Greatest Hits

by

The Association

Edit

Over a two-year period in the mid-Sixties the Association were responsible for some of the most memorable pop/soft rock music of the decade. Hits like "Along Comes Mary," "Windy" and "Time for Livin" show the band capable of catchy hooks and tight harmonies, but it was the ballads like "Cherish" and "Never My Love" that the band is most identified with. [Both of these singles sold over a million copies each.] In fact, after four Top Ten singles in little over a year, the Association were voted the No. 1 Group of the Year in the U.S. by the influential Bill Gavin Radio-Record Congress in 1967.

The Association's massive success also seemed to be their undoing. It forced them into a very narrow format which didn't allow for musical growth. When the band tried to broaden their appeal on singles like the hard-rocking "Six Man Band," their audience fled and the single stalled at No. 47. Even when the band returned to their proven hit formula, "Goodbye Columbus" (from the soundtrack that came out a year after this Greatest Hits collection) did no better than No. 80. It was the Association's last chart single, although they did put out three more studio albums through 1972. In 1972, original bass player Brian Cole died, and for the most part so did the group.

It's unforgivable in the CD Age that more than three decades after its first release, this 13-track collection is the best Warner Brothers can do. To make this truly definitive it should have included the experimental "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" (a minor hit from 1967), the aforementioned "Goodbye Columbus," and some of the progressive rock tracks from their last albums on Warner Brothers and their swan song, Waterbeds in Trinidad, on Columbia.

Until that happens--if ever--this is (sadly) the only domestically available album to demonstrate the greatness of the Association. RECOMMENDED

This collection for the 60s vocal group contains everything the average Association fan will want and a few extra surprises. The "big 4" hits: "Never my Love","Cherish","Windy" and "Along Comes Mary" are all here, along with lesser charters "Everything that Touches You" and "Requiem for the Masses". Only "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" appears to be left out hitwise. Most importantly, these are NOT re-recorded versions by the current touring band. (Yes, they still play live..)

Of the other material, "Time for Livin'" is a passable breezy pop ditty. "No Fair at All" is a decent breakup lament, although its melody derives quite a bit too close to "Cherish" for comfort. "Six Man Band" contains some surprisingly acid rock guitar for a band known for mellow sounds.

For those of you who are Association diehards, the Rhino 2CD "Just the Right Sound"(ASIN:B00005Y1Y5) is your best bet, containing all their singles through 1972 save "No Fair at All". It also has obscurities from Russ Giguere and Bijou, though it leaves out my favourite odd Association moment (late period album track "Broccoli", a goofy novelty ode to the oft-lamented vegetable.)