Herb & The TJB on K-Tel

[Rudy]

Just picked up this two-disc set today for my friend K-Tel Chick (check out http://www.ktelclassics.com ), and figured I'd list the track contents here. I haven't given this one a spin yet to hear what it sounds like, but it's a two-LP set containing 40 TJB tracks. It's dated ©1977.

Side 1: Lonely Bull / Green Peppers / Never On Sunday / Spanish Flea / If I Were A Rich Man / Love Potion #9 / Walk Don't Run / Carmen / Moments / Brasilia.

Side 2: A Taste of Honey / Hello Dolly / Jerusalem / Sunny / Mexican Corn / The Work Song / Warm / Third Man Theme / The Girl from Ipanema / Mexican Shuffle.

Side 3: Tijuana Taxi / Mame / Acapulco 1922 / Cabaret / Marching Thru Madrid / What Now My Love / I Can't Go On Living Baby Without You / She Touched Me / Panama / Zorba The Greek.

Side 4: A Banda / Memories of Madrid / A Walk In The Black Forest / The Shadow Of Your Smile / Casino Royale / Moon River / El Presidente / More / Wade In The Water / This Guy's In Love With You.

I may do a needle drop of this one--definitely will scan it for the TJB site before I send this one on its way!

 

[Mr Bill]

This one has great photos inside the gatefold as well.

--Mr Bill

 

[Rudy]

Neat! I just pulled it out of the plastic outer sleeve--definitely some scan-worthy gems in there. The full photo used for the What Now My Love cover.

 

[daveK]

Does it have the full length "Zorba" or an edit?

 

[Captaindave]

What's the sound quality like?

 

[bob]

hi captin dave, I to have the vinyl version ,it is a import from canada, which I had bought up there back in 1978, as yes it does have REALLY
nice photos in the gate fold, has herb playing the trumpet on the front cover. then one of the picture as all of us tjb members remember is the one highlighted with the pick background on the left side with the brass members standing in a doorway. zorba the greek is the longer version and has excellent sound quality, just like ordinary records. I burn it to cd
the album is titled herb alpert & the tijuana brass 40 greatest 2 albums/disques catalog number is NC- 477

bob papp

 

[bob]

hi

 

[Rudy]

Visually, it appears "Zorba" is the full-length cut. As for the sound, it's not quite as clear as a genuine A&M, but not as bad as something from the record clubs (which are generally awful). To fit 10 songs per side, the level's going to be lower, and the bass cut a bit. Understandable.

 

[Mr Bill]

This is also the only compilation I know that has anything (aside from "Last Tango In Paris") from the reformed mid-70's TJB LPs -- "I Can't Go On Living Baby WIthout You."

There's another UK comp from A&M UK (and later MFP) that has "Fire & Rain" (b-side of "Last Tango..."), the only way to get that song on 33.333 vice 45.000...

--Mr Bill

 

[Rudy]

I have that UK comp...don't remember what it's called though.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I have that UK comp...don't remember what it's called though.

I have it as This Guy's In Love With You, but it was originally called Plays The Standards Of Today.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Harry]

I have that UK comp...don't remember what it's called though.

I have it as This Guy's In Love With You, but it was originally called Plays The Standards Of Today.

Same here. It's on the Music For Pleasure label, MFP 50432, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, This Guy's In Love With You. Track listing:

All My Loving
If You Could Read My Mind
Monday, Monday (with familiar dropouts)
Darlin'
Sunny
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Our Day Will Come (with distortion just like the CD)

Promises, Promises
Girl From Ipanema
What Now My Love (drier version, less reverb)
Fire And Rain (on stereo LP, but still rather mono sounding)
Alone Again, Naturally
Without Her
This Guy's In Love With You

It mentions the previous release on the A&M label as AMLP 8007.

I remember seeing this in a discount store way back in the '70s and buying it thinking it might be a good way to get some newer, cleaner versions of some of these songs. And it also occured to me that it was truly the end of the TjB, seeing this cheap-o looking compilation in the discount rack.

Odd thing is the liner notes from Roger St. Pierre, recounting the familiar story of Herb, Moss, A&M, TjB, etc. At the end it talks about Herb 'retireing' and concentrating on the business end of A&M, and how Herb hasn't relented to fans' desires for more music. Yet this very album contains songs from the later period where Herb did just that.

Harry
NP: This Guy's In Love With You, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

 

[Rudy]

Yep, that's the one...cheap-looking LP sleeve and all.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I really enjoyed the MFP album, because it was the first time I'd heard the cuts from TBAC and SUMMERTIME...also, it was my first chance to listen to DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART in stereo. Didn't realize at the time that this album was the only one available with FIRE AND RAIN, but I guess it is...

It IS kinda tackily packaged; but it's one of my favorite compilations, because it draws so heavily on the last few TJB albums...and they seem to be ignored elsewhere. If THIS album were rereleased as a CD, it would really make my day...

I noticed a couple of "clams", too...the songs are dated by year, and WITHOUT HER has a 1974 release date; and TGILWY is dated 1970...WH SHOULD be 1969, and TGILWY should be dated 1968...also, the graphic designer should have used a different font color for the liner notes...the reflection off the bell of the trumpet and the light shining off Herb's shoulder makes some of the words almost impossible to read...the cover picture looks like it came from the CONEY ISLAND period...

My copy has both the A&M logo and the MFP logos on it.


Dan, who tried to get info on the K-TEL TJB album, and couldn't find HERB ALPERT or the TJB in the database...

 

[whippedflea]

The K-Tel album was really beneficial for me as a young collector in the late 1970's. Many of the TJB albums I had purchased at flea markets and used record stores and had been pretty "loved up" by others before they got to me. The KTEL album has a compilation date of 1977, and I must have purchased mine in 1979 or so, in a budget bin. Copies were plentiful and this was one of my first chances to hear some of the lesser-heard cuts without so many scratches and pops. Why it wasn't released here in the US is a mystery to me. You can definitely tell that A&M had QC on this project, because everything about it is far above what KTEL was putting out at the time.

 

[EDBRAD]

Yes I too have the same album,sound quality is good, some pictures on the inside gate fold.Picked it up about 12 years ago at a used record sale.The Zorba sound track is the same as others that I have heard.

K-tel put out many many albums compulations of different artists on many albums in the 70's era.They had an office here in Winnipeg and in Montreal many years ago.I believe it is still owned by a fellow who's last names is Kives.Hence the name K-Tel .Kives telemarketing.

 

[Rudy]

Yep--same owner, same location in Canada, except that K-Tel has now evolved into a mail-order pharmacy company!

Wasn't too impressed with this pressing, BTW: the 10 songs per side is pretty much beyond the physical limits of record cutting technology, so something has to give. Vinyl seems clean, but they have to cut the overall level, or at least the bass, to record that much onto one side of vinyl.

 

[whippedflea]

I had the album out this week, and by comparison, if the original A&M pressings are considered a "10," then the K-Tel record hits a solid "8.5." One thing I will say is that the overall sound quality is better on this than on my Capitol Record Club pressing of THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM.

I don't know if the A&M catalog in Canada was the same as the US, but with HERB ALPERT'S NINTH and THE BRASS ARE COMIN' being out of print at the time, it was nice to hear "Carmen" and "Moments" on here. Both tracks deserved a spot on GREATEST HITS VOL. 2 (which is all the Herb we got that year) in my opinion.

 

[Rudy]

Capitol's record club pressings were never that good--I've had a couple of A&M and Verve albums that I didn't realize were Capitol pressings until I looked at them closer at home--the vinyl isn't necessarily bad, but they were probably pressed from a relatively poor copy of one of the labels' original masters, and they lack a lot of detail the originals had.

 

[Stephen Vakil]

I have that UK comp...don't remember what it's called though.

I have it as This Guy's In Love With You, but it was originally called Plays The Standards Of Today.


Capt. Bacardi

Plays The Standards Of Today was actually on the Hamlet label (in the UK anyway) but I think that this was part of A&M. Can check next time I'm near the record collection.

I got the K-Tel album in the UK when it came out around 77/78. If I remember correctly it had Warm on it and boy did I play that track to death!.......................and still do.

Stephen

 

[Rudy]

I split Lisa's post into its own thread and moved to the Small Circle of Friends forum, where hopefully more vistors will see it.

 

[whippedflea]

The oddest thing I just noticed last night about the KTEL album....
While it's the first Alpert comp to feature "Third Man Theme," it does not have the song "Whipped Cream" on it.