THE ASSOCIATION
 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.
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.
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" (sample (help
info)) 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.
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.
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 ultimatley 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 '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.
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
(#100 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) Greatest Hits -- Warner Bros. WS-1767 (#4,
1968) Goodbye, Columbus -- Warner Bros. WS-1786 (#99, 1969) The
Association -- Warner Bros. WS-1800 (#32, 1969) The Association Live --
Warner Bros. 2WS-1868 (#79, 1970) Stop Your Motor -- Warner Bros.
WS-1927 (1971) Waterbeds in Trinidad! -- Columbia KC-31348 (1972) New
Memories -- Hitbound Records 51-3022 (1983) Vintage -- CBS Special
Products BT-19223 (1983) The Association 95: A Little Bit More -- Track
Records (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. An import variation also includes the outtake 'Caney
Creek')
Singles
"Forty Times / "One Too Many Mornings" 1965 -
"Along Comes Mary" / "Your Own Love" 1966 #7
"Cherish" / "Don’t Blame It on Me" 1966 #1
"Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" / "Standing Still"
1966 #35 "No Fair at All" / "Looking Glass" 1967 #51
"Never My Love" / "Requiem for the Masses" 1967 #2
"Requiem for the Masses" 1967 #100 "Windy" /
"Sometime" 1967 #1 "Everything That Touches You" /
"We Love Us" 1968 #10 "Six Man Band" / "Like
Always" 1968 #47 "Time for Livin'" / "Birthday
Morning" 1968 #27 (AC) "Goodbye Columbus" / "The
Time It is Today" 1969 #22 (AC) "Under Branches / "Here
in Here" 1969 #117 "Yes, I Will" / "I am Up for
Europe" 1970 #120 "Are You Ready" / "Dubuque
Blues" 1970 - "Just About the Same / "Look at Me, Look at
You" 1970 #106 "Along the Way" / "Traveler’s
Guide" 1970 - "Bring Yourself Home" / "It’s Gotta
be Real" 1971 - "That’s Racin’ / Makes Me Cry 1971 -
"Darlin' be Home Soon" / "Indian Wells Woman" 1972
#104 "Come the Fall" / "Kicking the Gong Around"
1972 - "Names, Tags, Numbers and Labels" / "Rainbows
Bent" 1973 #27 (AC) "One Sunday Morning" / "Life is
a Carnival" 1975 - "Dreamer" / "You Turn the Light
on" 1981 #17 (AC) "Small Town Lovers" / "Across the
Persian Gulf" 1981 -
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