The Association

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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 <i>The Association</i> 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 <i>The Notorious Byrd Brothers</i>. 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.

via Apple Music

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