Shopping Bag

By the time Wes Farrell & Co. reached Shopping Bag, the formula that had successfully launched and nurtured the Partridge Family sound was perfected. When this happens in pop music, one of two things can happen. One is that the formula will continue to work, selling more and more records than ever before. The other is that it will begin to stagnate and wane in popularity. With the release of Shopping Bag, The Partridge Family’s fifth album, the score was split between the two.

First of all, at this point, the marketing machine was in full swing. Shopping Bag was released in the middle of the second season, when David Cassidy’s popularity was at its peak. The phenomenal success of the first three studio albums (and the somewhat less impactful Christmas album) had firmly established the Partridge name as one to be reckoned with, as far as commerciality went. Cassidy’s name and likeness were splattered all over the standard pop culture fare: bubblegum cards, beach towels, Colorforms, clothing, posters, you name it. The record albums were extensions of the television show, and the songs crafted for Shopping Bag represented the trademark sound.

Shopping Bag left many listeners a bit disappointed. It lacked the musical edge of Sound Magazine or the playful feel of Up To Date. It is almost as if the producers couldn’t make up their mind what kind of album to do. It may have been that the machine dictated the artists and not the other way around. By mid ‘71, The Partridge Family became big business. It was probably one deadline after another at this point, and the careful craftings of Partridge Past may have been sacrificed to the ghosts of Machine Future. Just send those songs in, boys. We’ll crank 'em out in no time. This is not to say that it was all downhill from here. As we’ll see with the next album, there was definitely a second wind to be experienced by the creative team behind The Partridge Family.