Mama Cass - Bubble Gum, Lemonade and Something For Mama
Posted by: Sal in Sal's Boutique, tags: mama cass
It’s unfortunate that what society considered to be Mama Cass’ failings have overshadowed her contributions to rock and roll music. Yes, she was overweight and, yes, she died an unfortunate death. But without her popular music would likely have traveled a much different road.
Legend has it that the Lovin’ Spoonful was created as the result of John Sebastian meeting Jerry Yester while sitting at Cass’ apartment, watching the Beatles on TV. It’s widely documented that she heard the voices of Crosby, Stills and Nash singing in her head, long before they’d ever sung together. It was her match-making, inviting them to get together at her house in Laurel Canyon, that yielded one of the monumental singing trios in rock and roll history.
She was the house mother of the Laurel Canyon fraternity — matchmaker, confidant, family cook — and her influence was quiet but forceful.
She also had a brilliant voice. Some may argue there were others who were better trained, more talented or more recognizable (and that’s probably true). But like CSN was what they were because of all three voices, that which was the Mamas and The Papas couldn’t have happened without her voice in the mix.
Taken alone, her voice was sometimes tremendously deep and heart-wrenching and at other times mellifluous and delicate. Such was the case with Bubblegum, Lemonade and Something For Mama, an eleven song set Cass cut in 1969 under the production aegis of Steve Barri.
Supported by Jimmie Haskell’s brilliant west-coast pop arranging and the taste and style of The Wrecking Crew (Joe Osborn, Hail Blaine, Larry Knetchel), this is sunshine pop, tap-dancing standards and heartfelt ballads.
The record opens with one of my favorites, It’s Getting Better, the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil chestnut originally recorded by Bobby Rydell. With a full-on arrangement of strings, horns and flutes, the song immediately establishes Bubblegum as a big production, a full-on dose of sunshine pop.
Side one continues with Blow Me A Kiss, a Lovin’ Spoonful style stroll through the park, featuring a top hat swaying clarinet solo and a wonderful brush-and-bass-drum backbeat from Blaine. Cass changes gears again with the countrified two-step of Sour Grapes and then sits down in the shade for some lemonade and bubblegum with Easy Come, Easy Go. Cass turns quiet with the slow jazz of I Can Dream, Can’t I? (with a beautiful string arrangement a la the Fifth Dimension) then closes the side with the bubbly Welcome To The World.
Mama tackles some great songwriters on the second set. She opens side two with another top and tails tune, an interpretation of Delaney Bramlett’s Lady Love, a song she sings “especially for (her) little daughter” followed by the gem of the album: Laura Nyro’s He’s A Runner. Over a deep, intuitive string arrangement, Larry Knetchel’s subtle piano and Hal Blaine’s just-right percussion, Mama’s voice soars, glides and floats. With this song, alone, we hear why the Mamas and the Papas couldn’t have been without their Mama.
He’s A Runner is so intense and beautiful it’s difficult to recover for the remaining three cuts. Move In A Little Closer, Baby is a fine piece of pop, paying homage to some of the Mamas and the Papas best songs, while When I Just Wear My Smile is fun, but disposable. Cass closes with Haskell’s treament of Leah Kunkel’s Who’s To Blame.
When all is said and sung, Bubblegum, Lemonade and Something For Mama is a world-class production that shows the versatile, gentle voice of a wonderful singer in a variety of pop settings.
MP TASTE TEST:
BUY-O-METER
LP ($1.99 cents at Goodwill): A few scratches here and there but no skips. Considering it’s out of print, I have to say this is the best buy I’ve made in awhile.
CD (over $40, used, here and around): As near as I can tell, the CD is out of print, as well, and the lowest price I’ve seen is over $40
DOWNLOAD: Not available.
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Cass being fat surely was not a failure. It certainly undermined her entire life, especially in love the poor thing (had she been half as big, surely Denny and everybody else she fell for would have been also physically attracted to her). And the bastard John Phillips, who didn’t like Cass much anyway, was so cruel to write her size into the lyrics of the otherwise wonderful Creeque Alley. It’s unfortunate that the ham sandwich story gained currency (would it have done so if she hadn;t been fat? I doubt it). The truth is that the ham sandwich was on her bedside table uneaten. She died of a heart attack after having been awake for something like 36 hours. At least when she died, Cass was happy at her London concerts in the Palladium being well received.
As you say, she brought together CSN and I believe the Lovin Spoonful story is true.
It’s Getting Better has been a constant earworm for the past few weeks. It is, of course, a recurring theme in the TV series Lost.
Your comment prompts me to reconsider my first sentence, which I’ve amended to say “what society considered to be” her failings. Thank you for that perspective; we all benefit from the point view of another writer. I’m not a TV watcher (save for the reruns of Third Rock From The Sun, to which I’m totally addicted), so I wasn’t aware that It’s Getting Better has been used as such. And I’m glad…to me, the song is fresh and new and I like that. This album is getting more play on my iPod than I expected when I laid down my $1.99. And, because my theater teacher wife is involved with a lot of high school aged singers, I’m selling “He’s A Runner” to a couple of kids for whom it would be a perfect fit. The A&R guy in me can’t help himself. Thanks for dropping by and for the insightful comments.
One of my favorite albums from one of my favorite singers. A couple of years ago, somebody posted what I think was a CD rip of this album on a blog, and I was lucky enough to download it. So I’m a happy guy.
Your statement, “Side one continues with Blow Me A Kiss, a Lovin’ Spoonful style stroll through the park, featuring a top hat swaying clarinet solo and a wonderful brush-and-bass-drum backbeat from Blaine” left me wondering what a “Lovin’ Spoonful style stroll through the park” meant. The Spoonful were very mindful of “their sound” and made sure that they recorded very different sounds. One can hardly say that “Do You Believe In Magic,” “Daydream,”"Six O’Clock” and “Summer In The City” have a single “sound,” without even considering “Nashville Cats,” “Jug Band Music,”"Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind,” “Lovin’ You,” etc.
Also, was it Sebastian and Jerry Yester or Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky that Cass brought together?
hi Sal and Frank Hurrat–
I am the writer of “Blow Me A Kiss”, one of the Cass recordings you have discussed here. Frank, you are correct that the Spoonful had varied sounds on their records. However, as a huge fan of John Sebastian, I was definitely influenced by his writing, and BMAK does bear some relationship to “his “Daydream”. Sir Paul has admitted that “Good Day Sunshine” was also inspired by “Daydream” That’s how it works…
As a teenaged songwriter when Cass, an icon at the time, recorded BMAK, you can imagine how thrilled I was to hear this record. As a still-young man I was also thrilled to unexpectedly meet John S. and get to tell him that he did inspire me to write. Incidentally, it has been revealed that Cream’s “White Room” was influenced by “Summer in the City”. I think it is Sebastian’s sense of whimsy or sweetness or just his unique way of looking at life that is the recognizable throughline, as opposed to the sonics. Great to visit with you, JC