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| From | Richard Gagnon <gasp@aga.ca> |
| Subject | Partridge Family faves |
| Date | Fri, 05 Aug 2005 15:22:18 -0400 |
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Dave wrote:
Partridge Family / Up To Date & Sound Magazine - it's guilty pleasure
time:
let me go on the record as saying that this is the crème de la crème of
early 70s bubblegum. I recently got these from a friend, and last
week I
listened to them for the first time in about, oh, 30 years. Last
time I had
heard 'em was when I was a wee tot and got the LPs as gifts from the
'rents
back when I just started to listen to music. And the thing is, last
week I
was able to sing along with every track, one after another, on first
listen.
I'm talking 30 yrs! Think what you will about this wussy music, but
that's
what I call good songwriting, when the hook stays imbedded for that
long -
Tony Romeo and the others were certainly hook-meisters. And with the
good
keyboards, bass, and drums, and wall of harmonies, I can almost
forget about
the cheesy lyrics. Makes me wish more of the "legit" bands of today
would
stop passing off half-baked riffs and four chords as songs - let the
pros do
the job! Okay, flame away...
Anyway, I am now on a quest - I need to get Album and Shopping Bag to
complete the CDification of the LPS that I originally owned way back
when.
What about the rest of their catalog? For those of you (if any) who
are
also unabashed fans, can any of the other 3-4 LPs be recommended? Or
am I
better off with one of the "Best of"s to capture the goodies (if any)
on LPs
5-8? Plus, I saw on a web site that there are some worthy tracks not
on the
proper LPS...
You'll probably end up getting the lot of them, but don't miss out on
David Cassidy's first two solo albums, Cherish and Rock me Baby.
Less, well, formulaic, in the sense that it's nice to get a break
from the Bahlers' "family" background vocals. David's attempts at a
more mature sound sometimes fall flat, but that's mostly an image
thing. There's some real gems on there, such as "Could it be
forever?" and "Some kind of a summer" and "Being Together". The
production and original songwriting is by Wes Farrell's team, the
folks behind the PF's music. Some of the last gasps of the Brill
Building system.
David's next albums are interesting in their way, but David tries too
hard to be taken seriously, affected raspy voice and all. The Razor &
Tie collection of those years is probably all you need. His cover of
Pilot's "January" is a great improvement on the original, and the
David's voice is too small for "I write the songs" but hell, it's
still pretty, and Carl Wilson's gorgeous featured vocal is no hindrance.
And dammit, enough with the guilt and the irony! This is good stuff!
The ignorant's mockery can only hit home you if you're ashamed. :)
Richard
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