The official S.R.O. comments thread and poll

What is your favorite track?

  • Our Day Will Come

    Votes: 4 6.2%
  • Mexican Road Race

    Votes: 10 15.4%
  • I Will Wait For You

    Votes: 2 3.1%
  • Bean Bag

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • The Wall Street Rag

    Votes: 4 6.2%
  • The Work Song

    Votes: 13 20.0%
  • Mame

    Votes: 2 3.1%
  • Blue Sunday

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Don't Go Breaking My Heart

    Votes: 6 9.2%
  • For Carlos

    Votes: 6 9.2%
  • Freight Train Joe

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Flamingo

    Votes: 15 23.1%

  • Total voters
    65
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Harry

Charter A&M Corner Member
Staff member
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The release date Shout! Factory's re-issue of S.R.O. is Tuesday, June 7th. Some have already found the new disc, so this thread is going up a few days early. When you acquire the new disc, place all of your comments about it here and vote for your favorite track from it.
 
The clinkity-clank of an anvil heard in "The Work Song" makes this my top-pick here, and too bad you had to wait till Solid Brass came out to get it on a retrospective--and then on Definitive Hits...

And I went with "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and "Our Day Will Come" almost tying at Second! Despite so many versions of each out there, Herb's still really stand-out--and I can sing along with them, as easily, too!

But I'm still glad I have Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends singing them, at least... :laugh:


Dave
 
the sound is great, the photo out takes are super, "mexican road race" is my fave, but it pisses me off that the liner notes are so repetitive from booklet to booklet. i mean c'mon, couldn't someone have done their homework?

i mean paractically any one of us could have written reams about any one of these releases!

wp
 
IMO, this album is the most diverse in this group of reissues, with each song being a strong song in its own right. Of the three albums that make up this installment of the reissues, I have more trouble picking favorites from SRO.

In fact, some of the tunes I like the most are among those that are the least well-known, such as For Carlos, Freight Train Joe, Bean Bag, and the Wall Street Rag. I have always liked that short trumpet solo that can be heard in Don't Go Breaking My Heart.

And, I have always liked Flamingo...

While I like The Work Song, and it may very well be the most recognizable tune from this album, I have always really enjoyed the other songs that some artists might want to call "filler." IMO, this album has none of that kind of thing. And, SRO is a good example of what Herb has said was the A&M philosophy - make every song count with no "throw-away" tunes and perhaps one hit.

IMO, each song on this album is a worthy contribution, and favorites are hard to pick...
 
I have to agree with walterphil about the notes. They must have known that many people would buy multiple disks. To have so much repeated (even quotes) seems an unnecessary shortcut. I was really hoping for some Richard-Carpenter-style track by track notes from Herb. (Maybe on the box set.)

What's even weirder is, this booklet includes photos and references ("the beat of America") from BEAT OF THE BRASS, two albums down the road. ??? Of course it was only a short period of time between those releases, but still...

This was not my favorite Brass album in the day, and it still isn't. It's a good album, but to me it contains more filler than some of the others. I think my favorite track would be "Mexican Road Race," which I love, but there are a lot of excellent tunes -- "Bean Bag," "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," "Our Day Will Come" and "Flamingo" are all great, and I really like "Blue Sunday" too.
 
I'm in the middle of my first listen, and I'm loving it. I'm no audio engineer, but the mix sounds different than what I've been used to for the last 39 years. To my ears there's very little, if any, hiss. Everything's pretty clear sounding.

This has always been one of my favorite TJB albums. This is the point when they really began to move away from their original sound. SRO, Sounds Like, and HA's Ninth seem to me to form their own subgroup of TJB music, and they evoke a special mood (maybe it's just nostalgia).

Flamingo, in particular, is one of the classic TJB pieces. It's coming up now. Gotta go.

Greg Shannon :cool:
 
I can easily choose my Top 3 favourite songs from this album:

It's a three-way tie among my three favourite tracks:

The Work Song
Mame
Flamingo


I finally chose "Flamingo" as my favourite track.
 
The release of this new S.R.O. disc is a bit of a mixed blessing for me. I'm one of the lucky ones who bought a Japanese release of the CD many years ago upon finding the import in the CD racks back in the '80s along with WHIPPED CREAM. Other than the CHRISTMAS ALBUM, those two were my first taste of the TjB on the new Compact Disc format. Now, with S.R.O. finally released in the US, my once-rare and "could-fetch-a-nice-price" CD is now nothing special. Oh well, I'm happy that everyone can finally have access to this music on CD.

The new S.R.O. disc doesn't sound a whole lot different from its Japanese counterpart. The biggest change I've noticed is a reduction in the heavy bass that was present on the A&M CD. There were times that the bass was quite distorted, rendering the disc with an apparent muddy sound. Bernie Grundman fixed that, brightening up the highs just a tad too. Unfortunately though, one big problem still remains, and that's the distortion on "Our Day Will Come". It's a grittiness to the overall backing sound, like a mangled cassette would sound after you've untangled it.

I swear, when I listened in the car yesterday, I thought it might have been fixed, but listening through headphones, it's all too apparent, all throughout the first minute, just as before. Best bet is just not to listen to "Our Day Will Come" through headphones and it'll sound much better. That distortion was present in the master tape years ago - and with the vagaries of the vinyl format, most of us just never noticed. It's the preciseness of the digital format that allows us to hear it in all its glory. For years, I never noticed it on the Japanese CD either, but once I put on the headphones, I was appalled, and thought something was wrong with my CD player.

The stereo separation sounds pretty much the same on both CDs. The new disc naturally sounds wider than the LP would, since track separation can be one of the weaknesses of the vinyl format.

Overall, I'm happy though that this album finally got it's US release on CD, something I was beginning to think might never happen.

Favorite track: "For Carlos" as the non-hit, and "The Work Song" which still sounds great after all these years.

Harry
 
Harry said:
The new S.R.O. disc doesn't sound a whole lot different from its Japanese counterpart. The biggest change I've noticed is a reduction in the heavy bass that was present on the A&M CD. There were times that the bass was quite distorted, rendering the disc with an apparent muddy sound.

That is actually something called, I believe, "bass modulation": the bass is so heavy that it affects the rest of the frequencies. I heard it more on the 45RPM single version that I own, which has "Mame" on the flip side with the same problem: that added groove wear made it more pronounced. I always considered it to be a limitation of either the vinyl format, or the tape it was recorded on (perhaps recorded at too high of a level in the studio).
 
When I first popped this in I thought I was going to be disappointed since "Our Day Will Come" starts off sounding very muddy and/or distorted, but it only gets better after that rocky start. This is one LP I never played that much (it was among my least favorite LPs "back in the day"). However as a (now) more mature music enthusiast I'm finding the songs grabbing me. Heck, since I rarely listened to this one it's almost like another Lost Treasures to me! I'm particularly enjoying Julius Wechter's marimba parts. I also notice some yelling in the background of either "For Carlos" or "Freight Train Joe" that I never recall hearing before (of course that could be because I seldom, as mentioned, played the LP). All in all I'm really enjoying this one ('cept for the opening measures of "Our Day Will Come")!

--Mr Bill
 
I always considered this album the "Rubber Soul" of TJB albums. After a series of albums that were innovative, yet contained an almost novelty approach to their "sound", 'S.R.O.' showed real growth.

I venture to say this album helped to define the coming Adult Contemporary genre. Not necessarily a bad thing.

'What Now My Love' started the process of reassessment, but 'S.R.O.' just struck me as a cohesive effort of songs and arrangements.

Now, I understand that the artist may not have even had this thought process (for all I know). But, as a listener, I heard music that didn't rely on the tried and true.

This wasn't going to be a number one album, but it was going to be worth the listening experience.

No offense, but I think too many want that "hit" listening experience. "The Work Song" is the least among equals here. There is some interesting stuff going on here that just speaks to me of real artistic growth.

Barry
 
BBrownlie said:
No offense, but I think too many want that "hit" listening experience. "The Work Song" is the least among equals here. There is some interesting stuff going on here that just speaks to me of real artistic growth.

Good point. The TJB could have kept on doing the same formula for a dozen albums to make hits, but that would have been boredom for the artist and, eventually, the listener who realizes they're buying a variation of the same album they bought five years ago.
 
That's one of the best things about the TJB -- you can pick an album to match what mood you're in.
 
I also bought the CD yesterday afternoon. The songs "Mexican Road Race" & "Bean Bag" are my favorites. I heard the tape hiss at the beginning of "Our Day Will Come" on the reissued CD. Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
This is my all-time favorite TJB album, so I was a bit disturbed on the first listen of "Our Day Will Come". After reading Harry's post I went back and relistened to it again and sure enough, there's that tape mess at the beginning. I thought the percussion parts were a bit more upfront at first, maybe trying to "hide" the garbled bit at the beginning? I didn't do the headphone thing, but I did turn my balance button over to the left and the noise was very audible. But it's okay after a minute. At least it didn't interfere with Herb's very nice solo on the song.

I've said this many times before, but I've always liked this album best because it's the jazziest of the TJB catalog, plus they sound like a real band here, as opposed to making a great recording. Everybody seems to be in-sync with each other. I guess the one surprising item in the liner notes here is how Herb wanted the "wall of sound" for "Flamingo". That had never occurred to me before. I think many of us assumed that the "wall of sound" related to the "Mexican Drummer Man" single, and maybe even "3rd Man Theme" to a point.

I chose "Wall Street Rag" as my favorite cut, although there's not really a clunker in the whole album. "Freight Train Joe" is probably my least favorite track (sorry John!). But I love the groove on this album. There's a lot of meat to it, and it sounds like everybody was having fun doing this album.


Capt. Bacardi
 
"Freight Train Joe" - I found myself liking this song more than I used to. I can't remember exactly, but when I had this album in its 8-track incarnation, as soon as FTJ started, I could hit the program button a time or two and get right to one of my other favorites -- "Mexican Road Race," most likely. So I never really heard the song much. It is better than I remembered!
 
I just noticed another thing about "Work Song" - the original fade of the song is on this reissue, unlike some of the other compilations this song has been on.


Capt. Bacardi
 
Just got all three CDs today...I'm really surprised at just how much better they sound than I remember from my old LP/RCA Orthophonic High Fidelity days as a kid...

Just a few notes...
1. The distortion at the beginning of OUR DAY WILL COME is unfortunate, but seems to have been masked somewhat by the percussion...I remember hearing it on my old LP and thinking it was probably a shaker or maracas or something like that; but, it's definitely a degraded master tape.


2. The race car sound effects in MEXICAN ROAD RACE sound suspiciously like motorcycles to me...definitely NOT V8 engines. Could be old Offenhauser 4 cyl inlines from Ascot Speedway, but they really sound like bikes to me. The sounds are pretty authentic to the old Carerra Pan American days, though...most of the cars from that era[1950-1954] were inline engines, and the vast majority of the cars entered were 4 and 6 cylinder Porsches and Alfas, with a few Ferraris thrown in. Some Detroit cars were entered, also, and THEY were mostly V8s, but there weren't a lot of them, and the European cars were more successful...without knowing for sure, I can't really tell just what sound source was used.

3. FOR CARLOS reminds me a lot of BUD, which I know came a couple of years later. When I first played this song, nobody would believe that it was the TJB. It has to be one of the most sensitive arrangements in the TJB repertoire. The guitar/marimba passage is especially moving to me.

I think that the best word to describe the overall mood of SRO is "drive"...this particular album really "cooks"...even the slower tempo songs like FOR CARLOS and I WILL WAIT FOR YOU have some "kick" to them...I always put this album on when I needed a "lift". It's one of the most upbeat albums the TJB did. It is definitely jazzy, with a hint of some pop here and there, and has more of a "club" atmosphere than a lot of the other albums do.

I wonder if Shorty Rogers had anything to do with the vocal arrangements on this album...they certainly add a lot to the overall mood of the album.

This is one album I'm really glad to have a CD of...thanks, Herb!



Dan
 
Dapper Dan B. said:
...sound suspiciously like motorcycles to me...definitely NOT V8 engines. Could be old Offenhauser 4 cyl inlines from Ascot Speedway...sounds are pretty authentic to the old Carerra Pan American days...most of the cars from 1950-1954 were inline engines...the majority of cars entered were 4 and 6 cylinder Porsches and Alfas, with a few Ferraris thrown in... Some Detroit cars were...

Why am I thinking about that one Saturday Night Live skit with William Shatner deriding the Trekkies at the convention? :laugh:

--Mr Bill
 
Mr Bill said:
Dapper Dan B. said:
...sound suspiciously like motorcycles to me...definitely NOT V8 engines. Could be old Offenhauser 4 cyl inlines from Ascot Speedway...sounds are pretty authentic to the old Carerra Pan American days...most of the cars from 1950-1954 were inline engines...the majority of cars entered were 4 and 6 cylinder Porsches and Alfas, with a few Ferraris thrown in... Some Detroit cars were...

Why am I thinking about that one Saturday Night Live skit with William Shatner deriding the Trekkies at the convention? :laugh:

--Mr Bill


Well, I've been a race fan longer than I've been a TJB fan...listened to my first Indy 500 in 1960...I was 5 years old...

I've always been fascinated with road racing and sports cars, and the Carrera Pamamericana was a relatively little-known race organized by the Mexican government in 1950 to publicize the new[at the time] Pan American Highway. The song MEXICAN ROAD RACE captures the mood of such an event perfectly...and the engine sounds in the background add so much flavor to the recording, because they SEEM to be from the type of vehicles that made up the majority of the entries for that series of races.

I would have expected V8 engine sounds, given the period in which the song was recorded, but they clearly aren't. Due to the clarity of modern digital mastering, it just makes me think that maybe those sounds were recorded at a motorcycle race...it's no biggie. It could have been a jalopy race , or it could have been midgets at Ascot, which was a very popular track in SoCal in the '60's...the sounds are quite similar.

The choice of engine sound is a very important detail in this song, and speaks to the thoroughness of Herb's producing efforts.

And, as an interesting note...in the Beach Boys song 409, that's a 352 Ford from 1962 revving up in the background.

This is one of my favorite TJB tunes, because it combines my two passions. It just follows to me that if Herb took a sound engineer to the bullring in Tijuana, maybe the same engineer went to Ascot for these sound effects. I just wondered...


Dan
 
I have always been curious about a slightly imperfect edit that goes right back to the original mono LP.

It involves a Nick drum break.

It's on "Wall Street Rag" leading into the "quieter" pass at the main theme. Can you hear it?

Speaking of Nick's drumming--it is absolutely phenomenal on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." He really lets loose and makes a difficult execution sound fluid and seamless. The whole arrangement is nothing short of mind blowing, actually.

This LP, for me, has always represented the transition to Phase II TJB, when the Brass finally achieved their most mature, sophisticated, evolved sound, that began with "Sounds Like."
 
Once I got into Miles, especially his modal period with his Coltrane band beginning in '59, it became stunningly clear to me that Herb's arrangement and overall sound on "I Will Wait For You" is the closest he has come to a Miles tribute.

This is most striking during his middle-eight solo with the harmon mute, the first time, I think, he muted his horn on a TJB album.
But it's not just the mute...it's the minimalism..both here and during that awesome buildup during the closing cadence and fade. Lots of space between quick trumpet phrases. On the fade, he uses what we trumpet players call "stingers"..one or two notes that merely punctuate the tune..again, lots of space, in this case, surrounding Bob's trombone part.

Speaking of cadences..."I Will Wait for You" continues Herb's grand tradition..used briliiantly on "Mexican Shuffle," "Love Potion #9," for starters..of arranging extremely catchy and enduring melodies that are seaprate and distinct from the main themes of their respective songs. For my ears, they were always short, economical sections that led to quick fades, but for my money, made up whole new songs in and of themselves! Eg, should I ever form my own combo, I'd be inclined to write a whole arrangement in which just the fade of "I Will Wait for You' would become the main them.
Other such cadences that have always been my favorites, that would come later, include those that close "A Beautiful Friend," "She Touched Me," "Slick," "Marjorine," "Robbers and Cops," and "Montezuma's Revenge."
 
OT, but I think my favorite TJB fadeout is the one on "Panama," from BOTB. That'd make a great onstage vibes jam!
 
Now that I am accumulating these reissues, I once again have a chance to hear all these albums again, and remember all these great songs and sounds.

I think that SRO probably comes closest to capturing what the TJB actually sounded like in concert back in the sixties. Having heard the original touring group perform three times, SRO reminds me the most of the sound I heard in concert back then...although Sounds Like also has a sound that is very close to what you would have heard in a live performance. Perhaps those two are the closest match between the recorded and live sound at that time, IMO...
 
I haven't listened to SRO in maybe 30 years...then hearing the new disc...WOW! The TJB had become a great groovin' band. The CD has a live flavor to it. If Mr. Alpert were to do a concert with nothing but the SRO tunes, it would be a great jazz performance. (adding extended solos to some of the pieces) But then again, I'm know nothing of marketing and it would probably be a bad idea. :bandit: Hasta luego...Jay
 
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