Those Loopy Crowds on Volume Two

[Numero Cinco]

Okay, so this has been covered years before I arrived, but here goes:

Since I have learned from this website—in addition to much else—that at the beginning Herb Alpert's "Tijuana Brass" was a sound, not a group (which in the early years had not yet been formed)—I have to wonder about those tracks on Volume 2 (like "Swinger from Seville" and "Milord") that sound like live performances before a tequilla-drenched audience. My hunch is that "the live performance" ambience is studio wizardry, mixed into the tracks (as was the case with "The Lonely Bull"). The problem with that theory is that these are not generic crowd noises; sometimes "the crowd" is singing the tunes, off-key but in and around the key ("Milord" and, most memorably, "A-mer-i-ca"). So what did Herb do? Hire actors or studio vocalists? Gather his family and technicians, pump some margueritas into them, record and then overdub them?

 

[Steven J. Gross]

I really did not appreciate Volume 2 until I heard the Japanese CD. It is so much better than the vinyl.

 

[jimac51]

Whatever happened in the production of VOL.II,terming the results "wizardry" may be a bit kind. My introduction to VOL.II,was like many others-that is,I didn't listen to this album in the chronology of its recording. I probably listened to it between A TASTE OF HONEY and GOING PLACES and never owned a copy till I found a good cheap used copy years after its intial release. I always felt that VOL.II has that "OK,"The Lonely Bull" was a hit,what next?" feeling to it. Herb seemed to fear from straying too far from "Lonely Bull" 's gimmick and yet knew that there must be life outside of the bullring. Styles are tried and sound effects are added maybe to distract some of the shortcomings in some of the end results. The single "Mexican Drummer Man" was another experiment around this time and notice that it became a song never to make an album appearance. In 1965,using similar "wizardry",the Beach Boys recorded a quickie album of mostly cover songs,acoustic instruments not necessarily played to perfection,off key singing and studio chatter to give the apppearance of a loopy time away from professional recording-the result was BEACH BOY'S PARTY ,which actually was recorded in a professional studio with the tape running no matter what mistakes were made. It worked for them-even got a hit single with "Barbara Ann"-but basically even this was a "filler" album to give Brain Wilson more time to complete PET SOUNDS. Mac

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Interesting theory, Jim...I don't buy it, but it's interesting. The party sounds are obviously "choreographed", but I don't think there's anything to cover up...the album is kind of experimental; ALL the TJB albums up to WHIPPED CREAM were...but it stands the test of time well.

Too often we tend to think of VOL 2 as some kind of unwanted stepchild, because of it's rather inauspicious initial reception...and that's unfair. VOL 2 has always been one of my favorite TJB albums, and I found out about it late, after SOUNDS LIKE. It was still kind of hard to find after it was rereleased. I count myself lucky that it was the first TJB album I found on CD, and in a place I never expected...a discount store in a big shopping mall in Indianapolis that was about to close down nearly 5 years after it was made available on CD.

I remember hearing THE GREAT MANOLETE on the muzak track at a doctor's office as a kid...that was my first intro to the album...and I couldn't get anybody else in my family to believe that it was really the TJB! Maybe that's part of the problem a lot of fans have with it...it IS different...while TLB made me think of Tijuana, VOL 2 made me think more of Barcelona or Madrid: there's more of an international flare to the album...it's more exotic, somehow.

The more I talk about it, the more I appreciate it.


Dan

 

[Mr Bill]

The background vocals and crowd noises on much of The Lonely Bull and Volume 2 LPs was performed by the musicians themselves...

As a teen my neighbor would tell me stories of how he was in a group called the Kenjolairs and was friends with Herb, Jerry and others. By this time, though he was an auto mechanic or in some other such non-musical trade. I don't remember his first name (whether it was Ken, Joe or Larry) but hisb last name was Campbell. Anyway he say a lot of those crowd noises were doen by his band, and Herb, Herb's wife Sharon, Jerry Moss and his wife. He added that they would book studio time and record several artists during the booked session, hence, Kenjolairs would be there to do a new single and hang around to whoop it up on a song like "Swinger" etc...

Naturally, I didn't completely believe this guy at the time but later found out the Kenjolairs were for real -- so who knows, his stories were maybe true after all...

--Mr Bill

 

[thetijuanataxi]

I agree with Dan. VOLUME 2 has always had a spanish flavor to IMHO. It also has grown on me over the years. As a child, I didn't play it near as much as GOING PLACES or WHIPPED CREAM but my dad played it quite often. I think he too was captivated by the exotic flavor of the album. Then for die hards like us, there's the oddity of the 2 different back covers. But I too have always thought that VOLUME 2 never got the credit it deserved, probably because it wasn't as commercial sounding as the later releases. But it's definitely a party album and it rocks all the way through. Sure Julius wasn't as prevelant on this album as later ones, but given the fact that Herb was stuill experimenting and trying to achieve the "perfect" sound for the Brass, I think he did a marvelous job with VOLUME 2. I still listen to it quite frequently. I don't agree with the 1988 Cd version being better than the vinyl though. I have an original pressing on vinyl and the CD version and the LP sounds much better to me. Hopefully I'll feel differently when VOLUME 2 makes it's second CD appearance soon. I will definitely buy it.

David,
thinking "The Great Manolete" should have been a bigger hit......