The Association

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Cover from 1966's And Then... Along Comes The Association
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Cover from 1966's And Then... Along Comes The Association

The Association is a pop music band from California in the sunshine pop genre. They are best known for their popularity in the 1960s, when they had numerous hits at or near the top of the charts. As of 2006, they are still playing. They are also notable for being the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival, essentially the first multi-group rock festival. They are known for tight vocal harmony, which was heavily influenced by The Beach Boys.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings

Jules Alexander (born September 25, 1943), was in Hawaii in 1962, serving a stint in the Navy. During this time, he met Terry Kirkman (born December 12, 1939), who was visiting. The two young musicians jammed together and promised to get together once Alexander was discharged. That happened a year later; the two eventually moved to Los Angeles and began exploring LA's early 60's folk scene. This led, in 1964, to the forming of The Men, a 13 piece folk-rock band. This group had a brief spell as the house band at The Troubadour, the famed LA nightclub. After a short time, however, The Men disbanded, with 6 of the members electing to continue on their own. At the suggestion of Kirkman's then-fiancée, Judy, they took the name The Association. The original lineup consisted of Alexander (credited as Gary Alexander on the first 2 albums) on vocals and lead guitar; Kirkman on vocals and a variety of wind and brass instruments; Brian Cole (born September 9, 1942, died August 2, 1972) on vocals and bass; Russ Gigure (born October 18, 1943) on vocals, percussion and guitar; Ted Bluechel, Jr (born December 2, 1942) on drums and vocals; and Bob Page on guitar and vocals. Page's time in the band was brief; he was soon replaced by Jim Yester (born November 24, 1939) on vocals, guitar and keyboards.

The band spent about 5 months rehearsing before they began performing around the Los Angeles area, most notably a regular stint at The Ice House in Pasadena, and its sister club in Glendale. They also auditioned for record labels, but faced resistance due to their unique sound. Eventually, the small Jubilee label issued a single of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" (a version of the Joan Baez song, later popularized by Led Zeppelin) but nothing happened. Finally, Valiant Records gave them a contract, with the first result being a version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings". It gained some local notoriety. but didn't break outside of LA.

[edit] First success

That national break would come with the song "Along Comes Mary", written by Tandyn Almer. Alexander first heard the song when he was hired to play on a demo version, and persuaded Almer to give The Association first crack at it. The recording went to #7 on the Billboard charts, and led to the group's first album, And Then... Along Comes the Association, produced by Curt Boettcher. A song from the album, "Cherish", written by Kirkman, would become The Association's first #1 in September 1966.

The group followed with their second album, Renaissance, released in November 1966. Somewhat surprisingly, the band changed producers, dumping Boettcher in favor of Jerry Yester (brother of Jim and formerly of The Modern Folk Quartet). The album did not spawn any major hits (the highest charting single, "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" stalled at #35) and the album only reached #34, compared with a #5 showing for its predecessor.

[edit] Changes

In late 1966 Warner Bros. Records, which had been distributing Valiant, bought the smaller label (and with it, The Association's contract.) At about the same time, Jules Alexander left the band; he was replaced by Larry Ramos (born April 19, 1942) who had played with The New Christy Minstrels and recorded a solo single for Columbia Records.

With the lineup settled, the group returned to the studio, this time with Bones Howe in the producer's chair. The first fruits of this pairing would be the single "Windy" written by Ruthann Friedman. It reached #1 on the charts in May of 1967, and was followed closely by the album Insight Out which made it to #8 in June. On June 16, 1967 The Association had the unique honor of being the first act to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival. (The Criterion Collection DVD of the festival includes their spirited reading of "Along Comes Mary" on disc 3.) The group's winning streak continued with their next single, "Never My Love" written by Don and Dick Addrisi; it went to #2 in Billboard and #1 in Cash Box in autumn 1967. It became the group's only double-sided charted record as its B-side, "Requiem For The Masses", made a brief showing on the Billboard chart.

Early 1968 saw the group's fourth album, Birthday, with Bones Howe again at the controls. This album spawned the top 10 hit "Everything That Touches You" and another top 40 hit in "Time for Livin". Later that year, the group released a self-produced single, the harder-edged "Six Man Band". This song would also appear on Greatest Hits, released in November.

[edit] Comings and goings

In early 1969, Jules Alexander returned to the group he had helped found. With Larry Ramos staying, The Association was now a seven man band (which they acknowledged by changing the title and lyric of "Six Man Band" to match.) The first project with the seven-piece band was music for the soundtrack of Goodbye Columbus, the film version of Philip Roth's best-selling novel. The title track, written by Yester, rose only to #80, an ominous sign in retrospect. John Boylan, who would become one of the most important record producers of the '70s and '80s, worked with the group on the soundtrack, and stayed on board for the next album, The Association. Not surprisingly, many of the tracks have a decided country-rock feel. None of the singles made any impact, so the group re-teamed with Curt Boettcher for a one-off single, "Just About the Same", a reworking of a song Boettcher had recorded with his group, The Millennium. This failed to hit as well.

Despite all this, the band remained a popular concert draw, and in early 1970, a Salt Lake City performance was recorded for The Association "Live". Shortly afterward, Russ Gigure left the band; he would release a solo album, Hexagram 16, in 1971. The Association replaced him with keyboardist/singer Richard Thompson (no relation to the English singer-songwriter), who had contributed to previous albums. 1971 saw the release of Stop Your Motor. Despite some good tracks (notably a cover of Jimmy Webb's "P.F. Sloan" with Brian Cole imitating Roy Rogers in the bargain), the album was their worst selling to date, reaching only #158 on the Billboard chart.

Stop Your Motor also marked the end of The Association's tenure at Warner Bros. In early 1972, they resurfaced on Columbia with Waterbeds in Trinidad!, produced by Lewis Merenstein (best known for producing Van Morrison's Astral Weeks). The album fared even worse than Stop Your Motor, reaching #194, while a single of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Darlin Be Home Soon" failed to break the top 100. For the band, however, the worst was yet to come.

[edit] Death and rebirth

On August 2, 1972, Brian Cole was found dead in his Los Angeles home of an overdose of heroin. For the rest of the 70's, The Association was in a state of flux, occasionally releasing singles now and then, along with sporadic touring. Then in the late '70s, the surviving original members reunited for an HBO special (Terry Kirkman was working for HBO at the time.) This led in the early '80s to a few singles on Elektra (one of which, "Dreamer", made the top 100 with virtually no promotion) and more touring.

Currently, the band includes Russ Gigure and Larry Ramos from the classic lineup, along with Ramos' brother Del on vocals and bass, drummer Bruce Pictor, guitarist Bob Werner, and most interestingly, Jordan Cole (son of Brian) on keyboards and vocals. The Association still tours, playing up to 70 dates a year. In 2003, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Selected well-known songs

  • "Along Comes Mary" (#7, 1966)
  • "Cherish" (#1, 1966)
  • "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" (#35, 1966)
  • "Never My Love" (#2, 1967)
  • "No Fair at All" (#51, 1967)
  • "Requiem for the Masses" (#100, 1967)
  • "Windy" (#1, 1967)
  • "Everything That Touches You" (#10, 1968)
  • "Six Man Band" (#47, 1968)
  • "Time for Livin'" (#39, 1968)
  • "Goodbye Columbus" (#80, 1969)
  • "Names, Tags, Numbers and Labels" (#81, 1973)
  • "Dreamer" (#66, 1981)

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

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