Beautiful Thing in Bloomington, MN

Hettie MacDonald
's comedy-drama
Beautiful Thing
tells the story of two gay English youth coming of age in a working class section of South London. Sticking with
the Mamas and Papas
musical backdrop used in screenwriter
Jonathan Harvey
's original play, the film features several songs by the
"California Dreamin'"
contingent, as well as a handful of solo sides by
Pappas
' vocalist
Mama Cass
. Seemingly an odd musical backdrop for the movie, the folk-pop of
Cass
,
Denny Doherty
, and
John and Michelle Phillips
actually mixes quite nicely with the film's equal turns of whimsy and drama. Alongside such staples as
"California Dreamin',"
"Monday Monday,"
and
"Go Where You Wanna Go,"
the disc also includes such low-profile
Mamas & Papas
fare as
"Creeque Alley"
"Dream a Little Dream of Me."
Rounding out the set, there are the more-pop-than-folk solo sides by
and an eight-minute suite of original music from
John Altman
. This is not only a fine soundtrack, but works quite well as a tidy roundup for
fans, too. ~ Stephen Cook