Herb Alpert & The TJB - THE BRASS ARE COMIN' Comments+Re

What is your favorite song?

  • The Brass Are Comin'

    Votes: 2 4.4%
  • Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine

    Votes: 5 11.1%
  • Country Lake

    Votes: 4 8.9%
  • I'll Be Back

    Votes: 3 6.7%
  • Moon River

    Votes: 3 6.7%
  • The Maltese Melody

    Votes: 4 8.9%
  • Sunny

    Votes: 2 4.4%
  • I'm An Old Cowhand

    Votes: 3 6.7%
  • Anna

    Votes: 6 13.3%
  • Robbers And Cops

    Votes: 4 8.9%
  • Moments

    Votes: 5 11.1%
  • You Are My Life

    Votes: 4 8.9%

  • Total voters
    45
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Thanks for the information Harry. I was too young at the time to remember specifics about this special. Just "glimpses" so to speak. Oddly enough I remember commercials of "Singer" the sewing machine? Perhaps they were a sponsor? And if memory serves, Herb and Petulah Clark in a bathtub with Herb saying he was "Afraid to look for the soap?" But I digress.
 
That was a sequence where Herb and Petula were acting out the same scene as it would have been staged by different directors. The idea was that Petula Clark had been in a movie and Herb was theorizing what it would be like to be in a movie with her. It's the kind of "shtick" that's rather dated and probably wouldn't play all that well today.

Harry
 
All of you with clearer memories of the TV specials than I: Which one celebrated A & M's newly acquired studio by having Herb run into multiple Charlie Chaplins on the lot? I remember it as a cute sketch, tracked to the ricky-ticky rhythm of "Whipped Cream."
 
ChaplinNumber.jpg
 
Since I'm about the last to learn anything, I guess no one else will find this newsworthy. In any case, I just returned to iTunes to purchase the rest of The Brass Are Comin', having run out of credit/money the first time around. Guess what? The album is gone, as are all of the songs thereon. Both Warm and Volume 2 are still there, but obviously not forever.

After a little more research, I realized that not all of the reissues are available there, either. Amazingly, I didn't see Whipped Cream & OD, which may once have outsold all the others.

Maybe this makes sense to someone . . . .
 
When I downloaded BRASS ARE COMIN' from iTunes, you had to search for "Tijuana Brass" and not Herb Alpert.

Perhaps that's the problem?

Harry
 
This is something about iTunes that I've never figured out. Sometimes, when you search an artist, it might list only one or two songs from an album, even though the whole album is indeed available.

If you can find any of the songs on a particular album, then just click on the arrow to the right of the album title, which is to the right of the artist name. This will take you to a page for that album, where you can buy the whole thing with one click....much easier than buying all the songs individually. (It still creates a separate file on your computer for each song.)

If none of the songs are listed in an artist search, then just search for one of the song titles that you know is on the album. Then, in the resulting list, click on the arrow to the right of the album title.

If you don't see the album title, scroll the listing to the right. If you still don't see it, then you need to go into iTunes preferences and make sure you are set up to "display album titles."

There are some situations on iTunes where only certain songs from an album are available, for whatever reason, but these are listed as "Partial album" when you go to the album page. The TJB albums are available in their entirety.
 
Mike: A belated thank–you. I massaged the eccentrically catalogued iTunes the way you suggested, and I was again able to pull up The Brass Are Comin', just as you predicted. It's good now to have the full album.
 
After seeing Captain Bacardi's reviews here and especially on iTunes..I have one thing to say:

Come on Captain, stop holding back, tell us how you really feel about "The Brass Are Comin'"!!!!

In trying to promote this release on CD or iTunes, sometimes I guess saying nothing is better than saying something at all. I was not happy to see such a negative review posted very prominently about something many of waited for so long re-released in a remastered digital format.

I hope Herb hasn't read that review and was glad he didn't put any more time into it. God forbid he should put "Just You and Me" out again and get more of the same.

Some thoughts on this crap about the album and TV special having a country & western theme:

If you have seen the special:

The ONLY western element is the title song "The Brass Are Comin'", how it is used (After "THE SEA IS MY SOIL" from "WARM" no less!) and on the special then segues into "Treasure Of San Miguel" from "Sounds Like..." before into "I'm An Old Cowhand" played in the saloon. On the special that's it!!

COUNTRY LAKE is the ONLY other cut that has any country influence, being mostly the steel guitar work. Take that away and it's pretty standard TJB sounds here. Sol Lake stuff was always cool.

If any of you regard the rest of the songs or the album of having a C&W vibe....please! That is not the point of the album or special.

SUNNY is used in the special in a psychedelic music video sort of way.
(A fantastic arrangement, by the way.)

ROBBERS AND COPS is used when the boys break into a music store and play the instruments there, dressed as 30's gangster types.

MOON RIVER is used creatively in a bit featuring Herb and John Pisano creating music. In a Malibu home setting.

I'LL BE BACK is a moody haunting like version of the Lennon-McCartney classic. No country here. Not on the special.

MOMENTS is pure TJB and sounds like it could have easily been on an earlier album with no problem. Not on the special.

THE MALTESE MELODY same thing, classic TJB sound. I guess that why it turned up on compilations. Owes more to Zorba or European influences than anything Nashville. Not on the special.

ANNA is great great arrangement and unique Herb perfomance/production on trumpet. Nothing not to like here.
Not on the special.

GOOD MORNING MR. SUNSHINE was a wonderfully filmed sequence and song during the special with the boys playing it in a desert like area. A very mariachi like piece with phenomenal strings.

YOU ARE MY LFE is a lesser Herb vocal but nice nevertheless. Something to sing on TV. Has grown on me.

As for the rest of the "Country" TV Special, Petula Clark does her own thing, has a bath with Herb, and the two of have some comic moments culminating in Herb and her doing "Singing In The Rain"!! And then at the
end we get treated to a TJB mini-concert possibly filmed on one of the
A&M soundstages.

Yeah it's ashame that it didn't sell better. But if a lot of these songs were dropped into "Sounds Like", "Beat Of The Brass", or "Ninth" you wouldn't have said or thought much about them or Herb's supposed trumpet sound problems. He put together a fine album and special, both I want on official Signature Series CD and maybe someday DVD.

I have always wanted to see more pictures from the photo shoot for the cover. That's a great cover shot and theme, to be taken more as "We're the Brass, we're tough and we're back so watch out!" than as it's "Grand Old Opry Time". We have it to enjoy and play loudly all we want, it's not as if "Going Places" and "Whipped Cream" are the only albums he ever did. This is a nice chapter of a story that thankfully didn't end in 1969.

If he really wanted to go country, why didn't "Flowers On The Wall"(Statler Bros.!!), "Tennessee Waltz" from the "Lost Treasures" CD and "Cowboys And Indians" from "Ninth" end up here. He could have gone toe to toe with Danny Davis and been way cooler.

By the way, I did mean to get off on a hopefully tasteful rant here!! And to cap it it off, I even loved "Mexican Drummer Man"(Lost Treasures II CD please Herb!!)
 
In my third paragraph, I was referring primarily to Captain Bacardi's review posted on the iTunes site. It's tough to miss if you get to the product description. I did not think that was the place for a long time forum member to "air it out" so negatively about a newly and finally re-released Alpert product. Sure won't possibly help our cause here. I hope people new to the TJB totally ignore it and download the album and all others that they don't have. Better yet I hope they go buy all the Signature Series CD's that they don't already have or didn't know were out!
 
I can't fault the Captain for being honest. Those who disagree with him should post their OWN reviews as a form of rebuttal, that way the majority opinions will shine through. Same with Amazon's reviews.

Harry
 
More than anything, we finally get a very desired re-release and a chance to be the FIRST reviewer and WE the forum are represented by a very negative review. That's what grieved me. I have posted occasionally but check in and read a lot and I really enjoy what you guys have put together here. The forum was the place for what was said and he certainly did that as well, using the words "worst thing" when describing it. And he absolutely has a right to that opinion.

To be fair, I enjoy and agree a lot of the time with the good Captain, and he has provided me with some excellent info/knowledge of things A&M. So I am not knocking him personally. Just wanted him to know that.

But the timing and very accessible placement where people decide how to spend their music dollar is what bothered me. You can do a lot worse on iTunes than download "The Brass Are Comin,'" it's still a very fun 30+ minutes with who they called "America's Favorite Trumpet Player" at the Super Bowl 15 or so years ago.

When "Summertime" and all the subsequent albums solo or otherwise finally come out somehow, remember that Herb and his family are alive and well to read these reviews written about things they just spent time remastering for the fans who've been dreaming of re-release on CD or digital.

Keeping it as positive and classy as possible makes all forum members
look good, and thankful/appreciative for the efforts of Herb, Larry, and Randy.

Here's to "RISE" in May, and "Lost Treasures II" at some point and hopefully everything coming out on CD!!!
 
Those who disagree with him should post their OWN reviews as a form of rebuttal, that way the majority opinions will shine through.
Right...we're writing reviews, not promotional blurbs. If you are writing a review, it's supposed to be your honest opinion. I think most musicians would rather see reviews that express honest opinions, rather than people fawning over their every move, good or bad.

As for the notion that TBAC isn't a country-flavored album... I disagree. "Maltese Melody," is for sure a country-tinged song. Even the title sounds country. "Good Morning Mr. Sunshine" could easily be background music in a western movie. Many of the other songs are "country" in name only...like Sergio Mendes' STILLNESS, they fit the theme. "Sunny," "Moon River," "Moments," etc. all have that simple feeling. I don't know quite how to express it, but it's there. It harks back to a simpler time. THE BRASS ARE COMIN' is a country album like Glen Campbell's albums are country albums.
 
Ok-let's try this differently. Since this forum spends so much time devoted to how great Herb and the TJB are, and there happens to be a re-release that was particularly hard fought, and since other hard fought titles aren't out yet, and since some of these projects are some that stick in Herb's craw or low on his list. If a prominent forum member has the opportunity to have Herb's back, he should have Herb's back, not fawn mind you but not be sooooo negative either. Not going out of our way to be negative can benefit the re-release program, the uninitiated new fans, and us wanting everthing on CD.

Yes Mike, real musicians appreciate honesty, but since this album will be 40 years old in 2009, simply pointing out the highlights, and not hacking the hell out of it on a iTunes review, and also not rehashing his personal life at the time is the tasteful way to go.

If "The Brass Are Comin'" was somebody's first experience with the legendary TJB and they happenned to love the album, and it led to them discovering the rest of the catalog, their path of discovery was in reverse of most of us. This might be somebody's "Lonely Bull" or "Going Places."
Sounds kinda silly, but could happen.

There are going to be some new Alpert fans born possibly when "Summertime" or even "Coney Island" come out and they
will hopefully discover the rest of the catalog, and really love it all.
I wish I could discover it all that way again, I remember how fun
it was.
 
Bullish, you need to get over it. I don't like the friggin' album that much and that's all there is to it. If you like it, I'm happy for you. But don't tell me how I should write a review - I've been doing them for years! To me there's nothing worse than some flimsy, foo-foo review that says absolutely nothing. I'm not here to praise everything Herb does. Like most people he ain't perfect. I don't bash things without reason, just as I don't praise things without reason. It either clicks with me or it doesn't, and in this case it didn't. It's that simple. I make no apology for it. (And BTW, the iTunes review I wrote isn't near as bad as you're making it sound.)

I also disagree with your perception of how Herb and his family would react to it. Nothing could be more worse than that embarassing whinefest that occurred with the iTunes thread when these three albums were released. If anything would've turned off Herb it would've been that mess. I know that Herb could care less about some review on a website, so I'm not worried about it.

Like most artists, there are the high points and the low points in careers. Herb has something in common with the likes of the Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, the Stones, etc - they've all made great recordings and they've all made some stinkers. And this album falls into the latter category IMHO. If there are new TJB fans out there - and I hope there will be plenty more ahead - I would definitely steer them to other albums that are more representative of the classic TJB sound. I'm not here to put on a happy face and dance around in Oprah's world and say that everything is great. It's not. This album is an example of that.



Capt. Bacardi
 
If "The Brass Are Comin'" was somebody's first experience with the legendary TJB and they happenned to love the album, and it led to them discovering the rest of the catalog, their path of discovery was in reverse of most of us. This might be somebody's "Lonely Bull" or "Going Places."
Sounds kinda silly, but could happen.
Could happen, indeed. My first TJB purchase was GOING PLACES and I worked my way back and forth from there.
 
No one should deny Capt. Bacardi his opinion of TBAC. He feels how he feels about it. My question is if he does feel that way, why put a negative review out that might steer potential buyers away from this album when it's release on CD, as well as some others we all want to see released may depend on strong sales? What purpose does it serve to kill even one sale for the album? On this forum is another story. We are all TJB afficianados with our own faves and least faves. No one here will be stopped from listening to or purchasing TBAC from the Capt's post. I'm not asking him to lie about his opinion of the album. The issue is not wether Herb would take offense to his post, because quite frankly, He's probably right. Herb probably could care less what he thinks of the album. The issue is sabotaging potential sales that will make the powers that be reconsider CD release. Maybe some people don't care if TBAC gets a CD release. But nearly everyone wants Warm & Vol. 2. Negative comments on sales websites CAN'T help our cause in any way. If anyone feels the need to steer the music buying public away from a bad purchase, why not review some of the unmittigated crap that's being passed off as music these days. There's far more to choose from there. TBAC is still better than 98% of what's available on iTunes.


David
 
Hey Captain I totally respect your opinion and right to have it, as I have seen many of your 3500 posts and have enjoyed many! I've never had a prob with you personally.

So I consider you a leader around here, who also has put up with the long waits with these re-releases or first time cd issues. I guess I was simply surprised at the bluntness of the review, right there in pole position on the site just after finally getting the product out. It just kinda shocked me I guess with all the waiting and yes whiny posts everyone has sometimes endured. Never really any from me, I am glad to say.

I also guess, that I am frustrated we have to hear each other's opinions on this music, good or bad, rather than reading Herb's inside story from a nice booklet in a nice Signature Series CD release. Which I thought would be better promoted by praising the virtues more instead of the negatives.

In terms of Herb and his family's opinion, I am only going on years of the veteran guy's here saying that this album and maybe "Warm" came at a such bad time in Herb's personal life that maybe is why they have seen such little love. I was just trying to be a little sensitive since they have a storied history and maybe that played a part over the years.

There are standout's that could have at least made it onto more compilations. We all would have been so happy to have a "Sea Is My Soil" or a"Good Morning Mr. Sunshine" on say "Classics Volume 1" CD or the or the "Greatest Hits Volume 2" CD which mostly re-ran "Solid Brass."

I can't wait to crank up "Hust So Bad" "Darlin'" and "Strike Up The Band" from "Summertime" for their first digital listen. Later "Fox Hunt" and "Coney Island" will played happily. "Promenade" and "Musique" too.

Hope you get what I am trying to say.
 
I'd like to see us all get back on track here and discuss the music. I listened to this album again last night while working and am struck again by how much I have enjoyed it.

I guess maybe it's because this is one of just a couple of TJB albums (the other being VOLUME 2) that I haven't heard a billion times, and in fact I hadn't played this with any regularity since it was brand new all those years ago.
 
I think the country influences on this album are probably a response to The Nashville Brass, which was just beginning to come onto the scene at the time this album was released. If the public liked that group, why not skew a TJB album to pick up the people who bought their albums? Also, there is a logical progression from mariachi music to western tunes...Country and Western is half WESTERN music, after all.

The western-influenced tunes on TBAC work pretty well, to me; the only exception is COUNTRY LAKE, which seemed a rather obvious paen to Danny Davis, and nobody did that sound better than he did. The Nashville Brass didn't really delve into the western side of c&w, and here, the Brass had 'em covered.

I always felt that when Herb did TENNESSEE WALTZ, he was making another attempt to go after some of the Nashville Brass market...it's a shuffle, but there's a bit of two-step as well in the arrangement, as well. I know that Herb doesn't particularly care for country music, but he got it down pretty well.

I also conjure up an image of a John Ford/John Wayne western when I listen to JERUSALEM...maybe it's the marimba, I don't know...something about it makes me think of horses pulling wagons in the hot Arizona sun...

I made a compilation CD not long ago of mariachi songs from the TJB and BMB...there were a couple of vocals, too...and I put Johnny Cash's GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY in the mix. It fit in perfectly...lots of mariachi influences. Fits in pretty well with JUAREZ and GOOD MORNING MR. SUNSHINE...



Dan
 
Still there was a huge difference in sound between Herb and Danny Davis. I think it was mostly in the production. With Herb you had the trumpets much more up close and personal-sounding, whereas the Nashville Brass sounded more like a group of trumpets playing as part of an ensemble. To me it's the same effect as the vocals on a Ray Conniff record....they're there, but they're not in your lap the way Herb's trumpet is on his records.
 
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