'If Can You Believe Your Eyes And Ears'

I hold this record in very high regard.

Growing up, we always had a turntable and hi-fi, which I didn't really know how to use for the longest time. Or it didn't work. Either way, it was tough for me to listen to the LPs my mother had because I couldn't hear the music. However, thanks to the vinyl record, you could place it on the turntable and start it and hear the slight sound of music as the needled glided over the grooves of the black record.

This was my introduction to rock and roll. And the Mamas and the Papa's best-selling album was my gateway drug that would envelope the rest of my life.

I still own that record as I do a number of my mother's records. It's still in the original cover with the four members of the group in a bathtub and the toilet right there. They'd later release it with song titles over the toilet because it was just too indecent for 1960s America.

Apart from being an important album for me personally, it's also a really good album. Their hits ("Monday, Monda", "California Dreamin'") are really good songs and other tunes such as "Straight Shooter" and "Got a Feelin'" are better than most other bands' top hits.

Sadly, the Mamas and the Papas didn't last long. Just four years only getting back together in 1971. Just five total albums. A legacy that most bands would kill for. Still, you get the feeling they peaked as artists and that is OK.