The Association: The Association CD Track Listing

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The Association The Association (1969)
2003 Collectors' Choice Music\n\nOriginally Released 1969\nCD Edition Released December 9, 2003\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Never known as an album band, with the release of The Association, this band proved to listeners that it was moving in the right direction. Helped along with such Top 40 singles as "Goodbye Forever" and "Dubuque Blues," the Association were expanding their horizons in the ever changing market of pop/rock. Other highlights include "Look At Me, Look At You" and "Under Branches," and although The Association didn't exactly burn up the album charts, it did help to show that there was more to this band than just Top Ten singles. Well worth the effort in seeking out. -- James Chrispell\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nNo chart hits, but some Association fans rank this record as their best; the group had gained creative control, and together with producer John Boylan (who would later produce Linda Rondstadt and Pure Prairie League among other top acts), they explored a more country-rock sound as well as offering a dose of their usual eclecticism. Includes Look at Me, Look at You; Yes, I Will; Love Affair; The Nest; What Were the Words; Are You Ready; Dubuque Blues; Under Branches; I Am Up for Europe; Broccoli, and Goodbye Forever. The complete 1969 release! \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nThis album just might surprise you..., January 19, 2004 \nReviewer: Matt Williamson from Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA \nThe Association's self-titled 1969 album represents the group at a curious turning point in their career where they were able to progress in a musical direction beyond the familiar pop-hits such as "Cherish" and "Never My Love" but still not be taken seriously by the counterculture. If their "AM radio" reputation preceded them among the "too hip for the square" crowd, the absence of a bonafide hit single from this album ensured that their pop following would have a hard time finding them in a sea of new acts and trends in the rock arena. Despite the new musical biases working against the Association, this album charted at a respectable #32 on Billboard's Album chart but today is relatively unknown, having been released in the year following their million-selling Greatest Hits package.\n\nComprised of nearly all original material and co-produced by the group and John Boylan, the Association seemed eager to wipe clean the slick, canned sound of the previous two albums produced by Bones Howe. This resulted in what is considered by many as their best album vocally, with painstaking care being given to vocal arrangements and harmonies, always an Association trademark. Vocals on "Love Affair" and "Under Branches" are soaring and clean with the band singing at its most confidant. Jim Yester's smooth lead vocals and Jules Alexander lyrics are backed by sparse instrumentation giving the spotlight to the layers of backing vocals. Unfortunately, choosing "Under Branches" for single release in May, proved to be perhaps an over-confidant move as its complex time changes and over-mellowness caused the song to reach a dismal #117 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart. \n\nThe group is clearly having fun with Terry Kirkman's inspiring "Look At Me, Look At You" and Russ Giguere's comical "Broccoli." The CSN-like "Dubuque Blues" and "What Were The Words" may be the best evidence that the Association could be taken as a serious late-sixties band but they falter with hard-rock ("I Am Up For Europe") and topical themes ("Boy On The Mountain") as these excursions would have been best replaced in favor of outside material.\n\n"Yes I Will" was the next single released but it surprisingly bombed (#120 Billboard Bubbling Under chart) despite being a catchy tune with everything you could ask for in a two minute and thirty second pop song. The excellent Jules Alexander composition "Dubuque Blues" was the final single released in support of the album, but it offered very little support, even missing Billboard's Bubbling Under chart. \n\nAlthough "The Association" has been sadly overshadowed by the group's earlier hits, many diehard fans rate this as one of their best albums. Years later many of the songs still sound fresh and vibrant and is considered an essential part of their catalog. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nMore To Them Than You Think, January 18, 2004 \nReviewer: S.J. Dibai from Philadelphia, PA USA \nThe Association's fifth album is reprised here on a budget-line domestic CD. The sound quality is excellent, and the original gatefold cover art is reproduced for your viewing pleasure. As always, Richie Unterberger gives us decent liner notes with revealing quotations from band member Jim Yester.\n\nMore than any other LP, this proves the Association to be more than just a lightweight pop act. Indeed, this 1969 release managed to hit the Top 40 despite all of its singles flopping miserably! One of those singles, "Yes I Will" (written by the album's producer John Boylan), follows the "take a mediocre song and give it an awesome production and performance" formula, but the band's original songs are of much greater substance. Terry Kirkman's thought-provoking "Look At Me, Look At You" gets a breathtaking country-rock reading, as does Yester's "What Were The Words." Yester's Jungian friend Skip Carmel returns to co-write two songs, one of which is the wonderful "The Nest." Penned in collaboration with Ted Bluechel, Jr., this excellent track starts with a simply heartbreaking Brian Cole lead, giving way to Bluechel's sunnier vocal passages. Jules Alexander, back from his sojourn in India, contributes a few songs, of which the poignant "Dubuque Blues" and the risque, edgy "Goodbye Forever" make him come off as a less pretentious Paul Simon. Cole and Alexander get to be utopian philosophers on the rockin' "I Am Up For Europe," featuring a tough lead vocal from Cole. Larry Ramos' "Are You Ready" sounds like a Vegas act with an R&B fixation, but it is enjoyable in its own cheesy way, and the same can be said for Russ Giguere's atypically goofy "Broccoli." \n\nOverall, this is one of the Association's best albums, and it is well-worth hearing. Even if you don't like the Association's biggest hits, give this album a chance. After you've heard this album, you'll never think about the Association the same way again. \n\n
This rock cd contains 12 tracks and runs 38min 10sec.
Freedb: a708f00c
Buy: from Amazon.com

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