Bulletin Board (album)
Bulletin Board | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 1973 | |||
Genre | Rock, Pop | |||
Length | 30:42 | |||
Label | Bell | |||
Producer | Wes Farrell | |||
The Partridge Family chronology | ||||
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Bulletin Board (Bell Records Catalog number: Bell #1137) [1] was the last studio album recorded by The Partridge Family and originally released by Bell Records. The album was recorded between July and September 1973 and released in October 1973.[2] Bulletin Board was the first Partridge Family album to fail to chart on the Billboard 200 album chart.[3] "Looking For A Good Time" b/w "Money Money" was released as a single in November 1973 (Bell Records Catalog number: Bell 45-414), but failed to chart. This was the last regular U.S. Partridge Family single.[4]
The album cover featured a hand-written track listing pinned to a bulletin board, as well as a "family" photograph and a memo detailing the show's new Saturday night time slot. According to the liner notes for the CD release, the album cover was created within only a few hours due to time constraints. While Wes Farrell is credited as producer on the album, it was, in fact, produced and arranged by John Bahler, a member of 60s pop band The Love Generation and, later, the Ron Hicklin Singers, who provided backing vocals on all the Partridge Family albums. Bulletin Board is the only Partridge Family album recorded in a studio different from the preceding albums (which had all been recorded at Western Recorders (Studio 2) Los Angeles).[5]
Reviewer Dave Thompson of AllMusic gave the album a rating of three stars out of five, claiming it was more representative of David Cassidy's solo material than the usual Partridge Family album: "the performances all lean a lot closer towards the Cassidy solo ideal -- soft ballads, tight rockers -- than the all-for-one harmonies and joy that characterized the Partridges' earlier releases." [6] Howard Pattow, a member of the Partridge Family tribute band Sound Magazine, states that "the music here is groovy and funky, a definite reflection of pop music's embrace of disco ... overall, the music on Bulletin Board is quite different from previous Partridge Family efforts ... [and] features musicians that had previously not appeared on a Partridge record." [2]
The compact disc was reissued by Collectors' Choice Music in September 2008. Initially, the disc was available exclusively through the company's web site. The disc contains two bonus tracks, comprising both sides of the Bones Howe-produced Shirley Jones single "Ain't Love Easy / Roses in the Snow", from 1972.[7]
Track listing
All tracks from the original album, except "Where Do We Go From Here", were featured in the fourth and final season of the TV show
Side 1
- "Money Money" (Wes Farrell, Danny Janssen, Bobby Hart)
- "Roller Coaster" (Mark James)
- "Looking for a Good Time" (Wes Farrell, Danny Janssen, Bobby Hart)
- "Oh No Not My Baby" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King)
- "I Wouldn't Put Nothing over on You" (Wes Farrell, Danny Janssen, Bobby Hart)
- "Where Do We Go From Here?" (Mark James)
Side 2
- "How Long Is Too Long" (Tom Bahler, Tony Asher)
- "I'll Never Get over You" (Tony Romeo)
- "Alone Too Long" (Mark James, Cynthia Weil)
- "I Heard You Singing Your Song" (Barry Mann)
- "That's The Way It Is with You" (Harriet Schock)
CD Bonus tracks
- "Ain't Love Easy" (Shirley Jones) (Carol Hall)
- "Roses in the Snow" (Shirley Jones) (Randy McNeill)
Personnel
Produced by Wes Farrell for Coral Rock Productions, Inc.
- Drums: Hal Blaine
- Bass: Max Bennett, Jim Hughart
- Guitar: Larry Carlton, Richard Bennett, Ben Benay, Dean Parks
- Horns: Chuck Findley, Tom Bahler
- Trombone: Lou McCreary, George Bohanon
- Saxophone: Bill Perkins, Jackie Kelso, Bob Hardaway
- Percussion: Gary Coleman, Joe Porcaro
- Keyboards: Michael Omartian, Larry Muhoberac
- Partridge Family vocals by Shirley Jones and David Cassidy
- Background vocals: John Bahler, Tom Bahler, Jackie Ward and Ron Hicklin [2]
Bonus tracks produced by Bones Howe.
Recording dates
July 25, 1973: Money, Money, I’ll Never Get Over You, Alone Too Long, Oh No Not My Baby,
July 26, 1973: I Wouldn’t Put Nothing Over On You
September 4, 1973: I Heard You Singing Your Song, Roller Coaster, Looking For A Good Time, How Long Is Too Long
September 5, 1973: That’s The Way It Is With You, Where Do We Go From Here [8]
Notes
- ^ Bulletin Board Archived February 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at David Cassidy Downunder fansite.
- ^ a b c Bulletin Board review by Howard Pattow from C'mon Get Happy, The Unofficial Website of The Partridge Family.
- ^ Billboard.com [1]
- ^ Singles Archived September 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine at David Cassidy Downunder fansite.
- ^ Partridge Family Release Dates
- ^ Allmusic [2]
- ^ Amazon.com Editorial Review
- ^ The Partridge Family Recording Sessions