The Mamas & the Papas - Collected [2LP Blue]

The Mamas & the Papas' Collected gathers the harmony-drenched heart of California folk-pop on a limited 2LP set, pressed on 180 gram blue vinyl in a gatefold jacket, imported from Holland.

Few groups captured the mid-sixties West Coast dream as vividly as John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot. Their run was brief and famously turbulent, but in a handful of years they turned four distinct voices into one of pop's most recognisable sounds, with producer Lou Adler giving those blends space to glow.

California Dreamin' still captures that longing for sunshine on a grey winter's day, and Monday, Monday remains a masterclass in bittersweet melody. Creeque Alley tells the group's own origin story with a wink, name-checking the friends and false starts that led them there, while Dedicated to the One I Love and Dream a Little Dream of Me show how beautifully they could reshape other people's songs. Later singles like Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon) paint the Laurel Canyon scene from the inside.

The final side also makes room for Cass Elliot's solo work, including the irresistible Make Your Own Kind of Music.

Spread across four sides, this is the hits and the stories in one place, and an easy way to fall for those voices all over again.