Customer Reviews

Stop Your Motor

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

 

 

By the time 1971 came around, The Association weren't having hits or selling very much records anymore, and key member Russ Giguere had recently departed, being replaced by Richard Thompson. But "Stop Your Motor," while not being the band's masterpiece, still showed that the band were still making great music together. "Bring Yourself Home," "Funny Kind Of Song," "Along The Way," and the band's improved re-recording of "It's Gotta Be Real" (originally from the film "Goodbye Columbus") are all classic Association tunes, and Terry Kirkman's "That's Racin'," a tongue-in-cheek country-western tale of auto racing, is a fun novelty song. After "Stop Your Motor," The Association had only one more album left to do (1972's "Waterbeds In Trinidad"), but musically, they were still racin'. :-)

I waited for YEARS for this album to be released on CD! Though there isn't a "hit" in the mix, this has been #1 on my all-time favorite album list since the vinyl was first released (dating myself!). Without the pressure of cranking out chart-worthy singles (my guess is that this record was a contractual obligation to the record label), the simplicity and purity of the music on this album is what grabbed me. "Along The Way" is simply one of the most beautiful, haunting songs you will ever hear. The mental images ("...gold, and the olive and the cinnamon brown...") of "Silver Morning" painted a very idealistic image of L.A., but are powerful nonetheless. "That's Racin'" is a total hoot, even if you're not into NASCAR! The tribute to P.F. Sloan is vocal harmony at its best, and by itself is worth the price of admission! As I said, this is my favorite album of all time, and I've been listening to music and fantastic artists for over 50 years. If you haven't heard this album, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. You won't be disappointed!

It must have been hard to be a harmony pop band in 1970. All that pre-Pepper hope and sunshine so big five years before seemed almost laughable, at least out of touch, in the shadow of Nixon and Kent State and the Fab Four Split. If this was your style, where the hell did you run.

Could you picture these guys recording a song like "Time For Livin'" in '71? It would make no sense.

A lot of bands like the Association went to what became 70s soft rock. Stop Your Motor is actually a pretty good album--of course it has great vocals, and there are tracks on here that have all the candy harmony arrangements that were as stong as on albums like And Then...Along Comes the Association and the fantastic Renaissance.

The songs here are not that bad: they are laid back, but not gooey. But there is too much that just seems like mild mannered folk rock without a lot of conviction. Without that bursting sound, the band become indistinct.

It is not the band's fault that this was a different, meaner era, but compaired to their best work, Stop Your Motor just does not hold up

By the time 1971 came around, The Association weren't having hits or selling very much records anymore, and key member Russ Giguere had recently departed, being replaced by Richard Thompson. But "Stop Your Motor," while not being the band's masterpiece, still showed that the band were still making great music together. "Bring Yourself Home," "Funny Kind Of Song," "Along The Way," and the band's improved re-recording of "It's Gotta Be Real" (originally from the film "Goodbye Columbus") are all classic Association tunes, and Terry Kirkman's "That's Racin'," a tongue-in-cheek country-western tale of auto racing, is a fun novelty song. After "Stop Your Motor," The Association had only one more album left to do (1972's "Waterbeds In Trinidad"), but musically, they were still racin'. :-)

This album, the last of the group for Warner Bros., was an effort that lacked the voice of Russ Giguere, who had left the group in 1970. The album featured Richard Thompson as Giguere's replacement, and the entire project suffered from spotty song writing and musical arrangements that lacked focus and direction. The best songs on this album are Ted Bluechel's "Bring Yourself Home" and a song penned by Jimmy Webb entitled "P.F. Sloane" that enjoyed some air play on local radio markets in the Midwest. Otherwise, the album is pretty mediocre, with the songs written by Terry Kirkman, the groups best writer of song hits, being particular disappointments on this album.

Stop Your Motor is probably the most obscure of The Association's CD's. Although none of the songs contained therein became hits of any sort, the music on this CD is still worth a listen. Even the least-successful work of The Association is noteworthy. Some of the high points are the beautiful "Bring Yourself Home", "That's Racin'", "Along The Way", and Jimmy Webb's "P.F. Sloan". If you're an Association fan of any kind, you need to have this CD. Also check out the liner notes which give the background scoop on P.F. Sloan.