If you watched Outlander it was in the 5th season finale. Outstanding song. Hearing it in Outlander brought it back to me from so many years ago. Love it ❤
Yep, Released by 5th Dimension to Brian Adams...and others. Wow this really brings back sweet memories (J., what Rush tune lyrics starts with "sweet memories." lol). Glad this was requested!
According to BMI, which keeps track of such data, "Never My Love" was the second-most played song on American radio and television in the 20th century, trailing only "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers. Another Association song, "Cherish," was #22. The song “Along Comes Mary” was the first big hit for The Association. Recorded and released in 1966, it went to #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the U.S. Cashbox Chart. The Mary named in the song refers to marijuana rather than a girl, and, of course, that made the song controversial. “Along Comes Mary” was written by Tandyn Almer, who wrote and produced songs for a number of groups during the 1960s and 1970s, including The Association, The Beach Boys, The Purple Giant, The Garden Club, and Dennis Olivieri. (A tidbit of Tandyn Almer trivia is that he invented a waterpipe called the Slave-Master, which has been described as the perfect bong.) “Along Comes Mary” was on The Association’s debut album titled And Then…Along Comes the Association.
Stereo was a fairly new technology in the mid-60s. This track was probably recorded on a 4 or 8-track machine. The mix has a very clean sound with only 4 to 8-tranks playing.
The Association were an early influence on Yes. You can hear this kind of vocal harmonies all over the first Yes album (you need to get that Yes discography review going, JP! 😃)
Funny that you should mention the wrecking crew, because The Association was one of the groups that were mentioned in a video on the wrecking crew. Supposedly, this group's songs were often about weed but they had to use code so that they wouldn't be banned from radio air play. "Along comes Mary" and "Like Always", to name 2 likely candidates. The soft, rather treacly, pop flavor of their songs brought disdain from my friends, as did anything by the Carpenters or Tijuana Brass or the 5th Dimension, by way of example.
Great song. The lead on this one is, Larry Ramos Jr, a Phillipino-American & first Asian American to win a Grammy as part of The New Christie Minstrels in '63, prior to joining the Association. He was the first Asian American I recall seeing in music & pop culture. A fantastic voice, one of my favorite of that era.
Rita Wilson (T.Hanks wife) did a great cover of this in 2012 on her AM/FM album (worth listening to). I remember The 5th Demension doing a slower cover of this in the 70's also.
I really don't think The Association is considered a Sunshine Pop Band . That would be The Partridge Family or The Osmond Brothers ! Their just an easy listening band like Bread ! Don't get me wrong i use to love all these bands at some point in my life =) Now I love Band Maid
After hearing you mentioning this song in the comment section video, I had to check it out. The band name was not familiar but as soon as I heard the song I’m like oh yeah, I know this one. Not a huge fan of this type of music, but I always appreciate complex harmonies like the mamas and papas for instance.
Nice ? I think a bit better than just nice Takes me back to the time the places and what was going on This song about love and commitment At a time when we were innocent loyal and committed Then shortly We became torn apart We have never regained what was lost And never will Vietnam was really just starting
I get a vibe similar to The Partridge Family, which is not a put down at all. The Partridge Family's first album is front to back great tunes. P.S. Better than Hold Your Fire too!
