The Association - Songs That Made Them Famous (1984) [Lossless FLAC]

This is the same torrent that was uploaded to Demonoid in July 2008. The Association - Songs That Made Them Famous (1984) http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/14/27/e469d250fca053b375161010._AA240_.L.jpg Includes: Files by track, ripped at FLAC 8 using Easy CD-DA Extractor (www.poikosoft.com) Tracks have full tags (including embedded thumbnail). All artwork in jpgs at 300 d.p.i. Rotated and cropped losslessly using jpegcrop. AMG Bio.txt AMG Review.txt Notes.txt (which is simply these notes included in the torrent) Bio Excerpt from All Music: The Association was one of the more underrated groups to come out of the mid- to late '60s. Creators of an enviable string of hits from 1966 through 1969, they got caught in a shift in popular culture and the unwritten criteria for significance in that field and never recovered. The group's smooth harmonies and pop-oriented sound (which occasionally moved into psychedelia and, much more rarely, into a harder, almost garage-punk vein) made them regular occupants of the highest reaches of the pop charts for two years -- their biggest hits, including "Along Comes Mary," "Cherish," "Windy," and "Never My Love," became instant staples of AM play lists, which was a respectable achievement for most musicians at the time. That same sound, along with their AM radio popularity, however, proved a liability as the music environment around them changed at the end of the decade. Additionally, their ensemble singing, essential to the group's sound and appeal, all but ensured that the individual members never emerged as personalities in their own right. The Association was as anonymous an outfit as their contemporaries the Grass Roots, in terms of any individual names or attributes, despite the fact that both groups generated immensely popular hits that millions of listeners embraced on a deeply personal level. ... To read the entire bio: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3ifixqw5ldae~T1 A minimal review from http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gifexq95ldte Beyond the hits, all of which are included here ("Windy," "Cherish," "Along Comes Mary"), The Association made stunning orchestral folk-pop that still makes the listener feel good. The page at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000008D00/ Has this customer review: Manufactured for Pair Records by Warner Special Products and put out in 1984, the name doesn't really give you any idea about what's on this CD. It is actually 2 of The Association's early albums in one, with "And Then...Along Comes the Association" from 1966 and "Inside Out" from 1967. Obviously Pair-ed up since they were two of the Association's better albums. No extra tracks, just what appeared on the originals, and it states: "Original Analog Recordings - Digitally Remastered". I am no expert on remastering, but it sound good to me....and the music is great too. Well, checking the track list I see that the customer is correct! So here are the All Music reviews for those two albums: Tracks 1-12: And Then...Along Comes the Association The group's debut album may be better listening today than it was in 1966, because it can be appreciated more -- and it definitely deserves a better reputation than it has among folk-rock, psychedelic pop, and pop/rock enthusiasts. The album is usually neglected because of the Association's reputation as a soft rock outfit and the prominence of the hits "Cherish" and "Along Comes Mary," both of which are too poppy for most serious '60s archeologists. The original LP was one or two songs short of uniformly high-quality material, but that defect was compensated for by the better numbers and the production of the late Curt Boettcher. Admittedly one of Boettcher's softer creations, And Then...Along Comes the Association displayed the same creative use of stereo sound separation -- the interlocking instrumental and vocal parts divided in discreet two-channel sound -- that was to characterize his work with groups like the Millennium and Sagittarius a little later in the decade. Indeed, And Then...Along Comes the Association was among the earliest American rock albums to make full creative use of stereo sound and to exploit it on behalf of a group. In those days, the stereo mix on a rock album was usually little more than an afterthought by the producer and engineer (most of whom hated rock & roll), but Boettcher appreciated just what he had here, with the six singers and instrumentalists in this band, and he spread their work out in front of the listener in vivid detail, giving each "voice" (human and instrumental) a close airing, yet meshing them together as well. Track List: 01. Enter The Young 02. Your Own Love 03. Don't Blame It On Me 04. Blistered 05. I'll Be Your Man 06. Along Comes Mary 07. Cherish 08. Standing Still 09. Message of Our Love 10. Round Again 11. Remember 12. Changes 13. Wasn't It A Bit Like Now (Parallel 23) 14. On A Quiet Night 15. We Love Us 16. When Love Comes To Me 17. Windy 18. Reputation 19. Never My Love 20. Happiness 21. Sometime 22. Wantin' Ain't Gettin' 23. Requiem For The Masses

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WasAtWoodstock (2013-06-29)

Tracks 13-23: Insight Out
The Association's third album is not in a league with its debut, but Insight Out is an enjoyable folk-rock album with a few digressions into garage punk, novelty tunes, and psychedelia, all displaying much of what the group did best. The harmonies and choruses are among the most beautifully textured singing in a rock outfit this side of the Beach Boys, while the playing is engaging. Insight Out was done somewhat in the shadow of Harpers Bizarre's experimental "Feelin' Groovy" single -- the opening number, "Wasn't It a Bit Like Now," was an exercise in nostalgia similar to the later successful songs of Harpers Bizarre. "On a Quiet Night" and "We Love Us" are folk-rock ballads on which the group's harmonies are the highlight, while "When Love Comes to Me" is a breezy little mood piece that resembles a slightly more ornate cousin to Simon & Garfunkel's "Punky's Dilemma." In that company, the number one single "Windy" (the presence of which helped drive up sales of this album) sounds almost heavy and hard-rocking. It and the accompanying single, "Never My Love" (which was later a hit for the 5th Dimension), are the strongest tracks here. The group's attempt at a harder, garage-band-type sound on "Reputation" is passable, but this obviously wasn't what fans were buying the album to hear. The sunshine pop sound of "Happiness Is" and the radiant "Sometimes" were more to the point, and these are prime Association material, comprised of soaring harmonies and hook-laden guitar parts.