The Mamas & the Papas played something closer to folk rock, with bass and drums. Their rehearsals in the Virgin Islands were "the first time that we tried playing electric". The band then traveled from New York to Los Angeles for an audition with Lou Adler, co-owner of Dunhill Records. The audition was arranged by Barry McGuire, who had befriended Cass Elliot and John Phillips independently over the previous two years, and who had recently signed with Dunhill himself. It led to "a deal in which they would record two albums a year for the next five years", with a royalty of 5 percent on
The Mamas & the Papas Dreamin': The Songs of the Mamas and the Papas." The New Mamas and the Papas were a by-product of John Phillips' desire to "round out the picture of reform" as he awaited sentencing on narcotics charges in 1980. He invited his children Jeffrey and Mackenzie, both living in Los Angeles, and Denny Doherty, who was living in Canada, to join him at the Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, where he was undergoing rehabilitation. The children arrived around Thanksgiving and Doherty around Christmas. The idea of reviving the group was born at this time, with Phillips and Doherty in