The CD Reissues are Wonderful.

So, I'd be curious, if anybody knows. I know I've seen talk that Whipped Cream and Other Delights is the best-seller among the re-releases. No shock there. How do sales of it compare to sales of Alpert's current albums? Are the current ones still being beaten by it?
 
The song "El Bimbo" went to # 28 on Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart in August of 1975. The flip 45 was "Catfish" (from "Coney Island"). Matt Clark Sanford, MI
I remember hearing "El Bimbo" on the loudspeakers way back in 75 when I was just a kid playing pinball in the Bar Playa in Rota, Spain. Of course, I had no idea what it was or who it was. And it remained that way for four decades with the song sticking in my head, not knowing what it was. You can imagine how 'DUH!" I felt when I clicked onto the you tube video of Herb's 45 and realized what it was.
 
I suppose a late question for Lost Treasures is in order. Why did they decide to feature songs from You Smile with new trumpet parts, as opposed to using that space to collect all of the random B-sides that have been released over the years?

My only thought there is that the studio masters were not located, and the single masters (from which the singles were cut) were supposedly stored on large reels intermixed with other A&M singles at that time, if what my sources told me is correct. Those supposed reels could have been lost or destroyed, or could be buried in Universal's vaults. Could they have used needle drops? Sure, but given how much the quality of used records has degraded over the years (especially if all a person can find is styrene), it is hard to find clean copies of these.
 
So, I'd be curious, if anybody knows. I know I've seen talk that Whipped Cream and Other Delights is the best-seller among the re-releases. No shock there. How do sales of it compare to sales of Alpert's current albums? Are the current ones still being beaten by it?
I don't have overall sales figures handy. But based on what I've seen from Amazon sales figures in the past, new releases usually get a spike in sales the month they are released, trail off the second month, and then get only the occasional sale afterwards. Whipped Cream (and surprisingly, Definitive Hits) was one of those steady sellers straight through the entire time. And it wasn't unusual to see slightly more sales of both when new releases came out.
 
I don't have overall sales figures handy. But based on what I've seen from Amazon sales figures in the past, new releases usually get a spike in sales the month they are released, trail off the second month, and then get only the occasional sale afterwards. Whipped Cream (and surprisingly, Definitive Hits) was one of those steady sellers straight through the entire time. And it wasn't unusual to see slightly more sales of both when new releases came out.
It's not surprising in a way to me for Whipped cream in its first A&M run which lasted 35 plus years still remained in print until Herb Got His Masters back and of course Definitive hits is the only Compilation album in print now these two are the ones people are buying as introductions to Herb's music I admit they could have done a much better job sound wise with Definitive hits though I compared the songs on that with the shout factory. HAP And original A&M Cds and to my ears the songs on those sound better than on definitive hits Just my opinion.
 
I suppose a late question for Lost Treasures is in order. Why did they decide to feature songs from You Smile with new trumpet parts

Is that what it is, new trumpet parts on all the YS-TSB tracks? I thought they were just "alternate takes." The version of "Promises, Promises" sounds less-finished on Lost Treasures than it did on You Smile.
 
There was a lot of fuss a year or two prior to release of the Shout Factory discs, about trumpet parts being re-recorded. Thing is, nobody knew what that meant. (I recall a few panicking that the parts on the old, original TJB albums were being replaced!) I know some of the unreleased tracks need to be finished for Lost Treasures, but there were the B-sides like "Fire and Rain" that also had a new trumpet part recorded. Herb's style sounds more recent on the new parts he recorded for the You Smile tracks as well.
 
That was long before anyone thought of reissuing nearly his entire back catalog, and You Smile probably never was anywhere near Shout Factory's radar in terms of a reissue. So, redoing a handful with improved trumpet parts certainly wasn't a bad idea. Plus it kind of fit in with all of the unreleased tracks that had new trumpet parts out of necessity.

Main thing is, the originals were untouched, and the reissues get the back catalog out, just as they were recorded originally.
 
Lost Treasures was kind of a strange animal, in that it contained a bunch of tracks from You Smile -- which was a chart album -- but it did NOT contain the two songs from that album that were singles ("Fox Hunt" and "Save the Sunlight"). And, it contained nothing from Coney Island, which was really more of a "lost treasure" than YS was. I wonder if some of the YS tracks were a ploy to get sales, considering they were sort-of well known titles.
 
I only wonder if those were used to fill out the CD, as other tracks (like the B-sides) may not yet have been found on the reels, or lost.
 
I only wonder if those were used to fill out the CD, as other tracks (like the B-sides) may not yet have been found on the reels, or lost.
This may be a long shot guess on my part but Maybe Randy Knows and perhaps this would be a question to ask of him. Again Just a guess on my part
 
I see that this topic is buried a bit, but it seems the best one to come to and comment. As I had feared was inevitable when I first heard that all of Herb's old stuff had been released, but subsequently discovered I couldn't actually find any of it, I broke down and ordered some of them off of Amazon. Had something else I wanted to find as a gift for somebody and one other item I wanted to get for myself badly enough to be willing to order them online and ended up saying to myself, as I'd always feared I would if I took the plunge, "as long as I'm here..."

So, long story short, in addition to the two items I actually "needed" to find, I have a copy of "The Christmas Wish" coming (since I doubt I'll have a chance to get up to the cities to get a copy at a Barnes and Noble, and figure it'd be a lot more expensive there if I did), as well as the six TJB albums that never got Shout Factory versions (note that Bullish is the one I'm not counting as TJB; hope the reason is obvious). So, yep, for two items I "needed" that cost about $27, I ended up spending $100. My main worry is that now that I've done it once, that'll make it easier for me to become an addict. Hopefully that won't happen. My pocketbook couldn't sustain it.
 
Part of what is hurting retail these days is online shopping, although the way many stores are these days, there really is no choice. An online music site (including Amazon) can pretty much ship anything that is in print. With the brick-and-mortar retailers, I would probably have to drive to four or five stores to look for the same items (and more often than not, I don't find half of what I am looking for) and then, end up paying full retail price unless I catch a really rare sale.

My buying has shifted to primarily online mainly because of this. It is not uncommon for me to order a variety of items on a single order. Recently, I ordered silicone wiper blades for one of the cars, some laundry spot remover, a pack of two replacement water filters for the kitchen faucet, one record, and a used cookbook. To buy these locally...forget about it. I don't know who carries PIAA wiper blades around here. The spot remover I have never seen in any local store. The water filters would probably have me running to several big box stores that carry the same brand, but most are not the improved filter I buy for it (which removes more contaminants) so I would probably have to special order it, then make a return trip to pick it up. The cookbook I could probably only find at a book retailer for full price; with shipping I paid less than half. The record? It's a recent release and is popular, so a couple of local stores would have it...but I would be driving at least 25 miles to pick it up...again, at full retail price and not the discounted $13 price I paid for it.

So short version--what I used to spend locally is now shifted online, and I am actually saving money in the process. Do I get something extra every so often? Sure! But for the everyday items I am buying that way now, it saves a lot of time, gas, and patience by being able to do it this way. Just on that list alone, I would probably be spending four hours away from home, driving at least 50 if not 100 miles, dealing with traffic (and crowds at the stores), and likely have to go out again since I would not have found everything.

It could be addicting for the fun extras we would like to buy, but hey, we all have a budget, and I can't count the number of times I have deleted items from the cart that I really didn't need. :wink:
 
If I'm buying something online, if it's something frivolous vs. something I really need to have, I usually make myself wait a day or two after I add the item(s) to my "cart." More than once I've decided, eh, I don't realy need that all that much.

I think the largest purchase I've made online recently was a fireworks firing system. It's way better than doing it by hand, but on the other hand you only really use it once a year so was it worth the cash? Ultimately my being a gadget freak coupled with my love of the 4th of July won out.

There are still a few of the new Herb CDs I have yet to spring for, but I have all the vital items now. I hope some more stuff comes out.
 
I see what you're saying about the cheaper, Rudy. The Herb CDs I bought at Barnes and Noble a few months ago (the three most recent new releases) were about $15 each. Odds are these older reissues would be about the same price. I paid just slightly under $10 each on Amazon for them, and since I crushed the $25 minimum for free shipping, I don't even have to pay that. Sure, I'll have to wait a week to get the stuff, but what's one week in the grand scheme of things?

I just hope I don't end up going back at some point and deciding "why not get the rest of them?" That would cost a lot of money.
 
Mike... "Fireworks Firing System"??? Tell me more -- Like you I'm a fireworks 4th of July guy and get more nervous lighting fuses as I get older...

--Mr Bill
 
If I'm buying something online, if it's something frivolous vs. something I really need to have, I usually make myself wait a day or two after I add the item(s) to my "cart."
Guilty as charged. :D Sometimes, though, I will add something to the cart just to "bookmark" it for the future--it is often quicker (depending where/how I am browsing Amazon) than adding to a wishlist. Later on, I can use "save for later" to clear it out of the cart, or move it properly to a wishlist. And yep, I do the same--if it sits there a few days, I'll often decide I have no use for it, and will dump it from the list.

I just hope I don't end up going back at some point and deciding "why not get the rest of them?" That would cost a lot of money.
I would treat it like the past reissues. If you do plan on getting more, and grabbing maybe only one or two at a time, get the least popular albums first (even if they are not favorites). Those are likely to be the first to become unavailable. On the flip side you have Whipped Cream, which is a perennial best seller and my guess is that album will probably outlive all of us. :laugh:

Mike... "Fireworks Firing System"??? Tell me more -- Like you I'm a fireworks 4th of July guy and get more nervous lighting fuses as I get older...
It's not the lighting of the fuses...it's the "running as fast as I can" part that trips me up each time. :D
 
In my situation with the reissue CDs as mentioned previously I limited mine to titles I didn't have on CD and with the exception of JYAM I have at least one copy of every album that has been issued on CD after that I bought the download versions for my music player I agree with Rudy I usually get the lesser known albums first before I get the obvious sellers that's a better way to build a discography. For your collection. Had I known this in the beginning of my collecting music I could have saved myself much time money and patience.as well as a lot of frustration
 
I know downloads aren't a physical product, but those probably have the best chance of remaining available since there are no costs involved with manufacturing and warehousing a physical product.

There have been many titles, on both vinyl and CD, I always said I would buy "next time"...and then they would be out of print when I finally got around to looking for them.
 
It's not the lighting of the fuses...it's the "running as fast as I can" part that trips me up each time. :D

"Trips" being the operative word. :D

It's getting just about impossible for me to find CDs locally, except for titles in which I have no interest. Vinyl, well, there's the good old used record store. So I've pretty much been buying all CDs online for a couple years.
 
I know downloads aren't a physical product, but those probably have the best chance of remaining available since there are no costs involved with manufacturing and warehousing a physical product.

There have been many titles, on both vinyl and CD, I always said I would buy "next time"...and then they would be out of print when I finally got around to looking for them.
I know the feeling and I Agree with you and in my case I didn't know about Herbs early to mid 80s titles being available on CD until they were long out of print and to add insult to injury the store where I lived in at the time ( which I mentioned previously) was so slow and slack in their special orders as it seemed they were more interested in serving their friends and colleagues( who had more money than us regular folks) and I heard more than my fair share of excuses why. And they didn't fly with me then and They Still Don't Now. However at least with the internet in my opinion it seems like more of a Level field at least with Amazon and other sites everyone has more equal opportunity to get the products they want at a price they are willing to pay Without the Runaround and Without The Lame Excuses. I have had much better luck in the last 6 years buying music thru the web than ever anywhere else especially since some of our major music retailers went out of buisiness.
 
It did not last long in our area, but we had a Tower Records in Ann Arbor, a great music town due to being by the university. It was great the first several years it was open. That was one store where they made a point of deep stock of all in-print titles. Thing is, the cost of carrying inventory did them in, like every other large store that tried to specialize. There was a point where they cut way back on inventory levels, and that is about when the stores started to falter. Then, Internet sales and illegal file sharing all piled on to drive those last few nails into the coffin.

In a sense, we are in both the best and worst of times to buy music. Worst, because brick and mortar retailers can no longer offer us the deep selections to browse through--aside from used records and CDs, buying new product is pretty much limited to anything that charts on the major Billboard charts and sells in large numbers. Yet it's also the best since there are enough large Internet sources to buy recordings from that we can probably find just about all of our want list items online if we search hard enough. Thanks to Amazon, Discogs, eBay and others, I have located recordings I have never seen in stores I have visited (primarily used titles, rare enough that a local store might only see it once every couple of years).
 
I Totally agree for example I was finally able to obtain some Instrumental music online that I could never ever find in the brick and mortar stores in just the last 6 years alone I managed to fill in several missing gaps in my collection and then some. It's truly the Best and Worst of times but I choose to look on the positive side as I enjoy my rare treasures
 
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