Love Is All That I Ever Needed. Chapter 18. The Daydreamer

 

David returned home to a strike of screenwriters. It was a very pleasant surprise, because for 15 weeks he didn’t have to go to work. 

The new Partridge Family album was released in March. It was called ‘Crossword Puzzle’, the last Partridge Family’s album charting in the USA, peaking only at number 167. 

The market was oversaturated with TPF and David’s albums. Also the music was changing rapidly in 1973, but TPF’s style was the same, and had grown stale. A single wasn’t released even though Tony Romeo’s ballad ‘As Long As There’s You’ with David’s emotional vocals had a hit potential.. 

The break was very welcomed. He was still exhausted after the tour, and still had 22 more episodes of the show to make, and one more Partridge Family album to record. And his next solo album. It was nice to stay at home for a while. He did some repairs, painted woodwork, and took care of his pets. 

At the time David had three cats, several dogs, six thoroughbred horses and a real estate in Hawaii. 

On July 30 an interesting article and interview with David appeared in The Time, written by Michael Wale. David already decided that not only would he be leaving the show, but he also wanted to stop touring. 

He said : ‘I’d like to do one big farewell concert for 100,000 people in New York for charity.’ He told a lot how the studio from the very beginning treated him as a product. ‘They told me they could just find one on the street and they could pick him up and put him in a magazine and he would become a star’. We can also learn from this interview that in July 1973 David completed recording his new, third solo album.

In 1973 David did some significant and memorable charity work also in his native country. He became the first Young Chairman of the Special Olympic program. He was invited and asked by the Foundation’s president, Mrs Eunice Shriver. His involvement was highly appreciated. He recorded a series of radio appeals for The Olympics, and on July 21 was at the Special Olympic Games for young athletes from California. It was held at UCLA’s stadium in LA and David was in the audience. He gave prizes, and for hours was posing for pictures and signing autographs. 

On July 25 and 26 and at the beginning of September of 1973, the last Partridge Family album was recorded. ‘Bulletin Board’, so different from all the others. Wes Farell was credited as a co-writer of three songs, and the album producer. The truth is he was a producer only on paper. 

After three years of doing in the recording studio what he was told to do, David didn’t want to work with Wes anymore. They weren’t even on speaking terms. John Bahler arranged and produced that album, and co-wrote one song. There were some new musicians, and some previous musicians weren’t present, including Mike Melvoin. 

In general ‘Bulletin Board’ was more like David’s solo album, consisting of ballads and soft rock numbers. It should have been called ‘David Cassidy Saying Goodbye To Keith Partridge’. It was a bold attempt to change something in the Partridge Family’s sound in spite of very unfavorable circumstances. Everybody knew it was probably the last album, and the lead singer was bored, tired and burned out. But David was the true professional, his vocals were great, and even though the album was a commercial disaster and didn’t chart, a lot of fans regard that one as one of their favorites. 

Season 4 of The Partridge Family was the last. It aired from September 15, 1973 to March 23, 1974. ABC moved the show from Friday evenings to Saturday to compete with ‘All In The Family’. At the time it was the most popular TV series. There were rumors that ABC new management wanted new, more sophisticated shows and it was a cynical move, but the show was doomed anyway. 

 David didn’t look like a teenager any more. He had very long hair, and he didn’t agree to cut it. He wore very tight jeans, and, in general, looked like a rock star who appeared on the set by a pure accident.

 A very tired and sleepy rock star, David in 1973 lived in such stress that he was prescribed Valium, which made him lethargic. He still had problems with viral skin diseases, and even heavy makeup couldn’t hide it. Because of chronic stress, David, only in his early twenties, had a lot of health problems. 

 Season 4 was full of surreal and sarcastic humor. Some plots were risky like the episode when Keith dated his own sister. The producers introduced a small, 4 year old boy, Ricky Segall, as a future David’s replacement. There was an episode with the singing Williams twins, but The Partridge Family was David Cassidy. 

Shirley Jones was disappointed. She needed money and stable work. In the 70s her marriage problems, separation and at last divorce from Jack Cassidy were widely written about. David felt that responsibility and he knew that a lot of people had work because of him. But he had enough. 

He thought that chapter of his life was closed once and for all. He would never do a tv series again. He was only 23, famous and wealthy, and the future looked great. In 1973 David Cassidy had no idea that he would never get rid of Keith Partridge. For the rest of his days. 

His third solo album, ‘Dreams Are Nuthin’ More Than Wishes’ was released in October 1973, the same month as ‘Bulletin Board’. It was very symbolic. Both albums were recorded at the same studio, great Michael Omartian played every time. None of the albums charted in the USA, and on both we can hear wonderful and magical, young David Cassidy’s voice. But that’s the end of similarities. 

David wanted to work with Rick Jarrard, who produced some of his favorite albums: Harry Nilsson’s and Jefferson Airplane’s. The studio had to pay Wes Farrell a lot of money for letting David work with someone else, and also Rick Jarrard was paid very well for working with a teen idol. That certainly didn’t improve the relationship between David and the Bell owner and president, Larry Uttal. 

A lot of people became great David’s fans because of that album. So deeply personal, so different than anything he recorded so far. Even his voice sounded different : mature, and sincere, and deeper. David said about this album that if people didn’t like it, they didn’t like him. He co-wrote some songs and chose all of them with one exception. It was the first David Cassidy’s concept album. The theme was his dreams and wishes. 

 David precisely knew what he wanted to play and sing and why. There was no big production on that album. Instead a lot of piano, congas, rhythm and bass, acoustic guitars, and also vibes. The music was very sophisticated and wonderfully played. David had just stellar musicians recording with him. Besides Michael Omartian were Mitt Holland, Emory Gordy, Al Casey, Larry Knechtel, James Burton, Ron Tutt, Michael H. McDonald, Victor Feldman. Backing vocals - Kim Carnes, Gloria Grinel and Trish Turner. 

 But it was David’s voice which was the most important instrument. He wasn't afraid to bare his feelings and he made each cover his own. John Sebastian’s ‘Daydream’, Harry Nilsson’s ‘The Puppy Song’, ‘Bali Ha’i’ from the musical ‘The South Pacific '. 

That last song was very special for David, he said for Record Mirror: ‘The first time I heard Bali Ha’i I was four years old. It was a hot summer day in New Jersey and I was lying in bed. My old man was getting ready to go to a matinee and he was singing in the bathroom. I only remembered the first two bars of it but it’s been in my head for 19 years.' Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’. Shel Silverstein’s ‘Some Old Woman’. His own version of The Partridge Family’s ‘Summer Days’. There were songs written for David, ‘Mae’ (Gary Montgomery), ‘Hold On Me’ (Michael H. McDonald). Tony Romeo gave him a very personal, almost autobiographical song, ‘Sing Me’. David penned with Kim Carnes and Dave Ellingson ‘Can’t Go Home Again’ and ‘Preyin’ On My Mind’. 

The only song which wasn’t chosen by David himself was the biggest hit from that album - ‘Daydreamer’, written by Terry Dempsey (1941-2019) a South African songwriter, and recorded first by 15 year old Lauren Copley. David Cassidy : "Rick Jarrard brought ‘Daydreamer’ to me. After he played it to me we looked at each other and I just high-fived him and said, ‘That’s a smash!”

 On October 13, 1973 the single Daydreamer/Puppy Song became number 1 in the UK and stayed at the top for 3 weeks. It was an amazing achievement for David. To have such success in one of the most important years in the history of pop music, so many memorable songs were recorded in 1973. In October, David flew to London again. He was to appear on The Top Of The Pops’ 500th edition. Because his safety couldn’t be guaranteed at the studio, David was filmed on the tarmac at Heathrow on October 3. The video was aired the next day. He was interviewed by Tony Blackbourn, and ‘sang’ two hits. ‘Daydreamer’ and ‘The Puppy Song’. He looked sensational and different in a very posh white suit and black shirt with a lined collar. 

A funny story about the making of that video was told later by people working on Top Of The Pops production. How David was filmed in great secrecy at the airport, and that actually the suit was not his. It was much too big for him.’Poor David did the show with pins all over him in a haphazard tailoring job’. For many years fans thought that David flew to London just for a few hours to make this video, give some interviews, and return home the same day. In fact he was smuggled into London and spent some days there. 

 ‘Dreams Are Nuthin '’ More Than Wishes’ didn’t chart in the USA, but on November 24 became the number 1 album in England. Record Mirror published a very long review written by Peter Jones. He was very impressed by the outstanding musicians who were working with David. Even though he didn’t like all the songs, his verdict was:’ There’s a dreamy-cum-swinging approach to it all. David sings better now than ever before. He copes with intricate touches from top-class backing musicians..copes with what appear to be intuitive skills. He’s often said he feels he’s now worthy of better things, musically. Now he’s proved it.’ 

Everybody agreed that the new album was very good and should be a turning point for David, but it didn’t sell well, except the UK charted only in Australia during David’s tour there. Rick Jarrard tried to explain this :’ When David first came to me I was very closed-minded, very negative about the Partridge sound. The album was different but that means nothing. Unless you can get someone to listen to it. To get some radio people just to listen to David was a victory, and then to get them to play it on the air was an even greater one.’

 David was tired, burned out and first of all bored and disillusioned with showbusiness. He seriously started thinking about doing something else. He wanted to become a horse breeder. He talked about it in several interviews in 1973. Some articles appeared that he wanted to have new, older fans, and change his image.

 While he was in Europe, David hit the nightclub circuit, smoked cigars and drank wine.. Before ending this part of his career David had one more thing to do. Going on the last tour.