Still Can't Hear The Music?

Denny Doherty was noticeable for being the least noticeable of The Mamas & The Papas. Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips, each in their own way, had gravitational fields capable of pulling lesser planets into orbit. Then you might notice the lanky one, the bearded boho with the jazz hat, but you'd only be vaguely aware of Papa II, Denny Doherty, even when he was singing. It's a quality that suffuses his first album, Watcha Gonna Do (1970). No great statements, no grandstanding, no pretension. Just that sublimely easy voice, songs sweet as summer, and a mouthwatering production from Bill Szymczyk (remind me to copy-paste that next time) using the Record Plant pool of perfect session talent. Perhaps because of the laid-back feel, it's an album that sneaks up on you, and you suddenly realise you couldn't live without it.

It didn't exactly bring him any more attention that he'd gotten being a Papa. A second album, the ominously titled Waiting For A Song, appeared to even less excitement in '74. The boilerplate critical view (Allmusic, ffs) holds that this is some kind of document of personal breakdown, drenched in depression, a man at the end of his tether. Bullshit. He may have been battling his demons, but it doesn't show here. A couple of the songs express regret, and a wish that the good times could roll around again, but that doesn't make the album Skip Spence's Oar, not by a long way. And M&P songs weren't free from the same feelings - California Dreaming? Monday Monday? 

The production, and the material, take a step back from the Malibu hippie vibe of the first album to a mainstream pop approach. Cass and Michelle back him up, and the whole thing sounds more like a worthy collection of Mamas & Papas outtakes (even the covers are as corny as M&P choices) than the more introspective singer-songwriter direction he might have taken. It's a less hip piece of work, and the string arrangements tend to the generic, but it's full of delights, his voice is still gorgeous, and the way it's been dismissed and forgotten is shameful.

This collection brings together the two albums, the essential extra tracks that were included on the expanded first album re-issue All The Things, and the stunning Columbia single from '73, which wasn't.