Herb Alpert ?

Herb sold more sides in '66 than the Beatles.....

Herb eventually founded A&M Records

Carpenters, Joe Cocker , Stevie Winwood,Police etc

Herb did disco.

Herbs a great LA guy, loads of top muso mates.

However the Tijuna Brass stuff is cheesy beyond compare, Herb is a considerable musician, why was the music so duff and popular?

'66 was the tipping point in pop music, why were the US so out of touch.?

Just seen a BBC 4 doc followed by a really ghastly mimed Hollywood tv show
from '66 .

 

gorts, move to Music plz?

 

1966 was a strange time, a major transition for the American music industry. While the TJ Brass may sound "cheesy" to you, bear in mind that some of the top selling artists of this period included Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Vinton, Dionne Warwick, and a lot of other middle-of-the-road music that wasn't necessarily meant for the teenage audience.

There was a time when all different kinds of music -- pop vocals, hard rock, soft rock, country, pop instrumentals, psychedelic rock, soul, hardcore R&B, jazz, even novelty songs -- all coexisted on the radio and in music stores at the same time. 1966 was one of those eras.

I think there's good music and bad music of all types, especially in a renaissance time like the British Invasion years. While I wasn't a huge Herb Alpert fan, I liked a lot of his hits, and I think he had very good taste for most of the artists on his A&M label.

Look at music history from a non-U.K.-centric point of view, and you might consider that album and single sales in the U.S. were many times greater (and made far more money). America was a much bigger market, and even though the country's musical tastes might be different than yours and reflect different values, their choices are no more or less valid than yours.

 

I coudnt agree LESS! I will not through around my opinions or anything but some of the music might of been chessy but most were not. Judging from your profile you were their and in your 20s so I cant speak for you or your taste. His music in general seemed to be appreceated by people who did not care for Classical Music or Rock so this was a nice middle ground. But a lot of fans liked all three types.
The TJB sold something like 75 million records before this re-release in 2005 so everybody cant be daft. I knew plenty of people who did not like his music so its just taste.
One thing is for sure, you go into anybodies record collection in the 60s to 80s and I bet "Whipped Cream" is staring right at you, or atleast "Going Places". I watched that documentary(or Show) and it was great. Ofcourse they mimed but it was just nice to see them in good quality..Different strokes...John M.

 

I don't find the HA&TJB cheesy at all.

'S.R.O.' especially sounds like a very adult album, expanding on the concept of what a stylistic, instrumental group could accomplish.

I wonder where you draw the line at what makes a good song, and, further, what makes for a good interpetation of a good song, such as HA&TJB would create.

Sure, HA&TJB could be very commercial, but, for me, "Tijuana Taxi" conjures up a Tijuana taxi, which I believe is what the song is supposed to do. "A Taste Of Honey" turns a ballad into a very pleasant "tour de force", if you will. Etc., etc.

I can understand if you don't like something, but cheesy does not seem to fit in explaining what HA&TJB were.

 

My favorite Mexican trumpet player.

 

S.R.O. is my favorite. Flamingo was the song that got me crazy as a kid. The album had a more sophisticated sound and arrangment than the previous multi million sellers. Only kept off number 1 by the Monkees release. Herb still holds the record for five albums in the top 10 and 1 thru 4 were Herbs..Amazing..John M.

 

I won't argue with your (or anybody's) taste. But have you considered that you might be missing something?

Besides that second "a" in Tijuana, that is.

 

C'mon folks, both the UK and the US were full of cheesy / easy listening vocalists and bands in the '60's. Herb Alpert was certainly not one of them - cheesy that is. Back by the 'wrecking crew' in many cases his LPs are nicely arranged, expertly played, catchy, and very POP. A Mexi-merican sound for the masses.

Whipped Cream is probably the one single album that most American boys of grade school age and their dads - equally - gazed at and 'imagined' things about. For that alone it ranks as one of the truly great albums of the 20th century -- either side of the pond.

 

^.......and other delights

 

Keep Your Day Job!

You'll never make it as a reviewer. The documentary does a great job relating the Herb Alpert story. He is truly an American Treasure and a major force through the years in the music business. He did have four albums in the Billboard Top Ten and five in the Top Twenty simultaneously, among many other industry accomplishments. His music crossed generations and provided entertainment during the tumultuous 60s in the U.S. Millions grew up listening to his music and still enjoy it today.

If anything is "cheesy," it would be your comments.

 

Why the personal attack? The original poster just expressed his opinion about the music and a show, he wasn't attacking anyone. The fact that millions enjoyed Alpert's music doesn't mean he has to like it too.

I wonder why so many threads here get personal...

 

cheesy compared to what? the stones? the doors? 100 british groups trying to sound like american bluesmen and making utter fools of themselves? please...

it was happy sounding and melodic. nothing musically too challenging maybe, but well played and produced. in some ways it seems like the true soundtrack to the first couple of years of the mid 60s

never underestimate the power of a catchy tune.

 

I also thought the TJB's version of Flamingo was one helluva instrumental! It manages to find its way onto any mix tapes (or CD-R's) of instrumentals that I record!

 

Such a simple concept. Very true. That's been the case for decades, and holds true today.

 

I like a lot of critically acclaimed music eg. Joy Division, Kraftwerk etc.

However, early evenings, before dinner, I regularly enjoy kicking back before dinner with a big glass of red wine and a Herb Alpert album.

I watched the BBC4 doc last night and was very impressed by this mans career. Herb is one of the lucky few who has made all the right decisions throughout his career :-

- Writing credits with the likes of Sam Cooke ("Wonderful World")

- Huge success with the TJB

- Solo hits

- Forms A&M and signs "The Carpenters" (when everyone else thought he was mad to pursue them).

- Disco hits

- Sells A&M for big money to Polydor - kicks backs in lovely California home and pursues a second career as an artist/sculptor

...what a guy !!

Much like The Carpenters themselves I think Herb's music is MOR that it is OK to like (sometimes you just have to forget how "cool" something is and just connect with the tunes).

 

His career was exemplary.
His label good, excellent recordings from the ex Chaplin studio
TJB catchy and clever but so was Bert Kaemfert and Joe Loss neither of which I play either.
Its a mystery to me .
As for the whipped cream cover I prefer the 'Joyce' version
And the mimed tv show the Beeb showed last night really was cheesy.

 

It's interesting to read about Herb in the Sam Cooke biography 'Dream Boogie.' He was working for Keen Records when Sam scored big with 'You Send Me.'

 

Much as I love the sound of Miles Davis, for me the trumpet sound of the mid '60s was (and still is) Herb Alpert. I was just a kid and that's what they played on the radio. They started to play Louis Armstrong stuff in the late '60s but I didn't get to listen to Miles Davis until my late teens, when I could afford to buy records.

One thing struck me last night, though, when watching the shows on BBC4 and the repeat of 'Later... 250' on BBC2 - there's a real sad sound when trumpet players get old and lose their 'chops'. Herb showed that he still has to practice playing his trumpet every day and it sounded like he was struggling to play just a few notes of his famous hits, notes that came so easily to him when in his prime. Sad sounds, but beautiful.

 

Now this is getting personal. While the Baby Boom theory of the Beatles popularity(a mass of teens just waiting to hang their hat onto something)holds some value,that Boom continued for a while and created for many a golden era of pop music. Golden partially because it was able to hold such a broad spectrum of sounds and these different sounds each had a huge following. Time & money take a part in that,too.
1966 found me smack dab in my teen years. There was so much going on that was new,besides discovering everything else that came before. And yet school took up a huge chunk of my life. For relaxation,there was radio. And on radio,there were personalities trying to entertain. And,since it was non-stop,that entertainment was rarely an event. It just kinda rambled along. Rather than listen to the shouting,fast talking top 40 jocks,I preferred a one to one contact with someone who was trying to make the listener stay while another car commercial or ad for soda came up. The audience was made up of housewives,commuters,stay-at-homes liking a friendly,non-threatening voice coming out of that little box of sound. So an MOR station was it for me. And they played Sinatra,yes,but,really not a lot as you might think. Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme,Nancy Wilson,Ramsey Lewis,Ray Conniff,George Shearing-these stations did this 24/7 and kept it much more varied than the Top 40 stations. A weather forecast,news at the top of the hour,a bad pun,another spot for canned tomatoes and another song.
Into this radio soup,Herb Alpert was the perfect fit.His sounds were new,bouncy,non-threatening and recorded as carefully as anything Phil Spector or George Martin were doing for teen pop. They didn't sound like your father's radio music,but they didn't sound like the kid next to you on the school bus's music either. And these songs sounded good with repeated listenings. And radio loved instrumentals 'cause radio often needed a time filler to get to the news or the next commercial. So here was a sound that Mom didn't freak out on, old farts like Grandmom could listen to,and a few of us kids found something cool there that everyone else on the school yard wasn't listening to. In 1966,this all came together. The sales of the TJB were so enormous that even Herb's Vol 2 album, then almost out of print (and the one TJB album that Herb today seems to disown),showed up pretty high on the charts. Lots of people bought this stuff for lots of other people;a reason ,I think,why there are so many copies of Whipped Cream in thrift stores,some copies beat to hell by shut ins who played it over and over,and some copies pristine after 40+ years because the gift reciever never liked it. But copies were bought. And with that money,Herb and Jerry Moss brought other groups,took care on recording and promotion while eventually creating a sturdy distribution that eventually sold for 1/2 billion dollars. And the publishing arm went for another 1/2 billion dollars.A billion dollars. Not a mean feat.
Herb & Jerry were my Paul,John,George & Ringo. And for a while,I was embarrassed to acknowledge that fact while new sounds like Coltrane,Bill Evans (and,yes,some Beatles,but not as much as many here) and others took over my collecting habits. But,really,this is where it started. These guys shed the light and I am grateful for the result. It wasn't a trip as strange as others,but it was equally long and continues to bring rewards to my ears each day. So,I think it's time to spin "What Now My Love" again. Not on the 45 that I wore out as a kid,but a fresh vinyl stereo LP which cost 50 cents(cheaper than the original 45) and feel good again.

 

I have most of the 60's vinyl in mint condition and I haven't given them a play in awhile. I'll have to pull them out this weekend to revisit.

 

I'm a fan of Herb.

 

There's a new compilation just released (in the UK) called The Essential Herb Alpert. It's a 2-CD set, disc 1 being a reissue of Definitive Hits (Herb's TJB & solo hits) with disc 2 being a reissue of Herb & Lani Hall's live 2009 album Anything Goes.

 

I wonder if this is being released here in the States, as I have been wanting to get that release from last year with his wife, and this combo would make sense, but I already have everything he ever released, so I don't know