🥂 50th Tell Us About Your First A&M Records!
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Dave
Well-Known Member
The familiar green & yellow stripped "Forget Me (K)Not" label (hope that string didn't have to be tied around that finger too long!) kicked off such,w/ my mom's Carpenters "Top Of The World" '45'--that I remember being a first A&M in the house! (Though my dad brought home a few things from the store he'd worked at back when you got salvage mdse. of what couldn't sell! So Robin Wilson, Wes Montgomery & Quincy Jones and a few other odds & ends)
Somehow her youngest sister was able to carry her record collection around & to our house & grandma & grandpa's, so there her Carpenters Now And Then really stood out (and I am quite sure there were other titles)... --Surely I, too, remember hearing Carps play there, but there was a house we'd once lived near by that I think loved Carpenters there enough that I think that's where I got a good dose of their stuff via my young ears! Oh, yes, that aunt did Shango's "Ljuba, Ljuba" as a Super 8 film project, and think I saw the actual album... (There was enough foliage & nature going on to make an interesting documentary for a school project & actually get an A- on...)
OK, but what A&M's did DAVE have? Well, my Supertramp "The Logical Song" (also green & yellow label) and I remember some glue when I was building a model car getting stuck in a groove so one syllable (I think "times"--"there were TIMES...") got repeated & had a green & yellow striped "Give A Little Bit" (heard on a car radio, so that made me go out & buy) '45's...
There was my pink-labeled Carpenters "We've Only Just Begun"--just got so won over by that tune during my first years of record collecting days; I don't think I'd acquired anything else til I got into LP's (The Singles 1969-1973, I'll just go ahead & list as my first Carpenters ALBUM; on LP and 8-Track!) and instantly recognized & equally played the flip side "For All We Know", too!
But LP-wise I would have to say the titles of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's YE-ME-LE interested me enough that that was my first record by that group...
The Sandpipers A GIFT OF SONG (though NOT the place to start w/o owning versions of all those cover songs by their original artists: Jackson 5, Carol King, Association, Bread etc.) so I'd acquired GUNATNAMERA, SPANISH ALBUM, SOFTLY, and GREATEST HITS, but I could cite my "Guantanamera"/"What Makes You Dream, Pretty Girl?" '45' as what came between that initial-final Sandpipers LP purchase, then going to the earlier stuff!
Pablo Cruise: I had the yellow & green labeled stuff like "Whatcha Gonna Do?" and "Love Will Find A Way" and I think an 8-Track or two, which broke!
Nazareth: HAIR OF THE DOG (8 Track--this one PLAYED!) HOT TRACKS (Cassette)
Baja Marimba Band: An 8-Track of FOR ANIMALS ONLY and I'd also had GREATEST HITS... (Those were flea market finds...)
Herb Alpert & TjB: GREATEST HITS & THE BEAT OF THE BRASS--also on 8-Track (From the same haul as the BMB's)
Rita Coolidge: GREATEST HITS (an 8-Track find, too!)
Back to LP's and years later, I have to say, I'd found some good, still-sealed one shots like Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends, Alan Copeland Singers IF LOVE COMES WITH IT and Chris Montez FOOLIN' AROUND,and after going out on a limb mail-ordering, a "new" copy of Nick Decaro's HAPPY HEART...!
Well, my mind is reeling back an even greater number of years, so there's my summation, or at least so far, a start!
-- Dave
Somehow her youngest sister was able to carry her record collection around & to our house & grandma & grandpa's, so there her Carpenters Now And Then really stood out (and I am quite sure there were other titles)... --Surely I, too, remember hearing Carps play there, but there was a house we'd once lived near by that I think loved Carpenters there enough that I think that's where I got a good dose of their stuff via my young ears! Oh, yes, that aunt did Shango's "Ljuba, Ljuba" as a Super 8 film project, and think I saw the actual album... (There was enough foliage & nature going on to make an interesting documentary for a school project & actually get an A- on...)
OK, but what A&M's did DAVE have? Well, my Supertramp "The Logical Song" (also green & yellow label) and I remember some glue when I was building a model car getting stuck in a groove so one syllable (I think "times"--"there were TIMES...") got repeated & had a green & yellow striped "Give A Little Bit" (heard on a car radio, so that made me go out & buy) '45's...
There was my pink-labeled Carpenters "We've Only Just Begun"--just got so won over by that tune during my first years of record collecting days; I don't think I'd acquired anything else til I got into LP's (The Singles 1969-1973, I'll just go ahead & list as my first Carpenters ALBUM; on LP and 8-Track!) and instantly recognized & equally played the flip side "For All We Know", too!
But LP-wise I would have to say the titles of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's YE-ME-LE interested me enough that that was my first record by that group...
The Sandpipers A GIFT OF SONG (though NOT the place to start w/o owning versions of all those cover songs by their original artists: Jackson 5, Carol King, Association, Bread etc.) so I'd acquired GUNATNAMERA, SPANISH ALBUM, SOFTLY, and GREATEST HITS, but I could cite my "Guantanamera"/"What Makes You Dream, Pretty Girl?" '45' as what came between that initial-final Sandpipers LP purchase, then going to the earlier stuff!
Pablo Cruise: I had the yellow & green labeled stuff like "Whatcha Gonna Do?" and "Love Will Find A Way" and I think an 8-Track or two, which broke!
Nazareth: HAIR OF THE DOG (8 Track--this one PLAYED!) HOT TRACKS (Cassette)
Baja Marimba Band: An 8-Track of FOR ANIMALS ONLY and I'd also had GREATEST HITS... (Those were flea market finds...)
Herb Alpert & TjB: GREATEST HITS & THE BEAT OF THE BRASS--also on 8-Track (From the same haul as the BMB's)
Rita Coolidge: GREATEST HITS (an 8-Track find, too!)
Back to LP's and years later, I have to say, I'd found some good, still-sealed one shots like Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends, Alan Copeland Singers IF LOVE COMES WITH IT and Chris Montez FOOLIN' AROUND,and after going out on a limb mail-ordering, a "new" copy of Nick Decaro's HAPPY HEART...!
Well, my mind is reeling back an even greater number of years, so there's my summation, or at least so far, a start!
-- Dave
My first A&M (sounds like a Fisher-Price toy!) had to be WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. This would have been back in the middle of 1965. I'd heard "A Taste Of Honey" on the radio, and it was right up my alley: instrumentals, tempo changes and key changes are often present in records I love and this had all three going for it.
My parents must have appreciated how much I enjoyed that album - they enjoyed it too - so later that year, with the monster hit of "Tijuana Taxi" I got GOING PLACES. Those two were both mono as we had no stereo player in the house at that time.
It wasn't until Christmas 1966 that I got a stereo record player, one of those fold-down portable jobbies with the detachable wing speakers. And with it I got a stereo upgrade of WHIPPED CREAM, WHAT NOW MY LOVE, SOUTH OF THE BORDER, and SRO. For some reason, SRO was the mono version. Probably a mistake, but I lived with the mono of that for a few years.
I think I then purchased THE LONELY BULL with my own money - and bought the mono, probably to save a dollar, and was given as a gift VOLUME 2, also mono, also to probably save a buck.
The first non-Alpert album on A&M in our house was FAMILY PORTRAIT. I picked up on the Sergio Mendes track on that one and wanted to expand my collection to include some of their albums and quickly saved up and grabbed the first three that were already out at the time. I also enjoyed the Bacharach tune on FAMILY PORTRAIT and soon added MAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF to the ever-growing A&M collection.
From there it just blossomed. As new albums and TV specials appeared from Herb, each album was added in turn.
Harry
My parents must have appreciated how much I enjoyed that album - they enjoyed it too - so later that year, with the monster hit of "Tijuana Taxi" I got GOING PLACES. Those two were both mono as we had no stereo player in the house at that time.
It wasn't until Christmas 1966 that I got a stereo record player, one of those fold-down portable jobbies with the detachable wing speakers. And with it I got a stereo upgrade of WHIPPED CREAM, WHAT NOW MY LOVE, SOUTH OF THE BORDER, and SRO. For some reason, SRO was the mono version. Probably a mistake, but I lived with the mono of that for a few years.
I think I then purchased THE LONELY BULL with my own money - and bought the mono, probably to save a dollar, and was given as a gift VOLUME 2, also mono, also to probably save a buck.
The first non-Alpert album on A&M in our house was FAMILY PORTRAIT. I picked up on the Sergio Mendes track on that one and wanted to expand my collection to include some of their albums and quickly saved up and grabbed the first three that were already out at the time. I also enjoyed the Bacharach tune on FAMILY PORTRAIT and soon added MAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF to the ever-growing A&M collection.
From there it just blossomed. As new albums and TV specials appeared from Herb, each album was added in turn.
Harry
We had some of the early A&M albums in mono while growing up (through Sounds Like), and that's what I listened to on the Admiral hi-fi in the basement. No specific album comes to mind (my memory isn't that specific going that far back), but I played all the ones we had--all the TJBs, plus the first two Brasil '66 albums. Once we got the Magnavox, my folks started buying stereo LPs and soon we had Carpenters, Baja Marimba Band and Burt Bacharach in the house.
The first A&M I owned was a 45 of "The Christmas Song" b/w "My Favorite Things." At the ripe old age of 3.
It came with the portable GE record player I got for Xmas that year. It is trashed and worn out, but I still have it among my old 45s.
First album I bought was either the Sandpipers Guantanamera (ugh, what a mistake), or the Greatest Hits of either the TJB or BMB. Got those at E.J. Korvette's.
First 12" single was Bell & James--"Livin' It Up (Friday Night)" back when it was a major hit here.
The first A&M I owned was a 45 of "The Christmas Song" b/w "My Favorite Things." At the ripe old age of 3.
It came with the portable GE record player I got for Xmas that year. It is trashed and worn out, but I still have it among my old 45s. First album I bought was either the Sandpipers Guantanamera (ugh, what a mistake), or the Greatest Hits of either the TJB or BMB. Got those at E.J. Korvette's.
First 12" single was Bell & James--"Livin' It Up (Friday Night)" back when it was a major hit here.
dostros
Member
The first A&M record was the first one ever made, if I'm not mistaken. It was probably 1963 or '64 and "The Lonely Bull" had wound its way up to Vancouver, B.C. and was on the radio. I was really moved by the haunting sound and had to have that single! My parents obliged (I was eight years old at the time). Soon after they started using bits of Tijuana Brass as filler before the news on the radio, and my parents would turn it up to get me out of bed in the morning. (What a disappointment when it just SOUNDED like TJB, but turned out to be some Bert Kaemfert or other instrumental sound-alike.)
Then when Whipped Cream and Other Delights came out I pleaded for that as well, so it was my first album. Mom said she tried to find out from the record salesman if you could buy it in a "plain package", but apparently not so I had the whole Dolores Erickson experience.
As a teenager, when I started buying records myself, A&M always seemed to have the coolest artists. Joe Cocker and Lee Michaels were favourites.
These days I'm checking out a few things I missed on the soft rock/sunshine pop side of A&M, like ASCOF and Chris Montez (on vinyl mostly).
Then when Whipped Cream and Other Delights came out I pleaded for that as well, so it was my first album. Mom said she tried to find out from the record salesman if you could buy it in a "plain package", but apparently not so I had the whole Dolores Erickson experience.
As a teenager, when I started buying records myself, A&M always seemed to have the coolest artists. Joe Cocker and Lee Michaels were favourites.
These days I'm checking out a few things I missed on the soft rock/sunshine pop side of A&M, like ASCOF and Chris Montez (on vinyl mostly).
I remember buying the orange TJB GREATEST HITS album even though I already had all of the albums from which those tracks came. One reason was to finally hear, in stereo, the tracks from THE LONELY BULL and VOLUME 2, of which I still only had mono copies. Hearing that odd mix of "The Lonely Bull" was quite a treat - it was so different from the mono issue with its extra trumpet track tacked onto the left channel. It encouraged me to go out and upgrade those two from mono to stereo. Little did I realize that many years later I'd be seeking out the mono issues again!
The first I heard was "The Lonely Bull" on the radio.
The first I owned was "Whipped Cream and Other Delights". I was 11, my mom was going on a business trip and I asked her for the "new" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass album (which would have been "Ninth"). To help her remember, I told her "it has a green cover". Probably my favorite mistake Mom made
.
The first one I bought with my own money was "Look Around".
And the first I played on the radio was "For All We Know" by Carpenters, which was in the Top 30 at the time.
The first I owned was "Whipped Cream and Other Delights". I was 11, my mom was going on a business trip and I asked her for the "new" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass album (which would have been "Ninth"). To help her remember, I told her "it has a green cover". Probably my favorite mistake Mom made
.The first one I bought with my own money was "Look Around".
And the first I played on the radio was "For All We Know" by Carpenters, which was in the Top 30 at the time.
martin
Well-Known Member
The first album was "America" with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - a budget release with both the A & M and German "Karusell" logos on it. I got it for Christmas in 1969. A few weeks later the collection was expanded with "Going Places" and later in the year "Whipped Cream" and "Sounds Like". The first non-Alpert LP was probably "A tribute to Burt Bacharach".
- Greetings from the north -
Martin
- Greetings from the north -
Martin
I've recounted my discovery of the fine music on A&M to accompany my 8mm movies as a teen/pre-teen in other threads. Naturally it was all HErb & Julius (instrumental stuff) that I used in those days... The first albums I used tunes form were Whipped Cream (SP4110) and For Animal Only (SP4113)...
Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
Our first A&M album was the TJB's What Now My Love that my dad bought for my mom for Valentine's Day, probably in '67. I played that album to death. It was the "wet" version, with the trombone on "Brasilia". My first A&M came about when my folks joined the Columbia Record Club in 1970 - I think it was 10 albums for 99 cents - and I got to choose an album for myself. So I chose the TJB's Greatest Hits. By this time we had a hi-fi console, but the needle was pretty shredded. Then one day my dad went to Radio Shack and plunked down a buck for a new needle and it sounded like I was listening to new albums all of a sudden. That's when I first started to get a bit of an audiophile bug in me.
Capt. Bacardi
Capt. Bacardi
I received a portable 8-track player for Christmas somewhere around 1970, so I started acquiring a lot of my A&M stuff on 8-track. My first A&M tape was Herb's Greatest Hits. That was the first time I'd heard any of the songs outside of the three albums I had already heard. I remember not being too impressed with "The Lonely Bull," but really liking everything else.
On the GH 8-track, two songs were severely edited. "America" had half of its middle "crowd singing" part cut out, and "Zorba the Greek" had almost the entire slow section removed. (It had the "intro" to that section, but where Herb's trumpet would have come in, it cut right to the part where the music starts to speed up.) I was aware of the edit on "Zorba" due to having previously heard it on Going Places, but I didn't become aware of the "full" version of "America" until years later, when I heard the song on some other album.
I first heard all of the post-What Now My Love TJB albums on 8-track. During that time, A&M tapes were black in color and were highly prone to tangling up. I don't think I had a single A&M 8-track from that era that DIDN'T tangle up. The white cartridges from their early 8-track years were fine, and the the olive-green tapes that replaced the black ones were good too. I didn't start collecting the albums on LP until I discovered high fidelity sound, around 1970 or '71.
I only ever bought one A&M album on cassette: Herb's Beyond. I was more into buying LPs and making my own compilations on tape than I was into buying pre-recorded tapes by the time cassettes took over. I can't remember why I bought Beyond on tape; probably just wanted something new to listen to in the car.
I'm pretty sure my first Sergio Mendes album was Stillness, also on 8-track. I bought that on LP almost immediately, because I wanted to see what was inside that gatefold cover. (And wasn't disappointed!)
On the GH 8-track, two songs were severely edited. "America" had half of its middle "crowd singing" part cut out, and "Zorba the Greek" had almost the entire slow section removed. (It had the "intro" to that section, but where Herb's trumpet would have come in, it cut right to the part where the music starts to speed up.) I was aware of the edit on "Zorba" due to having previously heard it on Going Places, but I didn't become aware of the "full" version of "America" until years later, when I heard the song on some other album.
I first heard all of the post-What Now My Love TJB albums on 8-track. During that time, A&M tapes were black in color and were highly prone to tangling up. I don't think I had a single A&M 8-track from that era that DIDN'T tangle up. The white cartridges from their early 8-track years were fine, and the the olive-green tapes that replaced the black ones were good too. I didn't start collecting the albums on LP until I discovered high fidelity sound, around 1970 or '71.
I only ever bought one A&M album on cassette: Herb's Beyond. I was more into buying LPs and making my own compilations on tape than I was into buying pre-recorded tapes by the time cassettes took over. I can't remember why I bought Beyond on tape; probably just wanted something new to listen to in the car.
I'm pretty sure my first Sergio Mendes album was Stillness, also on 8-track. I bought that on LP almost immediately, because I wanted to see what was inside that gatefold cover. (And wasn't disappointed!)
mikeargo
Well-Known Member
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, The Lonely Bull, LP-101, fall 1965 or spring '66. Somehow the album appeared in our household record collecti0n, and one evening when the parents were at the PTA meeting and we were home alone, my older bro and I spinned (spun?) this LP, playing along to it with clothespins clipped to wooden rulers as our "trumpets" (I kinda think we mighta'd confused Herb with Al Hirt at the time--after all, a clothespin stuck to a ruler is more like a clarinet than a trumpet, innit it?). After that, totally hooked. By 1968 we had all the TJBs and BMBs and were branching out to Sergio.
Mike A.
Mike A.
Your first clue should have been that little shred of black vinyl coming off of the stylus...
The first I owned was "Whipped Cream and Other Delights". I was 11, my mom was going on a business trip and I asked her for the "new" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass album (which would have been "Ninth"). To help her remember, I told her "it has a green cover". Probably my favorite mistake Mom made
Yes...but did you play it?
For "Zorba," that actually seems to describe the 45RPM single edit but without the added crowd noises. Have you heard the version on the mono Dee Jay Sampler yet?
Well maybe...but Al Hirt played trumpet also.
(Pete Fountain, perhaps?)Honey In The Horn is one of his more popular albums, with the #2 (?) Billboard hit "Java" on it. One I really like is Our Man In New Orleans, which features him with a jazz/Dixieland combo.
When I was a wee one, I think we saw Herb Alpert & The TJB at Cobo Arena, maybe 1967. I remember being up in high seats, unable to see anything, and someone pointing out that the band was "way down there" on the stage. Brasil '66 may have opened for them. I don't remember hearing a single thing.
But a couple of years later, I remember my mother telling me that Al Hirt was coming to the State Fair, and of course, the name sounded like a mangled take on "Herb Alpert." So, she had to keep reminding me it was a trumpet player who wasn't Herb.
I think we stuck around for a bit, and the band was late coming onstage, and we probably left. I probably would have enjoyed it, especially if I'd heard him play "Java."Lesson learned that day:
Yes...but did you play it?
Pornography? But I don't even OWN a pornograph!
I assume you mean the record, Rudy...and yes.
A very old picture from probably the late '60s, maybe early '70s. By then, I'd graduated from the plastic self-contained portable phonograph to a component setup. My first magnetic cartridge turntable was this BSR, which is pictured playing a some Tijuana Brass record. I can't identify it.
On first inspection, it looks liked the title is two words, followed by lines two and three saying "HERB ALPERT &" and "THE TIJUANA BRASS". It looks like a stereo disc based on the length of the word on the right. And looking at the grooves, my best guess is that there are six tracks on the side, with track five being a longish, quieter one.
I just inspected all of my GOING PLACES albums and none of them match that. I checked SOUNDS LIKE and couldn't find a match. Any guesses?
Harry
W.B.
Member
In terms of "firsts" that I either owned or came across, my memories are thus:
- First 45: "Tijuana Taxi" by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (#787) (followed by promo of "Spanish Flea," #792)
- First 'Forget-Me-Nots' 45: "Outa-Space" b/w "God Loves You" by Billy Preston (#8558)
- First LP: either Close To You by the Carpenters (SP-4271) or Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez (SP-4527) (either way, the former was my first known exposure to the "ochre" label design, and the latter to the silver and tan design)
- First cassette: Southbound by Hoyt Axton (RCA Music Service issue, with considerably lower high end)
- First 45: "Tijuana Taxi" by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (#787) (followed by promo of "Spanish Flea," #792)
- First 'Forget-Me-Nots' 45: "Outa-Space" b/w "God Loves You" by Billy Preston (#8558)
- First LP: either Close To You by the Carpenters (SP-4271) or Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez (SP-4527) (either way, the former was my first known exposure to the "ochre" label design, and the latter to the silver and tan design)
- First cassette: Southbound by Hoyt Axton (RCA Music Service issue, with considerably lower high end)
I thought I had posted early in this thread talking about my first A&M purchases but somehow that didn't make it to the board. I guess I didn't click the button or something.
Anyway my very first A&M item was the Going Places album by the TJB, which I bought for my mom for Mother's Day. The first one I bought just for me was What Now My Love.
I first heard Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 on the "Look Around" track from the Music Box album, but the first full album of theirs I heard was Stillness, as noted above.
Anyway my very first A&M item was the Going Places album by the TJB, which I bought for my mom for Mother's Day. The first one I bought just for me was What Now My Love.
I first heard Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 on the "Look Around" track from the Music Box album, but the first full album of theirs I heard was Stillness, as noted above.
W.B.
Member
It looks like a post-1970 album - and very possibly the 1972 release Solid Brass (SP-4341).
A very old picture from probably the late '60s, maybe early '70s. By then, I'd graduated from the plastic self-contained portable phonograph to a component setup. My first magnetic cartridge turntable was this BSR, which is pictured playing a some Tijuana Brass record. I can't identify it.
On first inspection, it looks liked the title is two words, followed by lines two and three saying "HERB ALPERT &" and "THE TIJUANA BRASS". It looks like a stereo disc based on the length of the word on the right. And looking at the grooves, my best guess is that there are six tracks on the side, with track five being a longish, quieter one.
I just inspected all of my GOING PLACES albums and none of them match that. I checked SOUNDS LIKE and couldn't find a match. Any guesses?
I am going to agree with W.B. that it's Solid Brass due to the look of the words on the label (the title is at the top, and the two words are about the same length) and the record appears to have seven "bands" (songs) which Solid Brass had.
My older sister had both the first Brasil '66 album and "Equinox"; when I was around nine I fell in love with them and played them constantly. My parents also owned the "Music Box" compilation (it was a promotion with Bank Of America or something - honestly), so I got a sampling of all those artists....for my 10th birthday, in 1973, I received two Sergio albums - the first two LPs I owned - "Love Music" and "Pais Tropical". Obviously, "Love Music" wasn't A&M so "Pais" is the answer to the question; that's why I have it pictured here. For Christmas that same year, that same sister gave me "Body Heat" by Quincy Jones, which led me to listen to his whole A&M back catalog; eventually I started tracking down all the A&M/CTI stuff, Herb, BMB, etc....God bless you, Rita!
Bobberman
Well-Known Member
I cant remember offhand which a&m record ibought first my dear parents had two tjb lps and i was hooked. Then at age eleven afriend bought me chuck mangione.s classic feels so good most of my early a&m stuff were mostly birthday and christmas gifts iremember saving my allownce money and aquiring my own copy of whipped cream by herb alperts tjb when my parents tossed out their very worn copy iwas13 at the time and iwent on from there to aquire all things alpert.mendes. bmb. Lani hall on vinyl and later cd where applicable. And i have much more a&m items than i have time to tell again thank you for allowing me to share my a&m memories. Good day everyone.
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