Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – Sounds Like… (1967)

FrontCover1Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935, in Los Angeles, California) is an American trumpeter who led the Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the Billboard 200 chart, five of which became No. 1 albums; he has had 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. Alpert is the only musician to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist (“This Guy’s in Love with You”, 1968) and an instrumentalist (“Rise”, 1979).

Alpert has reportedly sold 72 million records worldwide. He has received many accolades, including a Tony Award, and eight Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, he was inducted as into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Alpert was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama in 2013. (wikipedia)

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Sounds Like… is a 1967 album by the instrumental group Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the group’s eighth.

According to liner notes in the 2006 Shout!Factory CD release, the title theme for the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale was originally recorded with vocals, but Bacharach was dissatisfied with the recording. He sent the tapes to Herb Alpert, who overdubbed some trumpets and some Tijuana Brass instruments (most prominently marimba and percussion) and sent the song back to Bacharach. This version, with the Bacharach orchestra, rather than the Brass members, providing most of the backing, is the one included on the Sounds Like… album.

The song “Wade in the Water” was also a popular concert number, according to Alpert, and was featured in the group’s first television special in 1967 (wikipedia)

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For one week in June 1967, Sounds Like was able to break the Monkees’ 31-week hammerlock on the number one slot on the charts — just two weeks before the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper took over and changed the world. This shows, lest you forget — and many have — just how popular Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass were, still spanning the generations during the Summer of Love, still putting out records as fresh and musical and downright joyous as this one. Though not as jazz-flavored as S.R.O., Sounds Like does preserve the feeling, particularly in the extended vamps on an updated slave song, “Wade in the Water” (a hit single). “Gotta Lotta Livin’ to Do” settles you into the record with nothing but a long vamp — a daring production decision. Yet Alpert was on a roll; everything he tried in the TJB’s heyday seemed to work. The lesser-known tunes back-loaded on side two are a string of pearls — John Pisano’s appropriately titled bossa nova “The Charmer,” Roger Nichols’ tense “Treasure of San Miguel,” Ervan Coleman’s catchy “Miss Frenchy Brown.” Finally, Alpert takes a flyer and concludes the LP with an extravagant Burt Bacharach orchestration of his theme from the film Casino Royale — an artifact of ’60s pop culture, to be sure, but still a perfectly structured record. (by Richard S. Ginell)

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Personnel:
Herb Alpert (trumpet, vocals)
Nick Ceroli (drums, percussion)
Bob Edmondson (trombone)
Tonni Kalash (trumpet)
Lou Pagani (keyboards)
John Pisano (guitar, mandolin)
Pat Senatore (bass)

Single front + backcover:
SingleTracklist:
01. Gotta Lotta Livin’ To Do (Strouse/Adams) 2.48
02. Lady Godiva (Leander/Mills) 2.07
03. Bo-Bo (Lake) 3.04
04. Shades Of Blue (Wechter) 2.44
05. In A Little Spanish Town (Wayne/Lewis/Young) 1.54
06. Wade In The Water (Alpert/Edmondson/Pisano) 3.04
07. Town Without Pity (Tiomkin/Washington) 2.15
08. The Charmer (Pisano) 2.13
09. Treasure Of San Miguel (Nichols) 2.14
10. Miss Frenchy Brown (Coleman) 2.27
11. Casino Royale (David/Bacharach) 2.35

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Herb Alpert – Tijuana Christmas Album (1968)

FrontCover1.jpgChristmas Album is a late-1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. It was the group’s eleventh release. The LP edition of the album was issued twice. The original edition had the cover photography filling the front and back sides of the album jacket. For the reissue, the photos were reduced to half size and placed in the center of a white background. Although the Brass’ albums were out of print for a good many years, the Christmas Album was released on CD in the 1980s (with the CD release sporting the altered cover artwork), with annual reappearances in record stores at Christmastime. The album was re-released again on CD by the Shout!Factory label in 2006 as were many of the other Tijuana Brass albums. The Shout!Factory release restored the original artwork to the front cover and featured the original back cover on the included CD booklet. Another CD re-release occurred on October 23, 2015 (Herb Alpert Presents label, remastered), this time restoring the original artwork to the front and back.

The album contains a mixture of popular Christmas-season music, mostly American secular standards. Exceptions include the Bach piece “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” and a traditional Hispanic number, “Las Mañanitas.” The latter song’s arrangement, provided by marimbist Julius Wechter, is near identical to one used by Wechter’s Baja Marimba Band several years earlier, on their 1965 album For Animals Only. The songs’s title literally means “The Little Mornings;” the song is traditionally sung on the morning of one’s birthday celebration, or the day of a religious figure such as a saint (or, in this case, Jesus).

The cover features the image of Alpert, who is Jewish, dressed as Santa Claus while playing his trumpet. (by wikipedia)

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I trace my eclectic Christmas music tastes to my childhood. My parents had some Christmas albums they’d pull out every year. As a result, these albums, by artists I haven’t heard of anywhere else, are so ingrained in me that the first few notes immediately make me think of Christmas past. This is one of those albums.

Originally released in 1968, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass’s holiday offering was a hit, reaching the #1 spot three Christmases in a row. It’s been out of print for many years except for a brief issue on CD until this year, when it was released as part of the Herb Alpert Signature Series. It’s been fully restored and includes a booklet talking about the release.

So what about the music? This is a mostly instrumental recording featuring Herb on the trumpet and the drums, guitars, and maracas of the band as well. This makes for unique arrangements of the classic songs. I guarantee you have nothing like this in your collection.

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I say mostly instrumental because a choir is involved. Mostly, they hum the melody for a few measures and then let the band take over, sometimes coming in later to highlight the melody again. In addition, Herb sings on two songs. His version of “The Christmas Song” isn’t going to top anyone lists of favorite versions, but is good. I’ve only heard “The Bell that Couldn’t Jingle” here, but this time Herb’s vocals are better suited to the song. It’s a fun little number about Santa and Jack Frost helping a Bell find his jingle again.

And fun best describes the arrangements on this disc. The choir opens with a few a cappella measures of “Winter Wonderland,” then the band takes over with a samba arrangement that will be sure to have you dancing. The samba rhythm applies to “Jingle Bells” as well. “My Favorite Things” is probably the most original song here (and also a huge hit at the time of original release). It features several breaks and changes in tempo. You have to listen closely sometimes to follow the melody of all of these songs, but the music is so much fun to listen to, you’ll be tapping your toes or dancing along before you know it.

The samba rhythm is still going strong for “Sleigh Ride,” but they slow things down and switch to more jazz inspired arrangements for the final three songs. “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” is especially unique because the choir hums the melody throughout to the accompaniment of the band.

This album is not for everyone, but if you like something different to break up the monotony that can set in come December 20th, this is a CD to check out. I am so glad it is back in print so I can once again enjoy it for many Christmases to come. (by Mark Baker)

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Personnel:
Herb Alpert (trumpet, vocals)
Nick Ceroli (drums, percussion)
Bob Edmondson (trombone)
Tonni Kalash (trumpet)
Lou Pagani (keyboards)
John Pisano (guitars/mandolin)
Pat Senatore (bass)
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Julius Wechter (percussion)
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unknown choir

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Tracklist:

01. Winter Wonderland (Smith/Bernard) 3.07
02. Jingle Bells (Pierpont) 3.13
03. My Favorite Things (Rodgers/Hammerstein) 3.08
04. The Christmas Song (Tormé/Wells) 3.43
05. Las Mañanitas (Traditional) 3.01
06. Sleigh Ride (Anderson) 4.04
07. The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle (Bacharach/Kusik) 2.59
08. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (Cahn/Styne) 3.49
09. Jingle Bell Rock (Beale/Boothe) 1.54
10. Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring (Bach) 3.26

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – Warm (1969)

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Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American jazz musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, or TJB. Alpert is also a recording industry executive, the “A” of A&M Records, a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold to PolyGram. Alpert also has created abstract expressionist paintings and sculpture over two decades, which are publicly displayed on occasion. Alpert and his wife, Lani Hall, are substantial philanthropists through the operation of the Herb Alpert Foundation.

Alpert’s musical accomplishments include five No. 1 albums and 28 albums total on the Billboard Album chart, nine Grammy Awards, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold albums. Alpert has sold 72 million records worldwide. Alpert is the only HerbAlpert01recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist (“This Guy’s in Love with You”, 1968) and an instrumentalist (“Rise”, 1979)

Warm is a 1969 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. It was the group’s twelfth release and their final album to reach the top 40 on the Billboard albums chart. Warm was a vast departure from all previous Tijuana Brass albums and featured much slower-paced songs leaning more toward a “Brazilian” sound. At this point in his career, Alpert had grown tired of the music the band was playing feeling that it was repetitive and wanted to try a different direction. The opening track “The Sea Is My Soil” was one of the longest songs ever released by the Tijuana Brass running four and a half minutes, while three songs on the album featured lead vocals by Alpert (“Without Her,” “Zazuiera,” and “To Wait For Love”). All three vocal tracks were released as singles. The album received mixed reviews during its initial release but has since become a favorite of many Tijuana Brass fans. (by wikipedia)

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Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass shed almost all of the dust of Tijuana on this mellow, richly textured album; one reviewer at the time wrote that Alpert seemed to have exchanged bullrings for wedding rings. Lest one think that the TJB came down with a terminal case of the warm fuzzies, though, there are some selections here that sizzle — particularly the old standard “The Continental” — and in terms of arrangements and song selection, the accent falls on Brazil more than on any other TJB album.

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Shorty Rogers again was called in to provide voices and orchestrations, but he is more tasteful here than on the Christmas Album, the extreme dynamic range on Harry Nilsson’s “Without Her” notwithstanding. A different take of “To Wait for Love” — the lovely, Bacharach-penned, Alpert-sung follow-up to “This Guy’s in Love with You” from 1968 — is included here, as is the fine single “Zazueira.” Yet Warm was the first non-seasonal TJB album in some time that couldn’t crack the Top 20, for the Brass’ cross-generational appeal was fading fast. (by Richard S. Ginell)

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Perssonnel:
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

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Tracklist:
01. The Sea Is My Soul (Caymmi/Mota) 4.31
02. Without Her (Nilsson) 3.24
03. Marjorine (Lake) 3.07
04. Girl Talk (Hefti/Troup) 2.54
05. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (Lennon/McCartney) 1.59
06. Zazueira (Ben) 3.15
07. The Continental (Magidson/Conrad) 2.07
08. Pretty World (Adolfo/Gaspar/A.Bergman/M.Bergman) 3.47
09. Warm (Wechter) 2.34
10. To Wait For Love (Bacharach/David) 2.59
11. Sandbox (Pisano) 3.24

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Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – The Brass Are Comin'(1969)

FrontCover1.jpgThe Brass Are Comin’ is a 1969 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. It was the group’s thirteenth release and marked the first time in the group’s history that one of their albums did not certify gold. However, the album did peak at number 30 in the top 40 on the Billboard albums chart. The Brass Are Comin’ was the last album recorded by the Tijuana Brass before the group disbanded in December 1969. The album also spawned a television special with the same name that aired on NBC on October 29, 1969.  Clips from the television special can be seen on the album’s double-fold cover. Unlike the previous Warm album which featured much slower-paced songs leaning more toward a “Brazilian” sound, The Brass Are Comin’ featured a western-theme with faster-paced songs. “Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine” became one of the most recognized Tijuana Brass songs from this album and was among the last Mexican-flavored songs recorded by the group [3]. After completing this album and the subsequent television special, the group embarked on a European tour which marked the last public performances of the original TJB. (by wikipedia)

Cash Box, November 8, 1969

Coinciding with another television special, this is the unofficial “last ride” of the original TJB. Some trademark arrangements are featured on this album, including Henry Mancini’s “Moon River”, “Sunny”, and the Lennon/McCartney tune “I’ll Be Back”). “Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine” has to be one of the best TJB tracks on record, and the last truly Mexican-flavored song they would ever record. Most of the originals have a bouncy country & western flavor to them, perfect for punctuating barroom brawls and Brass riding into town. (by larrylevinerecordingengineer.com)

Another fine album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass with a real great cover …

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Personnel:
Herb Alpert (trumpet, vocals)
Nick Ceroli (drums)
Bob Edmondson (trombone)
Tonni Kalash (trumpet)
John Pisano (guitar)
Lou Pagani (piano)
Pat Senatore (bass)
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“Sunny” and “Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine” orchestrated by Shorty Rogers
“You Are My Life” and “Moon River” orchestrated by Dave Grusin

Booklet

Tracklist:
01. The Brass Are Comin’ (The Little Train Of Caipira) (Villa-Lobos) 2.06
02. Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine (Mills/Roth) 2.39
03. Country Lake (Lake) 2.58
04. I’ll Be Back (Lennon/McCartney) 3.19
05. Moon River (Mancini)Mercer) 2.58
06. The Maltese Melody (Kaempfert/Rehbein) 2.20
07. Sunny (Hebb) 3.09
08. I’m An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande) (Mercer) 2.42
09. Anna (Engvick/Vatro/Giordano) 2.39
10. Robbers And Cops (Wechter) 2.20
11. Moments (Pisano) 2.47
12. You Are My Life (Sarstedt) 3.21

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – The Lonely Bull (1962)

FrontCover1Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American jazz musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, or TJB. Alpert is also a recording industry executive, the “A” of A&M Records, a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold to PolyGram. Alpert also has created abstract expressionist paintings and sculpture over two decades, which are publicly displayed on occasion. Alpert and his wife, Lani Hall, are substantial philanthropists through the operation of the Herb Alpert Foundation.

Alpert’s musical accomplishments include five No. 1 albums and 28 albums total on the Billboard Album chart, nine Grammy Awards, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold albums. Alpert has sold 72 million records worldwide.[1] Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist (“This Guy’s in Love with You”, 1968), and an instrumentalist (“Rise”, 1979).

The Lonely Bull, released in 1962, is the debut album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.

Most of the tracks on the album were geared toward the TJB’s Mariachi sound. There were also a few cover versions of popular songs, a trend which would grow in their next two albums, Volume 2 and South of the Border.

HerbAlpert1966“Limbo Rock” covered a novelty dance song that had been a calypso-style hit by Chubby Checker. “Struttin’ With Maria” was later used as the theme for a TV game show called Personality, hosted by Larry Blyden. The tune “Acapulco 1922” uses the old song “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” (by Seymour Brown and Nat D. Ayer, 1911) as a starting point, with a mariachi spin.

The album was originally issued in both mono and stereo versions, though the stereo version essentially had the mono version on the right channel with a separate solo trumpet track on the left. Because of this, critics have noted that when listened to on headphones, the stereo album sounds excessively “heavy” on one side. This led many later fans to prefer the mono version.

The original stereo version of the album has since been reissued on the Shout! Factory music label.

The mono version of the title track, “The Lonely Bull,” can be found on the Herb Alpert compilation Definitive Hits.(by wikipedia)

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The colossus that is A&M Records starts right here with the first album by the 1960s instrumental juggernaut known as the Tijuana Brass. True, there was no “Tijuana Brass” per se at this time; just Herb Alpert and a coterie of Los Angeles sessionmen, with Alpert overdubbing himself on trumpet to get that bullring effect. Also, Alpert was just getting the TJB concept underway; the textures are leaner, the productions less polished, and the accent is more consciously on a Mexican mariachi ambience — the relatively square rhythms, the mandolins, the mournful, wistful siesta feeling — than the records down the road. The hit title track (originally a tune called “Twinkle Star”!) is a cleverly structured, exciting and haunting piece of record-making — and its composer, Sol Lake, becomes the charter member of Alpert’s team of TJB tunesmiths with several more ethnic-flavored numbers. In accordance with the newly emerging bossa nova movement, Alpert does a nice, straightforward, authentic cover of “Desafinado,” even departing a bit from the tune with some spare jazz-inspired licks, and “Crawfish” pleasingly adapts the mariachi horn sound to a bossa beat. (by Richard S. Ginell)

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Personnel:
Herb Alpert (trumpet, vovals)
Nick Ceroli (drums)
Bob Edmondson (trombone)
Tonni Kalash (trumpet)
Lou Pagani (piano)
John Pisano (guitar)
Pat Senatore (bass)

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Tracklist:
01.The Lonely Bull (El Solo Toro) (Lake) 2.17
02. El Lobo (The Wolf) (Green/Lake) 3.02
03. Tijuana Sauerkraut (Alpert/Moss) 2.49
04. Desafinado (Jobim/Mendonca) 3.51
05. Mexico (Bryant) 2.38
06. Never On Sunday (Hadjidakis/Towne) 2.43
07. Struttin’ With Maria (Alpert) 2.13
08. Let It Be Me (Bécaud/Curtis/Delanoë) 3,01
09. Acapulco 1922 (Allan) 2.42
10. Limbo Rock (Strange) 2.10
11. Crawfish (Doran/Lake/Weisman/Wise 2.26
12. A Quiet Tear (Lágrima Quieta) (Alpert) 2.21
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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – Por El Camino De Mexico (South Of The Border) (1964)

FrontCover1South of the Border is the third album by American easy listening brass band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, originally released in 1964. The name of the group, for this album, is “Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass”.South of the Border is the third album by American easy listening brass band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, originally released in 1964. The name of the group, for this album, is “Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass”.
Alpert’s first top ten hit, and fifth gold record, the album continued the progression of the Tijuana Brass from its mostly-Mexican sound to a more easy-listening style, with a collection of cover versions of popular songs. Included were “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”, originally featured in the Broadway musical My Fair Lady and The Beatles’ 1963 hit “All My Loving”. It also featured an instrumental cover of its title song, “South of the Border”, which was most famously done as a vocal by Frank Sinatra.
“Hello, Dolly!” had the band singing a couple of lines of the mostly-instrumental rendition, in what might now be considered stereotyping, using mock-Mexican accents. Alpert’s distinctive singing voice was not discernible in that portion. Also, in some versions, he can be heard whispering “Número Cinco”, effecting a Mexican accent, at the start of that song’s track.

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One number, a Sol Lake tune called “The Mexican Shuffle”, was reworked for a TV ad for a brand of chewing gum, and styled “The Teaberry Shuffle”. Bert Kaempfert, author of several songs covered by the Brass, returned the favor by issuing a cover of “The Mexican Shuffle”. The number called “El Presidente”, was a reorchestration of Sol Lake’s “Winds of Barcelona”, which had appeared on Volume 2.
The cover features Alpert and perennial HATB model Sandra Moss at the Patio del Moro apartment complex in West Hollywood.

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Herb Alpert was still using an array of SoCal studio all-stars as his Tijuana Brass when South of the Border (1964) began to restore the combo’s good name after the modest Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, Vol. 2 (1963) failed to ignite a fire in listener’s ears. Alpert later commented that the Sol Lake composition “Mexican Shuffle” “opened a new door for me.” That passageway meant the loss of the Tijuana Brass’ practically forced mariachi style and the rise of Alpert’s approach in arranging familiar melodies in fresh, creative settings. Nowhere would this stylistic progression be as pronounced as in the horn-driven updates of several then-concurrent chart hits. For instance, the mod sonic wrinkle in “Girl from Ipanema” emits a darkness veiled in mystery, directly contrasting the light buoyancy of “Hello! Dolly” or the footloose feel of the Beatles’ “All My Loving.” They seamlessly fit in with Sol Lake’s “Salud, Amor y Dinero” and a cover of Julius Wechter’s playful, midtempo “Up Cherry Street” — which Wechter’s own Baja Marimba Band had just recorded for their 1964 self-titled debut.

The ballads “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” “Angelito,” and “Adios, Mi Corazon” provide contrasts with Alpert’s sensitive scores never seeming maudlin or unnecessarily over the top. If the regal “El Presidente” sounds particularly familiar, it may well be due to Alpert’s slight renovation of the “Winds of Barcelona” from the Tijuana Brass’ previous effort, the less than impressive Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, Vol. 2. It was renamed “El Presidente,” presumably to honor the then-recent memory of the slain U.S. leader John Fitzgerald Kennedy. (by Lindsay Planer)

In other word: Another pretty good album by Herb Alpert ! My copy was especially produced for the Spanisch record market …

The EP:

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Personnel:
Herb Alpert (trumpet, vovals)
Nick Ceroli (drums)
Bob Edmondson (trombone)
Tonni Kalash (trumpet)
Lou Pagani (piano)
John Pisano (guitar)
Pat Senatore (bass)

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Tracklist:
01. Al Sur De La Frontera (South Of The Border) (Kennedy/Carr) 2.07
02. La Chica De Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema) (Gimbel/Jobim)de Moraes) 2.39
03. Hello, Dolly! (Herman) 1.57
04. Me Acostumbre A Ti (‘ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face (Lerner/Loewe) 2.27
05. En La Calle Del Cerezo (Up Cherry Street) (Wechter) 2.19
06. Mexican Shuffle (Lake) 2.10
07. El Presidente (Lake) 2.40
08. Todo Mi Amor (All My Loving) (Lennon/McCartney) 1.57
09. Angelito (Herrera/Ornelas) 2.23
10. Salud, Amor y Dinero (Health, Love and Money) (Lake) 2.06
11. Número Cinco (Number Five) (Coleman) 2.18
12. Adiós, Mi Corazón (Goodbye, My Heart) (Lake) 2.40

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The original US front cover:

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – The Beat Of The Brass (1968)

FrontCover1The Beat of the Brass is the tenth album release by the popular 1960s instrumental group Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. The album was released on the heels of a television special by the same title (telecast April 22, 1968 over CBS). Tom Mankiewicz, who wrote the special, also provided two paragraphs of liner notes for the album. Explaining the concept behind the album, Mankiewicz writes, “The beat of America is more than a musical experience. It finds its pulse and rhythms in the very life of the country: the crack of a bat against a baseball, the spinning wheels and pounding machinery of a modern factory, a swinging crowd in New Orleans at Mardi Gras, a saddle twisting desperately against his rider…”[2]

It includes Alpert’s only major vocal hit, “This Guy’s In Love With You”, which became an overnight success due to its inclusion during the special, in a sequence featuring Herb and his (first) wife, Sharon. (by wikipedia)

Meant as the companion album to a Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass television special of the same name and packaged in a fancy double-fold LP jacket, The Beat of the Brass came out amid signs that Alpert’s hot streak was finally beginning to run out. Not quite. Viewer requests for a new Burt Bacharach song, “This Guy’s in Love with You” — featuring an Alpert vocal — were so strong that A&M released it as a single, which shot up to number one and took The Beat of the Brass with it to the top.

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Herb’s vocal is touching in its strained naïveté; he sounds sincere, and that overrides the lush, overbearing Bacharach orchestral arrangement. The rest of the album generated an often nostalgic quality then and now; the tunes by John Pisano and Sol Lake are exquisite, and Alpert’s arrangements of songs like “Thanks for the Memory” seem autumnal in quality, as if an era were about to close. The band still has the ability to groove; the vamp on Julius Wechter’s bossa nova “Panama,” with Wechter’s jazzy vibes and Pisano’s strong rhythm guitar, could have been stretched to half an hour. Yet Alpert’s trumpet sounds a bit withered at times, and the band vocals and cloying children’s chorus on “Talk to the Animals” could be done without. (by Richard S. Ginell)

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Personnel:
Herb Alpert (trumpet, vocals)
Nick Ceroli (drums)
Bob Edmondson (trombone)
Tonni Kalash (trumpet)
Lou Pagani (piano)
John Pisano (guitar)
Pat Senatore (bass)

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Tracklist:
01. Monday, Monday (J.Phillips/M.Phillips) 3.08
02. A Beautiful Friend (Lake) 3.17
03. Cabaret (Ebb/Kander) 2.38
04. Panama (Wechter) 3.36
05. Belz Mein Shtetele Belz (My Home Town) (Jacobs/Olshanetsky) 2.14
06. Talk To The Animals (Bricusse) 2.14
07. Slick (Alpert/Pisano) 3.29
08. She Touched Me (Lake) 2.58
09. Thanks For The Memory (Robin/Rainger) 2.05
10. The Robin (Pisano) 2.22
11. This Guy’s In Love With You (Bacharach/David) 3.55

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Linernotes

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Much more albums from this time by A & M Records

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – Viva Acapulco (1968)

FrontCover1Herbert “Herb” Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, or TJB. Alpert is also a recording industry executive, the “A” of A&M Records, a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold to PolyGram. Alpert also has created abstract expressionist paintings and sculpture over two decades, which are publicly displayed on occasion. Alpert and wife, Lani Hall, are substantial philanthropists through the operation of the Herb Alpert Foundation.

Alpert’s musical accomplishments include five No. 1 albums and 28 albums total on the Billboard Album chart, nine Grammy Awards, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold albums.[1] As of 1996, Alpert had sold 72 million albums worldwide. Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist (“This Guy’s in Love with You”, 1968), and an instrumentalist (“Rise”, 1979). (by wikipedia)

This is just a sampler for the German record market but it´s a real good one, because Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass were a high-class easy listening orchestra … listen to tracks like “Wade In The Water”, “Jerusalem” or “Slick” and you will know what I mean.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

Personnel:
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

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Tracklist:
01. I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (Bassman) 2.12
02. To Wait For Love (Bacharach/David) 2.42
03. Swinger From Seville (Alpert) 2.33
04. Lady Godiva (Mills/Leander) 2.09
05. Acapulco 1922 (Allan) 2.39
06. Wade In The Water (Edmondson/Alpert/Pisano) 3.07
07. What Now My Love (Sigman/Becaud) 2.14
08. Jerusalem (Alpert) 2.30
09. Slick (Alpert/Pisano) 3.21
10. Shades Of Blue (Wechter) 2.46
11. Mexican Shuffle (Lake) 2.09
12. Hello, Dolly! (Hermann) 1.57
13. More (Oliviero/Ortalana) 2.26
14. Mexican Road Race (Lake) 2.29

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