The Contents Are Through

It’s been more than two years since the Canadian folk rock duo Whitehorse released the EP The Northern South Vol. 1. The disc contained covers of past classics by legends like Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, and Chuck Berry. Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet transformed these cuts into dirty, nasty, smoldering tracks that bled fire, flesh, and brimstone. The multi-instrumentalists played and sang as if possessed by the devil, the one that lives inside of us and persuades us to do the wrong thing.

This is where fans of the group can sort of stop and settle down at last. MCA Records had previously let the Mamas & the Papas' music out on CD in a trickle; the debut LP was upgraded and a compilation of remastered hits showed later in the decade, but the rest was left to languish. This two-CD set makes up for that neglect, assembling all four of the quartet's '60s albums on two CDs and augmenting them with the mono single versions of "I Saw Her Again," "Words of Love," and "Creeque Alley," plus the non-LP single "Glad to Be Unhappy." One just wants to luxuriate in the sound of this reissue and its little details, like the rhythm guitar on "Do You Want to Dance" that cuts right through the air, the string basses on "Go Where You Want to Go" that sound like they're just across the room, and the rest of the first album.

Like a majority of up-and-coming British bands of the 1960s, the Zombies made nearly two dozen BBC Light and Radio 1 transmissions between the fall of 1964 and the spring of 1968. The 29 cuts hail from a variety of those programs. In many cases their alternate persona as a consummate and immensely soulful cover combo is likewise illuminated…