''Insight Out'' is the third

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the American pop

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

The Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from Los Angeles, California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts, ''Billboard'' charts (including "Windy (The Association song), Windy" ...

and was released on June 8, 1967, on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. It was the band's first album release for the Warner Brothers label and it became one of the top selling LPs of the year in America, peaking at number 8 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart and being

certified Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. Critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

has attributed much of the album's success to the inclusion of the U.S.

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

" Windy" and "

Never My Love "Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Don and Dick Addrisi, and best known from a hit 1967 recording by the Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success as songwri ...

", which reached number 1 and number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart respectively and were among the most-played records on

AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...

during the late 1960s.

Recording

''Insight Out'' was the first Association album to feature guitarist and vocalist

Larry Ramos Hilario D. "Larry" Ramos Jr. (April 19, 1942 – April 30, 2014) was an American guitarist, banjo player and vocalist known primarily for his work with the 1960s pop band the Association. In 1963, he won a Grammy Award with the New Christy Minst ...

, who joined the band just prior to the album recording sessions, as a replacement for departed

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ist Jules Alexander. The album also saw the Association working with

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

Bones Howe Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe (born March 18, 1933) is an American record producer and recording engineer who scored a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, often of the sunshine pop genre, starting in 1965 with The Turtles (band), the Turtles cover o ...

for the first time. Howe, who had previously worked with

the Mamas & the Papas The Mamas & the Papas were an American folk rock vocal group that recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968, with a brief reunion in 1971. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. Formed in New York C ...

and

the Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

, was brought in by the band's manager and Warner Bros., in an attempt to steer the group in a more commercial direction. As a result of Howe's focus on obtaining a radio-friendly sound, the Association ceded much of the instrumental playing on ''Insight Out'' to a team of top L.A.

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

s, including

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

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. ...

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

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 Sim ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Al Casey, and guitarist/ sitarist

Mike Deasy Michael William Deasy (born February 4, 1941) is an American rock and jazz guitarist. As a session musician, he played on numerous hit singles and albums recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He is sometimes credited as Mike De ...

. The group also elected to record some songs written by non-band members, in contrast to their previous album, ''

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

'', on which the band had written and performed all of their own music. Unterberger and Bruce Eder have both commented that ''Insight Out'' saw the band mixing their textured

vocal harmonies Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chor ...

with an eclectic blend of influences, including

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid-1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropria ...

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

sunshine pop Sunshine pop, originally called soft pop and soft rock, is a loosely defined form of pop music that was first associated with early soft rock producers and songwriters based in Los Angeles, California, during the mid-to late 1960s. Its recording ...

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

, and even elements of

garage punk A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...

. Along with the hit singles "Windy" and "Never My Love", the pair have also cited songs such as P. F. Sloan's reflective "On a Quiet Night", the Addrisi Brothers' "Happiness Is", and the band originals "We Love Us", "When Love Comes to Me", and "Requiem for the Masses" as standout tracks on the album. The latter song in particular was an ambitious and somber piece written by multi-instrumentalist Terry Kirkman, featuring layered

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

vocals and anti-war lyrics, which use the story of a

matador A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

dying alone in the

bullring A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with the Iberian Peninsula, but they can also be found through Iberian America and in a few Spanish and Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa. Bullrings are ...

, miles away from his home, as an analogy for the plight of U.S. soldiers serving in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. According to Kirkman, the idea for the song came to him while caught in a frightening snowstorm during a chartered flight to a concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Release, reception and reissues

''Insight Out'' was released in the U.S. on June 8, 1967, reaching number 8 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart and being

by the

in December 1967. The album was less successful outside of North America, failing to chart in the United Kingdom. Music critic Matthew Weiner, writing for ''Stylus'' magazine, has described ''Insight Out'' and its follow-up ''

Birthday A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage. Many religion ...

'' as "minor classics in the late-sixties pop genre", while Unterberger viewed the album, within the context of the Association's back catalogue, as "characteristically eclectic". In his review for the

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

website, Eder described ''Insight Out'' as "an enjoyable folk-rock album", but also noted that the album was recorded "somewhat in the shadow of

Harpers Bizarre Harpers Bizarre was an American sunshine pop band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/sunshine pop sound and their cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Career Harpers Bizarre was formed out of ...

's experimental " Feelin' Groovy" single. ''Insight Out'' has been reissued a number of times on CD, including a

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed edition of the album in its standard

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

configuration on Collectors' Choice Music in 2003 and as a Japanese release on Warner Bros. in 2005, with the addition of two bonus tracks. In 2011, ''Insight Out'' was reissued in a deluxe CD package by

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...

, featuring the original mono mix of the album and multiple bonus tracks.

Track listing

Side one #"Wasn't It a Bit Like Now?" ( Terry Kirkman)3:32 (lead vocal: Kirkman &

Ramos Ramos is a surname of Spanish and Portuguese origin that means "bouquets" or "branches". People with the surname Ramos are most likely found in Mexico, Brazil or Puerto Rico. Notable people and characters with the surname include: People ...

) #"On a Quiet Night" ( P. F. Sloan)3:22 (lead vocal: Yester) #"We Love Us" (Ted Bluechel)2:26 (lead vocal: Bluechel & Ramos) #"When Love Comes to Me" (

Jim Yester James Yester (born November 24, 1939) is an American musician. He is a member of the sunshine pop group the Association, who had numerous hits on the Billboard charts, ''Billboard'' charts during the 1960s, including "Windy (The Association song ...

)2:46 (lead vocal: Yester) #" Windy" (

Ruthann Friedman Ruthann Friedman (born July 6, 1944) is an American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist best known for writing the hit song "Windy" for the American sunshine pop band The Association. Early years Born in Bronx, New York, Friedman spent her form ...

)2:57 (lead vocal: Giguere & Ramos) #"Reputation" (

Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs " If I Were a Carpenter", " Reason to Believe", " Misty Roses" and " ...

)2:38 (lead vocal: Cole) Side 2 #"

" ( Addrisi Brothers)3:14 (lead vocal: Kirkman & Ramos) #"Happiness Is" (Addrisi Brothers)2:20 (lead vocal: Bluechel & Ramos) #"Sometime" (Russ Giguere)2:38 (lead vocal: Giguere) #"Wantin' Ain't Gettin" (

)2:20 (lead vocal: Cole & Giguere) #"Requiem for the Masses" (Kirkman)4:09 (lead vocal: Kirkman)

Personnel

The Association

* Terry Kirkman – wind instruments, vocals, percussion *

– lead guitar, vocals * Russ Giguere – rhythm guitar, vocals, percussion * Brian Cole – bass, vocals, woodwinds * Ted Bluechel Jr. – drums, vocals, rhythm guitar, bass *

– rhythm guitar, vocals, keyboards

Additional musicians

According to the 2011 deluxe expanded mono edition and ''Just the Right Sound: The Association Anthology'': *

– drums *

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Ray Pohlman – bass *

Dennis Budimir Dennis Matthew Budimir (June 20, 1938 – January 10, 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 profe ...

, Al Casey – guitars *

– piano, keyboards *

Gary Coleman Gary Wayne Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010) was an American actor, known as a high-profile child star of the late 1970s and 1980s. Born in Zion, Illinois, Coleman grew up with his adopted parents, and a kidney disease; due to the co ...

– vibes, various percussion * Arthur Briegleb, Gale Robinson, Vince DeRosa, Richard Perissi – French horns * Jules Chaikin, Oliver Mitchell, Ian Freebairn-Smith – trumpets * Bob Edmondson – trombone * John T. Johnson, Gene Cipriano – saxophone *

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...

– piccolo, flute *

– tambourine on "Never My Love" * Clark Burroughs, Marilyn Burroughs, Bertie Jane Giguere, Jo-Ellen Yester, Jerry Yester,

– additional backing vocals on (tag of) "Windy"

Technical

– producer, engineer * Bill Holman, Clark Burroughs, Ray Polhman, The Association – arrangements *

Ed Thrasher Edward Lee Thrasher Jr. (March 7, 1932 – August 5, 2006), known as Ed Thrasher, was an American art director and photographer. He was the recipient of a number of Grammy Award nominations for his work on album covers and won a Grammy for Best Al ...

– art direction * Sherman Weisburd, Don Peterson – photography

References

{{Authority control The Association albums 1967 albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Bones Howe