🎵 AotW AOTW: Herb Alpert - JUST YOU AND ME (SP-4591)

What Is Your Favorite Song?

  • Promenade

    Votes: 5 20.0%
  • Musique

    Votes: 12 48.0%
  • Just You And Me

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Grandpa Lou

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Aria

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Yankee Doodle

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Spanish Nights

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • One Night Lover

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The Lady Needs Romance

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • The Day Will Come

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • Total voters
    25
I found this ad for the album for sale on eBay and thought I'd post it in this thread:

JustYouAndMeAd.jpg

I also did a little clean-up today on my CD-R needledrop. Mostly it was a matter of cleaning up the intros and fade-outs with a few clicks removed too, But it sounds even better now than it ever did.

Harry
 
I remember being surprised to see this album when it came out, since I was expecting a follow-up to Coney Island. My first, quick thought on seeing the album title was, "Why is Herb covering a Chicago tune?" (Obviously it wasn't that particular song.) After a couple of spins, this one grew on me, and I still like it a lot. In retrospect, it's a very personal album for Herb in a transitional time in his career, and I'm glad he made it when he did. Much as I might have wanted another new TJB album then, this one's better to have in the long run.

Mike A.
 
Here's a question that is in my "Trading Herb" thread theme: Being this is a lesser known album which didn't really get rave reviews or sell well, although many like it a lot- my question is this: Would you trade "Just You and Me" for the last two Herb and Lani CDs? My answer is no- I'd keep JYAM...
Apples and oranges? maybe- but what would you say?
 
I wouldn't give up any Herb Alpert album for another. They're all treasures in their unique way - every last one of then.

Harry
 
It's a hypothetical question, a game-not an assault, I just wanted to gauge opinions of Herb's evolution and thought it would be thought provoking and fun, but forget it....
 
Steve, I think we're just taking you too literally. Sorry about that. It is a thought-provoking question. Would we have had the last two Herb and Lani albums at all, if Herb hadn't done Just You and Me when he did? You can certaintly see their latest work as an outgrowth of their earlier work . . . and we know Lani had a creative hand in JYAM, and everything Herb's done since then. But would I trade one for the other? Nope. I want it all!

=Mike A.
 
Perhaps re-phrasing the question as a Desert Island choice is more in order here. You're about to go live on a desert island and can only take one Herb Alpert album - and your choice includes only from among Just You And Me, Anything Goes, and I Feel You. No other choice. You can't have Going Places or Warm - nothing else. Which would you pick?

Harry
 
Out of those three? It's hard to pick one....I like different things about each of them. Probably I Feel You.
 
In a way, it has a "demo" feel to it. I think some of the songs were indeed demos, or taken from longer recordings. Listen to the opening of "Grandpa Lou"....that echo before the opening piano is definitely the tail end of something that was edited off of the beginning.

It always struck me as an intended haunting ethereal echo, much like the few seconds of baby Aria playing with her toy rattle that open the tune named for her. Upon "relistening" I think you may be right. Heck, it's even possible Herb just had some ideas for piano beds and recorded a bunch back to back in one session and then worked melodies on top of them later. But then, if it wasn't intended, why not edit it off closer to the first note.

Just re-reading this thread again...the beginning of the track not only has the piano, it is like the trailing off of a full band on that one, as I remember hearing bass and a high-hat (?). Makes me wonder if there was a full introduction to that song. And even more curious as to what is behind what appears to be a sloppy edit. I'm so used to hearing it for 35 years, I can't think of the song any other way.
 
I really love this album this was the toughest one for me to find. But well worth it in 1994 after years of having just the single promenad/musique and by that time worn out. I finally got my copy of just you and me and like many of you ihave homemade cdr copise of this and other never on cd alpert titles while herb's mood was not upbeat and his vocals on the title track mmay not have appealed to everyone At LEAST IT IS PURE HERB ALPERT THROUGH AND THROUGH. grandpa lou was a tearjerker but honest and a beautiful song. A spanish night and the lady needs romance are definitely the love ballads. On this lp and lani's vocals are always sweet in any setting. Overall i always considered this a true classic that should be on cd I WOULD BUY ONE for his first post tjb project HERB WAS ON HIS WAY TO GREATER SUCCESS WITH HUGH MASEKELA AND RISE JUST ACOUPLE YEARS AWAY FROM THIS POINT. I still think this is a true classic. Being his first post tjb release. A must have for all alpert fans like us
 
The song "Promenade" I also heard was a remake of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (1966 hit for The Walker Brothers) in one of the trumpets parts!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Well,
Very low-key, sparse, a no-frills, very personal concept. The songs themselves are pretty strong, but the actual recording leaves something to be desired.

I really like "Promenade" and "Musique". I thought "Just You And Me" could've been an incredibly strong track, with its shifting time signatures and Herb's fiery trumpet solo. But that vocal he does is terrible! I just don't know how he could've kept that on the record, particularly when he jumps up an octave. Worst thing he's ever done. "Grandpa Lou" is kind of haunting. "Aria" is kind of neat with the cello there. Interesting juxtaposition between "Grandpa Lou" - the death of his father - and "Aria" - the birth of his daughter. "Yankee Doodle" didn't do much for me - I guess that was his tribute to the bicentennial that year. "Spanish Nights" has its moments, but seems to be lacking something. I liked the muted trumpet parts in both "One Night Lover" and "The Lady Needs Romance". "The Day Will Come" also had its moments, but was kind of shaky in places.
I would like to hear this album with a better recording - not a ReWhipped remix, mind you - just a better effort. Herb's piano playing isn't exactly inspiring, either. Oscar Peterson he ain't. I would imagine this album will be one of the last that gets reissued.
Capt. Bacardi

I couldn't have said it better, Captain. And I agree wholeheartedly. This was a transitional album at a transitional time in Alpert's life and career. Very personal, and it was artistically necessary for him to 'step out on his own' in every way musically. This isn't just another album in the lineage where he dropped the TJB moniker. It really is a true solo album in many ways, even more so than some of the latter recordings.

But is it one that I listen to on a regular basis? Uh, no. Granted, I am glad I bought my copy way back when (After all, it IS part of the collection and it does have it's moments), and I have "Musique" and "Grandpa Lou" on my iPod playlist, placed chronologically in order with the other Alpert tracks of the 1970s... but the rest of this album pretty much just collects dust on the top of the cover.
 
It's a good late-night album for me. I always skip "Yankee Doodle" (never did like that song, although I "get" the bicentennial nod), but that's easy with it being at the start of side two. Not something I play often but there are some hidden gems on here, like "One Night Lover" and "The Lady Needs Romance."
 
At the top of this page - four years ago - I had done a rudimentary clean-up of JUST YOU AND ME. That was either among my first experiments with Audacity or not long after.

I'd gotten so much better at cleaning up audio in the intervening four years, that I'm sometimes appalled at what I once considered cleaned-up. Also, I now have a better cartridge for my turntable so a new attempt was in order. I just finished and am quite satisfied with the sound. I'll match it up with any official attempt by the Alpert camp!

Oh, and for those of you who aren't all that crazy about the title track because of the vocal section with the octave jump, I did an edit to remove those two portions:



Harry
 

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All these years later and I still haven't found a completely acceptable promo pressing yet. Mine is still a bit noisy. But far better than any You Smile or Coney I've found. In, fact, the last You Smile promo I purchased was...broken. Yes, it had a crack in it. First time I'd ever seen that. Almost didn't see it, but glad I did--I'm not knocking the cantilever off of my Dynavector for some lousy $3 LP!
 
At the top of this page - four years ago - I had done a rudimentary clean-up of JUST YOU AND ME. That was either among my first experiments with Audacity or not long after.

I'd gotten so much better at cleaning up audio in the intervening four years, that I'm sometimes appalled at what I once considered cleaned-up. Also, I now have a better cartridge for my turntable so a new attempt was in order. I just finished and am quite satisfied with the sound. I'll match it up with any official attempt by the Alpert camp!

Oh, and for those of you who aren't all that crazy about the title track because of the vocal section with the octave jump, I did an edit to remove those two portions:



Harry

Great job on the edit! However, without the bridge... awful as it may be... the tune just doesn't go anywhere. :neutral:
 
Herb%2BAlpert%2B-%2BJust%2BYou%2BAnd%2BMe.jpg

I personally love this album but I wanted to ask all of you what your opinions/thoughts were on what I coin as Herb's most overlooked album.
 
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