The Association - Birthday

Released in March 1968, Birthday was probably the Association’s most pop-sounding album, as producer Bones Howe and the group polished their trademark harmony sound to a brilliant sheen. And, like on Insight Out, studio musicians extraordinaire Hal Blaine and Larry Knechtel lent expert accompaniment. The result was a pair of chart hits, Everything That Touches You and Time for Livin’, and another fine, if less ambitious, pop album. Also includes Come On In; Rose Petals, Incense and Kitten; Like Always; Toymaker; Barefoot Gentleman; Hear in Here; Time It Is Today; Bus Song, and Birthday Morning. Album Description

lesser known, but the best!!

This is my all time fav Association album...all the songs are great and refreshing to hear over and over. Brings back many fond memories when I played this on my phonograph. A must add for any fan of the Association or the late 60's! June 21, 2008

Thank You To The Other Reviewers!

Thank you to all of you who have written here about this lovely album. Yes, this is a great one. I was 18 when this came out in '68 and, yes, I listened to Jimi Hendrix and Cream also. That was the great thing about the 60s -- diversity, and it didn't matter what you listened to. The Association were NEVER "cool" and so in their own way they were TOTALLY cool. I had bought every album up to this point and I didn't miss Birthday. I will admit there were always tracks on their albums that I considered goofy, or misguided, most often when they tried to rock out. (This album has one of those.) But the beauty! Unsurpassed. There are five or six songs on this album that I could not do without in my life. Often many years pass between listenings, but I am always thrilled to hear them again. So switch off your Cool-O-Meter and listen to some real talent. This album is stunning. October 6, 2007

Treasure from the past

Yep, this is a pop album--but what a great pop album it is! If you turn up your nose at such things, this CD is not for you. If flawless arrangements, great vocals and beautiful performances are what you seek, look no further--this will fulfill the longing that I see on young and old faces nowadays for well-crafted music.
Growing up in the 60s, I was familiar with The Association but mainly just their hits such as Cherish, Never My Love, Windy etc. A few years back, the only CD you could find was their greatest hits release. Once I bought that CD, I became hooked. I started seeking out the vinyl versions of their other albums, "Birthday" being one of them. William B. Rue wrote above "who knew" and he was right on. How could the 60s pass on this and promote all the other twaddle that is in heavy rotation today? The album is just beautiful. "Toymaker" "Barefoot Gentlemen" and "Birthday Morning" (Mr. Rue is right again about that one too. It also takes me back to 1968 and reminds me of how wonderful those times were despite some of the confusion in the world). "Rose Petals, Incense and A Kitten" is also in heavy play here. Of all the music I've bought recently, I am MOST grateful that The Association albums have been re-released. It's been like rediscovering treasure.
I'm not sure how helpful my review is to you, but I would buy "Birthday" if it were released today over anything the labels have promoted in the last 10-15 years. It's one of the most played CDs of the many I own. June 18, 2006

A Great Album...Who Knew?

When I was about 5 years old "Windy" by the Association was my favorite song. Whenever it came on the radio I would run into my bedroom and manically jump up and down on the bed and shout out --and most likely completely mangle--the lyrics. My older sister whose bedroom was just down the hall would be doing her homework while listening to Jimi Hendrix or the "Hair" soundtrack would shake her head and slam her door shut. Goony kid brother.

Flash forward about 10 years. "Birthday" by the Association was a mainstay of the cut-out bin at my local record store/head shop (Krapopkin records on New York Avenue, Huntington LI in case you were wondering....) I would always pull it from the stack and marvel at its cover and think to myself "maybe I ought to pick this up--I mean...the cover alone". After all, I DID love their "hit songs",--even the glee-clubbish and corny-beyond-words "Cherish". That cover! With its face composite mandela and cut and paste pop-art portraits of the band members. The guy holding the camera...the dude holding up his hand...and who does the serious looking guy with the glasses and the hula hoop over his arm think he is...Ray Manzarek? So GROOVY! I'd flip the cover over and check for any liner notes. Nope, no liner notes--just some very geeky looking guys with bad haircuts and even worse fashions smiling back at me--their faces bathed in some sort of pseudo-lysergic glow (the pooled glow of thousands of little birthday candles perhaps?). Not recognizing any of the song titles, and having only enough money to walk out of the record store (krapopkins, remember?) with either ONE current release, or three cut-outs, I'd drop "Birthday" back in the $1 bin and go back to thumbing through the stores selection of Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath albums. OH LOOK--"A Passion Play" for $2.99!!! Get it Get it!!

Okay. Now it gets a little more interesting I promise. A few weeks ago I picked up a copy of this album on eBay for $2 and have not stopped listening to it. I guess falling in love with Brian Wilson's "Smile" sent me back to listening to things like, well, ...late Capitol period Beach Boys, the Millenium (I have a promotional release of "Begin"), and of course The Association's Greatest Hits--an album I bought while in college ONLY for the super make out tune "Never My Love" and yes, lo and behold--ranking a 10 on the guilty pleasure meter-- "Windy". And yes it's true...I still jump up on the couch and hop up and down like a psilocybin fueled pogo stuck run amock. I am older now and can't flail my arms as wildly as I used to...just ask my neighbor Jim, he'll tell you!

Anyway. I LOVE "Birthday" by the Association. I wish I had bought it back in 1974. Or even another time 10 years ago when I found a used LP in a record store in Montreal for $3 Canadian. I think my wife put the kabosh on that purchase..."The Association? Are you nuts!? They are soooooo lame--here, buy "Monster" by Steppenwolf!" (yuck...)
My point is DO NOT PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY TO ADD THIS MUSIC TO YOUR LIFE.
I have 22 month old twin boys and we listen to this wonderful wonderful record every morning while I feed them their breakfast. The album begins with "Come on in" which is a bouncy upbeat and swinging opener. Great drumming and bass playing (courtesy of LA's "Wrecking Crew" I gather from reading other posts on this thread). The next song is "Rose Petals, Incence, and a Kitten". Absolutely gorgeous. Okay--next time you find yourself falling in love with someone play this song. I am serious. You must play this song. Here's how: just make sure you are kissing this person for the first time as this song is playing. You will thank me if you do. You're leaning toward each other. The wine fills your head (it's a cab franc). The candlelight. Her eyes. You stand up awkwardly--momentarily breaking the moment--to change the CD. Don't worry. DO it. Play this song. Again. You will thank me! And she will too ( in time ). I guess you can tell I've thought about this.
Okay...I'll skip ahead to "Toymaker". You probably know all the other songs. Their all on the greatest hits album. Okay. This song has some of the most interesting key/chord changes I've ever heard. Lovely song. Intriguing. And incidentally He BEST SONGS on this album are the ones NOT on the (venerable) 1968 greatest hits collection. I think four songs on this album made it onto that album...
"Barefoot Gentleman" opens side 2. My vinyl is really crackly so I don't catch all the lyrics on this one. This tune is really powerful and haunting and trippy. Some great drum rolls (Hal Blaine?) and a very stirring fade out. Unlike anything I've ever heard. Strange song, but compelling. I have no idea why. Maybe if I had a CLUE as to what the guy is singing I'd like it less. I don't know. It's mysterious. You will find yourself playing this one again and again. I know I do. Next song (not on the greatest hits compilation) is "Here in Hear" (or is it "Hear in Here"? --I fergit...) which (I gather from other posters) is sung by the drummer. This song gets me doing the swim, the hully-gully, the frug and the watusi all at the same time!! The singer (Ted Bluechel) sounds a little...I don't know...'Nasally' or something but this song is just totally groovy. My twins dig it, big time! So do I....and YOU WILL TOO!!
Let's jump ahead to Terry Kirkman's "The Bus Song"...a very folky...weird song that has an interesting middle bit with 'barbershop' style singing(!). "You're world shrinks down to the kitchen and den" (I'm a stay-at-home dad so the lyrics are rather poignant). It's got a (dare I say it) ... Bacharach/David feel to it. It's bouncy; the vocals--Ash Grovey folksy. The guitar riff that slides up to the tonic note. da DAAAA....da DAAAA...bop bop bop bop de bop bop bop bop de bop...."the gentleman is staring...at the bus...that passed him by... it blew his day".
Blew my mind is more like it!

And then...the album closer. "Birthday Morning"...one of the most ethereal and gorgeous things I have ever ever heard in my long long life of doing little but listen to music. I hear this song and I am transported to an unusually warm spring morning...it is 1968 and I am watching my sister play lacrosse. My family has driven up to Dobbs Ferry to watch the American Women's lacrosse team play against the English team. (this really really happened). We are having a picnic on the grass. The magnolia trees are in full bloom. I am wearing khakis and a madras jacket. The sun is warm and the bright grass is still cool. I just saw my first butterfly of the year--a lone white cabbage butterfly. A referee blows a whistle and the click click of wooden lacrosse sticks hitting against each other. Girls in tartan skirts run up and down the field. Bright sunshine. A week earlier Martin Luther king had been shot in Memphis. We still have the cream colored Buick special station wagon. This song is playing in my brain.
Glorious. "God bless this morning, the birthday morning". AHHHHHHhhhhhhh. Those voices. The harpsicord.

It's strange. This album was released in 1968 a time of incredible social turbulence. I can understand --in a way-- why it didn't catch on and how the Association became less and less relevant with each subsequent release after this one. We again find ourselves mired in an ugly, unjustified war. Our nation hasn't been more divided than since the time of this album's release.
My recommendation: buy "Birthday" and listen to it frequently. You will feel so good. January 21, 2005

THEIR BEST ALBUM

I think some of the other reviewers have missed the point with this album. A couple of the other fans seem to place a negative spin on the consistency of this project. The lack of divergent material is EXACTLY what makes this the Assoiation's best album. This is their only five star studio CD, outside of compilation releases

The Association was one of the best and most underated West Coast bands of the late 60s-early 70s. They are defined by their hit singles but fans who do not delve deeper are really missing the boat. I have lived with and appreciated this album since it came out in 1968 and the only other Association album that comes close to it is their self-titled release from a year or so later.

The other reason this album is such a delight is the superlative backing of many of the same session players that Brian Wilson used for much of the Beach Boys studio material. Although their excellent live album attests to the fact that the band were more than capable players these studio musicians were among the best in the business. Among the uncredited performances is the most incredible bass payer ever to record, Joe Osbourne. The accoustic guitar solo on "Rose Petals... by Tommy Tedesco is one of the greatest session solos I have ever heard. Larry Knechtels keybords and Hal Blaine's drumming are top-notch throughout.

No real clinkers and incredible production from the great Bones Howe, along with the impeccable playing make this the best Association album outside of compilations to begin with. If you don't like this one you won't like any of them. January 4, 2005

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