If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966)

If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears is the debut studio album by the American-Canadian folk rock vocal group the Mamas & the Papas (stylized as The Mama's and the Papa's), released on February 28, 1966 through Dunhill Records. It is the band's only album to reach number one on the Billboard 200. In the UK, the album was released as The Mama's and the Papa's on June 10, 1966, on RCA Victor, and reached number three on the Record Retailer Albums Chart.

In 2003, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears was ranked number 127 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, with its rank rising to number 112 in the 2012 revision.

Cover art

At least six versions of the album cover were produced:

No. 1: The original cover (shown at upper right) features the group in a bathroom, sitting in a bathtub with a toilet in the corner. These were pulled from stores after the toilet was judged indecent; since then they have become a collector's item, with one copy selling at an auction for $300.

No. 2: Most of the toilet bowl is covered with a scroll listing the presence of "California Dreamin'" on the album.

No. 3: Similar to No. 2, most of the toilet is covered, in this case by a bright yellow rectangle listing the presence of "Monday, Monday" and "California Dreamin'". This version was released in Canada.

No. 4: Two additional songs from the album are shown on the scroll: "Monday, Monday" and "I Call Your Name".

No. 5: Same as No. 4 but with a gold record award blurb added (in black) to the left of the group.

No. 6: Black cover with a closely cropped shot of the group that hid the fact that the picture was taken in a bathroom.

The cover art was produced and shot by photographer Guy Webster.

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.

Mixes

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 Music in 2010, and on CD the following year.

Critical reception

Contemporary reviews

Contemporary reviews of If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears were highly positive and frequently emphasized the Mamas & the Papas' vocal blend and harmonic style. Record Mirror called the album "very sweet", noting its "clever harmonising" and describing it as "good listening". David F. Wagner of The Post-Crescent described the group as part of a "limited, but forceful" trend of "good time music" and wrote that their voices "play against, yet complement, each other through counterpoint harmonies", resulting in a sound "as fresh as today". The Journal & Courier's Angelyn Rizzo wrote that their sound featured "marvelous harmony" along with "unusual contrapuntal harmonies and unique individual vocal arrangements" that "make the album an entire pleasantry". Norman Barry of the Sunday Independent argued that the album demonstrated the group's "versatility, originality, harmony and above all, their willingness to experiment and create".

Bill Hilton of the Santa Barbara News-Press expressed surprise at liking a folk rock-based record but described the album as "good to listen to", praising the group's "uncommon blend of voices" and writing that they "harmonize beautifully" without being overshadowed by instrumentation. The Daily Telegraph's Anne McDonald called the album "brilliant" and said their "voices that blend so perfectly" and orchestral backing "create a feeling of spine-tingling nostalgia". Ernie Santosuosso of The Boston Globe wrote that the group "can do no wrong with a song" and compared their role in folk-rock to the Four Freshmen's position in jazz vocal music. He highlighted their "meticulous sounds and feeling for harmonics" and described the album as containing "refreshingly creative choral magic".

Looking back at If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears a year later, critics regarded it as their defining work for the Mamas & the Papas and emphasized its importance. Robert Christgau called the album "a classical record with a new approach", and Paul Krassner commented that the group "feel good to hear". Richard Goldstein stated that the album "has the strongest composition on it" and argued that it "influenced the way other performers use harmony", while also noting that later records were "really only remakes of this first unique album". Robert Fulford likewise described it as the album that "defines them". The Star Weekly wrote that the "crystal voices" of the group were heard at their best on the debut and added that its songs "would make the album a significant contribution to the pop-rock scene if they never cut another".