The Unreleased TJBs: If you could only pick one...

[Dave]

Just what might this "Best Of" have on it, anyway...? I think Definitive Hits gave us all the "Key Songs" that were hits, while a "Volume 2" of that would mostly give us a shallow sample of the "underground stuff"! These are all holy-grail items, so it would be disapointing for anyone to throw something like that out, in place of the remaining albums which are so long-overdue...


Make the rest a "two-fer" or "THREE-fer", but get 'em out sometime in some form...!


Dave

 

[AudiophilePhil]

Although I want all of them to be released, I voted for "Summertime."
If Coney Island is included in this poll, I will surely vote for it.

 

[Mr Bill]

Just what might this "Best Of" have on it, anyway...? I think Definitive Hits gave us all the "Key Songs" that were hits...

I think the originator of this topic meant a single disc containing the BEST OF the songs from those LPs that we fear will NOT get the reissue treatment. In other words one of two songs from each Volume 2, Warm, Brass Are Comin' and Summertime. One could assume tracks from You Smile... and Coney Island would be considered as well. Odd that none of the tracks released as singles from YS-TSB were included in Lost Treasures as both "Fox Hunt" and "Save The Sunlight" made wee littel dinks in the charts -- this is why many of us expect these gems WILL get the special treatment from Shout!Factory...

[quote='Grizzly' Hagerty]...and Warm doesn't crack the Top 20. Mr. Bill, that's a BIG drop! [/quote]

I wasn't demeaning the chart record in regards to Warm -- I was merely pointing out that despite the drop in overall sales, it was one of the original TJB LPs (the last actually) that did indeed go gold. For that reason alone it should be part of the Herb Apert Signature Series. Over time it has become one of my three favorite TJB LPs...

--Mr Bill

 

[Mike Blakesley]

To address a couple of the points made above:

First, I'm not surprised that "The Sea Is My Soil" wasn't released as a single. While it is a great song (and my favorite TJB recording), it just isn't "top 40 chart" material. It's too long, for one thing -- most singles in the late 60s were 3 minutes or less.

As for the "Best of" package mentioned in the poll choices -- I was thinking of a package of all the TJB chart singles. This would fill one CD nicely. DEF HITS is woefully short on all the very best TJB material, and there are probably people out there who would love a true "Best of TJB" collection, but might not necessarily want to buy the original albums.

I'm against the concept of a "best of" these unreleased albums -- the material is too different on the various albums, and they would undoubtedly leave off several of my favorite tunes!

Finally, I did not include YOU SMILE and CONEY ISLAND in the poll because they were made by a different band. Those two albums can be the subject of their own poll sometime down the road.

I'm not suggesting with this thread that the remaining TJB albums won't eventually be released. I'm still expecting that they will be. I just was hoping to get some good debate going over the merits of each album, and that's what's happened, so keep'em coming folks!

 

[jeff604]

WARM

 

[Chinese Sausage]

I will have to go for The Brass Are Comin' because my favorites are in there (Country Lake, Sunny, Good Morning Mr. Sunshine). I'd secondly go with Summertime and third Warm. I think they (Shout) should keep them coming chronologically as they've done (Volume 2 was the exception), besides, many TJB fans are expecting all to be released. I've seen many pessimistic posts about the rest of the albums not resurfacing. Keep the faith, they would eventually see the light. Next year it's going to be a Warm year because The Brass are comin' (again).

 

[AM Matt]

I picked "WARM", then "The Brass Are Comin'" (second) & "Summertime" (third). Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[David Kirkpatrick]

Would it be greedy to ask for these 3 albums:

1. Volumes 0 and 2: Volume 2 plus pre-TJB tracks (and Mexican Drummer Man) as bonus tracks

2. Warm Summertime

3. The Brass Are Comin' (and so are those apocryphal Sol Lake songs that didn't make it to Lost Treasures)

David

 

[thetijuanataxi]

Let's give up on this K-tel approach to the rest of Herb's catalogue. The rest of the albums will be released individually with their own artwork, liner notes and unique charm. If there are any more rarities planned for release I'm sure it will be in the form of "Lost Treasures II or something similar. Those of you who don't feel it's worth the $12.99 for each CD can pass on the ones you don't want. I, for one, will be there the day they hit the stores.

David,
trying to protect Herb's remaining albums from the K-tel fate......

 

[Mike Blakesley]

While I know that some of the Shout!Factory people (and Herb himself) are aware of this forum and may read these posts, I think it's pretty clear that they have their own direction for the way things are going to go and above all, Herb is against "cheapening" his catalog. So I don't think you have to worry about any of the more "off the wall" suggestions coming to fruition.

But it is fun to speculate. I've done plenty of slicing and dicing of the catalog by making my own compilations, but I probably wouldn't expect to see them on the market!

 

[manifan]

FWIW, S.R.O. peaked at #2, never reaching #1 in Billboard, according to Whitburn.

The three singles from WARM, "Zazueira", "To Wait For Love" and "Without Her" never cracked the top 50 in singles.

Nonetheless, the album as a whole is a thing of beauty that needs to be officially released on CD.

Harry

Had they released other songs as singles, I feel sure they would have cracked the top 50. "Sandbox" is head and shoulders above the singles released from that LP.

Can you tell I voted for "Warm"?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I can see why they picked the singles they did.

1. Herb had just come off his biggest hit ever, a vocal tune.

2. The market for instrumentals of any kind was fading fast in those days.

So it's no surprise they were trying to recast the TJB as a vocal band.

Personally the one I'd've picked as an "instrumental Tijuana Brass hit" on that album is "Ob-La-Di." It's short, fun, catchy as can be, and sounds a lot like the TJB in its heyday. Plus the Beatles were in the news big-time around then, so it'd have gotten some attention that way. 20/20 hindsight, I guess.

My other favorite tune on WARM (besides "The Sea Is My Soil") is "Marjorine," which I think is an undiscovered gem. The expanded horn section really swings on that one.

 

[Harry]

Had they released other songs as singles, I feel sure they would have cracked the top 50. "Sandbox" is head and shoulders above the singles released from that LP.

Can you tell I voted for "Warm"?

Actually "Sandbox" was the b-side to "Without Her" - and this was back in the days when some DJ's could flip a record over and play its b-side if they wanted to.

Here's a picture of one pressing of "Sandbox" on a 45 where the artist's name gets an all-too-common misspelling:

Harry

 

[daveK]

I didn't know that A&M had made the "Albert" blunder on their labels! That is hard to believe and yet there it is.
Although there were no top 40 hits from WARM, I guess when you consider that 4 different A-sides from the album all charted (although "Ob-La-Di" only bubbled under) it's still pretty impressive.
I think one reason some TJB instrumentals were not as big later in the decade is that the days of the "newskicker" were fading. In the early 60s, I think a lot of instrumentals were played hourly to lead up to the news, which always started at the top of the hour. The top 40 stations didn't want to interrupt vocal records so a lot of instrumentals received greater airplay by being programmed one or two minutes before the start of the news. This extra airplay helped them become bigger hits.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Funny that they managed to spell "Alpert" correctly twice on the same label with the goof!

FWIW, some people may not know that the "Albert" goof also appeared on the spine of the Tijuana Brass GREATEST HITS album cover.

 

[Mr Bill]

I didn't know that A&M had made the "Albert" blunder on their labels! That is hard to believe and yet there it is.

It's even on the spine of the foist pressings of Greatest Hits if you can believe that!

Makes you wonder how many people on the planet have filled out job apps where they had to write in the "reason for leaving this job" block "Misspelled the boss's name on a mass-marketed product."

--Mr Bill

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Is there an echo in here?

 

[Rudy]

Is there an echo in here?

What Mike and Mr Bill said.

 

[Harry]

It's even on the spine of the foist pressings of Greatest Hits if you can believe that!

Soitenly!

Harry
...having a bit of Stoogey fun with Mr. Bill, online...

 

[Mr Bill]

Doh! THat's what happens when I broke my pinkie knuckle a few years ago (and it happened punching a wall -- not 'doinking' a fellow stooge in the eyes... It was the wall or my boss, and if it was my boss I'd've gone to the brig). Anyway, as a result of that break I have poor lateral control of my right pinkie... It's hit or miss when I go for the I, O or P.

As for echoing Mike's post... Dave K's was the latest post when I started drafting my reply, was sidetracked with a work issue for about 20 minutes and then completed my post. So I never saw Mike's until after I hit the "submit" button. I did consider deleting it but found the thought of deleting the "why'd you get fired" aspect to rich to delete (yeah, I know I have an infantile sense of humor only a notch above the Krayola Kid's).

--Mr "Curly" Bill
PS: I fixed all references so "foirst" is the more correct stoogey "foist." nyuk nyuk nyuk...

 

[manifan]

Actually "Sandbox" was the b-side to "Without Her" - and this was back in the days when some DJ's could flip a record over and play its b-side if they wanted to.

Harry

I have that single (will have to check on the spelling because I never noticed it being incorrect). But I don't believe DJs had as much free rein as you might think back then. Playlists were starting to get popular, as well as "clocks." Having been a DJ myself I can attest to the fact that the program directors were pretty strict as to what we played. Turning a record over to play the flip side was a definite no-no and grounds for firing. That was not so much the case in the 50s and early 60s.

 

[Harry]

^Hence the use of the word "some" in my quote. It is true that by the late '60's things had gotten a bit tighter in playlists - but nowhere near as tight as they are today. But there were still plenty of local radio stations where odd tracks got airplay. I know, because the station I ultimately went to work for played some of those odd tracks, including "Sandbox" (though as I recall it was after the album came out, and was played as an album track).

There were multiple pressings of "Without Her"/"Sandbox" - in fact I have another one that is NOT misspelled at all - different typeface, too.

The one pictured above is an early pressing in a picture sleeve.

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

As for echoing Mike's post... Dave K's was the latest post when I started drafting my reply, was sidetracked with a work issue for about 20 minutes and then completed my post.

I figured as much. I wish I'd've caught the Stooge-influenced typo, nyuk nyuk nyuk.