🎵 AotW Definitive Hits - Herb Alpert (2001) (069 490 886-2)

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DEFINITIVE HITS
HERB ALPERT

A&M 069 490 886-2 (CD)


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Track Listing:
1. The Lonely Bull
2. Mexican Shuffle
3. Whipped Cream
4. Lollipops And Roses
5. A Taste Of Honey
6. Spanish Flea
7. Tijuana Taxi
8. Zorba The Greek
9. What Now My Love
10. So What's New
11. The Work Song
12. This Guy's In Love With You
13. Casino Royale
14. Route 101
15. Fandango
16. Rise
17. Rotation
18. Diamonds
19. Keep Your Eye On Me
20. Making Love In The Rain

Tracks 1-11 and 13 are credited to Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
Tracks 12 and 14-20 are credited to Herb Alpert

20-bit re-mastered with tube equipment from the original master tapes.

Compilation Produced by Herb Alpert, Larry Levine and Mike Ragogna
Mastered by Doug Sax and Robert Hadley at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, CA
Editorial Assistance, Tape Research: Barry Korkin
Production Coordination: Beth Stempel
Project Assistance: Derek Alpert, Chuck Pruce
Art Direction: Vartan
Design: Junie Osaki
Photo Research: Jason Pastori and Ryan Null
Management: Kip Cohen
Booking: Monterey Peninsula Artists
Herb Alpert Interview & Transcription: Mike Ragogna


A heartfelt thank you to my partner and dear friend Jerry Moss
whose honesty, grace and integrity has inspired me through the years.


The Tijuana Brass would not have been nearly as successful without the important contributions of Sol Lake,
Julius Wechter, Bud Coleman, Hal Blaine, John Pisano, Nick Ceroli and Gil Friesen.
 
This compilation was the last release by Herb Alpert under the A&M imprint, and it appeared just before this forum entered its more modern era. As such, there was never an official Album Of The Week for this compilation, so I've decided to rectify that here.

At the time of its release, it was not looked upon favorably by too many of us. However, it remains in print and still sells well fifteen years later. Herb Alpert has only released one compilation since this disc in 2001, and that is last years box set, HERB ALPERT IS...

There are many favorable reviews on Amazon, and I believe it's a top seller for this website's Amazon connection.

Over the years, I too have softened my feelings for this particular disc. When issued, it was looked down upon for having some dropouts and being not as comprehensive as some of us would have liked, but if one looks at it from a casual fan's perspective, it could be considered a pretty good release. The liner notes were certainly well done.

Have your feelings changed regarding this disc over the years?
Do you even still own this disc?
 
I bought this upon it's release as a completist I will admit I hated some of the dropouts and other imperfections sound quality wise but it does serve a purpose as a sampler for the casual listener I still have this CD I do remember this was part of Herb's Legal Settlement with Universal when He Got His Masters Back in his possession and as mentioned elsewhere He offered them One Last Compilation and This is it I will say even though I rarely play this because Herb has reissued all the albums Represented in this set but I have used some of TJB tracks on it to test my CD players on occasion to make sure the Left to right audio connections are correct.
 
I still own it, but have no desire to ever play it again. (Not that I have it handy--it's in storage.) Since I now have all the tracks in hi-res on my server, there would never be a reason to play this CD, or even bother programming it as a playlist. The old Greatest Hits was still the best assemblage of TJB tracks so far as hits and popular tunes went--it didn't cover everything but it captured the true essence of the TJB sound that put them on the map. They really could have split this into two discs. One with the TJB tracks a la Greatest Hits, and the other with ten solo-era tracks.

It was a turd back then, and is still a turd today. Classic Universal money-grab. Just my two cents, which won't buy you much...
 
As I said above, the liner notes are will done, with track-by-track analysis by the man himself. "The Lonely Bull" was presented here in mono, as it probably should always be. And the arrangement of the track list, though encompassing both TjB and solo stuff isn't as jarring as it could have been.

Placing "Casino Royale" after "This Guy's In Love With You" makes the transition to "Route 101" and "Fandango" somewhat seamless before embarking on the more bass-heavy "Rise" and other solo-era stuff.

And while drop-outs plague "Tijuana Taxi" and "Spanish Flea", we know now that the masters had begun to degrade at that point. Other tracks on this compilation sound pretty good with the "20-bit tube mastering."
 
Since the re-releases of Herb's catalog both by Shout Factory and later, even better, by Herb Alpert presents, this collection does not appear especially interesting, but here in Norway I recall it made Universal make a TV campaign that included glimpses from the TJB TV specials, that made a lot of people buy the album, so it appeared on the national album charts, which had not happened for any Herb Alpert album over here since "The Beat Of The Brass" in 1968.

- greetings from the north -
Martin
 
When this came out, I remember puzzling over Herb's liner note about the TJB not being as successful without those various people. Looking at the list again, this appears to be the main players who contributed in the studio, but not the whole touring band. Still though, where is the love for Bob Edmondson? His trombone is probably equal to Julius's marimba in being important to the TJB sound. And, he was the "comic relief" on their stage show. Maybe a simple oversight?

In Herb's BBC interview he talks about Leon Russell, and we all know that Carol Kaye, playing a big role in the early albums, and they weren't mentioned either so.... I wonder how Herb came up with that particular list of names. I guess we may never know.

And, I have always wondered why Herb included Gil Friesen in that list. He was one of the label executives, wasn't he? I don't remember him being a musician. I know he was very important to A&M as a whole, but how much did he have to do with the success of the TJB?
 
When this came out, I remember puzzling over Herb's liner note about the TJB not being as successful without those various people. Looking at the list again, this appears to be the main players who contributed in the studio, but not the whole touring band. Still though, where is the love for Bob Edmondson? His trombone is probably equal to Julius's marimba in being important to the TJB sound. And, he was the "comic relief" on their stage show. Maybe a simple oversight?

In Herb's BBC interview he talks about Leon Russell, and we all know that Carol Kaye, playing a big role in the early albums, and they weren't mentioned either so.... I wonder how Herb came up with that particular list of names. I guess we may never know.

And, I have always wondered why Herb included Gil Friesen in that list. He was one of the label executives, wasn't he? I don't remember him being a musician. I know he was very important to A&M as a whole, but how much did he have to do with the success of the TJB?
I remember Herb saying Gil was the main culprit in getting Herb to put a live band together.
 
When this came out, I remember puzzling over Herb's liner note about the TJB not being as successful without those various people. Looking at the list again, this appears to be the main players who contributed in the studio, but not the whole touring band. Still though, where is the love for Bob Edmondson? His trombone is probably equal to Julius's marimba in being important to the TJB sound. And, he was the "comic relief" on their stage show. Maybe a simple oversight?

In Herb's BBC interview he talks about Leon Russell, and we all know that Carol Kaye, playing a big role in the early albums, and they weren't mentioned either so.... I wonder how Herb came up with that particular list of names. I guess we may never know.

And, I have always wondered why Herb included Gil Friesen in that list. He was one of the label executives, wasn't he? I don't remember him being a musician. I know he was very important to A&M as a whole, but how much did he have to do with the success of the TJB?
Hi Mike~ Time for my 6 month check-in so I hope that you and everyone here are safe, healthy and hanging in there. I was not at all around when Herb and Universal put together the, "Definitive Hits" album as this was done before I came in to set up a label, remaster the catalog and take things into the digital world. But,,, there would have been NO TJB BAND if it were not for Gil Friesen. Herb was a recording studio artist using all of the best musicians and engineer in Los Angeles. There was no TJB. Herb had no desire to put a band together, to go out on the road or to perform live. Gil Friesen is the one that pleaded, begged, gently pushed and finally talked Herb into putting a band together to go out on tour. Gil over-saw and laid the groundwork for a lot of the details and logistics of putting a band on the road as well as over-seeing things like that really great original Tijuana Brass Tour Booklet... Be well Mike!
 
I own this as a completist but do not play it. The only “hits” collection I play with any regularity these days is “Herb Alpert Is...”.
 
Hi Mike~ Time for my 6 month check-in so I hope that you and everyone here are safe, healthy and hanging in there. I was not at all around when Herb and Universal put together the, "Definitive Hits" album as this was done before I came in to set up a label, remaster the catalog and take things into the digital world. But,,, there would have been NO TJB BAND if it were not for Gil Friesen. Herb was a recording studio artist using all of the best musicians and engineer in Los Angeles. There was no TJB. Herb had no desire to put a band together, to go out on the road or to perform live. Gil Friesen is the one that pleaded, begged, gently pushed and finally talked Herb into putting a band together to go out on tour. Gil over-saw and laid the groundwork for a lot of the details and logistics of putting a band on the road as well as over-seeing things like that really great original Tijuana Brass Tour Booklet... Be well Mike!
Gil Friesen deserves to be in the R&RHoF. IMHO.
 
This is the first and only (I think) Herb Alpert CD I own (by virtue of my mom buying it when I was younger). My mom knows and likes the singles of her childhood and adolescence (the 1970s and 1980s), so I do think that tracks 12 and 16-20 got the most airplay in my car rides with her. Since then, I've acquired some 12" singles and some high res downloads (through Qobuz), and I also have the reel-to-reel tape for "The Beat of the Brass." All in all, I think that the track listing for this CD is a very good "greatest hits" sampler for those who, like my mom and even myself, are most familiar with Herb Alpert & TJB's singles and don't really know the album cuts.

Nowadays, I find myself going to my Qobuz downloads for "This Guy's in Love with You," "Rise," and "Rotation." For the Janet Jackson/Lisa Keith collaborations, I quite like the sound of the 12" singles I, uhh, borrowed from my college radio station. I don't think the 12" single collection has a name, and I don't have them on me now, but there are three in there (tracks 18-20 on this CD). I believe they are red, white, and blue. And I believe there is a shiny engraved stamp on the cardboard cover that reads something like "For Promotion Only." The catalog number is A&M followed by five digits--I only know that because I found five digits to be very odd... all of the A&M LPs and singles I have other than this one are four digits long.

EDIT: Here it is! Herb Alpert – Making Love In The Rain / Diamonds / Keep Your Eye On Me / Your Song (1987, Red, White & Blue, Vinyl)
 
A&M promotional albums often had 5-digit numbers, as did their Spanish series (AyM DISCOS).

It took me a long time to find that three record red, white, blue set.
 
It took me a long time to find that three record red, white, blue set.
:o

I will definitely do my best to care for the one that I have. I rarely play it, which is good in the sense that I don't want my stylus to wreck the records or wear them out. Honestly, I think Herb Alpert made a nice little comeback with those three songs. I still have great memories of hearing them in the car with my mom (on this Definitive Hits CD).
 
Funny, when I first discovered that three-disc set, the record store near me had a handful of them in stock, all at a reasonable price. Naturally I bought one, even though I already had two of the three singles as stock copies (in black vinyl).
 
A&M Promo singles (usually of the 12" variety) were numbered in the SP 17xxx series and 12" singles (commercial and some promo) were in the SP 12xxx series.

Prior to around 1978 or 79 promo singles (again, usually of the 12" variety) were 8xxx series.

There are exceptions to this rule, like the first few ForePlays had unique FPS prefix ("FPS1" for ForePlay #1) and I DO have some 7" promos in the SP17xxx line and some promo LPs (Like A&M Friends) in the SP8xxx series.

--Mr Bill
 
I haven't dug my copy out in a while, and don't plan to anytime soon. It doesn't seem all that impressive of a collection today, being that the albums have been reissued. I would have replaced "Diamonds" with "Magic Man" if I were putting this together.
 
When this came out the earlier reissues of Herb/TJB titles were out of print and/or obtainable only as pricey imports. The prospects for comprehensive reissues were not bright at the time. Since this appeared to be all we'd have I think reviews took a dim view. Now I'd call it a 'good start' for the novice fan but not essential as long as the catalog remains available and reasonably priced.

JB
 
I remember once standing in line behind a fellow who was purchasing a copy of DEFINITIVE HITS. I asked him about it and he said he was absolutely thrilled to find a good copy of "Rise".
 
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