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

[Captaindave]

I also bought Going Places as my first TJB recording.

I believe the excellence of that record motivated me to become a TJB fan and buy all the rest of the albums. Herb definitely was at the top of his game there, and the famous TJB sound is well exemplified on that one.

I dare say that if TBAC had been my first record instead of Going Places, I may or may not have gone further with the TJB as an artist.

I think you may have to have a greater appreciation of country music than I do to appreciate the country influence.

After all, this is all a matter of personal opinion and taste. One man's feast is another man's famine, so to speak. I don't find much feast with TBAC, but that doesn't keep someone else from "eating till full."

 

[DAN BOLTON]

GP was my first TJB album, also. And, as has been discussed earlier in this thread, the bloom was off the rose a little by the time TBAC was released. But, like each TJB album, it has its' gems and clunkers. The country theme of the album is really limited to about 3 or 4 songs, not even half the total number of tracks...it's thought of as a country-flavored album because of the packaging and the TV special; but overall, it's really the same basic formula of orginal music and covers of then-current pop songs, with the occasional old standard...still something for everybody...


Dan

 

[Dore Adler]

Well, I like it! My favorite is I'll Be Back because I'm a shmaltzy Beatles fan, but Country Lake is very cool with the steel guitars and all. It's kind of a hodge-podge album, and coming on the heels of Warm, it does seem a bit of a throw-back -- but hey! Everybody was 'getting back' in those days.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

You're right, Dore...TBAC WAS a bit of a throwback. WARM, for all the effort that went into it, just didn't live up to Herb's expectations, so he went back to the tried-and-true formula that worked so well for the previous albums, and it was getting a bit long in the tooth. SUMMERTIME, from what I've been able to download from the kitty with the headphones, seems like a mixture of both approaches. It didn't do so hot, either...

Dan

 

[Mike Blakesley]

SUMMERTIME is a very personal-sounding album. I think a lot of it was constructed from out-takes and experiments from the WARM/BRASS ARE COMIN' era. But, there are songs there that wouldn't have fit on either album. SUMMERTIME is to Herb what PRIMAL ROOTS is to Sergio Mendes...I have a feeling Herb knew when he made it that it wasn't going to scale the high reaches of the charts.

Back to TBAC....do most readers burn the CD in the order the songs are listed on the iTunes version of the album, or do you rearrange them into the original running order? I made a disk with the origianl order, but I think the album plays better in some ways with the re-arranged running order.

 

[Harry]

Order, order!

There are now what could be considered THREE different song orders for THE BRASS ARE COMIN'. The order that appeared on the actual LP jacket, the order that appeared on the back of the LP, and now iTunes order.

THE BRASS ARE COMIN' appeared during a time when it was fashionable for record companies to list album songs out of order on the outer jacket. The back cover of the LP jacket lists:

The Brass Are Comin' (The Little Train Of Caipira)
Sunny
Moon River
You Are My Life
I'm An Old Cowhand
Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine
I'll Be Back
Robbers And Cops
Country Lake
The Maltese Melody
Moments
Anna

That said, I can't recall ever listening to the album in any order except the LP's original running order, in spite of how iTunes or the LP jacket jumbled them up.

Harry

 

[Mr Bill]

Order, order!

There are now what could be considered THREE different song orders for THE BRASS ARE COMIN'.

Would the order they appeared withinn the TV special constitute a "FOURTH" different song order???

--Mr Bill

 

[Harry]

I don't think all of the songs were in the TV special, were they?

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

No, they weren't.

I think the song-list on the back of the LP cover was arranged such to fit the list into the clear area above the row of buildings. They could have arranged it so the titles went strictly from longest to shortest, but that might have looked a little "too" neat given the spirit of the cover.

There's yet another running order: The order on the 8-track tape. I don't have that in front of me, but I do remember that for once, there were no repeated or "chopped" songs on TBAC. This is because the album had 12 songs on it, so it was easy to arrange them into an 8-track friendly running order. I do remember that the opening/closing songs are the same as on the LP.

 

[Harry]

...and one would have to wonder what they did with the cassette. Anyone know?

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I don't remember ever seeing that one on cassette, but usually they were the same as the LP running order. If there was a difference in length between side 1 and 2, they'd just leave that area blank on one side.

 

[Rudy]

Early A&M cassettes (and reel tapes, for that matter) had different running orders than the LP versions. I have "Summertime" and "As Time Goes By" (BMB) on early cassette, and they have altered running orders. Cassettes from the late 70s onward usually maintained the running order. (Chuck Mangione, "Feels So Good" and Carpenters "Passage" come to mind.)

Curiously, amidst all the altered running orders, the TJB's "Whipped Cream" album had the SAME running order as the LP. To accommodate this, the program for side 1 started a few minutes after the beginning of the tape. (I thought I'd bought a blank tape at first.) This was a genuine A&M release, too: it was high-speed duplicated at Ampex as most A&Ms were back in the day. (IOW, it was not a "club" issue.)

 

[Harry]

My copy of TJB's GREATEST HITS on cassette, one of my few A&M cassettes, has an altered running order - but being a compilation, it doesn't really matter.

Harry

 

[Rudy]

My copy of TJB's GREATEST HITS on cassette, one of my few A&M cassettes, has an altered running order - but being a compilation, it doesn't really matter.

Harry

Around the time I had "Summertime" and "As Time Goes By", I also got the Brasil '66 Greatest Hits, and Crystal Illusions. The former is probably modified, as I know the reel tape is different from the CD. However, I don't recall if "Crystal Illusions" was altered or not. Probably was.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Now that I think of it...that whole "silence at the end of one side" phenomenon was a later development. The early method was to just shuffle the tracks to make the sides come out even.

GREATEST HITS on 8-track was a rip-off. They shortened "America" and "Zorba" - the whole second half of the "chorus" part of America was cut out, and almost all of the slow section of "Zorba" was chopped.

 

[david]

I had made an opinion of my general dissatisfaction with this album months ago, however I now must eat some crow. I downloaded "I'll be Back" (i Tunes). IMHO this is one of the most striking pieces by Herb - the Herb quality that won me over as a young teenager. I don't recollect hearing this song from before, of course 35 years is a long time. (I never bought the album, and the only time I listened was from the television special and the record itself that I checked out from our local library in 1972) It is truly a rather melancholic yet beautiful trumpet performance that I can't listen to enough. Clear trumpet sound, with “Passion” as if Herb was trying to convey his emotions to his audience.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

"I'll Be Back" was not in the TV special.

I had the same reaction to it. Back when this album was new, I was mostly interested in Herb's "fast" tunes. I didn't really start appreciating this one until this reissue. A hidden gem, indeed.

 

[Rudy]

Now that I think of it...that whole "silence at the end of one side" phenomenon was a later development. The early method was to just shuffle the tracks to make the sides come out even.

GREATEST HITS on 8-track was a rip-off. They shortened "America" and "Zorba" - the whole second half of the "chorus" part of America was cut out, and almost all of the slow section of "Zorba" was chopped.

Do you think they may have used the single version of "Zorba"? That one had most of the midsection chopped.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

The "chop" happens right where Herb starts to play the trumpet in the slow part. Instead of the slow Herb solo, it cuts right to the "DA-da-da-da-da-da-da-da" part where it starts to speed back up again. The whole beginning and ending are intact. I haven't played that single version in quite a while so my memory is foggy if that's the same edit spots (Harry, help me out here!) ...but there is no crowd noise as on the single version, I know that for sure.

 

[Rudy]

The "chop" happens right where Herb starts to play the trumpet in the slow part. Instead of the slow Herb solo, it cuts right to the "DA-da-da-da-da-da-da-da" part where it starts to speed back up again.

That sounds like the same edit as the single, but lacking the crowd noises. In the single, the "Da-da Da-da..."accelerated part starts exactly where Herb's doubled trumpet part would have started.

 

[Harry]

I'd be curious to know if that shorter version on the 8-track had Edmondson's trombone line like the single version does. If not, then we can likely rule out it being based on the actual single mix, as opposed to being an edit of the stereo version in the same places.

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I used to listen to that tape pretty religiously....I'll check the single Zorba tonight and see if it stands out as being different. I'm pretty confident in saying it's just an edit of the original version.

 

[Rudy]

I have a feeling it's edited in the same place, but done on the stereo version. I doubt they'd put the mono single versio on a stereo tape...but stranger things have happened.

 

[lgarvin]

I always enjoyed this album, and I voted for "Good Morning Mr. Sunshine" as this is one of the most beautiful songs the Brass ever recorded. I think the title "Country Lake" has two meanings. Besides referring to a lake in the country, it is Sol LAKE doing a COUNTRY tune. To the one who asked if there were outtakes, what about the song the group sang in the TV special for Bank Americard? When I burn my CD copy I added this and "Singing in the Rain" (Herb duet with Petula Clark from the special) as bonus tracks. (Sorry to those who don't believe TJB albums should be reissued with bonus tracks. If they were on the TV special why not add them to the album?) "Moments" reminds me of "More and More Amor" from !!Going Places!! "You Are My Life" is another great song; too bad it didn't become a vocal hit like "This Guy's..."

 

[davjazzer]

This album was always a favorite of mine. It doesn't have the energy of the earlier albums,but is a welcome return to the TJB style after the musical but laconic WARM.Some of the tunes worked better with the TV visuals,but I always loved GOOD MORNING MR.SUNSHINE and I'LL BE BACK is one of Herb's best "Haunting"ballads.I agree with other members that ANNA and MOMENTS are two of the best later TJB efforts.I always liked YOU ARE MY LIFE,thought it was one of Herb's best vocals.All in all a good sendoff for the old TJB-As we all know-they would be BACK!-Cheers,DAVE.