AOTW: Herb Alpert & TJB - YOU SMILE-THE SONG BEGINS-SP 3

[martin]

I remember getting the LP in the summer of 1974. Herb's comeback was commented quite a lot in the Norwegian press also. The "Last Tango" single that came out the year before was never released in Norway, but I had read about it in a Swedish paper, so I knew something was happening even before the "comeback" articles started. My favorites at the time were "Legend", "Up Cherry Street" and "I might frighten her away". I was a little disappointed in the cover and also a little with the melancholy mood of much of the album. The next summer I remember being much more excited over "Coney Island".

- greetings from the unbelievably cold and snowy north (worse than usual)
Martin

 

[Yazmin_Salinas]

I adore the song "Save the sunlight". This is one of the songs I've sung with Michael Sobrevilla.

 

[happycamper]

I owned this album as a teenager, but it has since been lost. Fox Hunt and Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor are both solid arrangements, and I am really looking forward to purchasing them again. I agree with some of the other comments that the version of Promises, Promises on YSTSB is better than the one on Lost Treasures, although I enjoyed them both. Up Cherry Street is a great piece as well -- the piano jamming is very well done.

 

[KARENINA]

My favorite cut is, without a doubt, "Save The Sunlight". Far and away the best duet Herb and Lani have ever recorded. The melody is achingly beautiful. Their voices blend well and the delivery is heartfelt and believable. I love the way they trade singing lead; each gets a verse and a chorus. Lani did a very nice job on the song as a solo from her "Hello It's Me" lp as well.

Yes, this song is wonderful!!! I like both the version from Lani's "Hello, it's me" album, and the version from "You smile, the song begins"!!!!

 

[lgarvin]

I may be a loner but I voted for the title track, YSTSB. It is a catchy tune with a style in the mold of older TJB songs. Other songs I like on this album are Fox Hunt, Legend..., Can't Go On Living ..., Last Tango in Paris (released as a single a full year before the album came out), and Promises Promises. I know Save the Sunlight was a favorite of many in this forum, and along with "Come What May" (from Lani's "Blush" album) is among the best of the Herb/Lani duets. I was surprised that Herb plays trumpet on "Song for Herb" as the title implies that other performed this song for him (unless this is a different "Herb"). Anyway, this album, along with Warm, are the two most serious, moody TJB albums in contrast to the cheerful music that fills many of the others. But YSTSB was well worth the long wait that TJB fans had to endure leading up to it.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I was surprised that Herb plays trumpet on "Song for Herb" as the title implies that other performed this song for him (unless this is a different "Herb").

The song was written "for Herb," not played for him.

 

[Nathan Strum]

I've never heard this album. I guess I'm going to have to hit up the used record sites to find it, and some of the other un-re-released LPs as well. :|

 

[davjazzer]

This is a pleasant album,but not the great comeback album we TJB fans were expecting.CONEY ISLAND is a terrific album and a much better intro. to Herb's NEW TJB.There are some nice cuts here-FOX HUNT is a good opener and smacks of the old TJB sound.ONE- EYED SAILOR is a haunting piece with fine moments from Herb and the Brass.UP CHERRY ST.is a neat re-doing of an early classic,with fine piano by Dave Frishberg.SAVE the SUNLIGHT is a nice Herb-Lani duet.The rest of the album is a bit too mellow,but CONEY ISLAND would make up for these shortcomings.

 

[Harry]

We'll get to the bottom of this one!

Thirteen months have passed, and I don't think we've gotten "to the bottom of this one"!



Harry

 

[Stephen Vakil]

No we haven't................ but I still hear it. This is one of those questions where you really wish you could ask the man himself!

 

[happycamper]

Fox Hunt is my favorite on this album. I first heard it on the radio while in the car on a family vacation. I remember that it was played often on that station. Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor and Up Cherry Street are also great pieces.

Since we did not get Fox Hunt and Legend on Lost Treasures, I have to suspect that Herb held them back intentionally, anticipating a future re-issue of YSTSB or putting these on some other compilation. But I have to say we have been spoiled over the last two years!

 

[gkozak]

"A Song For Herb" is actually a hauntingly beautiful piece of music, melancholy, longing, yet heart-warming at the same time. As usual, the arrangement is superb. Yet another of the wonderful melodies tucked away in his albums that get far less attention than they should.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I've gotta go with SAVE THE SUNLIGHT; not only a beautiful duet, trumpet solo and acordian riffs, but John Pisano has a very nice intro, as well.

I wonder if this song was a kind of warm-up for COME WHAT MAY.


Dan