Shout!Factory versus Herb Alpert Presents (plus Warms's "Sea Is My Soil")

[rbisherw]

You're right. For the first 27 seconds, "Zazueira" on the new HAP CD of WARM has a somewhat muted right channel that then opens up. I love your description of water draining out of your ear!

It's something of a disappointment that WARM, an album I've always loved and always wanted on CD, has to be one with such damage to a few of its tracks. "The Sea Is My Soil" is especially disappointing, though it does sound like they tried their best to clean it up. As I mentioned upthread, clean vinyl is the way to do justice to this album.

Hey, at least they go the title right this time - and not "The Sea Is My Soul".

Noticed this as well during my first "critical" listening session this afternoon.
Still love the album, though.

On a side note, the new Brass are comin' sounds great.

 

[Rudy]

There was a dubious practice with album covers around that time to list them out of sequence on the jacket.

For many album covers, that was done for artistic reasons, since typesetting was all done by hand and the song titles were made to fit certain areas by hand.

 

[Rudy]

WHen the Shout! download of The Brass Are Comin' was released, the album's running order was resequenced -- and nobody seemed to know who did it or why, because no mention was ever made of it, unlike the Shout! version of Rise, which was also resequenced and had a notation saying such on the package.

It was likely an error. There have been a few releases of Steely Dan's Katy Lied where "Your Gold Teeth II" and "Chain Lightning" were reversed, while the track listings were not. (In another case, not exactly a sequencing error, but the marimba intro to "Rikki" has been snipped off, beginning with the Citizen Steely Dan box set.)

 

[Harry]

For many album covers, that was done for artistic reasons, since typesetting was all done by hand and the song titles were made to fit certain areas by hand.

That could be partially true on THE BRASS ARE COMIN's original jacket rear. The shapes of the buildings sort of dictate that "I'll Be Back", a short title, fit around that roof line, with "Robbers and Cops", "Country Lake", and "The Maltese Melody" listed under that second-story roof line. Then the shorter "Moments" and "Anna" fit nicely around the next section.

But, "Sunny", "Moon River", "You Are My Life", "I'm An Old Cowhand" and "Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine" seem to do the opposite - getting longer in opposition to the roof lines. All the while, the title track (and track 1) remains at the top.

The CD, even with the now corrected track listing, STILL looks OK, even with "You Are My Life" partially running into the building.


Bottom line is that it is still a great-looking package.

 

[zen]

Although I have all of the Shout!Factory releases, I am very interested in getting the new reissues on Herb Alpert Presents.

Between these two record labels...the Herb Alpert Presents generally sound better. However, last night while doing an A/B of "Sounds Like" it was the first time where the "Shout Factory" (a.k.a. Signature Series) clearly sounded better to me...except for the last track, Casino Royale. Which for some reason, didn't surprise me. Different recording studio? ...anyway, the Shout Factory CD has a much nicer sound for a change. Clearly the master tapes for this album were in better condition back in 2005. It's a shame this one never got released in 1988 when the master tapes were younger still. Oh well, at least we got the "Shout Factory - signature series" disc when it comes to "Sounds Like." Strong album!!

 

[Rudy]

...except for the last track, Casino Royale. Which for some reason, didn't surprise me. Different recording studio?

I'm pretty certain the tapes were flown over from London by Bacharach in order to have Herb record his horn parts over the orchestra. (From what I recall, Burt was working in England at the time the film was being scored and recorded.) So it is not so much a "Tijuana Brass" recording as it is Herb guesting on a Bacharach recording.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

That's correct...Herb talks about that on the BBC interview. Bacharach recorded the song, intending to use Johnny Rivers on vocals. Johnny didn't like the song and didn't want to do it, so Bacharach called up Herb and gave him the ideas for it over the phone. Then the tapes were flown over as you stated. I think the only "Tijuana Brass" on that song is Herb, a little bit of Bob Edmondson, and some Julius Wechter (who to me is still a part of the Brass even though he wasn't an official member).

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Well, I received Warm from Amazon, it's beautiful, but here's what I can say so far: The CD was shipped in a manilla envelope, not well protected, so an edge was not pristine, shame on Amazon.

I got my Coney Island today from Amazon and it was shipped by itself in a box big enough to hold at least two copies of the whole Herb catalog. Maybe yours came from a different fulfillment location? Mine shipped from Las Vegas.

I wasn't going to buy Lonely Bull but just now having read Harry's critique of it on that thread, I might change my mind.

 

[Bobberman]

I got my Coney Island today from Amazon and it was shipped by itself in a box big enough to hold at least two copies of the whole Herb catalog. Maybe yours came from a different fulfillment location? Mine shipped from Las Vegas.

I wasn't going to buy Lonely Bull but just now having read Harry's critique of it on that thread, I might change my mind.

I got my 9 discs shipped to me in a weird variety. First 2 manila envelopes containing 3 discs in one and one disc in another and the Rest Of the Cds ( 5 of them) in an oversized box padded with bubble type padding i thought the box was a little too much packaging but at least everything arrived safely and proper.

 

[Rudy]

At least Amazon has gotten on the ball regarding vinyl packaging. They have individual LP mailers they use now, as opposed to sticking them in a big box with minimal filler and letting it bounce all around inside. If you get more than one LP in a shipment, however, they put the individual albums within the mailers all together in a bigger box. My Led Zep vinyl all arrived flawless (as have many others). And those came all the way from the UK! (US, UK, EU, etc. all use the same LP mailers.)

 

[Acapulco 1922]

I can say, that: the WARM in my avatar plays as authentic as when my father bought it for $8.95 in August of '69.

 

[BBrownlie]

I have now purchased 16 of the HAP releases (including 'Christmas Album' from 10/23/2015). I will get to the others soon.

I am very pleased. I know when discussing improved sound, it depends on our individual ears, our listening experience (hardware, ambiance, etc.). For me, I notice more presence in the HAPs than the Shout!Factorys. It's probably not that much difference ultimately, but my ears tell me the HAPs are generally better.

One question:
I noticed HAP released 'Steppin' Out', 'In he Mood' and 'Come Fly With Me' in late 2015. Would one consider these part of the HAP reissue program? I will probably get them as well.

 

[Rudy]

I noticed HAP released 'Steppin' Out', 'In he Mood' and 'Come Fly With Me' in late 2015. Would one consider these part of the HAP reissue program?

I can't say for sure, but given that these are recent releases, it is probably a change in distribution only.