The Mamas & the Papas for the fourth album eventually stalled completely, and in September 1967 John Phillips called a press conference to announce that The Mamas & the Papas were taking a break, which they confirmed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" which aired September 24. The plan was to give concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Olympia in Paris, before taking time out on Majorca to "get the muse going again", as John Phillips put it. When the group docked at Southampton on October 5, Elliot was arrested on a charge of having stolen two blankets and a hotel key
The Mamas & the Papas depending on the availability of the other group members: "It was rare we were all together. Most tracks were dubbed, one vocal at a time." The Mamas and the Papas' last album of new material, "People Like Us", was released in November 1971. The only single, "Step Out" (January 1972), reached number eighty-one in the US. The album peaked at number eighty-four on the "Billboard" 200, making it the only Mamas and Papas LP not to reach the top twenty in the US. Neither single nor album charted in the UK. Contractual obligations fulfilled, the band's split was now final.