ASSOCIATION - And Then… Along Comes The Association (ristampa)

A postcard from an unrecognizable, alien world: that's what the debut by the Association, a sextet of musicians, singers, songwriters and more, sounds like today. Listening to the exuberant, kaleidoscopic harmonies of their songs, and the unpredictable branching of their arrangements, feels like reliving a period of unrepeatable ferment, musical and otherwise - nourished above all by the tireless work of lead guitarist Jules Alexander, a founding member of the group and the true architect of the band's baroque vocal constructions, thanks to the considerable experience he already had by the time the group was formed (he even played several times alongside Frank Zappa, before the latter founded the Mothers Of Invention).

This month sees the release, on Now Sounds, of the deluxe reissue, remastered in mono, of this debut album by the Californian band, who played a decisive role in the birth of the sunshine pop genre in mid-60s Los Angeles, with the legendary Curt Boettcher (a figure every bit as significant as Brian Wilson and Gary Usher) behind the production. The original tracklist is supplemented by the inevitable "single" versions - Boettcher trimmed a few seconds off the end of "Cherish" and made sure the label distributed it as a track of exactly three minutes, so as to conform to the "canon" - as well as instrumental versions and bonus tracks.

Despite their early flirtation with folk-rock - their first single, released through Valiant Records, was a cover of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings", following in the footsteps of the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" - the Los Angeles scene was heading toward a shift in genre that pulled the Association toward recording the demo of "Along Comes Mary", the group's first genuine hit, even though its author, Tandyn Almer, was not a member of the band. A syncopated rhythm that exemplifies all the black-music roots scattered throughout the track, a wild, racing metre that tries to cram into the all-too-narrow confines of the standard hit song a tongue-twisting string of biting impressions (so that the cry "And then along comes Mary" becomes a kind of liberation from the labyrinth of one's own obsessions), the instantly recognisable main theme of horns and handclaps, the unconventional flashes of flute - all combine into a track so complex and yet so catchy that it won the praise of Leonard Bernstein.

The single's success on college radio encouraged them to release the album (which came out in July 1966), with every member of the band - except for bassist Brian Cole - contributing as a songwriter. The first single taken from it, "Cherish", stayed at number one on the national charts for three weeks and became their first gold record, selling over a million copies (BMI even estimates it to be the twenty-second most-played song of all time on American radio). A choral ballad, in which Alexander takes the lead role, with constant, intricate guitar embroidery set within the caressing texture of a xylophone, set against the grand, overwhelming emotional force of the group's harmonies, which seem to expand across the harmonic spectrum until they take it over completely.

This would prove to be a defining trait, quite literally, of the Californian band's music, not only on "And Then... Along Comes The Association", which nonetheless remains the most important testament to the group's career. The blazing, Sixties-spirited anthem of "Enter The Young", full of lively pyrotechnics, the comic tip-tap of "Round Again", the languid psychedelic serenade of "Message Of Our Love", the fluttering, Byrds-like harmonica of "Blistered" - they all come together to form a picture of refined magic, comparable in effect to Odessey And Oracle.

A great testament to a world in the full throes of intellectual ferment, in which things seem to be really happening, in which the fresh forces of a peaceful upheaval are being heralded. A manifesto of sincere, inspired musical exploration, free of obscurity and posturing: that is the great value this reissue holds today.

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21/04/2011