It’s 1964. The Beatles have exploded in America. Everywhere at once, the folk family is feeling the shock. What to do? The Byrds, not yet the Byrds, invent a Jet Set. Dylan is electrified, not yet electrified. We regroup as best we can. Already a formidable singer, Cass Elliot leaves the overly orthodox Big Three and looks for accomplices with whom to harmonize, finds the gentle Denny Doherty in a similar quest, tired of the Halifax Three. The two join forces with a garage rocker, the ineffable Zal Yanovsky, and a budding songwriter, Jim Hendricks. As Mugwumps, they are good, very good, but are looking for a sound, do not have enough new songs. The covers, certainly clever, prevent the promising ones Everybody’s Been Talkin’, I’ll Remember Tonight And I Don’t Wanna Know to shine. Papa Denny and Mama Cass will need a Papa John and a Mama Michelle for their Californian dream to come true, and Zal will need the melodies of another John (Sebastian) to gorge himself on the Lovin’ Spoonful. The Mugwumps’ album will appear after the fact, as a complement to the glory. Here he is again, six decades in the body, a promise finally kept.
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