The Association: album by album thread

Sorry to be so long in getting back about.

Here it is. It's not even as good as you'd think!

https://www.discogs.com/Lon-Chaney-Bill-Martin-Russ-Giguere-The-Wolfman-Speaks/release/7428437

 

Just came across this great forum. And there was me thinking that I was the only one who still loved the music of The Association. Anyway can I ask fellow fans a couple of questions? Firstly does anyone have a full track listing for The Association Bites Back (I came across a few songs on Youtube) and is there a recording of it out there anywhere? And is The Wedding Song from that album?
Secondly, I have what I believe to be an unreleased Association album, and a good one at that, (that includes "In The Back Seat of Heaven", "There's A Bird Outside The Window", "You've Got To Carry On" etc. etc). Does anyone know what the album was called and when was it recorded?
Thanks folks.

 

Here's the tracklist posted a few pages back:

I think Carry On is a Bijou song (written by Jules, sung by Russ) rather than an Association song, so mid-70s. The others are perhaps from the early 80s, and from conversations on their Facebook page a few years ago, there was no intention of making a new album in the early 80s, even though a lot of songs were tracked.

On a tangent, I didn't realize until recently that the girls in Bijou were all from late 60s girl group Honey Ltd. Their sole album on LHI (Lee Hazlewood's label) is now massively rare. One of them was also responsible for introducing her boyfriend JD Souther to (I think) Glenn Frey, and sparking off The Eagles.

 

Hi Mike - fellow UK Association fan here, and have been researching the band for a potential biography (my first, on the band BREAD, saw publication a few years back). Would be interested in seeing a track line-up for that 70s/80s set you have. I've got a couple of unreleased tunes from that era myself but am keen to list all known songs - well, those that haven't already been listed in this fascinating thread !

 

Thanks Joe, much appreciated. I remember LHI records. They released The International Submarine Band album with Gram Parsons.

 

I've had the privilege to read a few chapters from a first draft of an upcoming book on The Association. This will be wonderful in-depth look at the band's history and recordings. I'll post updates when I can.

 

Just a little update on this but I can confirm that a couple of these 'hopefuls' weren't even Association recordings. The afore-mentioned 'Gentle Foe' and 'Buddy Can You Spare...' were recordings by Cher and Fresh Air respectively (the latter also cut "Movin' Wheels" - possibly the 'Movin' title also listed above) for the soundtrack to Once Upon A Wheel, the racing documentary that was filmed circa '70/'71. The Association supplied the Terry Kirkman composed title song (at a mere 2.30 in length), along with an early mix of 'That's Racin' (aka 'I'm Gonna Be A Racin' Star'), 'First Sound' and, strangely, 'Time For Livin''.

 

I take a few months off and look what I miss!

Those unreleased tracks look enticing and I'd love to hear "Back Seat of Heaven" again.

Tracks 12-18 from "Rare and Obscure Tracks" are the Radio Shack recordings and they're dismal. I felt awful for them that a reunion that started with a contract with Elektra wound up in that direction.

And don't those song titles on "Bites Back" sound awful? "High Time to Get High" ...

Finally, "Carry On" was an A&M single and Jules sang lead on it (at least on the promo I have).

 

Ah, but the version of "Carry On" for Elektra was a newly cut 80s rendition.. The A&M version was the Bijou 45 from the previous decade, although even that release throws up another mystery, as the flip side is recognised as having been the obscure 'Children Of The Highway' (which very few have even heard), but the A&M online discography listed the flip as being 'Take Me Down To The Dawn' - another obscurity. Equally frustrating to have never heard either...

 

Ah, that's very interesting. And unfortunately, I can't help with the flip on the A&M single because my copy's a promo so it's "Carry On" both sides (stereo and mono).

 

This was on Facebook:

Ray Staar with Terry Kirkman.
2 hrs ·

Back in the 60's I was a roadie for The Association. It was one of the most memorable and most formative experiences of my life, right up there with high school, my family and the US Air Force. For two years I was on the road with 8 other guys, all of whom would wake up in one city and go to sleep in another, nine out of twelve months for the entire 2 years I remained. Unforgettable.

Now, one of my ex-employers, Russ Guigerre, is working on a book about the band. His co-writer, a very nice young lady from NY, contacted me recently and asked if I'd talk with her about what we all went through. Naturally, I said yes, and tonight, she and I talked for an hour or so. Wow.

It's amazing what the mind unpacks with only the slightest of prods. Sitting here now, I'm overwhelmed with memories. Nothing of any moment, you understand. Just random mental snapshots. People and places I came to know only because I was in the right place at the right time and said 'yes' to all the right questions.

I'm buzzing with nostalgia, longing, wonder and regret. What a ride.

 

Hmmm... just tracked down a copy ! I see what you mean. And the fact that they didn't even utilise a correct Lon Chaney photo on the front sleeve says it all !

 

Here you go folks; the super-rare "Seven Man Band" from the Ed Sullivan Show. That's right Terry sings "Seven Man Band", not "Six Man Band". It sounds like a studio version to me.

The Association - Seven Man Band - Ed Sullivan

 

Yeah, it was a pleasant surprise seeing this come out of the woodwork again ! Here's hoping that the dozens of other shows they appeared on that are still MIA will make a long overdue resurrection !

 

That was one of three songs they performed on the show that night - but sadly the only one that currently circulates...

 

Slight change to that line-up as, following interviews with both Cliff Woolley and Russ Levine for my upcoming bio of the band, I can confirm that the sixth member during the latter period when those videos were shot was the previously undocumented Jack Harris on lead guitar and vocals...

 

I just came back to this for the first time in a year. Love this thread and hope it continues to grow.

Also...sorry for the political commentary a year ago.

 

excuse the very late response, but that's hilarious. Oliver Reed in 1961's Curse of the Werewolf.

 

This was the first, full Association *album* I "discovered" (when I bought the tape, in 1997...I'd only, before, known of them from the singles Oldies radio played; being 21 at the time).
As much as Bones Howe's production makes it sound like a prototypical-"Wrecking Crew"-record (giving me, then, the FALSE impression that these guys were just a studio group...with all the "bah-bah's" and harpsichord); I IMMEDIATELY was drawn to the quasi-concept album and trippy groove of it!
Some say THE BUS SONG is the odd one out...but I think they were trying to do their "Beat-poet/Eleanor Rigby-type-thing" there. *The* weak part, for me, is: TOYMAKER (as blah as the trite notion of the groupies it is about).
Aside from EVERYTHING THAT TOUCHES YOU being the clear Top 40 winner; three, other tracks I consistently love are: BIRTHDAY MORNING (for the ethereal, "meadow-y" atmospheric poem it is); ROSE PETALS, INCENSE & A KITTEN (I always liked the intertwining of Tommy Tedesco's Spanish guitar with the tight Lyle Ritz [or Carol Kaye?] bassline); AND, lastly, the song with (probably) the BEST ARRANGEMENT ON THE WHOLE ALBUM(!): LIKE ALWAYS. Man(!), you can dissect the layered harmonies in the bridge of that each time you listen --- then: the way Larry's voice saying "goes and goes and goes...", panning right-to-left as it slowly fades-out WHILE: the harmonies in the left channel have a greater over-dubbed effect than those in the right and there's a whole, extra layer -it seems- of almost a backward-masked loop UNDER the "like always" harmony which is UNDER the "slip away" harmony. WOW! If this was supposed to have been the album they would've done MACARTHUR PARK for...it's a good thing they DIDN'T. I understand the Howe production watered-down what these guys were REALLY capable of, but: this album definitely has a charm to it *exactly* the way it is
I think (my) reel to reel as well as the 8-track cartridge would've been the only original releases without HAECO processing(?). The mono crazies hate the wide stereo...but: 'ya gotta love how you can test a woofer, basically, with the right channel on TIME FOR LIVIN'

 

(and: their WB stablemates were cool too...)

 

Daily Nightly I totally agree with you about the stereo sound of Birthday. Indeed it was after hearing it in closed booth in a local record store here in Scotland that I went out and bought a stereo hi fi system. Still sounds great all these yeas later. Great album those it is I would have loved to have heard what they could have done with Webb's MacArthur Park/ 24 minute cantata.

 

Finally got round to picking up Hexagram 16. It's was so warped that I've had to sit it under a pile of heavy art books for five days just to get it to barely playable, but it's good; I was expecting something a bit more laid back, but Russ is in great voice and the songs are really enjoyable in a goofy way.

 

I know I'm new to commenting on this forum but I've been following it for a few years now. I've been a fan of the Association since 1967 and like to think that I have a pretty full collection of their music so I was surprised to read this quote. Hexagram 16 has been available in the UK on CD since 10th December 2013 so I'm not sure why you're having to battle with a warped vinyl copy of this album.

 

Article in a recent Shindig!
(Bowie cover) on their
self-titled album