What are the chances that these will ever be re-issued?

[cgwaters]

I'm a new member, making my first post. (But I'm a life-long HA/TB fan!)

I inherited many of the group's 1960s' LPs from my father when he passed away in 1981. I proceeded to buy all of Herb's new LPs (solo, and with Hugh Masekela) I could find during the early 1980s. I even had the red 12" re-mix version of "Red Hot"--which I remember fondly because my Aiwa turntable refused to play it unless I would disable its unique electronic eye feature (it somehow sensed track changes). During the 1990s, I replaced a few of the LPs with the corresponding CD versions...but somehow (through numerous moves) lost the rest of the LPs.

I miss a few of the LPs; in particular, Beyond, Blow Your Own Horn, Bullish!, and Magic Man. I re-acquired some of the tracks from these LPs by way of Volumes 1 and 20 of the A&M Classic CDs as well as some of the recent remastered CD releases. "Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela" is an LP I miss dearly, too.

By searching the forums here, I found quite a bit of information about these releases...but very little comments or inquiries about re-issues. It's apparent that a lot of TLC went into recently remastered CDs like "Whipped Cream" and "Lost Treasures". But I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting more! (I purchased many of Herb's CDs released since the early 1990s--right up to "I Feel You".)

Is there any news about more re-issues--in particular, the titles I listed above? Who owns the copyrights to this music...and what is preventing them from re-issuing them--even in their original, non-remastered, form?

 

[Rudy]

Herb Alpert owns all of his own masters, and has released what he's wanted to via the Signature Series reissues thus far. There may be more in the pipeline but we don't have any further information--we've heard that future releases were planned, but that's the extent of it. (So in other words, you now know as much as we do. ) He's not in a rush to release anything, and busy with his touring with Lani.

I've always said the best bet is to keep the turntable handy and spin the ol' vinyl rekkids. Used copies of many of the titles are still easy to find, but a few have become a bit rare. I've held onto everything I could, and am glad I did!

 

[Harry]

When our little Corner here first formed, there was much discussion of re-releases - what would and wouldn't be done and when - a lot of it speculation among us regulars. This occured around the end of the PolyGram era of A&M in the late '90s when very little of Herb's music was to be found anywhere in the world as a new product. About all one could find was his "current" stuff on ALMO Sounds and a few worldwide compilations like GOLD SERIES and the Canadian/UK THE VERY BEST OF HERB ALPERT.

After much discussion, a new album surfaced - COLORS, and the searching and waiting and hoping continued. In the early part of the last decade, the DEFINITIVE HITS disc hit shelves, and most of us were happy we'd held onto our old CDs and LPs. CD-R's were a reality then and most of us were content to simply do needledrops of the stuff we wanted.

The Signature Series followed and we all rejoiced in each new release. Speculation about further releases remains just that - speculation. Meantime, as Rudy suggests, find some LPs on the Internet or in your local stores if you can find any, hook up a turntable and enjoy the many releases of Herb Alpert.

Oh - and welcome to the Forum.

Harry

 

[cgwaters]

Thanks for the info and the welcome, Rudy and Harry.

I wasn't sure how (if at all), the change in ownership of the A&M label determined who owned the original masters and/or whether that would affect any potential re-releases.

I have a few of the Signature Series releases but didn't realize there were so many until I came across http://www.shoutfactory.com/browse/42/herb_alpert.aspx! Any idea as to why http://www.herbalpert.com/music_discography.shtml doesn't list all of the TB/solo releases? For instance, other than Rise (1979) no releases are listed between the 30-year gap of 1970 and 2000. Some of the titles are on the Signature Series page, but not all of them. (UPDATE: Hovering over all of titles on the latter page indicates that they are all currently available from Shout Factory, Interscope, or Concord Jazz. I guess that means all out-of-print releases were left off of the list.)

Has Herb (or his representatives) indicated how they determine(d) which masters to re-release? Do they realize (perhaps from perusal of these forums) that there's a good amount of fan interest in the re-release of additional masters?

Chris

 

[Rudy]

We have an almost-complete discography at http://www.tijuanabrass.com (it's probably missing a recent release or two). There is also our Amazon "store" I set up that I'm pretty sure has all of the Signature Series CD releases listed. (I haven't had time to update it in recent months.) http://www.amcorner.com/store.php

Not enough hours in the day lately...

 

[Harry]

As Rudy said, Herb is currently involved in touring and promoting his current album with Lani, I FEEL YOU. From what we know of Herb, he tends to be "of today" and looking forward rather than dwell on his past accomplishments. He's surely aware of what's in print and what's not in print, and has released to this point through Shout! Factory those albums that he wants out there.

All of the classic '60s Tijuana Brass albums have been released through Shout! Factory - most on CD with 3 of them as download-only. We were told a few years ago that RISE, FANDANGO and MIDNIGHT SUN were in the works as solo releases, but only RISE had surfaced before Herb embarked on his current albums and concert tours. Many fans will be eager for FANDANGO, probably the favorite among fans of Herb's solo efforts. It currently sells for big bucks as a CD when it shows up on places like eBay.

Let's be thankful that Herb is still out there producing new music for us and is willing and able to present that to the fans live. For looks into the past, all of Herb's records on vinyl are still available on the used circuit, and if one has to use older technology to retrieve it, then so be it.

Harry