HERB places 3 albums in BILLBOARD Special Chart!

[Steve Sidoruk]

http://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboard-200-albums

 

[Charles H.]

These three excellent Brass albums are wise choices for inclusion on this chart!

Charles

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Great choices!

 

[Harry]

And...the very contents of this collector's tin from a few years ago:

Harry

 

[thetijuanataxi]

Wow! Herb and the Brass got #13 and 44 yet there were no Beatles in the top 100 and no entries from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis or Perry Como. And I surely thought the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever would have made the list. It's good to know that at least this chart showcases how big the Brass really were.

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

Wow! Herb and the Brass got #13 and 44

Yes, and #170, too! Although, the Billboard chart does not show the right album cover for WHAT NOW MY LOVE. Those were the days - when Herb released two albums a year!

 

[thetijuanataxi]

No Elvis either???

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Here is a bit of text from Billboard which I found under the "How it Works" link:

These all-time rankings are based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 (from its launch on Aug. 4, 1958 through Oct. 10, 2015) and Billboard 200 (from Aug. 17, 1963 — when we combined our two leading pop album album charts for stereo and mono releases into one all-encompassing weekly chart — through Oct. 10, 2015). Titles are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower rungs earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates over various periods. Artists are ranked based on the combined point totals, as outlined above, of all their Hot 100 or Billboard 200 chart entries.

So I would guess, the reason for the Beatles and Elvis etc. being under-represented, could be that their albums went up and down (and off) the chart faster -- whereas those albums of Herb's were real long-charting records. Another thing to think about: Given the chart methodology in those days, some of the information was very likely skewed -- a lot of the rankings were simply taken by telephone from large record stores with no way to verify actual sales. So for example, a real Alpert-fan who hated rock'n'roll and owned a music store could report GOING PLACES as his number 1 seller even if the Beatles or Elvis were moving more units. This is why the charts fluctuated wildly when the SoundScan system (which tracks actual sales) was introduced.

One thing that's kind of weird (and also may have skewed the results) is, they apparently included the Hot 100 (singles) chart data in these calculations.

 

[DeeInKY]

After reading about "how it works." I looked at the list and found several albums on there at at I expected to find, namely "Rumours", "Dark Side of the Moon", and "Tapestry." These plus Herb's albums were popular for years. A lot of Elvis' albums were movie soundtracks, and there were some clinker songs on there.

 

[Dave]

There's also The Eagles' Hotel California, and the Saturday Night Fever Original Motion Picture Soundtrack... Both also making it to the top in Books of Records (pun intended?) until Michael Jackson's Thriller came along... (And before that, Jackson's Off The Wall was also charting big sales...)



-- Dave (And equally a fan of South Of The Border, along w/ the three of Herb's great successes being portrayed... Vying for that one to also be considered one of Herb's All Time Greats...!)

 

[Rudy]

That ranking, flawed as it is, is going to highlight artists that were more album-based than singles-based. Of the Beatles entries, the highest ranked is Sgt. Pepper at #54, and that was one album they pulled no singles from. Dark Side Of The Moon (which was, and maybe still is, the leader in terms of Billboard 200 longevity--it had a 500+ week run IIRC) makes its appearance also.

Yet, the West Side Story movie soundtrack topped the album charts for 54 weeks, remained on the charts far longer than that, and it does not even appear in the listing. Harry Belafonte's Calypso topped it for 31 weeks yet again...where is it? In their day, these were huge albums. Yet, Asia's self-titled debut album which was more or less a one-off one hit wonder of an album, makes the listing at #95.

The ironic part is that of all the singles the TJB released, not a single one of them topped the chart. Yet I believe the TJB was the only act to place four in the Top 10 simultaneously, IIRC. This is representative of what album artists were capable of. The buyers were more interested in the body of work vs. cherry-picking any one single tune and buying the single vs. the LP.

The list reminds me more of a popularity contest a la the Grammy Awards, or the dreck that Rolling Stone publishes to get readers worked up and sell magazines. Personally I think more of Herb's albums could have appeared in this list, and the glaring omissions I pointed out would have been represented, if this were a true ranking of album popularity.

 

[Aaron Bitman]

The ironic part is that of all the singles the TJB released, not a single one of them topped the chart.

Didn't "This Guy's in Love with You" make it to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100?

 

[Harry]

Yes, but many will argue that that record was just Herb with Burt Bacharach, even though it appeared on Tijuana Brass TV special and album.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

The very first two albums I ever received were Herb's "What Now My Love" And "Going Places" on Christmas, 1967....

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Yes, but many will argue that that record was just Herb with Burt Bacharach, even though it appeared on Tijuana Brass TV special and album.

I've always wondered if any of the other Brass members played on that song. We do know that Pete Jolly played the piano intro (at least) and Burt Bacharach played piano and did the arrangement.