We need a Live TjB CD!

[Steven J. Gross]

It occurs to me- that is a missing link. I've seen stellar performances by the Tijuana Brass- Herb owned the record company...there must be some tapes?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I wonder if any tapes do exist. If they do, they may not be usable. Tapes of TV shows and such, maybe....but a lot of those shows used the studio recordings. The few "live" cuts they did are probably in mono and may not sound very good for today's ears.

Also, "live" recording wasn't in vogue then like it was a few years later.

And if there are any tapes, they're probably disintegrating by now.

And there's Herb's "I don't like to live in the past" thing, combined with his penchant for quality...there may not be anything in the vaults he wants to put out there.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I believe we've covered this before. Back in the 60's the equipment needed to record live shows was much more bulky than today, and with the extensive touring the Brass did in the 60's it may not have been feasible to drag that equipment around with them. That said, I would've loved to have a good-sounding concert album, especially the one at Carnegie Hall. But you never know what's in those boxes at Herb's house.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Steven J. Gross]

I think one of the best TjB concerts I saw was in San Diego CA in '75. I remember seeing a lot of Mexico license plates, so we had a Tijuana contingent and I got backstage thanks to Julius (actually David) Wechter. It was a remarkable performance which would have made an ideal album.

This was a time when A&M had "Frampton Comes Alive", etc.
The '84 Greek Theater show was very tight as well...

If something like this was released today with all the hits live...it might cause a frenzy!!

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Just listen to Coney Island...it's recorded in much the same fashion as a live album would be, and it has a live feel to it.



Dan

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Just listen to Coney Island...it's recorded in much the same fashion as a live album would be, and it has a live feel to it.



Dan

I love that album. The show I saw in '75 supported the Coney album. Good Times!

 

[CherryStreet]

Let's face facts, most of an artist's great unreleased "Live" and/or"Outtake" recordings only come to see the light of day when an artist passes away. Just look how long it took for the recent Sinatra Live packages to get released by the family. Most of his amazing "studio outtakes" are still considered "bootleg" releases. Or just look how long it took for even all of those great ELVIS studio outtakes and live shows to come out. And most of that stuff isn't even "official" RCA releases.

And I for one hope it's a long time till Herb gets a visit from the "Man In The Bright Nightgown"

 

[jimbob]

If, indeed, the tapes don't exist......either because of lack of quality or never made, perhaps Herb could humor us by releasing "Lost Treasures 2" and include some audience applause in the backround?

 

[Rudy]

And I for one hope it's a long time till Herb gets a visit from the "Man In The Bright Nightgown"

You listening to Morph The Cat again?

 

[Steven J. Gross]

If, indeed, the tapes don't exist......either because of lack of quality or never made, perhaps Herb could humor us by releasing "Lost Treasures 2" and include some audience applause in the backround?

The "live" sounds in songs like "America" are possibly what caught my ear at the tender age of 6!!!

Ole'

 

[Captaindave]

I'm not sure about this, but is it correct to say that the recording of live performances is much more of a recent activity than long ago?

I don't seem to recall much live recording going on a long time ago of anything.

I recall that any kind of touring of pop/rock music groups was much, much more primitive than in recent times. The TJB, if I remember correctly, was the first major group, and perhaps one of the only such traveling groups, to even carry their own sound system in order to have some control over the sound of a performance; let alone any other gear to make recordings.

I guess what I am saying is that I would be surprised if any recordings of live performances were ever made or actually exist.

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

I guess what I am saying is that I would be surprised if any recordings of live performances were ever made or actually exist.

Surprise! To repeat what I said the last time this topic came up - there are (or were) live multi-track tapes from the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut when Herb & TJB played there for a week in '74. I was there all week and had photo access throughout the house. They played Coney Island just before the intermission and Herb wanted another take, so they played it again. They used a remote recording outfit out of New York City, that fit into a (tractor) trailer. I can't remember the company, but it could have been Record Plant, Record Factory or something similar. I also have a strong suspicion that they also recorded at Carnegie Hall.

 

[CherryStreet]

You listening to Morph The Cat again?

Does one EVER stop listening to a masterpiece?

One of THE MOST underrated albums of the last decade IMO.

"By the close on 1946, W.C. Fields had spent 14 months, the last several drinking only ginger ale, at Las Encinas Sanitarium in Pasadena. The end came as “The Man in the Bright Nightgown” (as W.C. referred to death) paid his call 12:30 p.m. on Christmas Day, 1946. Fields, a hater of Christmas since age eight, was 66 years old."

 

[Steven J. Gross]

These live tapes.. Herb must own them...I betcha they WILL see the light of day sooner than later (hoping)

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

re: Live Performances...I know some ol' timer musicians that played on 'live' records in the 1960s but they weren't really live. The album cover would say some thing like "LIVE AT CHITOS" but all the glasses tinklings and back ground talking were all added in. I've done that with a few of my songs.

As far as a live TJB album...There's got to be 10 or 12 tracks some where in the vaults. Alpert did a tour in the 1990s with his salsa band and one track is on youtube, (The TJB Medley) so I'm assuming there are more. Live videos would be great. Clips going back to 1964 up to today. later........Jay

 

[Mr Bill]

To piggyback on what Steve said, A&M often (I would almost be tempted to say routinely) recorded many of their acts starting in the mid 70s. This was probably done based on the Frampton album's success. That way if an artist "caught fire" there'd be a live recording ready to roll out.

The evidence of this lies in many of the "bonus" tracks when A&M started releasing back catalog items and compilations at the dawn of the CD explosion. Live tracks by every9one from Squeeze to Tim Curry and Split Enz to The Police pop up here and there.

The earliest example I can think of is Phil Ochs who was recorded live twice during his A&M period -- once in Vancouver (1969) and once at Carnegie Hall (1970). The vancouver redcoridng sat in the vaults until Rhino imprint Archives Alive picked it up (though one track DID appear on the A&M compilation The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs) and the Carnegie Hall recording became a bit of a legend since it sat in the vault until Ochs (during his "John Train" period) coerced Jerry Moss into releasing it if the audience at a live show applauded loud enough. Moss got the last laugh by having it released in Canada only, making it a highly [rized item among Ochs fans (and a big money maker for import distributor Jem Records back in the day).

So while I think it's unlikley much live exists of the original TJB (their final live performances occurring in 1969), there are certainly tapes of the 70s TjB in Herb's personal vault.

--Mr Bill

 

[Captaindave]

So while I think it's unlikley much live exists of the original TJB (their final live performances occurring in 1969), there are certainly tapes of the 70s TjB in Herb's personal vault.

--Mr Bill

That's my opinion also, and was the basis of my comment a few posts above - that the concerts back in the sixties probably weren't recorded for the purpose of later selling live albums - or whatever reason a live performance might be recorded. The 1970s and onward...dunno.

The first live recording of a so-called "concert" that I can remember hearing myself was the 1969 Woodstock event. For the most part, that was pretty dismal sounding, if I remember correctly. I can't imagine Herb Alpert putting out something like that containing a TJB performance.

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

After a couple back & forth e-mails from someone who knows, there are live tapes in the archive, however none from 1974 era. This includes the show that I mentioned previously - they don't have it - I know it was recorded - is it missing or was it destroyed? So unless the reference is just to the live Alpert/Masekela tapes, which I don't think it is, then that would go back to the original TJB. The good news is that they do have in excess of one thousand multi-track masters. Herb getting his masters back from Uni was just the ultimate stroke of luck. Who knows that if he didn't, they too, could have been in that vault that burned!

 

[audiofile]

Well recorded live performances would be great, but I'll settle for low quality bootlegs, which I'm sure MUST be out there somewhere. When you consider the size of Herb's fan base in the 60's, it just makes sense that there are bootlegs out there of the original TJB.