''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 created by Bernard Slade, which was broadcast in the United States from September 1970 to March 1974 on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. After the final first-run telecast on ABC in March ...

. Released in August 1971 before the start of the second season of the US

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

, 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 "I Woke Up in Love This Morning" is a song written by L. Russell Brown and Irwin Levine and recorded by The Partridge Family for their 1971 album, '' Sound Magazine''. It went to number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1971; it hit number 4 i ...

", peaked at no. 13 on ''Billboard'''s

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

. The LP was certified

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 ...

that same month. ''Sound Magazine'' is nearly 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 and musician. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical-sitcom ''The Partridge Family''. After completing high school, Cassidy purs ...

'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 that 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. Like all of the Partridges' eight studio albums, the record was produced by

Wes Farrell Wesley Donald 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 incl ...

for Coral Rock Productions, and released on

Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benn ...

. 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 The Recording Academy and worked as a prolific studio musician, recording with Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, ...

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 Sim ...

(piano),

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 ...

(guitar),

Louie 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, Los Angeles, California, Hollywood. ...

(guitar) and Max Bennett (bass). And once again members of the Ron Hicklin Singers – 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 * Second E ...

and Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin and Jackie Ward – 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 and American singer, songwriter and actor. His songs include " Diana", “ You Are My Destiny", “Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wr ...

Rupert Holmes Rupert Holmes (born David Goldstein; February 24, 1947) 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). He is also know ...

, Tony Romeo and Bobby Hart. The last had also contributed songs to

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

, a similar project that 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 retired 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'' ...

, 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 - guitar * Max Bennett - bass *

- piano *

- drums * Jackie Ward, 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