Rock — All Formats  

The first full length album recorded by the legendary Association – a classic bit of Sunshine Pop that would forever change the sound of the 60s! Although familiar, the album's got an amazing depth that still never fails to surprise today – odd production twists and turns, courtesy of a young Curt Boettcher; personally youthful harmonies that slip as often as they soar; and just the right touches of flower power to move the group away from their folkie roots into the new sun of a changing decade! The hits "Along Comes Mary" and "Cherish" are almost worth the price of admission – but lesser-known cuts are even better, and show a wealth of great work penned by members of the group! Other titles include "Standing Still", "Message Of Our Love", "Changes", "I'll Be Your Man", "Blistered", "Round Again", "Remember" and "Enter The Young".

Excellent live work by The Association – quite different than their earlier pop hits, but still with the same great harmony feel! The style here is in the rougher, more guitar-based mode of albums like Birthday and Stop Your Motor – and the band really sounds great in this live setting, which helps us to understand just how much of their magical sound came from the group itself, and not just Warner Brothers studio tricks. The set's got 22 tracks in all – 2LPs worth of music – and titles include "Dream Girl", "Goodbye Columbus", "I'll Be Your Man", "Never My Love", "Seven Man Band", "Cherish", "Requiem For The Masses", "Are You Ready", "Just About The Same", and "Along Comes Mary".

Mindblowing music from The Association – a heady double-length package that features every single the group ever cut for the Valiant and Warner Brothers label – which together make for an amazing evolution in sound! Although best remembered for their few soft rock hits, The Association were a hell of a group who never stopped growing back in the 60s – from sublime folksy harmonies at the start, to more complicated baroque pop as years went on, to some psych elements, and even a return to rootsier sounds they never had in the first place – always delivered with qualities that were head and shoulders above most of their contemporaries – and perfectly put together in the best LA studio styles, with help from giants like Curt Boettcher, Gary Paxton, Bones Howe, and others. The group also became quite skilled in the studio themselves – as you'll hear in the book's copious notes and comments from members themselves – all a perfect package for a set that features 37 mighty tunes that include "Six Man Band", "Goodbye Columbus", "Like Always", "No Fair At All", "Standing Still", "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies", "Looking Glass", "Birthday Morning", "Makes Me Cry", "PF Sloan", "Just About The Same", "Traveler's Guide", "I Am Up For Europe", "Hear In Here",a nd "Forty Times" – not to mention some bigger hits!

Fantastic dreamy pop! Despite the fact that this one yielded the super-huge hits "Windy" and "Never My Love", the album's also filled with great 60s pop tunes that you've probably never heard before – all as fantastically well-crafted and delicately strung-out as the big hits. The Association were truly one of the greatest 60s pop harmony groups to come out of the LA scene – and even a big hit album like this is the kind of gem that you'd spend years digging through rare vinyl to hope to find! Other titles include "Happiness Is", "On A Quiet Night", "We Love Us", "Reputation", and "Requiem For The Masses". This great expanded mono edition has 10 bonus tracks (!!!): "Autumn Afternoon", "Windy (Mono 45)", "Requiem For The Masses (Mono 45)", "Sometime (Instrumental)", "We Love Us (Instrumental)" and more.

Really great work by The Association – recorded a few years after their "Cherish" and "Along Came Mary" singles, and with a sound that's a lot more sophisticated and far-reaching! The band still has their sweet harmony sound in place, but the arrangements and songwriting show a lot more signs of their association with the hip LA scene of the 60s – fitting them in nicely with the underground mainstream that was then rewriting the sound of rock at Warner Brothers. Titles include "Broccoli", "The Nest", "Love Affair", "Boy On the Mountain", and "Yes, I Will".

Excellent live work by The Association – quite different than their earlier pop hits, but still with the same great harmony feel! The style here is in the rougher, more guitar-based mode of albums like Birthday and Stop Your Motor – and the band really sounds great in this live setting, which helps us to understand just how much of their magical sound came from the group itself, and not just Warner Brothers studio tricks. The set's got 22 tracks in all – 2LPs worth of music – and titles include "Dream Girl", "Goodbye Columbus", "I'll Be Your Man", "Never My Love", "Seven Man Band", "Cherish", "Requiem For The Masses", "Are You Ready", "Just About The Same", and "Along Comes Mary".

One of the harder to find LPs by this fantastic pop harmony group from LA. You already know their hits from other LPs, but this one's got a bit more of a rock sound, and some excellent groovy production by Bones Howe. All of the tracks are originals, and they've got nice groovy themes, as you'll guess from titles like "The Bus Song", "Birthday Morning", "Barefoot Gentleman", "Toymaker", and "Rose Petals, Incense, & A Kitten"!

A fantastic collection of unreleased material by mid-to-late 60s psych pop songwriter genius Tandyn Almer – who's probably best know for penning the eternally great "Along Comes Mary" for The Association – but we sure didn't know how great of a performer he was on his own! The 15 track record was cut for his publisher Davon Music, who circulated it to insiders at the time, looking to sell the songs – but what they should have done was found a label and released it. Fuzzy guitars, raw drums and great keyboards, excellent background harmonies – and the good-natured, melodic quality that attracted groups like the Association to Tandyn! Sundazed has long been a favorite source of rewarding 60s and 70s reissues, but they really deserve some bigger love for releases like this one – which is a first-ever commercial release. It feels like a complete, finished production for the most part – and not at all like a bunch of demos. Psych pop greatness! Includes "Find Yourself", You Turn Me Around", "Anything You Want", "About Where Love Is", "Face Down In The Mud", "I Get High", "Bring Your Own Self Down" (by The Purple Gang)", "Where Will They Go", "Sunset Strip Soliloquy" and more.

Classic 60s pop from Jackie DeShannon – served up here with a massive batch of bonus tracks too! The core album was issued after Jackie's successful run opening up for The Beatles during their first American tour – but more than that easy association with the Fab Four, the record's actually a surprisingly great batch of material with a sweet west coast pop groove – and one that includes a fair number of original tunes written by Jackie herself! Jackie's ability to write her own material really made her stand out amongst sweeter female 60s singers – and it ensured that on an album like this, she'd be working with a depth that went beyond simple pop, and which avoided the over-trodden filler that clogged up too many other albums of the genre. Bonus tracks follow in a similar DeShannon-penned spirit – and the CD features a total of 20 tracks that include "She Don't Understand Him Like I Do", "Should I Cry", "You Won't Forget Me", "Did He Call Today Mama", "When You Walk In The Room", "Oh Boy", "The Prince", "Over You", "Till You Say You'll Be Mine", and "Today Will Have No Night".

Wonderful stuff! You probably know Mama Cass as one of the "mamas" in the Mamas & Papas – but she's got an insane pop vision on her own, a mad mix of the sweet, psychedelic, and historic, filtered through the haze of a late 60s LA summer afternoon. File this one next to your gems by The Association, Harper's Bizarre, and Van Dyke Parks – and you'll grow to love Mama for her tripped-out groovy pop! Titles include "You Know Who I Am", "Sweet Believer", "Rubber Band", "Long Time Loving You", and "California Earthquake".

A fantastic collection of unreleased material by mid-to-late 60s psych pop songwriter genius Tandyn Almer – who's probably best know for penning the eternally great "Along Comes Mary" for The Association – but we sure didn't know how great of a performer he was on his own! The 15 track record was cut for his publisher Davon Music, who circulated it to insiders at the time, looking to sell the songs – but what they should have done was found a label and released it. Fuzzy guitars, raw drums and great keyboards, excellent background harmonies – and the good-natured, melodic quality that attracted groups like the Association to Tandyn! Sundazed has long been a favorite source of rewarding 60s and 70s reissues, but they really deserve some bigger love for releases like this one – which is a first-ever commercial release. It feels like a complete, finished production for the most part – and not at all like a bunch of demos. Psych pop greatness! Includes "Find Yourself", You Turn Me Around", "Anything You Want", "About Where Love Is", "Face Down In The Mud", "I Get High", "Bring Your Own Self Down" (by The Purple Gang)", "Where Will They Go", "Sunset Strip Soliloquy" and more.