| If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 28, 1966 | |||
| Recorded | October–December 1965 | |||
| Genre |
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| Length | 33:42 | |||
| Label | Dunhill | |||
| Producer | Lou Adler | |||
| The Mamas and the Papas chronology | ||||
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| Singles from If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears | ||||
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| Audio | ||||
| "Entire Album" playlist on YouTube | ||||
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears is the debut album from vocal group The Mamas & the Papas (stylized as The Mama's and the Papa's [sic]), released on February 28, 1966. The stereo mix of the album is included on All the Leaves are Brown (2001), a double CD compilation consisting of the band's first four albums and various singles, as well as on The Mamas & the Papas Complete Anthology (2004), a four-CD box set released in the UK. The mono mix of the album was remastered and reissued on vinyl by Sundazed Records in 2010, and on CD the following year. It is the band's only album to reach number one on the Billboard 200.
In 2003, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears was ranked number 127[3]onRolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, with its rank rising to number 112 in the 2012 revision.[4]
Five versions of the album cover were produced:
The cover art was produced and shot by photographer Guy Webster.[9]
The cover shows the artist as "The Mama's and the Papa's", a grammatical error that has not been corrected on any of the album's reissues.[10]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Record Mirror |  [11] |
| Rolling Stone | [12] |
The album received a positive retrospective review in Rolling Stone, in which critic Rob Sheffield remarked "The Mamas and the Papas celebrated all the sin and sleaze of Sixties L.A. with folksy harmonies, acoustic guitars, and songs that told inquiring minds way more than they wanted to know. And on their January 1966 debut, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, they somehow made it all sound groovy." He described the album as a dark look at L.A. culture that sounds accessible and optimistic thanks in large part to Lou Adler's production.[12] Bruce Eder wrote for AllMusic that the album "embraced folk-rock, pop/rock, pop, and soul, and also reflected the kind of care that acts like the Beatles were putting into their records at the time." He added that it had a stronger polish than the group's other albums, in part because it predated the personal conflicts that tainted their later works.[1] The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[13]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Monday, Monday" | John Phillips | 3:28 |
| 2. | "Straight Shooter" | J. Phillips | 2:58 |
| 3. | "Got a Feelin'" |
| 2:53 |
| 4. | "I Call Your Name" |
| 2:38 |
| 5. | "Do You Wanna Dance" | Bobby Freeman | 3:00 |
| 6. | "Go Where You Wanna Go" | J. Phillips | 2:29 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "California Dreamin'" |
| 2:42 |
| 2. | "Spanish Harlem" |
| 3:22 |
| 3. | "Somebody Groovy" | J. Phillips | 3:16 |
| 4. | "Hey Girl" |
| 2:30 |
| 5. | "You Baby" |
| 2:22 |
| 6. | "The 'In' Crowd" | Billy Page | 3:12 |
| Chart (1966) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard 200[15] | 1 |
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| Singles |
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