In the previous installment (Issue 225), we looked at the recorded catalog of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and his solo albums in their various incarnations. Here, we continue with a handful of audiophile reissues, selected rarities, and a few buying tips and recommendations.
Half-Speed Grooves
Over the years, Alpert’s records have rarely been given the audiophile treatment. Mobile Fidelity reissued Rise in 1982 (MFSL-1-053). A&M also had their own half-speed mastered series, dubbed A&M Audiophile, which released the Tijuana Brass Greatest Hits album (SPJ-4245), and Rise (SPJ-4790). Interesting side note – these A&M Audiophile records were mastered and pressed alongside the Mobile Fidelity titles at JVC in Japan, even using the same vinyl compound (translucent brown). Unlike the early Mobile Fidelity records, these did not have any extra EQ applied. A&M Audiophile titles were marketed through A&M’s Canadian division.
Vintage Grooves
A&M released all of the Tijuana Brass and Herb Alpert titles on vinyl up through the album North on South St., his second to last album on A&M. Midnight Sun, his final A&M recording, was only released on vinyl in Ecuador. As with any other artists, his solo albums had fewer vinyl copies produced as the CD era took hold. They are out there, and occasionally you can find some of these still sealed for a very fair price.
As for the original Tijuana Brass albums, many of these are still plentiful, but nearly as many are in sad condition. But they are often inexpensive enough that you can buy a few clean copies to find one that is a keeper and not be out a lot of money. Some of his less popular records like Summertime, Just You and Me, or Warm can sometimes be difficult to track down clean copies of. A well cared for promotional copy can sound quite good from this era.
I was lucky to have refreshed my collection back in the late 1980s through the mid ’90s, when I was finding very clean used, or even sealed, copies for just a few dollars each. All I really had up to then were copies of records my parents owned, and my continued (ab)use as a youngster meant the old monaural records did not fare well!
One niche aspect of vinyl that we can’t get on digital is the ability to purchase the monaural versions of the earliest Tijuana Brass albums. All of the albums through The Beat of the Brass (which contained his Number 1 hit “This Guy’s In Love With You”) had commercial monaural releases. The Christmas Album had a promotional release in mono, but no commercial release. A couple of albums past this point had a scant few mono releases in other countries, but they are likely fold-downs of the stereo originals.
One recommendation: If you purchase The Lonely Bull, seek out an original monaural copy (LP-101). The stereo version was an afterthought, with some overdubbed parts to create a stereo effect. The earliest monaural copies use the original cream-colored label with brown text, with the logo at the 12 o’clock position.
Back in the days of monaural and stereo, these records often had slightly different mixes. While Larry Levine was credited with the monaural mixes, I’ve heard unverified accounts saying that Herb Alpert himself mixed the stereo albums. To add to the fun (or confusion), some of the 45 RPM monaural mixes are not the same as the monaural album mixes. Some are notably different, but others are close enough that they may be identical. I’ll mention a few of those below.
Rare Grooves?
There are not too many rarities in Alpert’s catalog. Many of these records are still readily available today in used record stores around the world, although the less-popular of those will take some digging to find.
If you want an uncommon vinyl compilation, however, look for the 16-track Dee Jay Sampler: The Best from Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. This was a promotional-only release that was released to radio. The stereo version, SP-19004, contains the album versions of the songs. It’s a strong collection, but the more interesting variation is the monaural release, LP-9004. This one contains the monaural 45 RPM single mixes on the LP, not the monaural album versions. This is a really good way to get clean versions of those singles, without having to worry about buying the ratted-out styrene records that A&M sometimes released (which did not wear well).
The remaining rarities would be albums and compilations outside the US, as well as the non-album B-sides and 45 RPM singles with unique monaural mixes. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are a few that stanđ out from their album equivalents.
· “The Great Manolette” b/w “Mexican Drummer Man” – Not only is the A-side a different mix from the version on Volume 2, the B-side is a non-album vocal track (featuring The Blossoms) that fully cashes in on Larry Levine’s experience with Phil Spector’s “wall of sound.” If you’ve never heard it, you’ll be surprised how little it sounds like the Tijuana Brass!
· “Tijuana Taxi” b/w “Zorba the Greek” – “Taxi” has additional air horn blats throughout, where “Zorba” is edited for length and features dubbed-in audience noises. The mastering of this single is also highly compressed, making it sound much different from the album versions. (It had to be quite punchy on the jukeboxes back in the day!)
· “Last Tango in Paris” b/w “Fire and Rain” – The A-side is of course the theme to the Marlon Brando film, with an exquisite arrangement by Quincy Jones. (This would later appear on an album.) The non-album B-side is the James Taylor song.
· “Whistle Song (Whistlestar)” b/w “Carmine” – The A-side of this 1975 single is a non-album Cat Stevens song that might have been in anticipation of a third ’70s era T.J.B. album that never materialized. The B-side is an album track from Coney Island.
· “The Lonely Bull” b/w “Acapulco 1922” – Nothing unique compared to the monaural album versions, unless you can find the yellow-label version with the brown “A&M” script for a logo. This would be an original first pressing of the single, the record that started A&M.
The single that started it all.
Alpert also had a handful of singles prior to “The Lonely Bull,” but I won’t cover those here. See the end of this article, however, for a release that compiles many of these on a single CD.
Some of Alpert’s records from Rise onward resulted in commercial 12-inch singles, along with a fair number of promotional 12-inch singles and EPs. Of the popular 12-inchers, “Rise” and its follow-up single “Rotation” were released on clear vinyl. In the Jam/Lewis era, three of Herb’s 12-inchers were released as a 3-disc set pressed on translucent red, blue, and clear vinyl, each featuring extended or remixed versions of songs from the Keep Your Eye on Me album. There are others which I won’t list at this time, but there are enough to keep a collector busy.
Extended mix of “Keep Your Eye on Me.”
Few digital rarities exist although at one point, copies of a couple of early CD reissues were fetching large amounts of money due to rarity (like the aforementioned Fandango). The one unusual digital release was the DTS CD of the Almo Sounds title Passion Dance, the only Alpert recording released in surround sound.
Herb Alpert's Passion Dance in DTS surround sound.
Finally, here are some caveats if you’re going to be shopping for any items from Herb’s vast catalog.
First, if buying the Herb Alpert Presents vinyl reissues, look very carefully at the album listings on Amazon. Some unscrupulous (or clueless) sellers will lump used copies of older releases, and even sealed “collectible” versions of older releases, in with the current versions. It’s safer to order these elsewhere.
Second, Alpert’s music is at the age where copyright has lapsed in some countries. There are now knockoff compilations* available, and unofficial releases of some of his albums. In past years, there were even bootleg CD releases by a label in South America claiming to have release rights to his music (which they didn’t, as Alpert owns all of his masters). There are also reissues of The Lonely Bull on the Wax Time and DOL labels out of Europe – as they don’t have access to the master tapes, I would wager these were made from CD or worse, a needle drop.
*One unofficial CD compilation I can recommend is one called From Legal Eagles to Tijuana Brass. While the latter part of the CD is the entire The Lonely Bull album, the rest are vocal and instrumental singles Alpert recorded prior to the Tijuana Brass. Unless you do some deep dives into the 45 RPM singles bins, you won’t find these compiled anywhere else. The CD was released years ago but there are still some copies out there.
The CD Definitive Hits is, however, a legitimate release. As part of the deal with Polygram (now part of Universal), they’ve allowed this compilation to remain in print for many years. Any other compilations out there not under the Herb Alpert Presents label, or any assigned licensees, are not authorized releases.
I hope this is helpful to anyone looking to take a deep dive into Herb Alpert’s lengthy career, or make sense of the many recordings he has made over the years (including 51 original albums, and countless singles). Including his very earliest recordings, he has been in the music industry for nearly 70 years, 63 of those well into the public consciousness. And as I mentioned at the start, he has assembled a newer, younger Tijuana Brass to bring the memories back for those of us who remember the original group, as well as those new listeners who have discovered his music along the way.
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