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

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 Papas 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.

Many of the songs on Wolfking of L.A. seem to document John’s decent into addiction. The lyrics of “Topanga Canyon,” “Sometimes I drive out to Topanga and park my car in the sand, watching and waiting for a pick up from my man. In “Drum Junkies,” a group of junkies steal his drum so they can “put them in their arms.” “Let It Bleed, Genevieve” deals with the true story of how John’s wife Genevieve, lay upstairs having a miscarriage as he was on the floor below, unconscious after a drug binge.

The digitally remastered John Phillips (John,The Wolfking of L.A.) has superior sound quality. The album also includes eight previously unreleased tracks unearthed by Mamas and the Papas producer Lou Adler. On some of the bonus tracks, Phillips moves away from the drug themes so prevalent in the originally released songs and touches on things such as his young daughters in “Lonely Children,” and an ode to his soon-to-be-wife Genevieve, in “16 mm Baby.”

While John Phillips (John, The Wolfking of L.A.) is a dark and brooding record, it is also a great one. Wolfking shows John Phillips tremendous talents as a writer, producer, arranger and singer. Sadly, the album is also a reminder of how much damage drugs have done to some of rock music’s greats. As I listened to Wolfking, I couldn’t help but wonder how many more great songs there would have been if drugs hadn’t become Phillips’ best friend for so many years.