The Association

The Association

With cover art depicting a Stonehenge-like monument built on the moon using the band’s name carved in rock, it would seem as though The Association were moving into heavy space jams instead of the soft-focus country-rock that resonates throughout the band’s 1969 eponymous album. While The Association didn’t yield any hits, producer John Boylan (Linda Ronstadt, Pure Prairie League, the Dillards) helped give the band an organic and naturally twangy sound, while allowing them to craft a stellar album (rather than another chart focused money-maker). “Look At Me, Look At You” opens with an old-timey banjo and the unmistakable vocal harmonies, echoing what a pre-Gram Parsons Byrds were doing with 1968’s The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Even some psychedelic fuzz guitar found its way into the sunny and optimistic “Yes I Will.” The earthy “Dubuque Blues” suggests that the band were listening closely to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – so closely that the harmonies here trump CSN&Y’s. Jim Yester’s lead vocals on the ethereal “Under Branches” sing like he could have been a blood relative of David Crosby.

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