a few questions from the new guy

[Harry]

It's interesting to note from the chart that even in the prior week (which would have been April 9, 1966), Herb also held 5 spots in the top 20.

#2 WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS
#3 GOING PLACES
#8 SOUTH OF THE BORDER
#13 THE LONELY BULL
#19 TIJUANA BRASS (VOLUME 2)

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Also interesting that the Billboard chart gets Herb's group's name wrong on the VOLUME 2 listing. It's listed as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, where on the actual album, of course, it's "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass." The other album listings get the group name correct as it appears on the covers.

I have a feeling that happened because, by this time, the band was known by the "& the Tijuana Brass" title due to the popularity of GOING PLACES so when the re-issued VOL. 2 hit the charts, the group's current name was used. That doesn't explain the album title discrepancy though!

Thanks guys for posting these charts.

 

[gameenjoyer]

Uh, not to be pushy, but I'm still waiting on that answer about the "four albums in the top ten" thing. Did that ever happen?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

It did happen, just in a different week than the "five in the top 20" event. I don't have the old charts like some of these guys do so I can't put up a physical chart, but it definitely really positively happened.

I have a Billboard's online account but I'm not at work right now so can't get into it, but I'll check tomorrow and see if the online archives go back that far.

 

[Harry]

With Mike's prompting, I dug in deep here at work. Here's the top 10 chart for the week of April 2, 1966. Herb indeed held four of the top 10 that week.

Harry

 

[gameenjoyer]

Wow!! That's all I can say. Just wow!! Three weeks in a row. That kind of chart dominance is the type of thing of which current artists can probably only dream. Here's to an absolutely undeniable display of the superiority of the TJB as album artists in the '60s.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Verrry intersting! Billboard has online archives of their charts, but pre-1970 listings only show the top ten for each week. I had tried to find the four-in-the-top-ten event, but hadn't been able to find it....but then I noticed that a couple of the weeks involved only had charts going up to #9! Sure enough, April 2 is one of those weeks, and there Herb sits at #10.

Harry - I never saw a Billboard chart in that format before. Is that from a radio book of some sort? Or is it one of the Joel Whitburn books?

That kind of chart dominance is the type of thing of which current artists can probably only dream.

You also have to keep in mind that artists released albums at a much quicker pace back then...it was common for a group or singer to put out two or sometimes even three albums in a year!

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Superthread!