Which Tijuana Brass Song Got You Hooked?

[Steven J. Gross]

The first TjB song that grabbed me as a life fan was:

America!

 

[yamaha]

Taste of honey!

 

[Dave]

"Sandbox", from Warm...

(Although could that be considered "Herb, solo"?)


Dave

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

I was in about 7th grade. I got addicted in this order.

1. Tijuana Taxi
2. Spanish Flea
3. Third Man Theme
4. A Taste of Honey

After that, no ten step program could have gottin' me off. The Tijuana Brass was my meth.

later.............JO

 

[yamaha]

I already mentioned Taste of honey but it might have also have been Freight Train Joe

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

"Tijuana Sauerkraut" is high on my list. JO

 

[Mike]

The album was "Greatest Hits" and the song was "America". That song had such a great party atmosphere to it; so full of fun... I just had to have some more. So, I got more, in fact I got it all.

Mike

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Had to be a combination of the WHIPPED CREAM album (specifically, "Bittersweet Samba" and "Green Peppers," my two favorites from that record) and pretty much all of GOING PLACES, which is the first TJB album I bought.

 

[Rudy]

No specific songs: we owned all of the TJB albums while I was growing up, so everything through Sounds Like was in constant rotation on the hi-fi in the basement...

 

[thetijuanataxi]

TIJUANA TAXI was first. Then SPANISH FLEA and CINCO DE MAYO. After that I was determined to aquire every TJB album starting with GOING PLACES and I did.

David

 

[Harry]

I'm going to say "Mexican Shuffle"- and more specifically the "Teaberry Shuffle" version used in the Clark's gum commercials. It was played often on TV, and though I'd heard "The Lonely Bull" from a distance (I wasn't into radio much at the time), it didn't yet grab me.

I think by the time I was really aware and fond of "The Teaberry Shuffle" and found out it was by this Herb Alpert guy, "A Taste Of Honey" had also surfaced as a hit.

Once I heard any of those early albums, though, I was instantly hooked for life.

Harry

 

[rickster]

No doubt -- it was "Up Cherry Street" ----------------

 

[Michael Hagerty]

"Lollipops and Roses"....heard it new on KMPC, Los Angeles...didn't really grab me until the ending. Still love it.

---Michael Hagerty

 

[Bobbyvox]

Without a doubt, it was "Spanish Flea". My parents had the "Going Places!!" lp in their collection and that song caught my fancy almost immediately. My accordion teacher used to play a great version of the song a lot.

 

[Mr Bill]

For me it was the Whipped Cream album, specifically the tunes "Whipped Cream" and "Lollipops and Rose" which fit well with my first two 8mm movies. BMB LPs and the rest of the TJB LPs soon followed.

--Mr Bill

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Most likely, it was MEXICAN SHUFFLE that I heard first, because it seemed like every time you turned on the TV, there it was...the Teaberry Shuffle. Problem was, they ran it into the ground; they kept the song for what seemed like years. There was even a japanese version...played on the black keys, of course.

That being said, the first TJB tune to really make a lasting impression on me was LOVE POTION #9. The first time I heard it, I recognized the melody, but couldn't believe somebody could actually play it in that particular style. Striptease Rock...what a concept! Herb Alpert was a musical genius, and I was hooked!



Dan

 

[LJG]

A Taste of Honey. While I had all the TJB Albums, this was the first song I heard, and after hearing that brilliant arrangement, I was caught up in Herb's music, and was always anxiously waiting for that next album to appear.

 

[bob]

Mine would be a taste of honey and 3rd man theme, when I first heard them play those songs on the ed sullivan show back in 1965. I told my parents I want to play the trumpet. I still do to this day,and to this day I am still trying to get that rare clip to add to my collection, but no one seems to have it.
bob

 

[Captaindave]

Probably Up Cherry Street ( the South of the Border version ), and then the Going Places album in general.

I also had that Longines Symphonette Society box that has been mentioned here before. That included the Lonely Bull through Whipped Cream albums. No doubt that had a big influence, as that set of records got played a lot on the old Magnavox Home Entertainment Center.

 

[CherryStreet]

For me it was the entire !!Going Places!! LP. My parents had the all of the TJB & Baja Marimba Band LPs and a heavy collection of Al Hirt. About the age of 6 I was drawn to the !!Going Places!! LP. It was the color of that fantastic blue sky! As a kid growing up in Saginaw, Michigan there are stretches of February where we never saw the sun! I knew right then and there that one day I would live in sunny SoCal.

When Herb & Lani made their debut at Vibrato I tucked my Shout Factory copy of !!Going Places!! into my jacket with a black Sharpie just in case. After the show people were swarming Herb for photos and autographs so I figured I wasn't going to get it signed. So I went over and introduced myself to Lani. I then found out that Lani grew up in Chicago, where I had also spent 15 cold winters. I pulled out my copy of !!Going Places!! and told Lani my story of my fascination with that "Blue !!Going Places!! sky". Lani totally related to the story as a child of cold, dark Chicago winters.
Herb wondered over and Lani insisted that I tell Herb the story.

Needless to say I got my !!Going Places!! signed to me personally that evening and I have been !!Going!! to see Herb & Lani ever since!

 

[Rudy]

I was too young...figure I'd been stacking up TJB rekkids since I was three years old, I pretty much played all of them up through Sounds Like on the basement hi-fi.

 

[NewVistaBrass]

Definitely a "Spanish Flea" obsession in my case

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

The 1st album I ever bought was South Of The Border in 1964. The tune with the hook was Mexican Shuffle. A local (Syracuse, NY area) radio station had so many requests to play it, that they gave up on taking requests and just played it every quarter hour!

 

[lj]

While the songs on the brilliant Whipped Cream lp certainly left quite an impression on me, it was the TJB's rollicking version of Zorba the Greek--in particular the shorter AM radio version--that was clincher for me. I remember how in 1974--with the Brass' new touring group--their live concert in San Diego ended I felt so appropriately with this exciting song.

 

[John-NJ]

I was only about 3 or 4 years old at the time, but it was probably "Talk to the Animals", or "Whistle While You Work" from my father's audio recordings of Herb's TV specials that got me hooked on Herb's music.

My parents bought me a "Playtape" tape player (which I still have), but there were no TJB recordings available for Playtape cartridges, so I had to settle for listening to those songs by other artists on that machine.

But to me, even at such an early age, those songs were poor substitutes for the "real thing".

Thinking back to that time frame, I can even remember being disappointed by not being allowed to stay up late enough to watch the TJB's last TV special in 1969.

In my grammer school, students had the option of learning how to play a musical instrument beginning in the 4th grade. It was an obvious choice for me to pick the trumpet as my instrument of choice at that age, and I continued to play it throughout high school.

I can even remember getting excited hearing Tijuana Brass music played when television stations experienced "technical difficulties" during the 70s.


John