Hi!, back to the 60´s with an unreleased
and controversial album.
This story began with a marital infidelity. .John Phillips fired his wife Michelle Gilliam from the band on Saturday, June 4, 1966, for having had an affair with Gene Clark of The Byrds.Within days Jill Gibson had been asked to join The Mamas & the Papas as new member.
Shortly after, a promotional campaign to introduce Mama Jill with articles in press,magazines and TV-shows. The group along with Lou Adler left for Europe for several weeks to begin working together.
Upon returning to the United States, the group, their attorney Abe Somer, and Dunhill Records officially fired Mama Michelle on Tuesday, June 28, 1966, and hired Jill Gibson.
Begining in late June and continuing through July 1966, Jill Gibson, Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty, John Phillips and Lou Adler recorded the band's second LP at Western Studios in Los Angeles, California with Bones Howe as the engineer.
The first studio session with Jill took place on July 5, at which the revised backing track of “No Salt On Her Tail” was recorded. On July 8, John’s song “Gypsy” (which became “Dancing Bear”) was started. On July 15, Jill replaced Michelle’s vocal on “Even If I Could.”. During the last week of July, “That Kind Of Girl,” “Did You Ever Want To Cry” and “Strange Young Girls” were committed to tape along with some orchestration on “Dancing Bear.”. Mama Cass sang John's song "Did You Ever Want To Cry", being included on the A-side of the album in the first cut that was made, replacing a song sung by Mama Michelle.
Ten tracks were recorded for the sophomore album including "I Saw Her Again", which was quickly released as the first single in early July and would peak at No. 5 on the Billboard singles chart on July 30, 1966.
Even If I Could (04/25/66, 07/15/66 [with Jill
Gibson])
Dancing In The Street (04/25/66, 08/23/66)
Words Of Love (04/26/66, 11/09/66
[orchestration by Marty Paich])
I Saw Her Again (04/26/66, 04/27/66)
Once Was A Time I Thought (04/28/66)
Here In My Arms (04/28/66)
No Salt On Her Tail (04/28/66, 08/23/66 [new
backing track], 08/24/66)
I Can’t Wait (07/06/66 [with Jill Gibson],
08/02/66 [bass, drums and keyboards replaced])
Dancing Bear (07/08/66 [with Jill Gibson],
07/27/66)
That Kind Of Girl (07/24/66 [with Jill
Gibson], 08/23/66 [new backing track with Michelle’s vocal])
Did You Ever Want To Cry (07/24/66 [with Jill
Gibson], 07/26/66 [new backing track], 11/29/66 [new backing track])
Strange Young Girls (07/31/66 [with Jill
Gibson], 08/03/66 [new backing track], 08/23/66 [Michelle’s vocal])
My Heart Stood Still (08/23/66, 08/24/66)
Look Through My Window (09/24/66; 09/28/66
[orchestration by Marty Paich])"
Three of the ten tracks were re-recorded (they had been previously recorded
with Michelle before she was fired) to include Jill's vocals. The studio musicians and John, Cass and Denny
re-recorded whatever parts were necessary to make everything sound homogenous.
Henry Lewy engineered these
recordings. The band recorded their vocals to “Strange Young Girls,” “No Salt
On Her Tail” and “I Can’t Wait” in early August after the keyboard, bass and
drum tracks were redone on the last two songs. Re-recording was also done on
“Trip, Stumble And Fall” during that session, although the vocals were not
touched.
It was decided the album would be called “Crashon Screamon All Fall Down”, bit.ly/mP66Cm4 and was scheduled for an August release with this provisional line-up:
A1. No Salt on her Tail (4/28/66 version, 7/5/66 new
backing track)
A2. Trip, Stumble and Fall (4/25/66, 7/25/66 [with JG] & 8/2/66 new bass,
drum & keyboard OD)
A3. Dancing Bear (7/8/66 [with JG] & 7/27/66 [with JG])
A4. Words of Love (4/26/66)
A5. Did You Ever Want to Cry (7/24/66 [with JG] & 7/26/66 new backing track
OD)
A6. Dancing In the Street (4/25/66 version).
B1. I Saw Her Again (4/26/66 & 4/27/66)
B2. Strange Young Girls (7/31/66 [with JG] & 8/3/66 new backing track)
B3. I Can't Wait (7/6/66 [with JG] & 8/2/66 new bass, drum & keyboard
OD)
B4. Even If I Could (4/25/66 & 7/15/66 [with JG])
B5. That Kind of Girl (7/24/66 [with JG])
B6. Once Was a Time I Thought (4/28/66)
Prior to Michelle's firing, the band had been photographed for the cover of their second LP inside the window frame of an abandoned house in the desert.
This was soon rectified by their label Dunhill Records who asked the original photographer Guy Webster, to photograph Jill Gibson alone in the exact same pose as Michelle had been in, and then to superimpose Jill's image over Michelle's.
The record label was not satisfied with the finished product and therefore ordered an entire new album cover to be shot by Webster. Guy then shot a splendid new cover with Jill, John, Denny, and Cass outside in a field of grass against a white picket fence.
The label was pleased with this new album cover and it was used as promotion
for the upcoming new LP inside of the music trade papers, as well as on large
billboards across the country.
“Crashon Screamon All Fall Down”
did have a pre-release, very different
from the final release.while Jill was still in the group.
The Mamas & the Papas hit the road for a five city concert tour in late July and early August But according to John, the chemistry within the group was not there with Jill. He decided in late August 1966, it would be best that Jill be let go and that Michelle be reinstated.
The band and their label Dunhill Records gave Jill an undisclosed lump sum for her two and a half month stint as Mama Jill.
Michelle was reinstated to the band on August 23, 1966. Once Michelle was back in the group, in three separate three-hour sessions, Michelle had to re-record as many of Jill Gibson’s parts as she could, and the first one was “Dancing In The Street.” But Jill's voice could not have been removed from anything that she originally recorded without in fact re-recording the entire song, all parts, from scratch, which would simply not have been a financially viable option for Dunhill.
The album the group had recorded with Gibson was then pulled by the label
to accommodate Michelle's return. No copies of the album featuring Jill were
ever released to the public. Only the promotional copies that were sent to
national radio stations across the U.S The LP was soon
re-named simply as The Mamas and the Papas and it hit the stores in September
13 1966, with Michelle's image on the cover.
The entire album except for two tracks that feature
Michelle's vocals, the rest is sung by Jill Gibson.With.
OK!.., Here you have the stereo version and the mono version too.
That's all that is not little. Enjoy another album recovered from oblivion. I keep looking for you and see you soon.