With their roots in the early 60s folk scene, and best known
for their sunshine pop hits Windy,
Cherish, Never My Love and Along Comes Mary, The Association are beloved by fans for their
close harmonies. The six piece (later seven piece) band will forever be famed
for appearing as the opening act at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 –
the first ever large scale pop music festival, but by the time they issued
their fifth (and eponymous) studio album in 1969 things had soured somewhat for
them, the hits had stopped and they were trying desperately to do something
different.
And what they did was this: Broccoli. Ridiculous. ‘I like to eat it with my mouth’?
Seriously, which other organ are you able to eat with? Written by guitarist Russ
Giguere, presumably as some sort of joke, the album’s failure precipitated his
leaving The Association and releasing the psych-influenced solo album Hexagram 16.
The band recorded their last album of new material, Waterbeds
in Trinidad!, in 1972. The following year founding member and bassist Brian
Cole died, aged 29, of a heroin overdose, and over the next few years although
the band issued several singles they struggled to find direction and gradually
fell apart. Drummer Ted Bluechel kept the group going but soon retired. He
began leasing the group name out, allowing oldies tour packagers to send out a
version of The Association without any of the original members. After dealing
with the legal issues caused by that catastrophic error of judgement
(Dollar/Bucks Fizz, anyone?) several of the original members reformed the band
and they have continued to tour ever since.
Larry Ramos, a former member of the New Christy Minstrels who
joined in 1967, sadly passed away in April 2014, three years after suffering a
heart attack and just over two months after his last appearance with the group.
The Association are still gigging today, featuring original members Jim Yester
and Jules Alexander plus friends and relatives: Brian Cole’s son Jordan plays
keyboards for the group, and Larry’s brother Del plays bass.
Anyway, here’s a brace of songs you’ll seldom hear the
Association perform, the thoroughly ridiculous Broccoli and, from the same album (known amongst fans as the
‘Stonehenge’ album), I Am Up For Europe, co-written by Brian Cole. If only they had been around for the Brexit vote…
My thanks to The Squire for alerting me to this particular
vegetable.
Enjoy!
Right click HERE to download
Right click HERE to download
How do I listen to this "gem"?
ReplyDeleteAll you need to do is click on the arrow on the left hand side of the embedded player. If the player isn't showing what Internet browser (or device) are you using? It works on my Mac and my Android phone
DeleteUPDATE: I've changed the embedded player and added a download link: hopefully this should solve any problems
ReplyDeleteI'll agree this record is no great shakes. But...it has one genuinely fantastic song in Jules Alexander's nostalgic, acoustic "Dubuque Blues," which is like "The Wonder Years" collapsed into three minutes. Flopped as a single, though, so I guess it wasn't that good to most people.
ReplyDeleteAnother song to add to the "Food Types Mentioned in Titles" list!
ReplyDelete