heart failure in Los Angeles at the age of 65, days after completing recording sessions for a new album.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed John Phillips among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire (link below).
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1 - April Anne - 3:21
A2 - Topanga Canyon - 3:52
A3 - Malibu People - 3:37
A4 - Someone's Sleeping - 2:41
A5 - Drum - 3:35
A2 - Topanga Canyon - 3:52
A3 - Malibu People - 3:37
A4 - Someone's Sleeping - 2:41
A5 - Drum - 3:35
Side 2:
B1 - Captain - 3:20
B2 - Let It Bleed, Genevieve - 2:52
B3 - Down The Beach - 2:50
B4 - Mississippi - 3:36
B5 - Holland Tunnel - 3:25
Companies, etc.
Credits:
Bass Guitar – Joe Osborn
Design, Photography By – Tom Gundelfinger
Dobro, Lead Guitar – James Burton
Drums – Hal Blaine
Engineer – Chuck Britz
Engineer [Assitant] – Winston Wong
Fiddle – Gordon Terry
Guitar, Harmonica – David Cohen, Dr. Hord*, John Phillips
Keyboards – Larry Knechtel
Liner Notes – G.W.*
Pedal Steel Guitar [Steel] – Buddy Emmons, Red Rhodes
Producer – Lou Adler
Vocals [Voices] – Darlene Love, Fanita James, Jean King
Written-By – J. Phillips*
Notes:
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Hand etched): DS 50077 - A
Matrix / Runout (Hand etched): DS 50077 - B
John Phillips – John Phillips
Label: ABC/Dunhill Records – DS 50077, Warlok (2) – DS 50077
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1970
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
Label: ABC/Dunhill Records – DS 50077, Warlok (2) – DS 50077
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1970
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
Viewfinder links:
