Russ Giguere: Hexagram 16 (1971) Original Warner Bros. Vinyl Transfer

Russ Giguere, one of the key cogs in the Association's sun-drenched harmony blend, had always stood out from the rest of the group. Probably the biggest "folky" of the band, his precise, wavering vocal delivery was unmistakable and he was one of the Association's best in-house songwriters, although he wasn't the hit maker that Terry Kirkman and Jim Yester were. In 1971, as the Association were in a full commercial and critical decline, Giguere must have known his band wouldn't be around too much longer. Smartly, he decided to venture out on his own, secured a deal with WB and teamed up with the Associations then-current producer, John Boylan, to make a record.

The result, Hexagram 16, is surprisingly good, and at times rivals some of the Association's finest moments, although Russ's sound does differ a good deal from the band's. Most of the music here is rooted in a folk/country soft-rock sound, with lite-psychedelic accents sprinkled throughout. The very first track on the album, the Giguere original "Now We Begin" is a haunting and sparse folk number. The harmonies that you'd find on an Association record are nowhere to be found here, it's just a delicately picked dreamy acoustic pattern, some echo-y guitar (especially at the fadeout) and one of Giguere's best ever vocals he committed to tape. One of the top tracks on the record. But there are other equally gorgeous moments. Russ's take on Judee Sill's "Ridge Rider" is a blissful country-pop trot, with an ethereal harmonica accompanying the gentle melody and Giguere's acoustic. Giguere, and maybe John Boylan, must have been listening to what the Byrds had been putting out at this time (particularly the Untitled album), as the soft country-rockers "Let it Flow" and "Rosarita Beach Cafe" are perfect examples of that early 70s twangy and breezy pop/rock that had become ubiquitous in LA around this time and they end up being two of the best tracks on the album.

There are some heavier and even psychedelic moments on the album too. The Bill Martin penned "My Plan" and the Jules Alexander composition "Pegasus" are almost prog-rock in their epic scope, with the former sounding like an organ-heavy Moody Blues number and the latter employing a massive, swirling symphony to accompany Alexander's mystical lyrics. For me, these two tracks probably don't play to the strengths of either Giguere, Boylan, and the session musicians on the record, many of whom at had played on the Association's better known material. Although the instrumentation is nice, these two songs are just a bit too..."clunky", if that makes sense. These songs lack the melodic precision of the other material and instead maybe focusing to heavily on the grandiosity of the production and stick out like a sore thumb in contrast with the soft-pop on the rest of the album. But, thats just my take on it, you guys might find these songs to be great (I hate to sound like a music critic).

Overall, a pretty great record, and a very obscure one. Never been re-issued and still isn't that well known, even among Association fans. I found a pretty clean copy of the album at a local record store and transferred it to .mp3 @ 320vbr using EAC's .WAV editor. Compressed to .mp3 using dbpoweramp and LAME 3.97. No EQing, no pop removal, just a flat transfer as always. Enjoy: http://www.mediafire.com/?en7oa0299nv198d

-Casey