VOLUME 2, WARM and THE BRASS ARE COMIN' on iTunes!

[NYCDguy]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but as of today, "Warm," "The Brass Are Comin'," and "Volume 2" are available for purchase on iTunes. I knew CD releases were forthcoming, but ... wow, I'm in shock! I'll have to download these until the CDs come along. I've never even heard the vast majority of "Warm" or "Brass Are Comin'," so I'm super excited.

Tony

 

[RichardWarner]

WOW. WOW. Great catch!

 

[Harry]

It's encouraging to see the covers of the "new" albums with the "Signature Series" strip on the left edge. Hopefully, that's a sign of "real" releases on CD.

Harry

 

[Rudy]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but as of today, "Warm," "The Brass Are Comin'," and "Volume 2" are available for purchase on iTunes.

Did you see the album artwork for Warm and Volume 2? They cropped off part of the left side, but it looks like the Signature Series artwork. If this is the case, I bet these three will be the first batch of the second wave of reissues. (I didn't find "The Brass Are Comin'" yet, but I only did one quick search.)

 

[Harry]

Right. I couldn't find BRASS ARE COMIN' either, but here are the other two pictures:

Harry

 

[Captain Bacardi]

For some strange reason you can only find it under "Tijuana Brass", but not "Herb Alpert".



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Holy cats! I gotta start downloadin! (To whet my appetite for the "real things," of course!)

Wondering if Herb has tweaked the sound on the V2 tracks at all.

And I guess I might as well be the first to ask...why oh why did they leave out SUMMERTIME?

 

[Marty]

But why are all the tracks from Brass Are Comin' all different?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

In a different order, you mean. I noticed that. Maybe they are in the order they appear on the 8-track!

Another cool thing: They restored the A&M logo on the artwork, which is missing from the Shout Factory covers. HOpefully it will stay that way when the CDs come out.

 

[NYCDguy]

Two questions about this surprising and happy turn of events:

Why were these three albums released on iTunes with virtually no fanfare? I mean, if a friend of mine didn't look at all the new releases this week, none of us would have known a thing.

And given that the typical Herb Alpert consumer is a little bit older and would rather have a CD than a download, why release the albums on iTunes before a CD release date is even announced? I know I'm gonna buy the downloads to tide me over until the CDs come out, but I'm a little upset that I'll be buying this music twice.

That said, I'm absolutely thrilled that this music is once again available in any form!

Tony

 

[RichardWarner]

You're right! No fanfare. I had checked iTunes this morning and, of course, didn't see anything about these albums until visiting A&M Corner. They were probably released simply because the albums are ready, and Shout!'s schedule is set through March.

I deduct a point from Shout! for not providing any advance publicity...not even on their Web site. (This is assuming Shout has control...) Same dynamic as before where the TJB Christmas album was in exactly -zero- stores two Christmases in a row.

Meanwhile, I listened to "Warm" in the car and, man, it sure is beautiful hearing it without turntable rumble and tics.

 

[NYCDguy]

As I don't own "The Brass Are Comin'" on vinyl or CD, I have no idea what the correct running order of the LP is -- assuming, as stated earlier, that the iTunes running order is different. Could someone clue me in?

Thanks!
Tony

 

[Harry]

Check the discography here. The tracks are listed there.

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

<<grr>> "The Sea Is My Soil" is listed on iTunes as "The Sea Is My Soul."

Geez, ya wait 35 years to get a digitally remastered version of a song and they flub the title. Oh well...just seeing the WARM cover with that Signature Series strip alongside does my heart good.

Since the Herb reissue program has mostly operated in groups of three albums, maybe the next wave will include SUMMERTIME, YOU SMILE and CONEY ISLAND.

 

[goldwax]

At this point, these three albums are being issued exclusively on iTunes. Unfortunately, there are no plans to issue them on CD at this time. Shout decided to do a soft launch of these iTunes reissues due to the special nature of iTunes. It's difficult to promote a niche title before street date on iTunes, since unlike Amazon, there is no product page on iTunes before street date. Also, given the vagaries of digital product flow, it wasn't at all guaranteed that the albums would make the planned Feb. 6 street date. (Case in point, Herb's snazzy new artist page on iTunes doesn't reflect these new additions yet, for some reason.) Fortunately, everything went as planned, so NOW we can talk about it.

iTunes has provided some promotion for the three reissues. The aforementioned artist page for Herb is a pretty big coup. Many legacy artists (Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, The Police, The Carpenters, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Byrds, etc.) still do not have artist pages due to resource restraints at iTunes.

iTunes also has given all three reissues store homepage placement in the exclusives section--another coup.

Finally, Shout! Factory mentions the releases on its homepage (www.shoutfactory.com) and upcoming newsletter.

Here are the links to the three albums on iTunes:

Vol. 2

Warm

The Brass Are Comin'

If a moderator can PM me, I can send them hi-res cover art to post on this site, so people who want to burn their own CD-Rs from iTunes can at least have something to slide into the front of a jewel case. And maybe some enterprising forum member can whip up some inlay tray art and post it for others to download and print out.

 

[goldwax]

I deduct a point from Shout! for not providing any advance publicity...not even on their Web site. (This is assuming Shout has control...) Same dynamic as before where the TJB Christmas album was in exactly -zero- stores two Christmases in a row.

I'm not sure what stores you checked for the Christmas album two years in a row, but The Christmas Album is actually one of the better selling titles in the catalog. However, it is increasingly difficult to get what retailers remain to take in deep-catalog or cool niche titles. If you can remember what stores they were, PM me so I can file that data point away till 4Q when we renew the holiday assault on retail.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Obviously he didn't check ALL stores...we are carrying the entire Shout! TJB catalog in stock including the Christmas album!

 

[Harry]

At this point, these three albums are being issued exclusively on iTunes. Unfortunately, there are no plans to issue them on CD at this time.

I gotta tell ya, this is the biggest disappointment I can imagine. 35 years waiting for a re-issue, and the best we can get are lossy files on the Internet.

Until a proper CD is released, I'll still consider WARM as out-of-print.

Sad -- just sad. I hope the rest of you can enjoy these. I can't, and won't. This is so depressing, I'm gonna log off...

Harry

[edit by Harry: This news really did hit me hard, and I think I over-reacted a bit here. But I'm leaving my rants up for historical accuracy.]

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Harry - you must note, he said at this time.

Moderator note: Splitting this iTunes discussion off into its own topic.

 

[NYCDguy]

As a music retailer who's sold a bunch of the Alpert reissues, and as a music fan who hates paying for compressed sound files, I can't begin to tell you how disappointed and dismayed I am that these albums won't be made available. Especially given the demographic for these albums, they should be made available in physical form. I was a little upset that I was going to buy these albums twice -- once on CD and once for the download. I'm much more upset, however, that I don't even have the option.

Tony

 

[RichardWarner]

Hey, Shout!

Well, you get two points for contributing to this board. As an interactive marketing guy, I believe this is a vital step in reaching a hopelessly fragmenting audience. You're smart for doing it, accepting the occasional criticism and using this as a platform to convey information.

I understand iTunes-only distribution. It reflects the strength of the web as a repository for back catalog. But...I am surprised that a physical release isn't in the cards "at this time," considering the obscure *&^% that is available for delivery through Collector's Choice.

Can you give us a hint, Shout!? Will the aforementioned three remaining TJB albums see the digital light of day?

 

[Rudy]

If a moderator can PM me, I can send them hi-res cover art to post on this site, so people who want to burn their own CD-Rs from iTunes can at least have something to slide into the front of a jewel case. And maybe some enterprising forum member can whip up some inlay tray art and post it for others to download and print out.

I still have your e-mail address--let me shoot a message over to you. I can put the art up at the TJB site, as high-res as you can provide it.

Thanks for the update!

 

[Stephen Vakil]

Mmmmm....... Just visited the UK iTunes site and it says that Warm (I haven't checked the others) isn't available on the UK site. My UK details won't log me in to the US site and from what I've seen I can't open a US account.

Oh great.

 

[thetijuanataxi]

I agree with Harry! Availability of these titles on ITunes means absolutely NOTHING to me. I'm not a #$%^%$ *(** teenager any more and I don't carry my music collection in a backpack! Why the hell are they marketing these lesser known TJB titles on a venue that appeals mostly to people under 25? They took the trouble to remaster the albums, for chrissake, let's have an ADULT oriented CD release like every one here has been waiting ultra-patiently for. If this is already in the works, then share the news with us. Maybe my post would be more positive if the newsletter said CD reissues to follow. But it's been too long of a wait for them to leave us hanging with nothing more than an ITunes tease.

Hoping to hear more positive news soon,
David

 

[RichardWarner]

Hey...at least we got digital copies! Beats a poke in the nose.