This song has been a favorite of mine ever since I first heard it on the album "Birthday" back in the 80's. It reminds me of walking along the beach with my girlfriend, looking at a gorgeous sunset. The song was written by Jim Yester, who also sings lead...the string arrangement, great vocal harmonies, lush melody and delicate guitar solo by Tommy Tedesco make this a sunshine pop classic. Jim Yester also contributed two other equally great tunes on this album, "Birthday Morning" and the stunning, majestic "Barefoot Gentleman". I recommend the entire album to fans of 1960s harmony pop-it is their most psychedelic record, hands down, and my favorite by them,although I still haven't heard their first LP yet, which others have recommended to me as their best.
27 Apr 07 ·delicado: This is a truly exquisite track. I've been listening to this album a lot recently actually. 29 Apr 07 ·eftimihn: A track so great it abolutely deserves to be recommended twice, here is my entry: http://www.musicaltaste.com/filter.php?songtitle=Rose%20Petals%2C%20Incense%20and%20a%20Kitten 29 Apr 07 ·artlongjr: I'm glad so many people like this song...you can't go wrong with this album, in addition to "Rose Petals", there is "Everything That Touches You", "Toymaker", "Hear in Here", and "The Time it is Today", all great tunes. I just wonder what the results would have been if the Association had recorded "MacArthur Park" like they were requested to at that time! 24 Jun 09 ·Major Minor: Seconded! Birthday is my favorite Association album containing some of the finest Sunshine Pop tracks ever!
This track sounds better to me every time I hear it. Ironically, I had a copy of The Association's Renaissance LP for years, but for some odd reason didn't get as far as listening to this song until recently.
It's a very accessible but powerful late 60s pop song with a psychedelic edge. It can't have taken long to write, but the production is excellent, with a nice effect on the vocals, and a wonderful use of early 70s Beach Boys-style swelling vocal harmonies over the vocal phrase 'and all that's left for me to do...is cry'.
Musically, it's an upbeat track with a slightly claustrophobic arrangement. But it's cool - that's all part of the effect! As well as drums, vocals and upbeat guitars, they employ the koto, which adds an unusual edge to the sound.
19 Sep 04 ·konsu: Again, one of the most underrated of US pop bands. Confined to "Oldies" FM radio forever, except for the occasional DJ who is tempted by the album "filler" which is where their real gems lie. This album is almost never mentioned, even though this tune charted in the top 40. And it being overshadowed by their more popular Curt Boettcher produced LP "And Along Comes...". A great
tune, and a record that deserves more attention indeed!
This is a pretty much overlooked gem by The Association. Somewhere described as a "total pacific beach fantasy", that's exactly how the song sounds. With it's idealized lyrics, great vocal harmonies, lush strings and a very nice acoustic guitar solo you can almost feel a gentle pacific breeze, evoking a similar kind of "lost summer" mood Chad & Jeremy's "Distant Shores" provide (at least for me)...
This is the sound of ecstasy, the most joyful song to ever hit the charts! Quite unlike the mope-rock of recent decades (although I like the Smiths too). It just rings out, I think because it has a very heavy emphasis on the "dominant" musical tone.
The Association, of course, had several huge hits in the 1966-68 period, like "Cherish", "Windy", and "Never My Love", and the also-wonderful "Along Comes Mary" (their debut), but in my opinion "Everything That Touches You" is definitely their best.
22 May 03 ·konsu: Yes indeed! Birthday is such a great album. I think this one was a minor hit for them, but the rest of this record is just as worthy of exhaltations. Check out the tune "Like Always" as well. Pure genius!! 24 Jun 03 ·tinks: i heart birthday. but then again, i heart the association. even stop your motor. 22 Dec 04 ·ronin: Their interweaving vocal harmonies still blow me away, especially on songs such as this one, my personal fave. "Insight Out" was 1st album we ever purchased independent of parents. "Requiem for the Masses" is another powerful harmonic tour de force. Who sings (not yells) like this anymore? Every member of the group (even Brian!) sang. 14 Apr 05 ·Goes Up To 11: My then-girlfriend (now wife) and I had breakfast with the Association at about 2 am in the Atlanta Hyatt-Regency's coffee shop after a concert at Georgia Tech in 1969 or 1970. Nice guys! Although the Association took a lot of critical heat in the years since, I remember them as extremely professional musicians, able to precisely recreate their complex studio vocal harmonies live in concert. Part of the reason may have been that they were the first band I remember employing a mixing board out in the audience during a concert, something that became standard practice in the industry within a few years afterwards.
In putting together a mix CD tentatively called "Far Out Sixties", this song immediately came to mind. Anybody who knows the Association from "Windy" or "Along Comes Mary" is in for a rude awakening when hearing this tune. It's quite a funky little jam with laid back, almost scatting vocals and droning sitars. So groovy you could picture the guys wearing love beads and nehru jackets while performing it!
28 Feb 03 ·konsu: Alright! I've compiled this one before too. I think the sitar/drum break at the top has been sampled more than a few times. The tune almost sounds like a tribute to Ravi Shankar & The Lovin' Spoonful simultaneously...Right On! 20 Oct 04 ·deaser26: This was a song written by my father, Michael Deasy Sr - who played guitar on most of the Association's stuff. He did a couple of psychedelic albums, Friar Tuck and his Psychedelic Guitar and Tanyet - both cutting edge classics. This song was an interesting exploration for the Association guys.
