Customer Reviews

Sound Magazine

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am NOT ashamed to say that the Partridge Family was my real introduction to music in my life. I STILL absolutely love their music. Nostalgia or not, there has never been better pop created. I am a huge music fan today thanks to the PF Gang. I'm into many genres of music today, but nobody did pop better than the PF Gang.

And I still listen to them today, in between U2, Avril Lavigne, The Cure, Led Zep, Fleetwood Mac, Midnight Oil, Michelle Branch, Hole, Radiohead, Alizee, Coldplay, Dido, Mozart, Kitaro, Nelly Furtado, Tori Amos, Counting Crows, Snow Patrol, and over 500 artists, and 1000 albums. So if you are a PF fan, DON'T BE ASHAMED! Enjoy them now as you did when you were a kid, and thank them for introducing you to the fantastic world of music.

This album is amazing. One Night Stand is a great start. Lord knows I had no idea what it meant when I was a kid. I didn't care. And Brown Eyes was always beautiful. Echo Valley 2-6809 is a classic. You Don't Have To Tell Me was my favorite (and one of the most complex on the album -- I guess it introduced me to dramatic music, which I've always loved). Rainmaker is beautiful, as is I'm On My Way Back Home. Summer Days still has one of my favorite piano intros of all time. And it's all great, as is all of their first few albums. I can't even begin to explain the memories and emotions they trigger.

The Partridge Family -- I love you, and always will!

If there is one non-greatest hits LP that defines a group's sound, then Sound Magazine would be the pinnacle of the Partridge sound. The recording process on this LP is an awesome mix job: the instrumentation is quite strong, the background singers are at their best here with the tightest harmonies ever produced on a Partridge recording. The vocals are crystal clear, the songs are timely and well produced. Probably the best group of Partridge recordings and known as one of thir most popular LPs. The only song that may appear weak was "You Don't Have to Tell Me" but I actually like that one now I am older. "One Night Stand" stands out as a unique selection offered up by 70s music legend Paul Anka, who joined the ranks of Partridge writers such as Carol King, Gerry Goffin, Wes Farrell and Tony Romeo (The true sound of the Family.)"Brown Eyes" was not a hit but a surefire Partridge fan favorite which is as strong as "Summer days", "Echo Valley 2-6809" and "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" ( a Partridge hit as strong as "I Think I Love You" but not as widely remembered or played as a Partridge hit)Rounding out this exquisite roster are other over looked hit potentials as "Rainmaker","I'm On My Way Back Home" "Twenty Four Hours a Day" and Cassidy's self penned and self prophetic rocker "Love Is All I Ever Needed". This selection is a definite must have for any Partridge-curious, new- found fan or any 70s fan at all. One of the greatest Partridge LPs produced! C'mon Get Happy .....buy this "magazine" for sure, it's worth perusing!

Released in August of 1971, this album became the fans' and critics' choice for the best overall release under the Partridge Family banner. Of the eleven tracks, five showed up later on the greatest hits compilations (three on the 1972 vinyl release, two additional tracks on the 1989 compact disc release). Thanks to the superb song selection, a more sophisticated sound, and inspired vocals from David Cassidy, this LP (Bell 6064) became a top ten million seller during the second and highest rated televison season for the group.

The hit single from the album (peaking at #13) was "I Woke Up In Love This Morning." This catchy tune became a fan favorite of many, including movie director Spike Lee. In his 1994 semiautobiographical film "Crooklyn," Lee includes a scene where the five children huddle around the TV set on a Friday evening and sing along with David and the gang to this tune. Back in 1971, if you flipped the 45 rpm single over you heard another terrific tune, "Twenty-Four Hours a Day."

My personal favorites are the bouncy "Summer Days" and the beautiful ballad "You Don't Have to Tell Me," both written by Tony Romeo (the same guy who wrote their next hit single "It's One of Those Nights," from the Shopping Bag LP). Other highlights include "One Night Stand" and "Brown Eyes" (co-written by producer Wes Farrell), plus "Echo Valley 2-6809" (co-written by Rupert Holmes, the same guy who would eventually top the charts in December of 1979 with "Escape"). We are even treated to another song co-written by David, "Love Is All That I Ever Needed."

If you are going to get any of the Buddha reissues of the Partridges' catalog get this one. The studio musicians played letter perfect arrangements. Snap this one up now!

This is the first album I ever owned. As a child, I loved it - along with my Beatles and Monkees records. As my collection eventually blossomed to over one thousand five hundred albums/tapes/cds, I still love it! Take a moment here and I'll tell you why, if you are truely a fan of classic pop / rock music, why you should, nay, must have this CD.

I am a well educated professional with eclectic and knowledgable musical tastes. I count as my favorites Hayden, Beethoven, Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Elvis, Eddie Cochran,Dylan, Jobim, Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, Seeger, Springsteen, Marvin Gaye, Bowie, Ramones, Sex Pistols, New Order, REM, U2, Metallica, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Beck etc. You get the message! The reason I felt the need to qualify this review is that aparently it is very in vogue to trash music like the Partridge Family and the Monkees and perhaps it's helpful to know the reviewer's musical knowledge and range as a reference point.

Having said all that, any collection of 1960s / 1970s pop music is incomplete without this album, or at least the greatest hits package. Is it a Rubber Soul, Who's Next or Begger's Banquet? Of course not, but what it is is an infectious, melodious and immensly fun collection of very well written pop tunes richly sung by David Cassidy. From I Would Have Loved You Anyway to I Woke Up In Love This Morning to Echo Valley...this album is packed with great little gems not to be missed by any serious pop/rock music fan.

Remember how you feel every time you hear that quintesential pop song Wouldn't It Be Nice by the Beach Boys? The song is everything pop/rock should be, youth, innocence, optimism, romance and fun. This album, though obviously a step below that classic, is much the same. Get it and discover, or rediscover, what it meant to be young, lighthearted and in love in the early 70s. And you know what? Just as those qualities can never feel dated, neither will this album. Forget that PF was a TV band and the people who feel intellectually superior by trashing music they never really gave a fair listen to and get this album. Fifteen dollars will never make you feel so good again!

For this, the group's third album, producer Wes Farrell decided _not_ to slightly speed-up David Cassidy's voice (as he had done in the previous two albums, to make Cassidy sound younger)...and the results are glorious! Cassidy's mature, expansive voice fully embraces each song, and the backup vocals of Jackie Ward, Ron Hicklin, and John & Tom Bahler hit it right out of the park. A self-assured, dramatic, and fully realized album that still sounds great today!

After toying with the sound for the first two albums, the right sound is found to create the most perfect pure-pop album ever.Such development in the PF sound will not happen again until the final "Bulletin Board" set.With writers like Rupert Holmes ("The Pina Colada Song"), Levine & Brown (most of Tony Orlando & Dawn's hits), and Paul Anka contributing, every song is a gem. This PF album particularly shines in Dolby Surround Sound.

There is an album that each group has that says everything there is about them, and shows them at their best:

Sound Magazine is the album for the Partridge Family

One Night Stand kicks off the proceedings in fine style, followed by the fantastic Brown Eyes, which IMHO, should have been a single. Echo Valley 2-6809 is a beautiful song of love too late. I'll skip over the one stinker on here and go to another high point, Rainmaker. I'm On My Way Back Home, followed by Summer Days, I Would Have Loved You Anyway, and 24 Hours A Day, set us up perfectly for this album's crown jewel, the excellent I Woke Up In Love This Morning, concluded by Love Is All That I Ever Needed. RUN, don't walk to get this ultimate Partridge Family album.

The Partridge Family's Sound Magazine is a perfect example of fun music. There aren't any messages here, no thinking required, just good, well-crafted pop songs. The album didn't have any top ten singles like their first two, but overall the quality of music is probably their peak. "I Woke Up In Love This Morning", "I'm On My Way Back Home", "Brown Eyes" and "Rainmaker" contain some of David Cassidy's best singing. One song that should have been released as a single is "Summer Days". It opens with a lone harpsicord and then seiges into a stirring horn & string section. Although this wasn't a hit, iI think it's the best song in their catalog. The Partridge Family's music is like ice cream, a guilty pleasure.

I first picked up the L.P in 1972. I was seven years old and a devoted fan of the T.V show. And now some twenty seven years later I love this release as much as I did then. Yes it takes me back to the 'good old days' and makes me feel good but bottom line is that the music is GREAT! Well written songs sung by David Cassidy when he was in his prime.From 'Summer Days' to 'On My Way Back Home To You' the songs are good. Really,really good. Don't get me wrong, I love todays stuff. I like Creed and Metallica but there is something to be said for songs without additude. Where the most important thing on the singer's mind is love and not sex. Buy the C.D,you'll be pleased you did.

THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY'S MUSICAL LEGACY IS A REAL WINNER. THE VOCAL TALENTS OF DAVID CASSIDY ARE MATCHED WITH SOPHISTICATED BACK UP VOACL HARMONIES AND STUNNING STRING AND HORN ARRANGEMENTS BY JOHN BAHLER. OBVIOUSLY PERFORMED BY TALENTED MUSICIANS AND WRITERS, THIS WORK TREMENDOUSLY SUPERCEDES THE SUPERFICIAL PREMOUS OF THE TENDER SITCOM AND IT'S FLUFFY BUBBLEGUM MARKETING. THESE SONGS ARE PASSIONATE, SOPHISTICATED, AND LIKE MOST OF THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY'S MUSIC, UNDERAPPRECIATED. THIS WORK STANDS ON IT'S OWN. AND THOUGH A LITTLE DATED IN IT'S PRESENTATION, THE LYRICS, ARRANGEMENTS AND VOCAL CONTRIBUTION, RIVAL EVEN TODAY'S SHALLOW EFFORTS AT TRUE MUSICAL ARTISTRY AND A CONNECTION WITH THE LISTENER. THE CATALOGUE OF MUSIC THAT THIS EARLY 1970'S SHOW PRODUCED, IS A TRUE GEM. AND FOR THOSE OF US WHO WANT TO ESCAPE ALL OF THE COOKIE CUTTER SAME SOUND MUSH OF TODAY'S MUSIC, TAKE A MINUTE TO LOOK BACK.....WHEN ALL WAS COOL AND GROOVY..THE WORLD IS SO UPTIGHT. TAKE A MINUTE FOR YOURSELF, LISTEN TO THIS CD. GET BACK ON THE BUS. C'MON GET HAPPY!