🎄 Holidays! AOTW: Christmas Album - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

[Harry]

Christmas Album
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
SP-4166, reissue SP-3113 and CD-3113
Produced by: Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss
Voices and Strings Arranged by Shorty Rogers
Arranged by: Herb Alpert
Engineer: Larry Levine
Studios: A&M Recording Studios/Gold Star Recording Studios
Photography: Guy Webster
Art Director: Tim Wilkes

Track Listing:

Side One:
Winter Wonderland
Jingle Bells
My Favorite Things
The Christmas Song
Las Mananitas

Side Two:
Sleigh Ride
The Bell That Couldn't Jingle
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
Jingle Bell Rock
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring

Give us faith in ourselves and faith in our fellow man...then, the treasures and
Beauties of life that make man happy will spring from an inexhaustible source.
And at Christmas, when the hearts of the world swell in joyous celebration,
Let us cast aside the pretense of sturdy men and live if only for a day in
The hope and joy we knew as children. A Christmas Prayer by an unknown author.

 

[Harry]

A true classic, and one of my favorites at this time of year. I got this one as soon as it came out on LP, and have been amazed at how well it holds up over the years.

This current Christmas season, I've been listening to an extended CD version of the iSomething Festive! album, with quite a large helping of selections from the TJB album. One of the things that iSomething Festive does/did was to chop off the choral openings to the songs. There's a bit of debate as to whether the choral openings add or detract from the TJB songs, and I can tell you that after being denied hearing them all season, they sound great where they belong, and I wouldn't have them any other way.

I've noticed a bit of a flaw in "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" this year. My first thought was that my CD was dirty or something, but I've confirmed that the flaws existed way back on the original vinyl. Listen to the choral/harsichord opening. At the :08 second mark, a tape burble occurs in the right channel -- my thought was that it was a digital glitch, since that's what it sounds like, but it's there in the vinyl too. Two seconds later, a bit of a dropout happens in the left channel.

I've owned three incarnations of this album over the years. From the '60s through the '70s, my original album, with the cover shown above, served its purpose and is riddled with "love crackles." In the early '80s, I was surprised to find a re-issue, SP-3113, and instantly bought it to have a fresh, clean copy. It seems like it was just a year later that the CD was issued, and I bought that too. It's a shame that the CD issue didn't revert to the original artwork. The newer artwork is too sterile looking.

Harry
NP: Herb Alpert & TJB, CHRISTMAS ALBUM

 

[Mike Blakesley]

The only bad thing about this album is, it's too SHORT. Take off the choral intros, and it's well under 30 minutes. Other than that complaint, it's essential holiday listening around here.

I remember when it first came out, I was kind of put-off by some of the arrangements, and I really didn't like "The Christmas Song," but good things come to those who wait....now it's my fave version of that song, and I've come to appreciate all of the rest, even the "slow" version of "Let it Snow," which really shocked me when I first heard it.

My early favorite track was always "Jingle Bell Rock," which I still love, but now my top-listers are "My Favorite Things," "Jingle Bells," "The Bell That Couldn't Jingle" and "Winter Wonderland."

The only song on here that I can't say I totally like is "Sleigh Ride," but that's just because that song must be played in the original Leroy Anderson arrangement by a big orchestra to work for me.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Every time I hear "My Favorite Things" by any other artist, it always pales next tho Herb's KILLER version.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

As far as "SLEIGH RIDE" goes; the first time I heard it, after the tempo slows down during the trombone run and then those strings take over the melody...well, my heart almost burst. THAT was as close to heaven as I think I've ever been...it's some of Shorty's best work as an arranger. I STILL feel that way whenever I hear it...I know, I've gotta get a woman...playing that song on your wedding night would be as good an excuse as any for a Yuletime knot- tying....


Dan, hoping for maybe next year....

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Christmas Album
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass


This is as about a perfect Christmas album there is IMHO. Many of the arrangements are just plain good, such as the sleekness of "Winter Wonderland" and the samba-feel of "Jingle Bells". Everybody else does "Let It Snow" as an upbeat, happy tune, and here Herb does it as a ballad, creating a more romantic atmosphere. The choral intros do get to be a bit much at times, but the choir works well within the tunes, especially on "Jesu". This album should be in everybody's collection, regardless of your music preference. It's that good.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Great cover shot too!

 

[cakeicer]

Went to a holiday dinner at the local community center tonight, I do volunteer work there. I took my special Christmas CDs that Rudy was so kind to make for me, "The Christmas album" and "Something Festive." This was a group of varied age and one of the 30 year olds heard Herb playing and said he loved that album, his folks had it when he was small. Then the next thing he mentioned was "And I love that other Christmas album by them, you know, the one where the girl is covered in whipped cream?"

 

[Harry]

The only bad thing about this album is, it's too SHORT. Take off the choral intros, and it's well under 30 minutes. Other than that complaint, it's essential holiday listening around here.

While I too wish it were longer, it's exactly the perfect length for my commute to and from work. Almost without fail, as I arrive in a parking space at work, the final strains of "Jesu..." are finishing up.

Harry
...doing a bit of decorating and holiday prep today, online...

 

[Rudy]

This one is definitely, and always has been, among my top five favorite Christmas albums--not a year goes by without the album getting at least one spin! Although I have two CD copies, and have some of the tracks on another compilation I made up myself, I still find I like to pull out the original vinyl copy a spin instead.

Despite all the pro and con arguments about the choral parts, I can't imagine this album without them. On a compilation I made with other tracks, I removed the choral parts, just to be different. (Only four tracks have the choral introductions, except for "Jesu" which is a choral feature itself.) Outside the context of the full album, the missing introductions don't matter as much...but with all the songs together as an album, the choral parts are the glue that holds the album together.

The most remarkable thing about this album are the arrangements. Everyone else has done "Winter Wonderland" as sort of a 6/8 swing beat, where the TJB's is done in straight-up 4/4. Ditto "My Favorite Things": straight 4/4 beat here, where it's usually 3/4 by other artists. "The Christmas Song" here is one of my all-time favorite versions. Those modulations at the end of some of the songs are the icing on the cake.

This is one of a handful of Christmas albums that will outlive all of us!

 

[W.B.]

Studios: A&M Recording Studios/Gold Star Recording Studios

Let me guess which of these numbers was recorded at Gold Star: "Las Mananitas." Has to be. Was originally the B-side to the "Whipped Cream" single (#760) from three years prior to the release of this LP -- and A&M Recording Studios was up and running by late 1966.

I also noticed that Herb's 4/4 take on "My Favorite Things" was released twice as a single: first, on #1001, with "The Christmas Song" on the flip, and again on #1015 (a copy of which I have), coupled with "She Touched Me" (from The Beat of the Brass album). I also heard his "Favorite Things," I believe, last Christmas time (or was it two years ago?) while walking through New York's Penn Station, as it was playing on the PA system.

 

[Harry]

That would be my guess as well. "Las Mananitas" had life as both a Tijuana Brass recording as well as a Baja Marimba Band album selection (on For Animals Only). Julius himself told us that Herb played trumpet on that and ONLY that tune in the BMB canon, so it's likely that both recordings originated from the same session, one mixed with heavier trumpets, the other with a heavier marimba. I believe it's generally considered that the two are different takes during that session.

As a TJB recording, "My Favorite Things", in addition to its appearance on the Christmas Album, also ended up on two different non-seasonal TJB compilation CDs, Greatest Hits Vol.2 in the States and A&M Gold Series 1 elsewhere in the world. In both cases, the choral intro remained intact.

Harry
...getting an early start to the day, online...

 

[reechie]

Herb's version of "The Christmas Song" was actually the first version of that song that I'd ever heard. I was only four at the time, but already a big fan, and I was delighted to have a Christmas album from the TJB. Mine got trashed long ago, and I never got another one for a long time. Always kept passing up the CD version as one of those that "I'll get eventually" then once it's out of print, you kick yourself over it.

At any rate, I found a nice clean original 60's copy a few weeks ago, and did a CD needle drop of it that'll do nicely until Herb reissues it. Nice to have it back in the rotation again.

 

[martin]

I think Herb and the TJB's Christmas Album is really a lot of fun. It shows Herb's brilliance as an arranger, taking all of these familiar tunes and making them his own. The "tongue in cheek"- elements are plenty, but always executed in the most musical way, like the "James Bond" quote in the middle of "My Favourite Things" and the constantly modulating "Sleigh Ride" with it's tempo changes (it's uphill and the horse almost doesn't make it).
A composer friend of mine told me that Terje Fjærn, a well known Norwegian band leader, had transcribed the whole album, including the choir parts, and performed it with his band back in 1969. I haven't gotten around to contacting mr Fjærn about it yet, but I will soon.. and I 'll keep you posted.

- christmas greetings from the very cold and snowy north -
(We'll have a white christmas indeed)

Martin

 

[Rudy]

Let me guess which of these numbers was recorded at Gold Star: "Las Mananitas." Has to be. Was originally the B-side to the "Whipped Cream" single (#760) from three years prior to the release of this LP -- and A&M Recording Studios was up and running by late 1966.

"Las Mananitas" has the same type of sound as the 2nd Baja Marimba Band (Rides Again), as well as the TJB's South Of The Border. (Listen to "More" on the BMB and "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" on the TJB and it's quite apparent.)

"Las Mananitas" had life as both a Tijuana Brass recording as well as a Baja Marimba Band album selection (on For Animals Only). Julius himself told us that Herb played trumpet on that and ONLY that tune in the BMB canon, so it's likely that both recordings originated from the same session, one mixed with heavier trumpets, the other with a heavier marimba. I believe it's generally considered that the two are different takes during that session.

Definitely two different takes, if the intro is any indication. (A spliced-in introduction could have been used for the TJB version, though.) The intro to the BMB version is slower. The mixing is different, definitely--the BMB version leans toward the marimba-and-flute end of the scale, the TJB's, if not having more brass, definitely has the flute gone and the marimba buried a bit. However, I still wonder if Herb played at all on the earliest BMB sessions. I'm certain that's his vocal on "Goin' Out The Side Door."

Herb's version of "The Christmas Song" was actually the first version of that song that I'd ever heard.

It's quite possible it was mine as well, since I actually owned the 45, when it was brand new, when I was three years old. And I can't think of any other albums we owned that would have had that song on it, not until we got a Capitol 2-LP set called The Sound of Christmas and I heard Nat King Cole's version.

Always kept passing up the CD version as one of those that "I'll get eventually" then once it's out of print, you kick yourself over it.

I got my first CD copy around 1985 as a German import. In those days, I was buying CDs immediately when I saw them, as the supplies weren't very good and it could be weeks or months before I'd see another copy, if ever. When I saw this one and the Brasil '66 Greatest Hits, I grabbed them immediately. They don't sound the greatest, but on the chance of not having them at all, it was worth it.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I think Herb and the TJB's Christmas Album is really a lot of fun. It shows Herb's brilliance as an arranger, taking all of these familiar tunes and making them his own. The "tongue in cheek"- elements are plenty, but always executed in the most musical way, like the "James Bond" quote in the middle of "My Favourite Things" and the constantly modulating "Sleigh Ride" with it's tempo changes (it's uphill and the horse almost doesn't make it).
A composer friend of mine told me that Terje Fjærn, a well known Norwegian band leader, had transcribed the whole album, including the choir parts, and performed it with his band back in 1969. I haven't gotten around to contacting mr Fjærn about it yet, but I will soon.. and I 'll keep you posted.

- christmas greetings from the very cold and snowy north -
(We'll have a white christmas indeed)

Martin

Martin, I NEVER made those connections with the two songs you mentioned until now, and I've been listening to them for almost-gasp!-35 years; but they're there. And that lush, romantic string panorama after the trombone break has to be setting the scene of being able to look down at a snow-covered village bathed in the moonlight from the top of the mountain in "SLEIGH RIDE"...all this time I thought it was just warm, soft "snuggle music"...well, it IS; but Herb and Shorty both deserve more credit than that...


The Bond-like thread running through "MY FAVORITE THINGS" must be a representation of a child waiting for Santa to bring...what else?...his /her favorite things...once again, Herb Alpert mastery of the arranger's craft...and a master piece of a tone-poem. Herb, you da man!

Dan

 

[Captain Bacardi]

"Las Mananitas" has the same type of sound as the 2nd Baja Marimba Band (Rides Again), as well as the TJB's South Of The Border. (Listen to "More" on the BMB and "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" on the TJB and it's quite apparent.)

I have "Las Mananitas" as the flip side of "Whipped Cream" (A&M 760), so I guess it was originally done in the '64 - '65 period.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[pogWo4life]

I bought that record 2 years ago, and I love listening to it. In fact, I have it on side one right now.

Just hearing these Christmas songs done ala Tiuana Brass Style, makes it a very uniques christmas lp.

 

[LeoK]

I used to have one.... but...
Does anyone know, please, where a new CD can be obtained.

TVM

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I used to have one.... but...
Does anyone know, please, where a new CD can be obtained.

TVM

It's been out of print for a couple of years now...bummer...but try gemm.com or ebay...be prepared to pay a lot, especially on ebay...but you can still find mint or sealed CDs at gemm for a reasonable price.


Dan, saying, try gemm first...