Music Review: John Phillips – John Phillips (John,The Wolfking of L.A.)

Led by John Phillips, the Mamas and the Papas were one of the seminal pop/folk groups of the mid to late sixties. During the bands brief run as a fixture on the billboard charts, Phillips wrote such classics as “California Dreamin,’” “Creque Alley,” and “Monday, Monday.”

By 1969, the Mamas and the Papas had disbanded. With hopes of getting the group back together, Dunhill records signed John Phillips to a contract which allowed him to record a solo album and pursue his other artistic interests. The deal also included the promise of another Mamas and the Pappas album. Instead, Phillips concentrated on his first solo record and never reunited with the original Mamas and the Papas lineup again.

John Phillips (John, the Wolfking of LA.) was originally released in 1969 to limited success. Varese Sarabande records has released a fully remastered and expanded version of John Phillips (The Wolfking of L.A.) for the first time on CD. Phillips was able to get some of the era’s best musicians of the era, including Elvis Presley’s guitarist James Burton, steel guitarist Buddy Emmons, drummer Hal Blaine, and backing vocals by Darlene Love among others. The opportunity to listen to the playing skills of all the musicians involved in Wolfking makes the album a must have, for any John Phillips fan.

Recorded at the end of the sixties, during the height of the counterculture, the freedom of Woodstock, and the terror of the Manson murders that gripped Los Angeles, John Phillips (John, The Wolfking of L.A.) is a mix of both the happy highs of drugs (more specifically heroin), and the despair of losing grip of reality, all with a country-folk backbeat. Phillips would struggle with heavy drug problems most of his adult life; much of it well documented in various tabloids from the late sixties to the late eighties.

Article Author: Rebecca Wright

Rebecca is a freelance writer, concentrating in the areas of film, television and music criticism. Her B.A. is in the Humanities with an emphasis in film and writing.She holds an M.A. in American and British literature with an emphasis in dystopian …

Visit Rebecca Wright's author page — Rebecca Wright's Blog