Insight Out

Insight Out
Studio album by The Association
Released June 1967
Recorded April – May 1967
Genre Pop, Baroque pop, sunshine pop, folk rock, psychedelic pop, garage punk
Length 32:05
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Bones Howe
The Association chronology
Renaissance
(1966)Renaissance1966		 Insight Out
(1967)		 Birthday
(1968)Birthday1968
Singles from Insight Out
  1. "Windy"
    Released: 1967
  2. "Never My Love"
    Released: 1967

Insight Out is the third album by the American pop band The Association and was released in June 1967 on Warner Bros. Records.[1] It was the band's first album release for the Warner Brothers label and it became one of the top selling LPs of the year in America, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and being certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in December 1967.[2][3][4] The album's success was largely attributable to the inclusion of the U.S. hits "Windy" and "Never My Love", which reached number 1 and number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart respectively and were among the most-played records on AM radio during the late 1960s.[3] However, the album was less successful outside of North America and failed to chart in the United Kingdom.[5]

Insight Out was the first Association album to feature guitarist and vocalist Larry Ramos, who joined the band just prior to the album recording sessions, as a replacement for departed lead guitarist Jules Alexander.[3] The album also saw The Association working with record producer and recording engineer Bones Howe for the first time. Howe, who had previously worked with The Mamas & the Papas and The Turtles, was brought in by the band's manager and Warner Bros. Records in an attempt to steer the group in a more commercial direction.[3] As a result of Howe's focus on obtaining a radio-friendly sound, The Association ceded much of the instrumental playing on Insight Out to a team of top L.A. session musicians, including drummer Hal Blaine, bassist Joe Osborn, keyboardist Larry Knechtel, guitarist Al Casey, and guitarist/sitarist Mike Deasy.[3] The group also elected to record some songs written by non-band members for Insight Out, in stark contrast to their previous album Renaissance, on which the band had written and performed all of their own music.[3][6]

Insight Out saw the band mixing their textured vocal harmonies with an eclectic blend of influences, including Baroque pop, folk rock, sunshine pop, psychedelia and even elements of garage punk.[3][7] Along with the hit singles "Windy" and "Never My Love", music critics Richie Unterberger and Bruce Eder have cited songs such as P. F. Sloan's reflective "On a Quiet Night", the Addrisi Brothers' "Happiness Is", and the band originals "We Love Us", "When Love Comes to Me", and "Requiem for the Masses" as standout tracks on the album.[3][7] The latter song in particular was an ambitious and somber piece written by multi-instrumentalist Terry Kirkman, featuring layered Latin vocals[3] and anti-war lyrics, which use the story of a matador dying alone in the bullring, miles away from his home, as an analogy for the plight of U.S. soldiers serving in the Vietnam War.[8][3] According to Kirkman, the idea for the song came to him while caught in a frightening snowstorm during a chartered flight to a concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[8]

Reception and reissues

Music critic Matthew Weiner, writing for Stylus magazine, has described Insight Out and its follow-up Birthday as "minor classics in the late-sixties pop genre",[9] while music historian Richie Unterberger viewed the album, within the context of The Association's back catalogue, as "characteristically eclectic".[3] In his review for the Allmusic website, Bruce Eder has described Insight Out as "an enjoyable folk-rock album", but also noted that the LP was recorded "somewhat in the shadow of Harpers Bizarre's experimental "Feelin' Groovy" single.[7]

Insight Out has been reissued a number of times on CD, including a remastered edition of the album in its standard stereo configuration on Collectors' Choice Music in 2003 and as a Japanese release on Warner Bros. in 2005, with the addition of two bonus tracks. In 2011, Insight Out was reissued in a deluxe CD package by Cherry Red Records, featuring the original mono mix of the album and multiple bonus tracks.[1]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Wasn't It a Bit Like Now?" (Terry Kirkman)Kirkman and Ramos3:33
2."On a Quiet Night" (P. F. Sloan)Yester3:21
3."We Love Us" (Ted Bluechel)Bluechel and Ramos2:25
4."When Love Comes to Me" (Jim Yester)Yester2:45
5."Windy" (Ruthann Friedman)Giguere and Ramos2:56
6."Reputation" (Tim Hardin)Cole2:38
Side two
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Never My Love" (Don Addrisi, Dick Addrisi)Kirkman and Ramos3:10
2."Happiness Is" (Don Addrisi, Dick Addrisi)Ramos and Bluechel2:13
3."Sometime" (Russ Giguere)Giguere2:38
4."Wantin' Ain't Gettin'" (Mike Deasy)Cole and Giguere2:20
5."Requiem for the Masses" (Terry Kirkman)Kirkman4:06

References

  1. 1 2 "Insight Out: Deluxe expanded mono edition - product information". Cherry Red. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  2. ↑ "Insight Out chart information". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Unterberger, Richie (2003). "The Association's Insight Out". Insight Out (CD booklet). The Association. Collectors' Choice Music.
  4. ↑ "The Association - RIAA Awards". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  5. ↑ Brown, Tony. (2000). The Complete Book of the British Charts. Omnibus Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8.
  6. ↑ Eder, Bruce. "Renaissance album review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  7. 1 2 3 Eder, Bruce. "Insight Out album review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  8. 1 2 McGlynn, Tim. "Terry Kirkman - Requiem for the Masses". Schaumburg High School Concert Choir website. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  9. ↑ Weiner, Matthew. "The Association Collector's Choice CD reissues review". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
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