Spotlight: BEYOND (SP-3717)

[Bernoullis]

Harry,

Yes, as I alluded to in my earlier posting, I thought I was going to have to spend a fair bit more to get it. I was willing to do that, because the music of the BEYOND and RISE albums hold some special memories, and I really wanted the CD version of this album. If A&M ever re-release BEYOND in the Signature series (what really are the chances of that?) then loads of us will have expensive drinks coasters ........ but in the mean time I will mellow in the music.

toeknee4bz,

I am sure I will enjoy it, once it arrives, just as you have enjoyed your iPod version of the cassette copy.

 

[gameenjoyer]

As long as this topic is still on the subject of the value of this album, allow me to put in my two cents.

Now, the signature series is where most of my Alpert music experience comes from, the two exceptions being Classics, Volume 1 and Foursider that I had previously bought and four records of TJB music that I had as a kid (and still have, but don't listen to because, well, they're records, an archaic medium in this day and age, and I also don't really have access to a record player anymore).

So anyway, obviously my only knowledge of Alpert's solo material is Rise and Re-whipped (if it counts). At least until yesterday. I was on my way home from the regional shopping town near where I live and I got to a town about ten miles from the shopping town (about a third of the way home for me) when I felt some strange premonition telling me to go into the thrift store that was in this town. I didn't know what was causing it, but I decided to arouse my curiousity.

So, in I went, and I went over to the CDs and cassettes to see if they had anything exciting. One of the first cassettes I came across was a cassette copy of this very album. SCORE!!!!! The rack didn't have prices marked, and I honestly didn't care what the price was. This was an Alpert album I didn't have yet.

Failing to find anything else in the place worthy of my purchase, I took my prize up to the cash register, which is when the very name of Alpert was unintentionally insulted by the cashier. "Twenty-five cents," she said.

What a joke! Here I had laid on the counter a tape worth probably at least twenty times that, and I was going to get it for a mere quarter. I almost felt guilty enough to pay more for it than that or make an added donation to the organization running the store, but to my shame, I did not. I'm a fairly regular customer there, though, and probably will continue to be after this, easily my best find ever there, so it will all even out in the end I'm sure.

So, anyway, suffice it to say I have a copy of this album now, and I'm sure after I listen to it a few times I'll be ready to vote in this poll.

Edit: By the way, how hard would it be to burn this cassette onto a CD if I wanted to do that?

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Edit: By the way, how hard would it be to burn this cassette onto a CD if I wanted to do that?

Not hard at all if you have a regular CD recorder. I copy old cassette tapes to a CD-R a lot.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Harry]

If you've only got a computer CD burner, you'll need to connect the output of the cassette player to the input of your sound card and use whatever software you've got to do the recording.

Harry

 

[Bernoullis]

gameenjoyer,

Fantastic! You'll get over the "unintentional insult"! Good job on nabbing a copy of this album.

I remember enjoying hearing the early TJB albums on the 'wireless' (as it was called then) when I was very young, even though my folks didn't have any of the albums. The music touched a nerve and the result was pleasant. Then, as a late teenager in 1980, having left high school the year before, I'm a new recruit in the military and I heard RISE and loved it and bought it. This, when I should have been 'loving' other 'normal' teenage music, but I couldn't help myself. And the follow up, BEYOND, when still a teenager (19 years old!) was a no-brainer for me to purchase - such captivating music!

And my buddies in the military are looking at me askance and wondering why I am not buying Roxy Music or Fleetwood Mac! Well, I bought those too, but the Herb Alpert stuff touched a real 'cool' nerve - somehow felt the Herb stuff was on a different plane and my buddies weren't 'getting it'. But you know what? I lived with 3 of these close military buddies for several years and subliminally they eventually 'got it!

In 2006 I went to a 25th Anniversary get-together of our military graduation class (only a handful of guys and their families) and played TJB and Herb stuff ...... and they LOVED it!!! It was fantastic! I don't think they realised just how much it had been a background to some of the 'hairy' stuff we got up to. That was why it was so important for me to get that Japanese CD copy on Ebay. What memories ........ absolutely priceless!

 

[Bernoullis]

The disc arrived in the mail whilst I was away on a long business trip. Absolutely fab to actually have, and play, this rare CD! Hurrah!

 

[toeknee4bz]

Makes you feel like a kid in a candy store, doesn't it?

Tony

 

[Bernoullis]

Sure does!

 

[gameenjoyer]

Okay, I've listened to the cassette a few times, and, although I must say that, unlike Rise, I can't identify any songs on this album that I don't like, I must say that "The Factory", with its very creative background harmonic structure, is my favorite.

 

[Bernoullis]

Welcome to the brotherhood gameenjoyer!

Do you like Peter Frampton's guitar work on 'The Factory'?

 

[gameenjoyer]

I'm probably going to catch a lot of flack for this Bernoullis, but who's Peter Frampton, and why would I care about him? I think I saw a Peter Frampton once, in an insurance commercial I think it was. Is that the guy you mean?

When I listen to an Alpert recording, yes, I care about the stuff backing the trumpet (after all, even a trumpet genius like Alpert wouldn't sell many records if he recorded just one trumpet without any backing at all), but I'm not really that concerned about who's behind all of it. I just like "The Factory" because the background riff sounds cool to me, so if that's the part you are referring to, then yes, I like it, but not because it has anything to do with this Frampton guy.

 

[Mr Bill]

I'm probably going to catch a lot of flack for this... who's Peter Frampton, and why would I care about him? I think I saw a Peter Frampton?

Read about him at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Frampton

He was a member of A&M artist Humble Pie who went solo (on A&M as well). His 1976 Live album, Frampton Alive became the biggest selling live album in history and he sold out arenas world wide on his tour that year. He probably was the biggest help in keeping A&M in the black that year and likely for a couple years to come. I think Captain and Tennille became the next "BIG" act for the label...

Given your age, you'll get no flack from me on not knowing who Frampton is -- we're just happy someone your age appreciates Herb Alpert and his excellent music!

--Mr. Bill

 

[Bernoullis]

I think Mr Bill has answered that one very deftly! Frampton is certainly one heck of a guitarist. My oldest sister had a copy of Frampton Comes Alive when it was first released in 1976 and just a couple of months back I picked up an anniversary CD copy of it - once again, listening brought back many memories.

If you manage to listen to just one track, gameenjoyer, from that album, Show Me The Way is a very iconic mid-70's tune. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, on listening to it, you said to yourself, "I have heard that before ........." His guitar piece on The Factory is certainly recognisable Frampton stuff.

 

[gameenjoyer]

Truth be told Bernoullis, as stupid as this is going to sound given my age, 1976 is actually too new to me for the most part. Outside of country anyway, most everything I listen to is from the 50s and 60s (hence the reason I knew of the TJB but not Alpert solo recordings when I first encountered the Signature Series).

Mr. Bill, it's not a matter of Frampton being too old for me to have heard of him, but too new. I grew up listening to my mother's records primarily, not the radio, so most of what I'm familiar with is from her childhood. The TJB stuff came from my father's side though. His parents had bought him a couple TJB records to encourage him because he played the trumpet a little bit as a kid.

 

[Mr Bill]

No problem, gemenjoyer! I got into music "backwards" myself!

My Dad always played his albums as I was growing up (prior to turning 12) but I never really paid attention. At age 8 I got hold of my parents' 8mm movie camera and started making movies. At age 12 I decided I needed music to play along with them. Naturally it had to be instrumental music so I "discovered" my Dad's TJB and BMB albums (and Mancini, 101 Strings (etc), Living Strings (etc)) as they were ideal for films.

Searching for more of the same at used record stores led to finding the A&M samplers which led me to pop and rock -- until I was 16 I couldn't take even Carpenters -- they were too hard rocking to me! I didn't even buy my first Beatles record (Rarities) until I was 22 (1982)!!!

So I envy your eventual "discovery" of tons of wonderful music to come!

--Mr. Bill

 

[toeknee4bz]

No problem, gemenjoyer! I got into music "backwards" myself! --Mr. Bill

Well, backwards or forwards, I got into TJB music as a kid (6-7 yrs old) and then got a [totally awesome] culture shock when I heard "Rise" on the radio at age 11. The BEYOND album was... well, how can I put it? Soooooo different. And in a really good way. Herb was now modern. I kept thinking about how I had a bulk of TJB to listen to, and only a couple of Herb's "new" stuff. So I made my own "compilation" cassettes early on, of course adding my favorite RISE and BEYOND tracks as a contrasting bookend to the [predominately-TJB] collection. The rest is history.

Tony

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I have been listening to the BEYOND album lately -- as I posted way back at the top of this thread, I hadn't heard it all the way through in quite a while so it's almost like a new album to me.

The title song remains my favorite on the album and it would probably rank in my top-ten of all of Herb's songs. It's just one of those songs I can't hear often enough. That record was truly ahead of its time and deserved to be a bigger hit than it was, but at the same time it was SO unique I can see why it didn't catch on at radio.

My other favorite is "Kamali." I had forgotten how hypnotic that beat is -- the melody has a great hook to it as well.

There really isn't a bad track on here, but I guess my least favorite would be "Keep it Goin'" -- it just seems a little lightweight compared to the rest of the songs. I like how some of the tracks continue the RISE vibe with the handclaps and "party" voices, but the progression toward jazz is clearly in full swing on other songs.

 

[Rudy]

This one and Magic Man are pretty much cut from the same cloth--I've played and enjoyed both over the years. It still puzzles me why Beyond never saw domestic release on CD--it had a charting hit in the title track, although I don't know both albums' peak chart positions.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

although I don't know both albums' peak chart positions.

(Ahem) The chart positions for Beyond are in the first post of this thread.

For Magic Man the chart positions are in this thread:
http://www.amcorner.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9420



Capt. Bacardi
...ever so resourceful online...

 

[Rudy]

although I don't know both albums' peak chart positions.

(Ahem) The chart positions for Beyond are in the first post of this thread.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I downloaded this album from the Herb Alpert Presents.... website and gave it a listen. There's an additional 20 seconds or so on the opening track "Kamali", and during the extended fade there's an extra guitar riff added. Nothing spectacular but very noticeable.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Harry]

There seems to be a few of the newly remastered songs on the Herb Alpert Presents site that are a little longer than their original counterparts. On this same BEYOND album, "The Factory" times in at 11 seconds longer with a slightly different opening and a little longer fade. Another one is Lani Hall's "Love Song" from SUN DOWN LADY.

Harry

 

[David S]

I have always liked this record. The EWF cover I've liked and Interlude (for Erica) especially, but love Kamali, The Continental, and The Factory.

I paid an insane amount for the Japanese cd some years ago, still have the original cassette I bought, and bought the remastered mp3 about two years ago. If it ever came out again on cd, I'd get it, of course, though I am doubting that will happen, and if released in FLAC I'd get that if only to compare against mp3.

All best, David

 

[Rudy]

What a shame to waste that remastering on crappy MP3s. Absolutely shameful.

 

[MJM 64]

BEYOND was the first Herb Alpert album I bought without hearing a single track off it first. I got it right when it came out. Over the years, the album has really grown on me. I'm not a fan of "Disco" from that era, and, as I expected, the BEYOND album does sound like the RISE album kind of "threw up" all over it. But, these days, I am drawn to the hard core funk aspect of the album. Herb really delivers the funk like a pro here - and who'da thunk? Once again, as in the 1960s, Herb developed a way to put his style on this new contemporary music. It worked, and BEYOND comes through. "Kamali," "The Continental" and the title track really stand out. I got the download and converted the songs to Wave files, then burned them to a disc. Sounds wonderful.