All the Leaves Are Brown

How the Mamas & the Papas Came Together and Broke Apart

By: Scott G. Shea

Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray

Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Few songs have captured the contradictions and ambiguities of the 1960s as memorably as "California Dreamin'," the iconic folk music single that catapulted the Mamas & the Papas into rock and roll history. In All the Leaves Are Brown, author Scott Shea details how John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips, and "Mama Cass" Elliot became standard-bearers for California counterculture, following their transformation from folk music wannabes to rock sensations and chronicling the tumultuous events that followed their unexpected success.

Shea gives a definitive account of the group's short time together, from their hitmaking approach with legendary producer Lou Adler to John's unique songwriting to tours and friendships with other musicians riding the folk-rock wave. He explores the emotional vicissitudes that came with being in the Mamas & the Papas, from Cass's unrequited love for Denny, his affair with Michelle, and the ebb and flow of dysfunction in John and Michelle's marriage. And he explains how it all came to a crashing end with John's brainchild, the Monterey Pop Festival, which should have launched the group even further into the musical stratosphere, but only served to be their undoing. All the Leaves Are Brown is a layered, revelatory tale of overnight stardom and its many pitfalls.

©2023 Scott Shea (P)2023 Tantor

Very well written and researched!

Very entertaining and insightful. I didn’t realize (but completely believe) how well liked and
connected Cass Elliot was! Very interesting and thorough story about the Mamas & the Papas. You could definitely put yourself within the descriptive events that happened and was excellent how the storylines all weaved together. It was told beautifully and feel like I want to research so much more about the Monterey Pop festival and the Beatles. Well done!!

Not told very well . .

The story is told in fragments. Then the narrator talks about the roadies and the types of instruments, and other random people and “stuff”. But actual stories about the Mammas & the Papas is only sprinkled throughout this book. Just when he get’s into an interesting story, he switches to other thing’s, and I was left feeling like I didn’t get the whole story.
I was disappointed in this book, and really wanted to hear some new thing’s about Cass, Denny, Michelle, and John. But most of it was the same old thing, interrupted by random, unwanted details.

Sort of incoherent

I’m about halfway through listening to the book & am having a lot of trouble finishing it. I’m actually finding it pretty boring. There’s a lot of detail about the alternative culture at the time which I suppose was included for “color” & to inform readers of what the culture was like that fostered the group. But, for those of us who were around & into the music of the period, it feels like the book could’ve been about 2/3 as long as it is if all the extraneous material were deleted. Also the “story” doesn’t flow well. It feels choppy & like it jumps around time wise. I’m not sure I’ll even finish listening to it.