Drugs, Sex, and Dissension – All the Leaves Are Brown by Scott G. Shea

Some of most memorable sounds of the 60s were the harmonies of the Mamas and Papas, though compared to The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, and the artists of Motown, they lacked the depth of catalog and output, and their time as an active group was limited to just a few years, far fewer than memory may render. 

The group was composed of John Phillips, his eventual second wife Michelle Gilliam Phillips, Cass Elliott, and Denny Doherty, all of whom (other than Michelle) had initially been members of other groups and musical acts. The group came together in Greenwich Village and fell apart in California.

As the book started off with a very boring account of John Phillips's background, I skipped forward to where it became more interesting – when it finally got into the origins of the Mamas and Papas (a good deal of which I already knew), but then it meandered off far too much into the lives of other musicians, not necessarily related ones, and was also chock full of irritating typos and misspellings. Several artists were also savaged, rather unfairly in my opinion, including the great Laura Nyro. 

I was already well aware 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. Drugs, alcohol and sex seemed to be his most compelling pursuits.

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 had many more years of influence in the music world.

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, a more disappointing than satisfying read.