The real VOL. 2 back cover

[Megomark]

I have been collecting Herb Alpert for almost 30 years and I have only been able to find ONE copy of HERB ALPERT'S TIJUANA BRASS VOL. 2 with the original back cover. This would be the one with the album title listed very big (similar to THE LONELY BULL) and one small portrait shot of Herb on top, and another "posed" picture (Herb in Bullfighter garb with trumpet and two other guys, likewise) near the bottom. How rare are these?

I usually only see the portrait shot back cover (large b&w shot of Herb with Trumpet). I'm guessing that these copies would be of post-WHIPPED CREAM vintage? I always figured A&M changed back covers along the way, since these common ones list catalog items past #103.

Any idea on how many original rear covers are around?

 

[Harry]

Welcome to the Corner Megomark.

I've only ever found one myself, and not even through trying very hard. I ordered a bunch of mono/stereo copies of the albums through a lot on eBay, and one of the records was this first version of VOLUME 2.

It's certainly the rarer of the two, since it only appeared that way upon original release - and it didn't sell all that well. I suspect most copies ended up on the west coast, where the TjB was a more regionally known act. I've NEVER seen one in a store here on the east coast.

The one I got features the standard ochre label with the A&M logo at the 9 o'clock position with the title and artist at the top, but scrunched down toward the center hole. Mine's also a stereo copy.

My copy of the prior album to this, George McCurn's album (#102), the second for the label, has the beige label with the logo at the 12 o'clock position.

Someone with a collecting-value catalog might have a better idea of the worth or how many might have been put into circulation.

Harry
...looking over his early copy of VOLUME 2, online...

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

If you read the Chronology section at www.HerbAlpert.com - 1966 - "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, Vol. 2," is re-released, an album that was actually recorded three years earlier.

I would suspect that's when the back cover artwork was changed. Also, after listening to the many interviews that Herb did for radio over the years, the 2nd album kind of tanked and it was "South Of The Border" and "Mexican/Teaberry Shuffle" that got things back on track.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

I was about 7 years old when I first heard "America" from Volume 2. That was the song that originally caught my ear. Herb Alpert has remained my favorite artist ever since.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I was lucky enough to find a copy of the original release at the library I used to work at...somebody just happenned to donate it. I also got a copy of a live Vince Guraldi Trio album in the same fashion, and Vince and Cal Tjader both had autographed it...


Herb was told he had a "regional" sound after the debut of VOLUME 2, and the album didn't receive the accolades or airplay that THE LONELY BULL did. However, the album DID go gold after WHIPPED CREAM's popularity caused it to be rereleased.

I always thought that the repackaging was to tone down the mariachi image a little...the TJB was a featured act by the time of reissue, and nobody in the group wore outfits like those pictured on the original back cover. It was a marketing decision, in all likelihood, based on the image the group was trying to project at the time. Besides, the hats and flashy costumes were Baja Marimba Band icons by then, anyway...

I know that that's a painting of a bouquet of flowers behind Herb in the picture on the later version, but I always saw a big collie dog wagging his tongue behind Herb's shoulder...if only hte shot were in color...

Dan

 

[Brasil_Nut]

I also have a copy of the original, which I found sealed in a "going out of business" sale at a local music shop many years ago. Also picked up a copy of Equinox the same day -- a rarity in the early '80s -- as not many people had begun to unload Lps in favor of those "new-fangled" CDs. Plus, Equinox had been out of print for several years when I located that particular copy. I remember riding home on cloud nine!

Jon

 

[Rudy]

I have a sealed stereo copy of the original Volume 2 that I found a couple of years ago. I have the "portrait" back cover as well, already opened. But to me the portrait cover is strange, since my folks owned Volume 2 in mono with that original back cover, and that's what I grew up looking at for all those years.