'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
Billboard charts.
As of 2007, 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.
History
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 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 60s 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 (1942-1972) on vocals and bass;
Russ Giguere (born
October 18,
1943) on vocals, percussion and guitar;
Ted Bluechel, Jr (born
December 2,
1942) on drums and vocals; and Bob Page (born
May 13,
1943) 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.
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 early 1967. 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.
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.
After rejecting the recording of a entire cantata written by
Jimmy Webb in which there was "
MacArthur Park" song, 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.
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 Giguere 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.
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 1970s, The Association was in a state of flux, occasionally releasing singles now and then, along with sporadic touring.
Ramos left and was replaced first by guitarist Art Johnson and then by studio guitarist and song writer, Larry Brown. Brown played with the Association for 3 years during which they recorded an album that was never released called "The Association Bites Back". At the beginning of Brown's tenure the band consisted of James Yester, Ted Bluechel, David Vaught on bass, Dwayne Smith on keyboard, Maurice Miller on drums, and Brown who also wrote songs for the band and sang lead on one song from the album. Dwayne Smith was ultimately replaced by keyboard player Andy Chapin who also played with Steppenwolf and later by keyboard player, singer-songwriter David Morgan. Chapin later played for artist
Rick Nelson and perished along with Nelson and his band when his plane crashed on
New Years Eve, 1985. During Brown's tenure, the band was offered a production deal with Mike Curb who wanted them to record a disco version of the prior hits, "Cherish", "No Fair At All" and an original song which Brown wrote and sang entitled "It's High Time To Get High". Curb was dissatisfied with the drum track and wanted to bring in drummer Jim Gordon to play and the band refused sinking the deal.
On the other hand, in the late 1970s, 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.
In 1980, the original surviving band members re-formed for a concert tour. In addition to the original members, drummer Russ Levine (Bobby Womack Band, Donna Summer Band, Ultimate Spinach) and keyboardist Rick Ulsky were added for extra musical muscle.
Currently, the band includes Russ Giguere 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.
Discography
Albums
★ ''
And Then... Along Comes The Association'' -- Valiant VLM-5002/VLS-25002 (#5, 1966)
::''Reissued in 1967 on Warner Bros. W-1702/WS-1702
★ ''
Renaissance'' -- Valiant VLM-5004/VLS-25004 (
1967)
::''Reissued in 1967 on Warner Bros. W-1704/WS-1704
★ ''
Insight Out'' -- Warner Bros. W-1696/WS-1696 (#8, 1967)
★ ''
Birthday'' -- Warner Bros. W-1733/WS-1733 (#23, 1968)
★ ''
Goodbye, Columbus'' -- Warner Bros. WS-1786 (
1969)
★ ''
Greatest Hits'' -- Warner Bros. WS-1767 (#4, 1969)
★ ''
The Association'' -- Warner Bros. WS-1800 (1969)
★ ''
The Association Live'' -- Warner Bros. 2WS-1868 (
1970)
★ ''
Stop Your Motor'' -- Warner Bros. WS-1927 (
1971)
★ ''
Waterbeds in Trinidad!'' -- Columbia KC-31348 (
1972)
★ '' (
1995)
★ ''
Just the Right Sound'' - The Anthology 1966-1981 (Double CD, posthumously released in 2002 as Warner Bros. / Rhino R2 78303, including two previously unreleased outtakes ('The Machine', 'Better Times') from 1966)
Singles
★ "Forty Times / One Too Many Mornings"
★ "
Along Comes Mary" / Your Own Love" (#7, 1966)
★ "
Cherish" / Don’t Blame The Rain" (#1, 1966)
★ "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" / Standing Still" (#35, 1966)
★ "No Fair at All" / Looking Glass" (#51, 1967)
★ "Never My Love" / "Requiem For The Masses" (#2, 1967) (
[1] Listed by BMI as the song with the second most US airplay in the 20th century)
★ "Requiem for the Masses" (#100, 1967)
★ "
Windy" / Sometime (#1, 1967)
★ "Everything That Touches You" / We Love Us" (#10, 1968)
★ "Six Man Band" / Like Always" (#47, 1968)
★ "Time for Livin'" / Birthday Morning (#39, 1968)
★ "Goodbye Columbus" / The Time It Is Today" (#80, 1969)
★ "Under Branches / Here In Here
★ "Yes, I Will / Am Up For Europe
★ "Are You Ready / Duduquet Blues
★ "Just About The Same / Look At Me, Look at You
★ "
Along the Way (P.F. Sloan) / Traveler’s Guide
★ "Bring Yourself Home / It’s Gotta Be Real
★ "That’s Racin’ / Makes Me Cry
★ "Come The Fall / Kicking The Gong Along
★ "Names, Tags, Numbers and Labels" (#81, 1973)
★ "Dreamer" (#66, 1981)
Sources
★ Liner notes to '' by
Dawn Eden
★
All-Music guide biography by Bruce Eder
★
'The Association' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
★
Cite from Fred Bronson, ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits'', Billboard, 1988
★
Liner notes for ''Birthday'' by Richie Unterberger
References
1. [http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/232893 Listed by BMI as the song with the second most US airplay in the 20th century
External links
★
Official website
★
'The Association' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
★ http://www.theyesterdaze.com/ Jim Yester's official website
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