The Partridge Family Sound Magazine, the third long-player from the pre-fab and made-for-TV combo, was also the last to make it into the Top Ten. Taking a page right out of the overwhelming phenomenon that was
Monkee mania, The Partridge Family ran on ABC-TV from September 25, 1970, through August 31, 1974. Although the tunes were more or less a byproduct of the show's success, producer
Wes Farrell actually incorporated the same methodology that
Bert Schneider and
Bob Rafelson had used on The Monkees. This involved primary cast members
Shirley Jones and
David Cassidy on lead vocals for all
Partridge Family projects in addition to their chores as actors. The campaign yielded not only consistently favorable ratings on TV, but no less than nine Top 40 LPs and 11 Top 40 singles. Providing instrumental support for
Cassidy and
Jones were some of the most prolific pop and rock studio musicians of the era -- many of whom had likewise worked on
Monkees platters. Heavyweights such as
Hal Blaine (drums),
Larry Carlton (guitar),
Joe Osborne (bass), and
Larry Knechtel (keyboards) gave the vocalists a nonconfrontational and genteel sound to match their squeaky-clean persona. Also joining the proceedings were the cavity-invoking backing harmonies of
the Love Generation, who had participated to some degree on every
Partridge Family release. The single "I Woke Up in Love This Morning" reached the Top 20 survey, making it the highest-profile side on the album. Other notable fan favorites included are "Echo Valley 2-6809," "Summer Days," and "Love Is All That I Ever Needed," the
Cassidy co-composition concluding this effort.