Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • 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
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 rating)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

All the Leaves Are Brown

By: Scott G. Shea
Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

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
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Hag cover art
Have a Little Faith cover art
A Song for Everyone cover art
Leon Russell cover art
John Farnham cover art
Just a Story from America cover art
View from the Bottom cover art
Nothing's Bad Luck cover art
American Prometheus cover art
Levon cover art
Letters from Brenda cover art
Please Please Tell Me Now cover art
Total F*cking Godhead cover art
King of the Blues cover art
People Funny Boy cover art
Janis cover art

What listeners say about All the Leaves Are Brown

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thorough, exciting, and a true rocknroll story of sad excess, huge highs, great talent and the downfall of downfalls

Great to hear about their backgrounds, how they came together and went from rags to riches almost overnight. A great social and cultural documentary. Also a detailed history of the the Monterey Pop Festival which John Phillips produced and drove from a wobbly start to being a classic in 1967 breaking Hendrix, Joplin, Redding and The Who and more.
Dark sex, drink and drugs stories throughout- true addicts - but what great music, voices and harmonies. John Phillips was an outstanding writer and producer until ego and drugs brought him down.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!