Of All the Things: Complete ABC/Dunhill Masters

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Recording information: The Record Plant, Los Angeles. Photographers: Philip Melnick; Tom Wilkes ; Barry Feinstein. After the gradual dissolution of his group the Mamas & the Papas was complete, Denny Doherty found himself at musical loose ends. As the other members of the group were setting off on solo pursuits, their label, ABC/Dunhill, contacted Doherty and reminded him of a contractual obligation for a solo album. In response, Doherty gathered together a small group of friends and studio cats and set to work on an album. The gentle and loose country-rock-inspired Watcha' Gonna Do? was the result. That 1971 album makes up the bulk of Real Gone's 2018 collection Of All the Things: The Complete ABC/Dunhill Masters. While it's not exactly a lost classic, the laid-back pastoral warmth that flows out of the grooves like a Laurel Canyon sunset and the occasional pedal steel-infused gem make it well worth hearing. The title track is a fine slice of rollicking eco-conscious pop, "Neighbors" bounds along like a floppy-eared mutt, and "Got a Feelin'" captures some of the majesty of the Mamas & the Papas' later work (which makes sense since it was co-written by John Phillips). The best song on the record is "Still Can't Hear the Music," which sounds like a lost Mike Nesmith hit, only freer and sunnier than anything the former Monkee ever did. If the rest of the album had been this good, it would be a widely heralded classic. It's not, but it's still a lot of fun. Along with the album, this collection includes a handful of songs Doherty cut for ABC/Dunhill before the label let him loose in 1972: the lovely ballad "Shadows on My Wall," an album outtake that really should have made the cut; a heavily orchestrated cover of the Millennium's "To Claudia on Thursday" that was issued as a single in 1971; "Of All the Things," a sappy ballad written and produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter; and three songs written and produced by future Steely Dan founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagan. The extra cuts are an interesting addition to Watcha' Gonna Do? and help make the collection a little more appealing to the hardcore Mamas fans or country-rock completists who are the set's likely intended audience. ~ Tim Sendra