I was struck by a remark Mike Argo made in the "Teaberry Shuffle" thread - notably.........
"For some reason my bro and I acquired all the TJB albums out of order after getting the first two in 1965. One result of that is I don't have a built-in feeling for the progression of Herb's sound from Lonely Bull to Beat of the Brass (when I finally got on track). So to me the evolution of the sound is very seamless, though I certainly recognized that Herb's later sound had less "Ameriachi" and more of a pop jazz groove."
and it got me thinking about the way I've tracked Herb's progress in my own head. It seems to have been affected by the labels he appeared on.
I first got into the TJB as a result of hearing "Whipped Cream" played on the TV testcard. At that time, herb's material was issued in the UK on Pye International, which had a distinctive pink label. One I'd started collecting - adding South of the Border, and singles like Flea and Taxi, I discovered an EP titled "Mexican Corn". It was of course earlier material, and in Britain it appeared on EMI's Stateside label. Then I acquired The Lonely Bull album, also on Stateside. The Stateside releases were early period and for me the earlier sound is inextricably linked with the Stateside label. (Actually, EMI used the label for any releases they'd licensed from US labels, so an extraordinary range of performers appeared on it. But as far as I was concerned it was early Alpert - period!)
Then A&M launched in its own right in Britain (albeit still in a Pye distribution and pressing deal) which meant that at last we got A&M material on the proper label with the proper logo.
This coincided with the release of "Casino Royale" (which I seem to remember had a catalogue number of something like AMLS 800) and in my head I heard another change of direction.
I won't go on milking the analogy (although come Almo things changed a bit again) but it's clearly not something anyone in the US would be aware of.
"For some reason my bro and I acquired all the TJB albums out of order after getting the first two in 1965. One result of that is I don't have a built-in feeling for the progression of Herb's sound from Lonely Bull to Beat of the Brass (when I finally got on track). So to me the evolution of the sound is very seamless, though I certainly recognized that Herb's later sound had less "Ameriachi" and more of a pop jazz groove."
and it got me thinking about the way I've tracked Herb's progress in my own head. It seems to have been affected by the labels he appeared on.
I first got into the TJB as a result of hearing "Whipped Cream" played on the TV testcard. At that time, herb's material was issued in the UK on Pye International, which had a distinctive pink label. One I'd started collecting - adding South of the Border, and singles like Flea and Taxi, I discovered an EP titled "Mexican Corn". It was of course earlier material, and in Britain it appeared on EMI's Stateside label. Then I acquired The Lonely Bull album, also on Stateside. The Stateside releases were early period and for me the earlier sound is inextricably linked with the Stateside label. (Actually, EMI used the label for any releases they'd licensed from US labels, so an extraordinary range of performers appeared on it. But as far as I was concerned it was early Alpert - period!)
Then A&M launched in its own right in Britain (albeit still in a Pye distribution and pressing deal) which meant that at last we got A&M material on the proper label with the proper logo.
This coincided with the release of "Casino Royale" (which I seem to remember had a catalogue number of something like AMLS 800) and in my head I heard another change of direction.
I won't go on milking the analogy (although come Almo things changed a bit again) but it's clearly not something anyone in the US would be aware of.
