The Partridge Family - The Partridge Family Notebook (1972)

Although there were two more long-players under the Partridge Family banner, all signs were pointing toward the reality that their 15 minutes of fame were rapidly closing in. Tellingly, The Partridge Family Notebook (1972) became the first Partridge album to fail to reach the Top 40, or even yield a solid hit. The weekly prime time sitcom continued to run on ABC-TV, as central cast members Shirley Jones (vocals) and David Cassidy (vocals) worked in the recording studio alongside heavyweights such as Hal Blaine (drums), Larry Carlton (guitar), Joe Osborne (bass), and Larry Knechtel (keyboards). Yet the fickle nature of pop music had begun to shift away from the pre-fab, formulaic, and predictable Partridge Family. While "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" is arguably the most memorable track on the disc -- becoming the final Top 40 single (Number 39) for the Partridge Family -- it is the cover of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" which seems to verify the fact that producer Wes Farrell was running out of marketable musical ideas. But a majority of the material comes off as patently contrived. This is especially true of the syrupy and breathy mid-tempo love song "Together We're Better," and the equally dismissible "Storybook Love" -- both of which are somewhat typical of the fare coming from Farrell's stable of writers and arrangers. Even the faux fuzz guitar intro and heavy backbeat of the opener "Friend and a Lover" can't hide the prominent lightweight pop undercurrent, and although it was the follow-up to "Looking Through the Eyes of Love," it barely even made the Top 100, petering out at Number 99. Indeed, the die was cast for the Partridge Family -- although they would retain their television show for an additional two seasons, as well as issue another pair of mediocre LPs. © Lindsay Planer