Herb Alpert and the TJB early UK releases

Hi!
Nice to join this forum discussing music from the great A&M label! I personally think A&M was one of the very best US labels in the 60s and 70s - consistently good music, strong productions and excellent sound quality and pressings of their records.
Herb Alper & the TJB's output in the 60s is, of course, a favourite of mine and I have some, though not all, of their albums on the original tan US A&M label and they sound great! I enjoy both stereo and mono mixes, but I prefer the "Lonely Bull" and "Volume 2" in mono. I have a chance to get clean mono copies of these two albums - early releases on the UK Stateside label. AFAIK, EMI released only these two albums on their Stateside label - later albums were released on PYE and re-released on UK A&M even later. Did EMI use the original mono mixes or these are fold-downs from the stereo (like I've heard about some of the PYE output)? Also, how do these EMI pressings compare sonically to orginal US A&M ones?

Stateside released three albums; as well as 'Lonely Bull' and 'Volume 2' they issued a compilation of both these albums under the title "Sounds Tijuana" (SL 10176). This was available on vinyl and as a 3.75ips quarter inch tape record.


A stereo version also appeared (SSL 10193) under the slightly different title "Sounds of Tijuana"


There was an EP as well, titled "Mexican Corn"


Pye then did a deal with A&M to release their product in the UK on their Pye International label, and subsequent releases appeared there. Later, A&M did a licensing and distribution deal with Pye which saw all their product appearing on the A&M label, although still pressed and released by Pye records. Pye decided to reissue "Volume 2" on their budget Marble Arch label, under the title "Early Alpert"

although the ACTUAL label on the record was the normal A&M label, with a Marble Arch catalogue number!! (MAL 866 mono, MALS 866 stereo)


I must admit it's been some time since I listened to the mono Stateside pressings but I suspect they are genuine mono mixes which would explain why the stereo version of "Sounds of Tijuana has a different catalogue number.

Those are some of the strangest covers I've ever seen....

Regarding the "Sounds Tijuana" - yes, it was the third and last LP issued on the Stateside label - a compilation of first two albums, AFAIK. "Lonely Bull" and "Volume 2" were released on Stateside with the same photo covers as the US releases. Still don't know about liner notes being the same or not - I decided I'll get those two albums and so will share my thoughts about the pressings later.
I bet at various countries there were a lot of different covers. I have this LP, which was available here in the 70s, though only at one particular place which sold german goods, so it's kinda hard to find anymore in the second hand market.


It's an East Germany Amiga compilation in stereo. Sound is quite good as are most of these early 70s Amiga pressings on the dark red label. It's possible they released a mono counterpart as was usual then, but I'm not aware of any.

Rudy, I find original US made A&M album sleeves being of superb quality and when well preserved through the years they're a delight. Later (post '70) UK and generally European sleeves are mostly filmsy, but speaking of the 60s technology was different and nice and durable sleeves were made in many European countries - mostly sturdy front laminated type, though they didn't use thick cardboard like what was common in the USA at the time.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the Stateside "Lonely Bull" and "Volume 2" . They are pressed on heavy vinyl slab, which is also deadly quiet, even after all these years. Sound quality is great (to my ears, at least) - very clean and dynamic. I don't have an US copy to compare directly and don't know if I would be wrong to say it sounds more like a typical EMI mastering of the time and may slightly differ from A&M originals but, I think, not by a large margin.

Love all those groovy album covers!! The first one with the sexy lady and her pretty legs was hot but in a wholesome kind of way. The SOUNDS OF TIJUANA album cover of the girl with the guitar was cute, but I liked the "psychedelic" logo design with The Tijuana Brass' name. The MEXICAN CORN album cover was just that-corny! The LONELY BULL album cover was of course, a shot from the Singer TV special from 1967, and although Harry says That The AMERICA album cover is an outtake from the WARM photo sessions, remember, on the front and back cover of WARM, Herb is wearing a RED shirt, instead of this blue denim one!(by the way, I saw this album at Colony's, a popular record store here in NYC.) I would hazard to guess that this photo was taken while he was filming the video for THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH YOU, because he was wearing the same clothes in the video, and it was filmed at the beach, which this picture clearly shows that's where he's at.

The last one, which ironically enough is titled THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH YOU, the cover photo seems to be from one of his concerts from '74-75. Silk shirt, leisure jacket reveal 70s look. All in all, thanx for posting these album covers.

Rudy, Your oddball album cover is Ameriachi Vol. 2 (Released in 1966 on the London label; Catalog No. SLH 54). The jacket notes are not in German, but in what I believe is either Chinese or Japanese with English translations. The back cover has a picture of the Ameriachi album(which has the same cover as South of the Border) as well as what appears to be an advertisement in either Chinese or Japanese for the earlier album. It lists the catalog number (SLH 48) and a price of 1800 Yuan/Yen. Both currencies use the same symbol, which resembles the capital letter Y with two short parallel horizontal lines through it.
I have to agree with you about the cover being odd. It has nothing to relate it to the TJB or the style of music on the album.

There's "This Guy's In love With You", a compilation album on the Mayfair label, if I remember correctly. As well as the title track, it has Without Her and Slick, among others. This was my introduction to Herb and verything else which followed as my Dad bought it in 1973/4.

Stephen

Note, America is also a German A&M/Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft label on their budget Karusell imprint. It is superbly pressed and mastered from good tapes. Quiet surfaces too after many years. I have a DGG sourced "Whipped Cream & Other Delights" and Sergio Mendes and Brasil '65's "Look Away". Later on in Germany, A&M was handled by Ariola/Eurodisc. Those issues are also superb.

I just wanted to chime in and mention that "Sounds Tijuana" (Stateside SL 10176) is one of my two all time favorite A&M albums, the other being Something Festive (known as Merry Christmas from Herb Alpert and Friends, in Germany). I don't think it has been accurately described above when as excerpts from the Lonely Bull and Volume 2 is correct. Rather I always looked at it as a collection of early mono singles collected on an album of ultra quite vinyl. The albums 16 tracks include the following songs from singles: A&M 703 Lonely Bull/Acapulco 1922; A&M 706 Struttin' With Maria/ Marching Thru Madrid; A&M 711 Mexican Corn ; A&M 732 Mexican Drummer Man / The Great Manolete ; A&M 742 Mexican Suffle / Numero Cinco ; A&M 751 Winds of Barcelona; that accounts for 10 of the songs out of 16, or the majority of the songs. They are the original singles versions in authentic mono. Yes... they left off the Beatles song All My Lovin' but included the more Tijuana sounding Green Leaves of Summer or Surfin' Senorita etc. So I think the few album filler cuts are appropriate to the "Sounds Tijuana" theme.