All the Leaves Are Brown: How the Mamas & the Papas Came Together and Broke Apart

by Scott G. Shea

Few songs have captured the contradictions and ambiguities of the 1960s as memorably as "California Dreamin'," the iconic folk music single that catapulted the Mamas & the Papas into rock and roll history. In All the Leaves Are Brown, author Scott Shea details how John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips, and "Mama Cass" Elliot became standard-bearers for California counterculture, following their transformation from folk music wannabes to rock sensations and chronicling the tumultuous events that followed their unexpected success.

Shea gives a definitive account of the group's short time together, from their hitmaking approach with legendary producer Lou Adler to John's unique songwriting to tours and friendships with other musicians riding the folk-rock wave. He explores the emotional vicissitudes that came with being in the Mamas & the Papas, from Cass's unrequited love for Denny, his affair with Michelle, and the ebb and flow of dysfunction in John and Michelle's marriage. And he explains how it all came to a crashing end with John's brainchild, the Monterey Pop Festival, which should have launched the group even further into the musical stratosphere, but only served to be their undoing. All the Leaves Are Brown is a layered, revelatory tale of overnight stardom and its many pitfalls.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Audiobook, History

Audible Audio

Published July 11, 2023

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s almost appropriate : a carcrash of a book telling the story of a trainwreck of a group.
Oh my goodness me, where do I start ?

Well, how about with the weird un-edited-out repetitions :

Page 8 : it was a bizarre amalgam of private Catholic school and military academy
Page 9 : it was a bizarre combination of private Catholic school and pseudo-military academy

Page 140 : Cass and Rusty got jobs waiting tables to bring in some much-needed income
Page 142 : She and Rusty had taken waitressing jobs to provide some much-needed income

And then there’s the head-scratching sentences like

They twisted, hully-gullied, and ponied along with the music and balanced their ominousness rock band counterparts with sex appeal. (p156)

or

On the surface, it must have seemed a bit surreptitious to John and Michelle and Derek easily let her say what she was thinking (p249)

Huh, what ? And then we have occasional clangers like this

Denny’s hair, though still long, had been professionally quaffed with sideburns that ran at least an inch past his earlobes. (p247)

I thought – quaffed? That’s an old fashioned word meaning to drink something. Wait ! I have it! He means coiffed! It sounds the same !

All right, let’s stop being such a grammar nazi. Let’s concentrate on the prose itself :

He found his sexual release through gangbangs with a few neighborhood trollops. (p18)

In what era could that ever have been an acceptable sentence. And then we have these passages which appear to have strayed over from a Jackie Collins novel :

Michelle would prepare with a light foundation to cover her freckles and eyeliner to highlight her baby blues. She got her hair done regularly at Tamar’s hairdresser, and twice a week, rinsed it with lemon juice to make it look richer and fuller. (p61)

He couldn’t help but admire her fair skin glistening in the azure blue waters of Cinnamon Bay and how the sun shone on her long blonde hair. (p132)

He and Michelle were still up celebrating until Denny crept over the sliding door that led to the balcony and, with a devilish grin, beckoned Michelle to follow him. She knew what was on his mind and followed willingly. (p170)

He sings with the desperate senses of a spurned lover that only he could muster (p190)



But wait ! Where is Scott Shea getting all this terrific amount of granular detail from? How does he know about Michelle’s lemon rinses and Denny’s earlobes? In most biographies there are lots of notes crammed in at the back detailing all the books & mags referenced and interviews made. Scott mentions briefly that he interviewed 8 people (none of the M&Ps of course). And then there’s two autobiographies (by John and Michelle) and one previous oral history. So the overwhelming detail (“handy Denny converted their wall oven into a hot plate”) must come from those sources, plus the usual contemporary articles.

Frequently Scott gets completely carried away when a famous person is encountered - when Mia Farrow hoves into view we get a few pages of her biography – and when John Phillips gets involved in the Monterey Pop Festival we get 66 pages about it, every single act is described (p243-309). I know it was a Significant Event but this is too much, and I don’t mean “too much, man”.

And yet, I read the whole thing compulsively. It was a couldn’t look away kind of thing. All the sex drugs and blissful harmony (really, you can’t call the M&Ps rock and roll). Ironic indeed, all that harmony proceeding from such an inharmonious collection of unhappy souls.



Current three favourite M&Ps songs : "Safe in my Garden"

Cops out with the megaphones
Telling people stay inside their home
Man, can't they see the world's on fire

"Dedicated to the One I Love", (this is not so much a version of a 50s oldie as a complete re-imagining, and so brilliantly done) ; and "Look Through my Window", not much of a hit, why I can’t imagine. But what with all the drugs and personal chaos it’s quite surprising they managed to stay together for four years and put out a series of great singles, six of which are probably all that anyone remembers.

I feel I should also point out to potential readers that there’s a story about Queen Elizabeth II on page 22 which I frankly don’t believe, I think John Phillips made it up, and the famous incest story gets dropped onto the very last two pages – you can hear Scott thinking “ugh, I suppose I have to mention this”. Well, I suppose he did.

Gruesome book about a gruesome group who produced a handful of immortal records.

[*TUDOR^QUEEN* · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book it delved into the ancestry of lead Papa/founder John Phillips, and I've got to admit I seriously got bored. So I made an executive decision to skim forward to a more interesting period where John was a teenager sent off to a pseudo-military academy. The book took off from there. The writing style was easy flowing and the book was well researched for a comprehensive history of The Mamas & the Papas.

I've read at least two books on the topic in the past, that being John Phillips' autobiography and the most recent, scandalous autobiography from his eldest daughter Mackenzie Phillips alleging their consensual sexual relationship. However, this book really fleshed out the full story of the band's origins, evolution, recordings, performances, and ultimate demise. Like a lot of bands from the sixties, there is drug and alcohol abuse, adultery, people having children that should not be parents, etc. My favorite takeaway from the book was the story of how the iconic hit song "California Dreamin'" was written by John and Michelle Phillips. I also liked how John maneuvered Michelle into singing in his pre-Mama/Papas band, "The New Journeymen" even though she wasn't a singer. He just didn't want to be away from her, and this reminded me a bit of Paul and Linda McCartney.

John Phillips also organized The Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, where incredible acts of the day such as The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, The Grateful Dead, Otis Redding, and Simon and Garfunkel performed. There are a lot of stories about these legendary musicians and others that were swirling around the musical vortex during the Summer of Love. I was also shocked to learn that John Phillips had been invited to the gathering at Sharon Tate's house the night of the Charles Manson killings. This was a quality biography that I highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher Globe Pequot, Backbeat for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of us who grew up in the 60s heard this group constantly play on the radio and sang along with it. It looked like this musical group had it made -- they were extremely popular and had achieved their dreams of success. They were on numerous TV shows and followed this song up with other #1 hits. This new book by Scott Shea gives a behind the scenes look at the dysfunction of the band and the radically different personalities of the four members. America may have believed that they were happy with their success but the truth was radically different. One thing they did embody from this time period was their love of Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll. John was a long time philander who fell in love with Michelle who had an affair with Denny who was an unrequited love for Cass.

I enjoyed this behind the band look at the members and how the group was formed. My only complaint was that it frequently strayed from the lives of the 4 members to lots of other singers and groups from that time period. I enjoyed reading about some of them but it all got a bit confusing to read about so many different people when I was mainly interested in the group themselves.

It's amazing with all of the discord that they were able to make such beautiful music. But they DID make beautiful music that still brings a smile to the faces of the aging baby boomers who were growing up in the 60s. Even this behind the scenes look can't change that.

[Karyn King · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a large disappointment. The write up promoted new information and new interviews. There are no new interviews or new anecdotal stories. I'm not entirely certain that Mr. Shea actually interviewed anyone, as nothing is directly quoted as such. If people were interviewed, you wouldn't know what they said because Mr. Shea did not include that information, unless it has been woven into his rehash of previous writings, but it is in no way obvious. If you have read the other books about The Mamas & the Papas, you have essentially read this book unknowingly because everything in this book comes from all the other books written about them, that and some erroneous Google searches. The majority of Mr. Shea's sourcing comes from John and Michelle's books, which he did not bother to cite, but simply included in his bibliography.
At times the book reads like a textbook, lacking depth and emotion in terms of band dynamics and personal relationships. There are portions of the book that are rather unrelated to the group, with paragraphs of boring filler about the creation of LSD and its use. Mr. Shea also goes into major detail about various musicians and musical groups of the time. I suppose this was included to paint a picture of the times, but it's just filler that detracts from the main story of John, Michelle, Denny and Cass.
There are a few errors, either in incorrectly referencing something taken from one of the book sources or relying on Google as a source of information.
After reading the book, I questioned why Mr. Shea chose to write about a 60's folk rock group, as he was unable to remove his personal beliefs from his writing. There are numerous times throughout the book where he judges his subjects, whether passively or directly, referring to the four of them as being physically dirty and smelling badly, or using words that place judgement on their sexual exploits or drug use. Here is a line from the book, "When Lou finally arrived, he found a group of dirty- looking kids all over his office and he was unimpressed with their appearance and their odor". No citation is given as to where Mr. Shea based that statement, but this is just one example of Mr. Shea's judgement of his subjects as well an attempt at some creative liberties.
Mr. Shea is very heavy on mentioning LSD throughout the book, almost to the point of obsession and though it's the 60's, his description will have you thinking everyone was on an acid trip 24/7 for years at a time. He goes so far as to make an unsubstantiated claim that Cass Elliot was high on LSD while giving birth. Mr. Shea often collectively uses his subjects drug use as an attempt at sullying their character instead of being objective about it happening.
Most authors have a vested interest in their subject, yet Mr. Shea does not come across as being someone well versed on his subject, nor particularly keen on being unbiased about his subject’s lifestyles and choices. It's evident from his writing that Mr. Shea has a very basic knowledge base about the band members and their time together. His judgements are a source of frustration while reading, as Shea's subjectivity is constantly interjected.
I will credit Mr. Shea with having decent chronology of events as he was able to stick to an accurate and consistent timeline. He also, thankfully, has the details of Cass Elliot's passing correct.
I suggest you read Michelle and John Phillips' books to get a deeper look at the story of The Mamas & the Papas, straight from the horse's mouth. Mr. Shea should stick to writing about Catholic subjects like Popes and Mother Teresa as his telling of a 60s folk rock group has fallen rather flat.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of "All the Leaves are Brown" by Scott G. Shea from Netgalley. I was happy to get the chance to read this biography about the Mamas and the Papas since I have been a fan of the group since I was a child. The author spends a portion of the book giving a separate biography of each of the singers, and musicians. Each had very different childhoods. How this group eventually became the Mamas and the Papas. Some parts are hard to read because it was not all good with this group they had their dificulties. John Phillips was into drugs as were other bandmembers. It took awhile for this group to get together. The author wrote about the affairs that went on.
A few chapters were about the Monterey festival. and the many groups that played there over a few days. There could be a lot of drama between the band of singers. He writes about the ending of the band and a chapter of what became of each member after the Mamas and Papas broke up. A good biography. Not always easy to read though. A good read for fans of the group.

[Katie Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting and juicy book. Was going to say at times it’s a bit detail-heavy, but then I read the epilogue and now I want another 200 pages on those bombshells. Would definitely recommend!

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an introduction to the Mamas and the Papas it’s a good start. I particularly enjoyed reading about Monterey Pop even though it strayed from the focus on the group itself. It left me wanting more though. Questions unanswered. The book takes you back to the band’s New York roots and the influence of the folk rock movement there. A lot of emphasis is therefore on John Phillips, not Mama Cass (my favorite). No mention of Mackenzie Phillips abuse allegations. A shocking amount of alcohol , cocaine, heroin and acid abuse also. The book ends when the band breaks up, so there are stories untold here.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the Leaves Are Brown will be published on June 1, 2023. Backbeat Books, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield Publishing provided an early galley for review.

The Mamas and the Papas are one of my wife's favorite 60's bands. I have always enjoyed their songs, with the blending harmonies and sing-along lyrics. I am familiar with their story, but I was eager to see what further facts Scott Shea would bring to the table with this book. On that count, he did not disappoint.

The framework of this entire narrative hangs on John Phillips. That really should be obvious given the cover shot of the book; it is a photo where John is front and center with the others in the supporting positions around him. The author clearly gathered a lot of research on him as several of the opening chapters are about his family history and his coming up as a folk artist. We only get introduced to Michelle, Denny and Cass as their paths cross with John; even then their background stories are much shorter compared to what we get for him.

Still, even with this particularly focused angle of the tale, Shea provides a compelling narrative of real people trying to make it in the music business despite all of the personal drama that is swirling around them and because of them. They were truly a dysfunctional group from the get-go. It is a reminder that so often the rock stars that are put on pedestals are just humans trying to make their art while dealing with the emotional and personal challenges regular people face. The book also devotes a lot of space to the Monterey Pop Festival of which John Phillips was a driving force.

[Charli Winking · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story but the book has more misspellings typos, and grammatical errors than I think I've ever seen. They started early, when on page 3 he referred to the actor "Douglas Fairbark!" He needed an editor, a proofreader, and a better typesetter. And there seems to be no piece of trivia too small to include. I've been restraining myself from making corrections.

[Craig Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Leaves are Brown: How the Mamas & the Papas Came Together and Broke Apart by Scott G. Shea was a substantial and weighty biography of 373 pages. It was published last year and as a fan of the group I looked forward to reading it. I wrote numerous notes to check YouTube for television appearances by pre-Mamas & the Papas incarnations and to check Discogs for their earliest recordings. Shea established in detail the convoluted paths that led to the formation of the group, starting with a biography of its founder, John Phillips. From the start, John was portrayed as an oversexed drug addict who never cared for his first wife and their two children. He remained a junkie philanderer his entire life. Shea profiled Michelle Phillips next, who by the way is the only member of the Mamas & the Papas whom I have met in person. She steered clear of becoming a drug addict but was always unfaithful, professing her love it seemed to all the men who came into her life, including fellow Papa Denny, former Byrd Gene Clark, their producer Lou Adler, Roman Polanski and other musicians. And all of this under husband John’s nose. She was the muse who provided John with so much of his writing material:

“What he did know was that his world was falling apart before him and he couldn’t do more than sit home and pine away for his wayward bride through songwriting.”

Shea then gave biographies of Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot, the latter of whom was the last to join the group and the one who made them famous.

John may have been the main songwriter and arranger responsible for creating the harmonies that define the Mamas & Papas sound, yet he was jealous and cruel to Cass. I was impressed by the way Shea presented Cass, whose personality and drive for stardom was stronger than John’s taunts to belittle her. Cass had star power and was a natural on television, often serving as the group’s spokesperson in interviews. She was the only one who had a successful solo career after the group’s breakup, which was cut short by her untimely death.

The Mamas & the Papas lived the rock and roll lifestyle, indulging in sex, drugs and alcohol which accelerated their demise. Their record company always seemed to be chasing after them for new material. John was instrumental in organizing the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967 and the Mamas & the Papas as main headliners closed the three-day event. However since they were so disorganized with Denny being AWOL and having had no rehearsal time, their closing set was a disappointment. In comparison to the acts who immediately preceded them like the Who, Grateful Dead and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Mamas & the Papas seemed on the way out.

Insider revelations are prevalent throughout this work and it was obvious to me that Shea wouldn’t have learned any of them from the people he interviewed. Three of the Mamas and Papas are deceased, and he did not acknowledge Michelle as a source. I concluded fairly early on that, the Mamas and Papas fan that I am, he must have gotten his dirt from other sources, such as the autobiography by John and memoir by Michelle, which both came out in 1986. I could pick out passages that I recalled from Michelle’s California Dreamin’: The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas. To be fair he did cite each of these books in his bibliography.

Unfortunately the text was sullied by sentences with duplicate verbs and run-ons, and some sentences didn’t even make sense. I had to pause and reread sentences to figure out what was going on. Shea could have caught his errors with a simple proofread, as I am sure he meant to write when instead of was as the word before Cass, below:

“The circumstances were incredibly unbelievable, and spirits got even higher was Cass presented them with a vial filled with liquid Sandoz LSD.”

However, to place incredibly next to unbelievable is redundant and elicited an eyeroll. That is just bad writing.

The following sentence was the worst example of the unedited text yet I didn’t bother to record any more in my notes. I still don’t understand what Shea meant:

“After recognizing all the havoc she’d helped sow by looking around and seeing everybody except she and Scott had left the hotel, she groveled her way back into John’s good graces and traveled with him, Peter Pilafian, Abe Somer, Ann Marshall, Scott, and his girlfriend to Paris and on to Belgium.”

Denny’s second wife was named Jeanette yet Shea spelt it Jeannette on page 362 and on the very next line right underneath it, spelt it Jeanette. You can’t not notice this, and it’s sloppy. Just as bad is his misspelling of Denny’s daughter’s name Emberly. Her name does not have an E between the L and Y.

I appreciated the references Shea made to Billboard magazine and I pored over historical issues on-line to find the group’s first trade ads and chart appearances. For example, before “California Dreamin'” hit the Hot 100, it bubbled under for two weeks at #116 (on December 25, 1965) and rose to #103 (on January 1, 1966) before it entered the chart at #99 on January 8. It vaulted to #74 on January 15 and the hitmaking parade began.

[MB KARAPCIK · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Leaves Are Brown by Scott G. Shea chronicles the rise and fall of the Mamas and Papas, the 1960s singing group that spawned memorable hits like California Dreamin' and Monday, Monday. You learn about all the principal singers' starts in the music industry and how they all came together to sing in such beautiful harmony, as mentioned in their catchy and semi-biographical song, Creeque Alley. But like many a tale of a band, it's not all harmony and success. Drama, unrequited love, infidelity, and so much more than that characterized this group who was a major part of the counterculture movement.

At first, the book moves pretty slowly through Papa John Phillips' origins. While I found it interesting and increasingly grew to dislike this talented and ambitious singer and producer, it is a pretty slow part of the book. And that's not the fault of the author. Some parts of his story meander about, and you wonder how he will ever meet up with the other members of his future musical family.

Once you meet Mamas Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot and Papa Denny Doherty, the book moves along at a solid clip. It never fails to amaze me how these bands come together. There's some magical formula that, even though they can appear to be orchestrated, cannot be denied as serendipity. I loved hearing about how they met up and bonded in their own ways and their conflicts and conspiring ways between one another.

Now, if you've always been fascinated by the drama surrounding the recording of Fleetwood Mac's Rumors and/or read or watched Daisy Jones and the Six, this book is for you! You think those stories had drama? This elevates the drama to sky-high heights that you cannot believe. The previously mentioned stories are so tame compared to what's shared in this book.

Since you're basically in the era of Free Love for the most part, you'll get plenty of drama from the whirlwind romance between John and Michelle Phillips to the unrequited love Cass Elliot had for Denny Doherty who eventually regretted spurning her. They all lived a pretty wild life with the drugs, the drama, the brushes with so many luminaries in Hollywood and the music scene and famous hideouts for musicians like Laurel Canyon. It's non-stop storytelling and name-dropping and incredibly interesting. It's also amazing how the members of the band were poor and down on their luck and catapulted to stardom and riches beyond compare.

If you're a huge music fan like me, you'll ravenously eat up all the details of the music business and the whole rock scene. I never knew that John Phillips pretty much created the Monterey Pop Festival. For all his flaws, he did possess a lot of motivation and talent. His upbringing and latter-day drug problems probably exacerbated his absolutely horrific and unforgivable ways of treating everyone. He was awful, but the music really speaks for itself.

Thank you, Globe Pequot, Backbeat, for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Krista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible excuse for a biography: no interviews, no sources cited, full of typos, incoherence, and no editorial oversight. There are sentences that make no sense; the subject and verb don't align, sentences and phrases are repeated verbatim in different paragraphs as though copy + paste were used, the wrong person's name appears as the subject of a sentence, etc. Multiple times I had to go back and re-read to see if I'd skipped some information; no, it turns out the author neglected to mention some vital detail that became important later. The book opens with an unbearably long, pointless, and tedious history of John Phillips' ancestors and his childhood that I skipped for several CHAPTERS until I finally got to the formation of the group. No other member gets more than a few paragraphs of background information. Also the book is filled with dialogue but no citations. Where did Shea get his information? Did he just make up all the conversations depicted in the book? There's a bibliography in the back, but no sense of what was used for source material.

The section about the Monterey Pop Festival takes over 60 pages and describes in detail every single act, what time they played on stage, which songs they played, who was in the band, what they wore, how they were received by the audience, etc...which would be great if this were a book strictly about the Festival, but that wasn't supposed to be the book's focus.

[Hugh Heinsohn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very poorly written and edited. Overlong descriptions of uninteresting details and people involved in the story. Could have been good. The author obviously did a lot of research was apparently determined to get every spec into the book. It reads like a first draft all the way through. Poorly constructed sentences. Confusing narrative.

[Ryan LaBee · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Mixed Bag of Rock History: "All the Leaves Are Brown" by Scott G. Shea

Rating: ★★½☆☆

"All the Leaves Are Brown: How the Mamas & the Papas Came Together and Broke Apart" by Scott G. Shea is a nonfiction biography that aims to chronicle the rise and fall of one of the iconic bands of the 1960s. With a mix of comprehensive research, engaging storytelling, and a focus on the emotional dynamics within the group, Shea's book offers an intriguing glimpse into the world of the Mamas & the Papas. However, it falls short in certain areas, leaving the reader wanting more.

One of the book's strengths lies in its ability to shed light on the origins and evolution of the Mamas & the Papas. Shea's thorough research is evident as he delves into the band's formation, their hitmaking approach with producer Lou Adler, and their relationships with other musicians during the folk-rock wave. The emotional rollercoaster that the band members experienced is also explored, providing a deeper understanding of the group's internal struggles.

However, the book suffers from a slow start. The initial chapters, which delve into the ancestry of John Phillips, the lead Papa and founder of the band, feel unnecessary and tedious. While Shea's intention might have been to provide context, it ends up being a detour that may cause readers to lose interest. Skimming through these sections may be advisable for those seeking a more engaging reading experience.

Once the narrative picks up pace, the book becomes much more captivating. Shea's writing style flows smoothly, making it easy to immerse oneself in the story. The comprehensive coverage of the band's recordings, performances, and ultimate demise is a notable aspect. It offers a more complete picture than other books on the topic and serves as a valuable resource for fans of the Mamas & the Papas.

The author's ability to uncover lesser-known stories is commendable. The anecdotes surrounding the creation of the iconic hit song "California Dreamin'" and John Phillips' maneuvering to include Michelle in his band provide intriguing insights into the band's dynamics. Furthermore, the inclusion of details about the legendary musicians who performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and John Phillips' proximity to the tragic events at Sharon Tate's house adds depth to the narrative.

"All the Leaves Are Brown" is not without its flaws. Some of the familiar pitfalls of rock and roll bands of that era, such as drug abuse, adultery, and dysfunctional relationships, are present but lack fresh perspectives. Additionally, certain aspects, like the impact of the band's music on society or their cultural significance, could have been explored further.

In conclusion, Scott G. Shea's "All the Leaves Are Brown" provides a comprehensive and engaging account of the Mamas & the Papas' rise and fall. While the book struggles to find its footing in the beginning and falls short in certain areas, it succeeds in fleshing out the band's story and shedding light on their tumultuous journey. Fans of the Mamas & the Papas and enthusiasts of '60s rock history will find this biography to be a worthwhile addition to their collection.

Note: I would like to express gratitude to the publisher Globe Pequot, Backbeat for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

[June Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Monday, Monday..." I realized as I sat down to type that I'm writing this review on a Monday. Somehow appropriate, even if I now know that no one in the group was particularly fond of the song, even vocal lead Denny Doherty. Actually, it turns out the Mamas and Papas weren't always particularly fond of each other, either, at times. This made those old photos from fan magazines seem not just faded but false.

The hows and whys of this discord is better left to individual readers to discover on their own as it is both intertwined and complex. What most knew about the group is what the music media of the time told us. You'll get the back stories here, however, on each of the members, such as Cass Elliot's early Broadway dreams, not to mention various detours into the times and supporting cast of characters about them. Be prepared for some hard truths. Infidelity ran rampant, as did Cass' long-time love for Denny Doherty, the same Denny who has an affair with John's wife Michelle, the one he left his wife and two chidren for, who had an affair with the Byrd's Gene Clark. And....well, it's complicated.

In the meantime, after you give up trying to keep score on the drugs and bed-hopping, you'll learn a great deal. First, yes, about the backgrounds of the four individuals who made up the group. You'll learn that being a musician isn't always glamorous. You'll also see friendships made (and destroyed). This is only the tip of the iceberg and, quite frankly, most of it came before the group found success. Much of it made me sad or even angry, but I still found it fascinating, Quite frankly, for example,I really knew nothing more about the Monterey Pop Festival than that it happened, let alone John Phillips' role in it.

If you're a music fan, this book should be on your bookshelf. It's a behind the scenes look at not only what it takes to get to the top of the heap but what getting there can mean. Thanks to #NetGalley and #GlobePequot - #Backbeat for allowing me to indulge myself with "California Dreaming" for awhile. It wasn't always a pleasant memory-fest but fascinating nevertheless. Scott G. Shea really made me feel I was there.

[J Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the Leaves Are Brown by Scott G Shea is a biography of the Mamas & the Papas that is both informative and, at times, brain numbingly boring. Well worth the read but hopefully at some point a better biography will be written. Until then, this is what we're stuck with.

There is a lot of detail here, much of it essential to understanding the turbulent history of the group and much of it just, well, I'm not sure since I only need background on secondary people, not endless detail. The important details are interesting and shed light on a lot of what went on. These are the things that make the book worth reading, or skimming if you're skilled at spotting where the M&P stuff begins and ends.

There are a few new facts disclosed here, which is another reason to plow through the rest. The writing is neither good nor bad in and of itself, but needs a lot of work. It is far too subjective in presentation, you can almost see Shea shaking his head at these people making mistakes and the reasons they are doing so. I read this as self-righteousness, but that could be the dynamic between how he writes and how I read him. Just be prepared, this is not an objective book, though also not just a bunch of opinions.

Speaking of opinions, I was unsure in spots where he got his "behind the scenes" assessments of why people did things. There is a very general bibliography and no notes, so reader beware.

I would still recommend this to readers who are fans of the group, there is a lot of nostalgia to be had. I was transported (by my memories, not the dry verbiage) to the late 60s on numerous occasions. I would more cautiously recommend this to readers who want to read about music history. If you're doing so for the information alone, by all means read this. If you enjoy the actual act of reading about music history, well, you can give it a shot if you're a masochist.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fourteen and a high school freshman in winter of 1967 when I bought my first 45 records. One was Monday, Monday by the Mamas and the Pappas. I loved their sound. Later, I bought Twelve Thirty. And of course, California Dreamin’ was in my collection. I can still sing all the words.

Seeing this book, a fit of nostalgia overtook me and I was interested in learning more about the group.

Talk about sex, drugs, and rock and roll! Marijuana, LSD, and alcohol fueled their days. Infidelity was rampant. These deeply flawed people made choices that were self-destructive.

What I found most interesting was how John Phillips came to write his iconic songs, how he spearheaded the Monterey Pop Festival, meant to bring rock to the same respectability as jazz and folk, and how he followed the developing music scene from folk to rock.

This was more than a biography of a group; I was reading the history of the music I grew up to. I found it quite fascinating. So many 60s musicians and groups play their part in the story.

I especially was interested in the Monterey Pop festival history. I had to search online for videos of the concerts the author talked about.

I was horrified to learn of the way Cass Elliot was treated because of her weight, including snide remarks from John Phillips who never wanted her in the group. Really! With her remarkable voice? She felt pressured to lose weight, which destroyed her health. She died too young of heart disease.

The world they traveled in was so destructive, saturated in drugs and sex and hedonism. None came through healthy. It is so sad, considering their talent.

I was rivited by this fast read

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off with a very boring account of John Phillips's background, so I skipped forward to where it became more interesting – when it finally got into the origins of the Mamas and Papas (most of which I already knew), but it meandered far too much into the lives of other musicians, and was also chock full of irritating typos and misspellings.

I already knew that John Phillips was a person who led a life of extreme excess. For a time he subleased a coop apartment in Greenwich Village in a friend's building, and she complained about his parties and the noise a number of times. After reading the book, I disliked him all the more. He squandered his talent and actually produced very little.

The book made it clear that the most interesting and likable member of the group was obviously Cass Elliott. She too, lived a life of excess, and her early death was very sad. Had she been able to overcome her addictions, she could have become so much more.

All in all, this was a chronicle that focused on how four lives were often badly spent. It seemed more an indictment of a period in music history than a celebration of it, and while there bright spots in the book, it seemed to glory in the bad aspects of the time. Overall, not very satisfying.

[AnnieM · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a biography of the Mamas and Papas that starts with providing in-depth background on John Phillips and later gives background on the other band members (although in much less detail than about John). I have read other biographies about this group as well as the music scene at the time and I have to say I did learn new things in this book. I had no idea the role John Phillips had in managing the Monterey Pop Festival! The author has done thorough research about everything from the different bands people were in as well as the house John and Michelle move into. I found this book to be a worthwhile read for readers interested in the Mamas and the Papas or the music and cultural scene of the 1960’s California.

Thank you to Netgalley and Globe Pequot, Backbeat for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mamas and The Papas were not together as a creative musical group long enough. They did produce several fabulous hits with incredible harmony, totally unique at the time and still unique. This biography is the first I’ve read about The Mamas and The Papas, and I was not aware of John Phillip’s first group, The Journeymen.

The author casts John Phillips as a punk and a womanizer in his early musical years while he was still married with children. Michelle Phillips is a wandering sole who comes to grips with her devotion to John easily. Denny Doherty was a naturally blessed musician with an outstanding singing voice. Cass Elliott carried the band with her charm, powerful personality and voice. The facts were too many in this detailed report of music and people, but overall I was still interested in their lives.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Scott Shea’s conversational writing style and at times Shea is a good storyteller. Some parts of the book were absolutely riveting. On the downside, some of the writing was confusing, there was too much musical jargon, and so many characters were introduced that I couldn’t keep track. In addition, there was too much background on peripheral characters.So as good as the storytelling was at times, the book would grind to a complete stop in several places. After the third time, I asked myself why I was still reading the book, but I continued but skipped over more and more peripheral information. Despite all criticism, the book is still worth reading, especially for fans of the Mamas and the Papas. Thank you to Edelweiss and Backbeat Books for the advance reader copy.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read about one of the most iconic rock groups of the last 40 years. Who knew there were so many problems between the members of the group. The early days seemed ideal, singing and performing music. It seems like the move to California changed the dynamics of the group. All the drugs and alcohol didn’t help either. Mama Cass has the most class! Like David Crosby said, she carried the group. Her great voice made the Mammas and the Pappas what they really were, a terrific vocal band. Thank you to NetGalley and The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group for the Egalley!!! II was a lot of fun to read!!!!

[Patrick Crowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly detailed labor of love that covers every moment in the Mamas and the Papas story. The band was not especially prolific but the relationships and drama behind the scenes make it seem incredible that the band existed in the first place. Although the author is a Catholic radio host, this story is uncensored. Good reading for 60’s music fans like me.

[michelle Wiggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I didn’t realize what a jerk John Phillips was. I also didn’t realize that Mackenzie Phillips from One Day at a Time was his daughter. The book had some interesting tid bits, but I absolutely HATED how the author kept jumping back and forth between time lines. Not the greatest, but I did learn alot about the singers and the group. I wouldn’t recommend this book.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited when I heard this book was coming out and was not disappointed. I had known much of the story from various other media forms, but there were many surprises here. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not finish this biogrophy. I grew up with the Mamas and the Papas and enjoyed their music. However, this book was too disturbing to me. Lots of drugs, sexual content and it just got me down.

[Mickey McIntosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great music book, and what a rollercoaster ride. Great look at how this band came together, and made great music, and how they self destructed. If you thought Fleetwood Mac was a musical soap opera, they're a Disney movie compared to the Mama's and the Papa's.

[Shawn Persinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than just the Mamas & the Papas, excellent Monterey Pop information.

[Mayre · Rating 2 out of 5]

First few chapters were very tedious and not interesting

[Barbara Nease · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Mamas and Papas fan, I enjoyed the deep dive into their shared history. John Phillips does NOT come off very well but I wasn't surprised.