''The Partridge Family Sound Magazine'' is the third studio album by TV-linked pop project

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from S ...

. Released in August 1971 ahead of the start of the second season of the US TV series, it was their third hit album in ten months. In late September 1971, in its fifth week on ''Billboard'''s Top LP's chart, the album reached its no. 9 chart peak. In that same week the album's one hit single release, " I Woke Up In Love This Morning", peaked at no. 13 on ''Billboard'''s Hot 100. The LP was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

that same month. ''Sound Magazine'' is near-universally regarded – by both fans and critics – as the Partridge Family's consummate pop album. ''Sound Magazine'' was the only Partridge Family album to crack the UK Top 20. It peaked at no. 14 in April 1972, coinciding with the chart climb of

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...

's smash double A-sided UK solo debut hit "Could It Be Forever"/" Cherish" (UK no. 2). The album dropped out of the UK Top 40 in the same late May 1972 week in which both the afore-mentioned single and its parent album '' Cherish'' peaked at no. 2 in their respective charts. On ''Billboards Top LP's chart, ''Sound Magazine'' overlapped with the 6 November 1971 – 22 January 1972 Hot 100 chart run of Cassidy's US debut solo hit "Cherish" (US no. 9). The album remained in the Top 30 throughout the single's chart run, then slipped following the single's disappearance from the Hot 100. Consistent with all of the Partridges' eight studio albums, the record was produced by

Wes Farrell Wes Farrell (December 21, 1939 – February 29, 1996) was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Farrell was born in New York, United States. Farrell's catalogue includes close ...

for Coral Rock Productions, and released on Bell Records. Farrell arranged the rhythm tracks, and

Mike Melvoin Mike Melvoin (May 10, 1937February 22, 2012) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He served as chairman and president of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, The Recording Academy and worked as a prolific Session mus ...

arranged the strings and horns. The disc was engineered by Bob Kovach. As with all of the group's releases, the album features some of the era's most highly regarded studio musicians, better known as " the Wrecking Crew":

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

(drums), Mike Melvoin (piano),

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & ...

(piano),

Dennis Budimir Dennis Matthew Budimir (June 20, 1938 – January 2023) was an American jazz and rock guitarist. He was considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew. Biography Budimir learned to play piano and guitar in his youth and first played professio ...

(guitar), Louie Shelton (guitar) and Max Bennett (bass). And once again members of the

Ron Hicklin Singers The Ron Hicklin Singers were a group of Los Angeles studio singers contracted and organized by Ron Hicklin. They are mostly known as the real singers behind the background vocals on The Partridge Family recordings. In Los Angeles studio circles i ...

– brothers

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Tom Bahler Thomas Lee Bahler (also spelled Bähler; born June 1, 1943) is an American singer, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer, and author. He is the younger brother of singer, arranger, conductor and composer John Bahler. Bahler is most known for ...

, Ron Hicklin and

Jackie Ward Jackie Ward (born Jacqueline McDonnell, 1941), better known as Robin Ward, is an American singer, regarded as a "one-hit wonder" of 1963 million-selling song "Wonderful Summer". However, using her real name she was highly accomplished and s ...

– feature prominently as backing vocalists throughout the album, with arrangements by John Bahler. As with most Partridge Family releases, many well-known songwriters contributed songs to the album, including

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...

Rupert Holmes David Goldstein (born February 24, 1947), better known as Rupert Holmes, is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" (1979) and " Him" (1980). ...

Tony Romeo Tony Romeo (December 25, 1938 – June 23, 1995) was an American songwriter.
(obituary), ''The New York Times'', June 26 ...

and Bobby Hart. The latter had also contributed songs to

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...

, a similar project which also combined a prime-time television series about a part-fictional/part-real musical group with a series of music albums. Wes Farrell co-wrote five of the album's songs including the final track, "Love Is All That I Ever Needed", written with lead vocalist

. This was Cassidy's second composition to feature on a Partridge Family album. In the mythos of Partridge Family lore, they also recorded a watered-down version of the relatively racy "I'll Be Your Magician", penned by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown. The track was ultimately discarded and never released, although

Danny Bonaduce Dante Daniel Bonaduce (born August 13, 1959) is an American radio personality, actor, television personality, and professional wrestler. Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce (''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', '' One Da ...

, who played Danny in the TV series, recorded the song for his 1973 solo album. Cassidy recorded a reworked version of ''Sound Magazines "Summer Days" for his third solo album, '' Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes'' (UK number one, 1973). The cover of the album was the first to feature child actor Brian Forster, who had replaced Jeremy Gelbwaks as Chris Partridge in the TV series. In the posthumously broadcast 2018 TV documentary ''David Cassidy: The Last Session'', produced by Left/Right Productions for A&E and documenting the star's final recording session alongside his struggle with alcoholism, a copy of the LP is seen propped up in the studio close to where Cassidy is recording his vocals.

Track listing

All tracks from the album were featured on the TV show, mainly from Season 2

Charts

Personnel

*David Cassidy, Shirley Jones - vocals *

Louis Shelton William Louis Shelton (born April 6, 1941) is an American guitarist and music producer. Biography During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s Shelton was a session musician working in recording studios around Hollywood. Among his more notable session ...

- guitar * Max Bennett - bass *

- piano *

- drums *

, John Bähler, Ron Hicklin, Tom Bähler - background vocals

Recording dates

May 4, 1971 *"Brown Eyes" *"Echo Valley 2-6809" *"Rainmaker" *"I'm on My Way Back Home" *"I Would Have Loved You Anyway" May 5, 1971 *"One Night Stand" *"You Don't Have to Tell Me" *"Twenty-Four Hours a Day" *"I Woke Up In Love This Morning" May 11, 1971 *"Love Is All That I Ever Needed" May 13, 1971 *"Summer Days" (see June 7, 1971) June 7, 1971 *"Summer Days" (Re-Record, see May 13, 1971) See recording dates for this and other Partridge Family albums at ''The Partridge Family Recording Sessions''

References

{{Authority control The Partridge Family albums 1971 albums Albums arranged by Mike Melvoin Albums produced by Wes Farrell Bell Records albums Albums recorded at United Western Recorders