a few questions from the new guy

[gameenjoyer]

First of all, I apologize for the fact that my username has nothing to do with Herb Alpert or anything A & M related, but I use the same username for everything, and this is the only forum I'm a member of which isn't pertaining to video games.

That being said, I've been a fan of Herb Alpert, particularly the Tijuana Brass for years, but was more of a casual fan for years due to the lack of available TJB stuff on CD. That has changed since I discovered the signature series earlier this year, and I have taken a huge interest in the man and his music since then. Now that I've finally decided to join this forum instead of just reading it, I'm hoping you guys would be willing to answer some questions for me:

1. Have any of the signature series CDs charted anywhere or achieved any RIAA statuses (gold, platinum, etc.)?

2. Is the signature series ended or just on indefinite hold?

3. Does anybody know of anyone in north-central Iowa who carries signature series volumes? I'm still missing Beat of the Brass and Christmas Album and I don't go for buying things online.

4. A few months ago I found a copy of Passion Dance used at an FYE, but it was "DTS capable" or something like that and I can't play it on any CD-playing thing in my house. What do I need to do to be able to play it?

5. The three albums that are available exclusively on I-tunes: is there some way that I could buy them on CD?

Let me say in advance that I appreciate the willingness of any of you to field any or all of these questions and I am truly excited to be a member of a forum devoted to carrying on the tradition of honoring the best instrumental recording artist of all time.

 

[Harry]

Welcome to the Forum, gameenjoyer. We don't care what your user name is - in fact, by being what it is, makes you instantly identifiable to us regulars. Any time we see one of your posts we'll think of that video game guy from Iowa!

I'll attempt to answer some of your questions.

1. I don't have any specific information about sales figures for the Shout! releases, though I know that WHIPPED CREAM is likely the best seller of the bunch, as it always has been.

2. The Signature Series is pretty much on hold at the moment. We know there are plans for more releases from Herb's solo years. We'd heard that FANDANGO and MIDNIGHT SUN were slated to be released next.

3. I'm guessing that you've tried the big box stores like Best Buy. What you might want to consider if you don't want to order online is to order the title at whatever store you've got around you. Most stores like Borders, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble will allow you to order a title that they don't stock from them. They'll get it from their suppliers and notify you when it's in.

4. The DTS PASSION DANCE will play in a DVD player, IF you've got a DTS-capable receiver to decode the sound. It's a 5.1 channel surround sound mix that's really neat - when you get it to play!

5. There are no plans that I know of to release the Itunes-only albums on a CD format. We kept hoping that it might show up on CD in other countries like Japan or the UK. So far, no luck.

Harry

 

[gameenjoyer]

Thank you for your answers Harry. Just a few comments:

1. Only the half of this question has been answered, the part about sales numbers. I remember hearing that Re-Whipped at least charted, so I know there was some chart activity overlooked in the answer. Did any of the others chart?

2. Evidently Shout Factory is through with their TJB releases then? Alas. I bought Rise out of curiousity, and my first time playing through it, it totally lost me after "1980" because it was so diffferent. It wasn't until I'd listened to it a couple more times that it started to grow on me and I still hesitate to say I like it as much as the TJB stuff. I'd rather see more TJB albums released personally, but if solo stuff is all they're willing to do, I'll take it. But hey, they could release YOU SMILE-THE SONG BEGINS, which, as I understand, was the TJB's least popular album ever, and I'd buy it.

3. Your suggestion has merit. I may have to consider that when I become unbusy enough to go to the town half an hour away that has a small (pathetically so) Best Buy. It doesn't carry Signature Series CDs at all, only Defifnitive Hits. How useless. Every TJB song on it is one I already have on at least Classics Volume 1 and, as I already said, I'm not that big into the solo stuff, so buying it for five new solo year songs isn't in the cards right now. If I found Classics Volume 14 though, I'd probably be tempted.

4. Can somebody please take Harry's answer to this question and translate it into idiot-proof English for me. I have no idea what "DTS capable receiver" or "5.1 channel surround sound mix" even mean, and I don't really care. I just want to be able to play the CD.

5. I misworded my question. I meant to ask "is there some way I can GET them on CD?" Even if it meant paying another member of this site a labor fee (plus the download cost, of course) to download the songs and burn them onto a CD for me, I'm just asking if there is some way to get them onto CD. And, of course, having said that, should those albums ever come to official Shout Factory CDs, obviously honor would dictate discarding such copies and buying official ones.

Once again, thank you Harry for the input. Hopefully someone else can fill in the holes or reanswer the edited questions.

 

[Harry]

I'll try to fill in the holes.

1. I don't think (but have no concrete info) that any TjB albums have re-charted. If I recall correctly, older catalog albums don't chart in new lists, but have their own chart category. Since REWHIPPED was actually considered a "new" recording, it was eligible for charting in the Jazz and other categories.

2. Only Herb Alpert knows for sure what's planned regarding the remaining Tijuana Brass/T.J.B. albums. We felt that since several of the YOU SMILE-THE SONG BEGINS tracks ended up in altered form on LOST TREASURES, that it was a pretty good indication that that album wasn't likely to see the light of day. But who knows? SUMMERTIME, YOU SMILE, and CONEY ISLAND are the remaining three (I don't list the three iTunes titles, and will address them later).

3. Personally ordering at a "Customer Service" desk is likely the best way to go, if online ordering is out.

4. The PASSION DANCE surround disc (DTS) was designed to ONLY be played on a surround sound system. That's an electronic sound system that has five main speakers and one bass sub-woofer speaker.

Surround systems like this require five channels of music as opposed to a stereo system that only has two. And there are several methods of coding information on discs so that surround systems can do their job.

One of those methods is DTS. It stands for Digital Theater System and was initally designed for use on the movie industry. It's later been adapted for DVD movie systems in the home. Many DVD movies carry multiple soundtracks, and one could be DTS. (Dolby Digital is the standard.)

If you have a 5.1 channel setup in your house, you "might" be able to play the DTS PASSION DANCE on it. It depends on if your DVD player recognizes the encoding on the disc, and if your receiver has a DTS mode that will decode the information into 5.1 channels of surround sound.

You do realize that PASSION DANCE is also available as a standard stereo disc, right? That one will be playable on any CD player and the only difference is that it doesn't include "Brasil Nativo" which is technically a Lani Hall track from her album of the same name.

5. If you download the iTunes software, and then download the three iTunes-only albums (VOLUME 2, WARM, THE BRASS ARE COMIN'), you should be able to then write those albums out to CD (assuming you have a CD writer on your computer.) See our long and winding threads on these albums around the time of release. The iTunes software will allow, I think, seven CD's for each album to be written out. I fought it but went ahead and did it. It was relatively painless, made some decent CD's, and I've yet to use iTunes for anything else since then.

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

A few more comments on a couple of the questions.

Harry is correct that there is a separate chart for non-current albums. (It's called "Top Pop Catalog.") None of the re-issued TJB albums charted. Some of us here feel that that is due as much to Shout Factory's promotional efforts as it is to anything else -- in other words, most people still don't know the TJB disks are out there! Herb's only release to charte lately is RE-WHIPPED which got as high as #2 on the Contemporary Jazz chart.

YOU SMILE-THE SONG BEGINS, which, as I understand, was the TJB's least popular album ever,

Actually that "honor" goes to the album CONEY ISLAND, which came after YOU SMILE. CONEY did not chart at all, while YOU SMILE got into the top 50 briefly.

It's interesting that almost half of the songs on YOU SMILE were included in the LOST TREASURES collection (although in different mixes) but none of the CONEY ISLAND tunes were.

Finally, Harry notes that you can only burn 7 CDs of each album from iTunes. Technically that's true, but you could make additional copies (if you needed one for each of your 12 cars, for instance) by simply taking one of your burned CDs and making copies of it.

Even if it meant paying another member of this site a labor fee (plus the download cost, of course) to download the songs and burn them onto a CD for me, I'm just asking if there is some way to get them onto CD.

A friendly word of caution here...while there may be people on the site here who would do that for you, it's against our policies to conduct such transactions through the forum. Gameenjoyer, your profile doesn't say where you're from, but if you're in the U.S., the iTunes download is pretty painless if you have a CD writer in your computer. Since those three albums are among the lower sellers, and the CD format itself is kind of on the ropes these days, a CD release of those titles seems unlikely for now. We're just glad they're available at all!

 

[gameenjoyer]

Okay. I think that's about all I needed to know.

Mike, I had no idea I was breaching forum policy when I said what I said. I tend to be quite busy and reading many pages worth of forum policy when I assumed it was just going to be the typical "be respectful of everybody, don't pick any fights, don't use profane language, etc." stuff that's on any worthwhile forum just wasn't high on my priority list. For that I apologize, although I find it odd that you called me on it and Harry, a moderator, didn't say a word about it.

That aside, however, I'm not overly technosavvy, so even if I could figure out how to download the albums off of I-tunes, I wouldn't be able to figure out how to burn them onto a CD, so I guess I'm just going to have to wait and hope that they get released after all.

Regarding the DTS thing, yes, my DVD player at home has a DTS symbol. However, it doesn't play the CD. It tries. Is the fact that it isn't hooked up to one of these fancy 5.1 surround systems the reason it isn't playing?

Oh, and yes, I'm aware that it was available on a normal CD. I didn't go out of my way to buy the DTS version. I found it used in an FYE in Minneapolis for $5 and the store associate there told me it would work in any CD player. Needless to say, I'm quite amused about being lied to, but it would have cost far more to drive back there to return it (I had been there visiting a friend) than what it cost, so I still have it. I haven't seen any of the other solo albums used on CD anywhere, and, as I already said, I don't go for the whole buying stuff online thing, so odds are that unless the signature series continues to grow in size my Alpert CD collection will be near its peak size whenever I find copies of Beat of the Brass and Christmas Album.

Finally, Mike, I know I haven't actually tried to set up my profile here at all (once again, a busyness issue, although midterm break from college is coming up so I may yet have time to do so), but my original wording of question 3 did indicate that I'm from Iowa which is in the United States. Just thought I'd throw that out there since you asked where I'm from.

There is one other thing I'm tempted to ask about, but it has nothing to do with Herb Alpert or the TJB and is therefore outside the confines of this particular forum. I'll have to look sometime soon and see where the forum is where that question would be appropriate.

 

[Actorman]

Hi gameenjoyer! Welcome to the Forum. It's a really great (and knowledgeable) group of people.

One part of your original post that no one has answered yet is the RIAA certification one. The sales of the re-releases count toward the overall sales of the original album. The "counting" doesn't start over with a new release, label or format. So, under normal circumstances significant sales from these reissues could “bump” a particular album to the next certification level. Unfortunately with the TJB albums, A&M never certified most of them past the gold mark. The certifications could be updated fairly easily, but that would require the assistance of A&M and Universal. Since they no longer own the masters and rights to the catalog, there’s really nothing in it for them to pursue it so that probably won’t happen.

It would have been really cool to have kicked off the reissue campaign with up-to-date certifications for all Herb’s albums but that would probably have been too expensive for a small company like Shout Factory. Polygram did a similar thing back in 1990s when they got control of Elton John’s back catalog from MCA. (Kinda funny they're both part of Universal now along with A&M.)

As far as your other question... you can post it on the "Small Circle of Friends" section of the forum. That's the place for more "general" topics. Or if it's a topic that you're uncomfortable about not knowing this group too well yet, feel free to private message me and I'd be happy to help if I can.

Again, welcome to A&M Corner.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

YOU SMILE-THE SONG BEGINS, which, as I understand, was the TJB's least popular album ever,

Actually that "honor" goes to the album CONEY ISLAND, which came after YOU SMILE. CONEY did not chart at all, while YOU SMILE got into the top 50 briefly.

You Smile - The Song Begins peaked at #66 in 1974, while Coney Island peaked at #88 in 1975.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Cap'n - Oops - that's what I get for going on my fuzzy memory. Well at least I was correct that YOU SMILE was the better seller of the two.

Gameenjoyer - I'm another staffer here too, it just doesn't say Moderator on my avatar. I'm the stealth moderator, I guess! All of us have regular jobs and some of us tend to post on the fly during work hours -- that's what I'm doing now, in fact -- and the only reason I mentioned the rule about not trading copies on the forum was because I was surprised Harry didn't mention it. Either way - no harm done.

As for figuring iTunes out -- It's incredibly simple to make a CD from it. If you can surf the web, you can make a CD on iTunes. And, the official cover art from the three iTunes albums are available right here on the Corner.

A lot of us here are not big iTunes fans because we prefer the "real" CD vs. the download, but we've come to terms with the fact that some music may never be available on disk, so the download is the next best alternative. There have been a lot of debates on the forum about that. From your last post, your biggest issue appears to be spare time, eh? (I can relate to that sometimes.)

Anyway - welcome to the forum and feel free to ask as many questions as you want - we love traffic on the board!

 

[Harry]

I was surprised Harry didn't mention it.

Thirty lashes!

Harry

 

[gameenjoyer]

Okay, you guys seem pretty much to have covered my questions of current practicality. I think then that now is the time to throw out my questions regarding history. Bear in mind that I wasn't around back then to have any way to know the answers first-hand, since, as I mentioned in another topic, I'm only 25.

1. It is my understanding, if I am interpreting things correctly, that Volume 2 was released in 1963 but did not chart until its 1966 rerelease. Was Volume 2 that different from The Lonely Bull that people did not initially accept it, or was it just "more of the same" and people weren't interested, or what?

2. What happened between Going Places and What Now My Love that What Now My Love was so much less successful than Going Places and Whipped Cream were, at least in terms of longevity? If my calculations are correct, if Whipped Cream was in the top 40 for 140-some weeks or so, Going Places just over 100, and What Now My Love only 50-some (if I recall the correct numbers), they would have left the top 40 in the reverse order of their entrance into it.

3. Between What Now My Love and S.R.O. there seems to have been the beginning of a gradual reduction in the TJB's popularity with every passing album (excluding Beat of the Brass, which probably benefited from the inclusion of the most non-TJB recording put out by Alpert during the TJB era). Why did this happen?

4. It is my understanding that after Summertime, Alpert went into a temporary retirement for a couple years before reassembling a new TJB for You Smile-The Song Begins. Why did he do this?

5. I recognize that there was no real break between TJB2 and the solo era if one counts the three pre-Rise solo/duet albums, but what led Alpert to disband the TJB2 and start doing stuff under his own name?

6. Judging by Rise, Alpert's style changed dramatically when he disbanded the TJB2. Other than 1980, nothing on Rise sounds even remotely TJBish. What motivated him to change his sound so dramatically?

7. I realize that this is more a question of opinion than of fact, but why was Rise so successful? The song is little more than a repetitive bass riff going on for seven minutes plus with an occcasional trumpet line thrown in. I realize there are those of you out there who probably love the song, and I am not intending to offend you at all, but even on the Rise album, "Rise" is far from my favorite song. Rise being the only Alpert solo album I've ever heard (or heard anything from), I'm still very much a TJB loyalist over and above even Herb's solo years (maybe I'd change my mind if I heard more of the solo work though, although I don't see how that could ever happen since all of his solo work is out of release), and only "1980" comes close to capturing that magic on Rise.

I think that's enough for now. I hope I'm not pestering you all with these questions. I truly am just trying to learn all I can.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Wow! I can try to answer a few of these questions.

As to Volume 2 - it only sold somewhat well in the L.A. region at the time, and as Herb put it, most people thought that was it for the Tijuana Brass. But he was still trying to get "the sound". After the Brass exploded following the "Taste Of Honey" single and the Whipped Cream album successes, people started looking again at the TJB. When Going Places was released and became a smash people started gobbling up all of the albums. The TJB was touring extensively, appearing on TV and the audience seemingly couldn't get enough of the group, and the first five LPs ended up in the Top 20 at the same time (Volume 2 ended up with a different back cover by this time).

As to Herb's "retirement", it was actually after The Brass Are Comin' album that he disbanded the group. While Summertime had the TJB name on the album, there is some speculation that it wasn't really a Tijuana Brass album as we have come to know it. He had no interest in performing live, and had actually put his horn back in the case for some time. There were some personal issues he was dealing with as well, such as his divorce and his dissatisfaction as to what was happening with his records. It wasn't until he heard Chuck Mangione perform "Legend Of The One-Eyed Sailor" that got him interested in playing again.

As to disbanding the 70's TJB, he once said he got tired of having to play the hits "sideways", and was playing in Vegas and thought it was a nightmare. He simply got tired of playing those old songs and wanted to do something new. He didn't feel he could go into new directions with the Tijuana Brass name attached to him, since people would expect him to keep playing "Spanish Flea" a zillion times. Herb Alpert is an artist and he simply wanted to branch out into other things. The Brass had its time and place and it was time for him to move on.

As to the success of "Rise", it simply captured people's attention at the time. It has a distinctive, funky groove, the melody is gorgeous, the recording was great, and it was far removed from anything TJB that it probably just excited a lot of people. It was fresh and people dug it. They still do, obviously. It broke the "easy listening" mode that many people stamped onto Herb's forehead and probably made him a more believable artist than had he kept doing the TJB stuff. It was a great move on his part.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I can give some insight into this one:

2. What happened between Going Places and What Now My Love that What Now My Love was so much less successful than Going Places and Whipped Cream were, at least in terms of longevity? If my calculations are correct, if Whipped Cream was in the top 40 for 140-some weeks or so, Going Places just over 100, and What Now My Love only 50-some (if I recall the correct numbers), they would have left the top 40 in the reverse order of their entrance into it.

As longtime readers know, I work in a store that sells CDs, and have been in the music business since the early '70s. (It's an auto parts store with a small stereo department.)

Chart longevity doesn't really tell an album's popularity or its total sales. Back in those days, the charts were compiled by adding up the shipments from the record companies to warehouses and stores, along with a phone poll of a group of stores to get their best sellers. Since the TJB was still "building" at the time of WHIPPED CREAM, the albums would be shipped out in smaller bunches as the music caught on in various parts of the country. Therefore it would take many weeks to sell a million copies.

By the time GOING PLACES came out, dealers placed larger orders for the album because they knew it would sell -- and people bought it faster than they had with WHIPPED because the Brass was more well-known.

After that one-two punch of hit albums, the Brass were certified superstars. Advance orders for the next album - WHAT NOW MY LOVE - totaled well over a million copies, so the album shot to the top of the charts right away -- and all the TV appearances, touring, radio play, etc. assured that people in all areas knew about the new album --so they hit the stores right away and snapped up a lot of copies. But the album didn't stay on the charts as long, because the majority of the buyers picked it up in the first months of release.

The same thing happens nowadays, only the cycle runs in days/weeks instead of weeks/months/years, due to the instant spread of information on the Net.

As for the Brass' declining popularity after WHAT NOW MY LOVE....well, that was just a sign of the times. The Beatles and the Stones had arrived, and the music market was heading more in a rock&roll direction. Instrumental groups were suddenly seen as old-fashioned. Herb had great timing with "This Guy's In Love With You" -- it came along just at a time when sensitive, singer-songwriter type tunes were beginning to dominate the airwaves.

Why was "Rise" so successful?

One big reason for its popularity was, it was included on a soap opera as a "theme" for two characters who were at the height of popularity at the time. (Luke and Laura, on General Hospital.) The song was played every day on the show for several weeks. It was fitting, since it was TV that got Herb out of the one-hit-wonder bag with "Mexican Shuffle," and then TV came to the rescue again to pull him out of the post-Brass slump!

 

[gameenjoyer]

Thank you for all of the answers to my questions. I must be driving you insane with all of them, and for that I apologize.

Anyway, I've been thinking about what you guys said about the whole Itunes thing, and I was almost ready to do it when it occurred to me: how am I supposed to download music off of Itunes without buying the right to download it over the internet? Is online purchasing secure enough these days that I wouldn't have to worry about identity theft if I paid an online download fee?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

No apology needed - that's why this forum is here, to answer questions, exchange info and keep the music alive.

As for online security with iTunes -- I don't think you have anything to worry about there. iTunes has sold well over a billion songs, all via download, and I've never heard of any identity compromise happening with them.

Think of it this way: If you eat in a restaurant and pay with a credit card, the server might take your card and disappear with it for a couple of minutes. Who knows what's happening to your card during that time? You're probably MORE secure buying music thru iTunes than you are when you give your card to a complete stranger in a restaurant.

The biggest thing to remember when transacting business online is, if you know you are dealing with a reputable company (in this case, iTunes is owned by Apple Computer), you should be OK. With most online dealing, a rule of thumb is that if YOU initiated the transaction yourself, rather than responding to an e-mail or ad, you should be fine.

 

[gameenjoyer]

Okay, one more question:

Supposedly, sometime in 1966 or so, the TJB had five albums in the top twenty at the same time. I've read that in almost any album liner notes I've ever read as well as other places, but never have I seen anybody go through and say what albums were at what positions when it happened or include a picture from the page in Billboard on which it could be seen or anything. Is that just some sort of modern hype-building technique that never really happened, or is the evidence for it no longer in existence, or what?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

It really happened. The way it happened, was Herb released WHIPPED CREAM which became a hot seller, then came GOING PLACES which was an immediate hit. The band's new-found massive popularity got people into the stores looking for those other albums pictured on the inner sleeves; this pulled THE LONELY BULL and SOUTH OF THE BORDER back into the fray, and then A&M re-issued VOLUME 2; the result being all five were in the top 20. I'm not sure what order they were in or which was #1 when it happened, but I'm sure that information will be coming along in a few minutes!

Here's a clip from Herb's website that sums up the action:

1965: Alpert hits big with "Whipped Cream," a sexy instrumental composition. For a follow-up, A&M releases Herb's version of Anton Kara's "3rd Man Theme." The single climbs half-way up the Hot 100 before radio discovers the flip side. Herb's definitive version of the much recorded "A Taste Of Honey." This becomes the new "A" side, and zooms to the Top 10 in November.

In December, Herb and A&M receive their first two gold albums for, "Whipped Cream And Other Delights" and "Going Places." By the end of the year, "Whipped Cream And Other Delights" is the No. 1 album in the country and "Going Places" is No. 4 on its way to No. 1. Both albums remain on the chart for more than three years, as does the 1964 Tijuana Brass release, "South Of The Border."

1966: "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, Vol. 2," is re-released, an album that was actually recorded three years earlier.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass hold down the No. 1 spot on Billboard's pop album chart for a total of 18 weeks during 1966, more than any other act that year. For 4 of the 18 weeks, the Brass has both the No. 1 and No. 2 albums. Runners-up: The Beatles, who occupy the top spot for 17 weeks.

In April, the Brass have four albums in the Top 10 simultaneously. It remains the greatest domination of the Top 10 since the mono and stereo album charts were combined in 1963.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass are cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for having five albums in the Top 20 simultaneously, a feat unequalled in recording history.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

According to the April 16, 1966 Billboard charts, the TJB had these albums in the Top 20:

#1 - Going Places
#3 - Whipped Cream & Other Delights
#6 - South Of The Border
#14 - The Lonely Bull
#17 - Volume 2 (actually just named "Tijuana Brass" on the charts)



Capt. Bacardi

 

[gameenjoyer]

Bacardi, the numbers you cite cannot be right because my understanding is that when there were five TJB albums in the top 20, four of them were in the top ten, and, with the numbers you posted for thier chart positions, only three were in the top ten. What is the reason for that discrepancy?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I don't know the dates involved exactly, but "four albums in the top ten' happened in a different week than 'five albums in the top twenty.' (One album dropped out of the 20 but another album moved into the 10.)

 

[Mr Bill]

This is a feat that will never be matched. Billboard changed the rules so no artist can have more than one album in the top 100 at any given time. I believe that rule went into effect in 1984. Montana Mike, as one of our active Billboard readers can probably give the specific details on this -- my year may be wrong as may be the "top #" parameter.

--Mr Bill

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Bacardi, the numbers you cite cannot be right because my understanding is that when there were five TJB albums in the top 20, four of them were in the top ten, and, with the numbers you posted for thier chart positions, only three were in the top ten. What is the reason for that discrepancy?

Probably because I have the actual chart that shows these positions.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

This is a feat that will never be matched. Billboard changed the rules so no artist can have more than one album in the top 100 at any given time. I believe that rule went into effect in 1984.

I'm not sure of the exact date, but it is a true rule. There is also the rule that if an album drops out of the top 50 after a certain amount of time, it has to move to the catalog chart even if its sales increase again.

I've always felt that both of those rules are improper, if true sales are to be charted. If an artist has 5 albums in the top twenty in sales, then by golly they should be on the chart. But Billboard made the rules in order to allow more chart space to developing artists, so I can see their point (sort of).

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

Here is the Billboard Chart from the week ending April 16, 1966. What's left to discuss???

Source: A&M RECORDS • THE FIRST 10 YEARS • (A FAIRY TALE)

 

[gameenjoyer]

Okay Steve, point taken. What then is the story on the "four albums in the top ten" thing? Did that actually happen also? Must have been a different week if it did evidently.