The Mama's And The Papa's If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears LP (Mono) (Gold Vinyl)

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 112/500!

Upon its release in 1966, the Mamas and the Papas' debut LP If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears introduced a fresh new sound that would permanently alter the face of contemporary popular music. Leader John Phillips' visionary producing, arranging and songwriting abilities combined with the quartet's breathtaking harmonies to make music that was both effortlessly accessible and creatively adventurous. The album quickly topped the Billboard album chart, bringing folk-rock into the pop mainstream and making Phillips, his then-wife Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot into instant multimedia celebrities. In the years since its release, "If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears" has come to be regarded as one of the finest pop albums of the '60s and one of the best debut releases ever, as evidenced by its ranking at number 127 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album was the product of Lou Adler's visionary production, Phillips' savvy studio mastery and the foursome's extended period of musical woodshedding in the Virgin Islands. The months of meticulous rehearsals paid off in the group's ability to emerge as a full-formed musical unit right out of the box, delivering such instant classics as "California Dreamin'", "Monday, Monday" and "Go Where You Wanna Go" to the willing ears of record buyers and radio listeners.

At the time of If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears' initial release, the presence of a toilet in the periphery of the album's cover photo caused faint-hearted moral guardians to pressure the group's record company to excise the offending fixture from subsequent pressings of the album. Sundazed's new vinyl edition restores the rare, long-missing 'toilet' cover, and features the album's superior original mono mix. It's also mastered from the original analog tapes, and pressed on high-definition vinyl - the better to maintain the same joyous sense of discovery that listeners felt when first hearing this timeless gem in 1966.

... five great originals beats the odds at a time when singles ruled and albums were cobbled together with a great deal of filler. This one took two months to complete and aside from the great tunes, there's that utterly unmistakable, original sound that few groups ever manage.

'California Dreamin', this album's first hit and a warm breeze of melody that was the road song for hippie migrants to the West Coast in the late 1960s, was started by Papa John Phillips on a dreary New York day in 1963 - at the height of the Greenwich Village folk revival. Eyes and Ears is more of the sweet same: sunshine pop with a rustic heart, the Beach Boys for folkies. Breathtaking harmonies and Phillips' studio wizardry transformed the group's covers of 'Spanish Harlem' and the Beatles' 'I Call Your Name.' Another reason to feast your ears: the luscious sadness of 'Monday, Monday.'