Defining the 60s at A&M

Mark-T

Well-Known Member
Given this is an A&M fan forum, what ten records would you choose to define the label from the 60s? Or if it’s easier, what five albums?

Confession mode- Long story short, I spent the decade in Motown. So, I missed a huge portion of what was happening musically in other genres. It wasn’t until the 70’s that I branched out.

Can’t wait to read your responses!
 
I'll have to give this one some thought, as my picks are typically not the usual ones from the A&M stable. But I like the idea, especially since a wide selection of ten albums can cover a lot of ground as to where A&M was at during the decade.
 
I would have to base this on what I was hearing on the radio at the time as I did not start buying albums until; the end of 1969.
From my collection of albums, I would have to give two nods for Herb Alpert: The Lonely Bull and Whipped Cream.
From Brasil'66 also two nods: Look Around and Fool On The Hill.
The only other artists that I ever heard on the radio from that period were Sandpipers and Claudine Longet so Guantanamera and Colours each get a nod.
Baja Marimba Band never got airplay here when I was listening although I did hear them on TV when they were guests on variety shows but I have never heard an album by them.
Joe Cocker started getting airplay but I never liked his voice and I associate him with the 70's.
 
  • Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass / The Lonely Bull (SP 101; 1962) — This LP set into motion the latin theme for the golden era for the label (1965-67: BMB, Montez, Sandpipers, B66).
  • Lee Michaels / Carnival Of Life (SP 4140; 1968) — A&M’s 1st genuine rock LP. For my nickel, this is also arguably the first LP where A&M transitions away from Herb’s direct musical oversight. (I could be wrong here, but as I understand it in 1967 Herb and Jerry didn’t really know much about the "new" rock/pop music (e.g. The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane); because of this, I don’t really see Herb saying something to the tune of: "Lee is a great musical artist and I really like this LP -- which is the musical future for us here at A&M...".)
  • Procol Harum / Shine On Brightly (SP 4151; 1968) — 1st of Jerry’s "UK signings" to issue an LP.
  • Brewer & Shipley / Down In L.A. (SP 4154; 1968) — 1st A&M singer-songwriter LP.
  • Melvin Van Peebles / Br’er Soul (SP 4162; 1968) — 1st do you really want this stuff to represent A&M? LP and the first obvious indicator that there are significant forces beyond Herb and Jerry at A&M calling the shots for releases. Put another way: with this LP, one could argue Herb and Jerry no longer had 100% creative control regarding "company product".
  • Carpenters / Offering (SP 4205; 1969) — As Carpenters’ legacy is confined to A&M, their historical importance at A&M could never be overstated. This it where it began.
 
I'd agree with LONELY BULL.

Boyce & Hart's TEST PATTERNS is what I'd call the first singer/songwriter & rock album. Also first with a poster inside.

Michaels' CARNIVAL I'd call the first hard rock (as opposed to light pop) album. Seriously psychedelic.

Wes Montgomery's DAY IN THE LIFE: started the first jazz series for the label & big influx of musicians leaving Verve and other labels. Showed how a small independent could compete with the big ones (along with the signings of Liza Minnelli, Jimmie Rodgers & Pete Jolly).

Melvin's BRER SOUL: arguably the first rap album. Way ahead of its time but pioneered the art form.

JB

(enjoying this thread so far)
 
Whipped cream
Guantanamera
Sergio mendes the first record
chris montes.the more I see you
This guy's in love with you.
Baja marimba Band.
Claudinnne Longet
Boyce & Hart
Roger Nicols & circle of friends
Phil Ochs
 
Since you asked for albums, I'll go with this initial list:

[1] Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass - Lonely Bull
[2] Baja Marimba Band - Baja Marimba Band
[3] We Five - You Were On My Mind
[4] Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other Delights
[5] Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - What Now My Love
[6] Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Herb Alpert Presents
[7] Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Fool On The Hill
[8] Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Beat Of The Brass
[9] Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends
[10] Burt Bacharach - Make It Easy On Yourself

[1] One can't ignore the first album. It's what got the label going - though most fans won't list it among their favorites, it certainly had the impact to launch an act and a label.

[2] Though the Baja Marimba Band wasn't a huge seller, Julius' impact on the label was fairly profound as both a composer and artist in his own right.

[3] We Five provided the first hit other than Herb's on the label. Though it was an outside production, "You Were On My Mind" was still on the classic ochre label, and STILL is played on soft-rock radio today. It's timeless.

[4] WHIPPED CREAM & OTHER DELIGHTS was iconic for both its cover and its theme of "food songs", an idea of Jerry Moss'. And it got the TjB back on the charts again.

[5] WHAT NOW MY LOVE - The label is still Herb's and this album sold a bazillion copies before it was even released.

[6] and [7] Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 continue the Latin trend of the label, bringing the Brazilian sound to the label. The first album was amazing and for a second pick here, I went with FOOL ON THE HILL as it had two "played everywhere" hits ("Fool On The Hill" and "Scarborough Fair") and a substantial amount of material in Brazilian Portuguese. I could just as easily picked LOOK AROUND with its big hit "The Look Of Love", too.

[8] You cannot ignore THE BEAT OF THE BRASS with its tie-in TV special, and the first biggest hit (#1) for the label, for Herb, and for Burt Bacharach, "This Guy's In Love With You."

[9] This pick will be controversial, but Roger Nichols' one and only album for the label spawned a pure 60s pop sound that was easily emulated by Carpenters. I'd throw OFFERING in here, but I consider that an album of the 70s. But it was surely influenced by Mr. Nichols & company.

[10] The Burt Bacharach sound was everywhere in the 60s, and though his albums for the label weren't "hits", the songs from those albums were, and they were all over radio. Any of his albums will do. I picked MAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF.

The label started in a rock direction toward the end of the 60s, and it took the label forward through the 70s and beyond.

My picks - and I'm sticking to them.
 
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Boyce & Hart's TEST PATTERNS is what I'd call the first singer/songwriter & rock album. Also first with a poster inside.
Hey, there IS a poster in there! I had no idea. It's essentially a handbill with their bio set written up like poetry. I like how they claim they "are younger than The Beatles..." Ha! Fat chance on that! They were both born in '39.
 
This is a treasure trove of insights! Thank you all! I sense a joyful discovery ahead...
 
Ten (plus one) albums that defined A&M in the 60s.

If I were recommending a set of records to demonstrate what A&M was all about, these are my picks. Once I realized how many of the label's acts were similar, it was easy to narrow it down to individual styles.

Herb Alpert & The TJB: Whipped Cream. The iconic A&M album among all of these. Herb finally honed in on a style for the TJB that produced a run of charting albums through the 60s. Are there others I like a little better? Sure, like South of the Border or Going Places--in fact, I probably like all three equally. But I can only vote for one, and Whipped Cream was Alpert striking oil. If there was a single defining album for A&M in the 60s, which also launched the label into enormous success, this would be it.

Brasil '66: Herb Alpert Presents... While I might vote others as a favorite (such as Look Around, or Fool On The Hill minus the strings), this one was groundbreaking in that Sergio had been working towards this formula for a few years, and he finally settled on a producer (Alpert) with a keen ear who could put the magic touches on it and make it successful. The mix of Brazilian, jazz, pop, rock and the remnants of Bossa Nova melded together and informed his next several albums.

Roger Nichols & The Small Circle of Friends: S/T. A California pop masterpiece, overlooked by the pop charts. It sums up the artistry of Nichols and was the best representative of similar breezy pop albums that would appear on the label by such acts as We Five, The Parade, etc.

Sandpipers: Guantanamera. This album embodied all the elements of the softer (or as I would say, snoozier) side of A&M. Insert anyone else like Montez or Longet and you'd be hard pressed to tell these records apart, based on the accompaniment--they are that interchangeable. (It's more a matter of choosing a vocal trio, a female singer, or a misused Latino rocker as your lead voice of choice.) This one managed to have a hit with the title track, which is why I included it here, but the key is to listen to the accompaniment on the tracks, which summed up A&M's stable of top studio musicians. (As an alternate, I'd consider the Chris Montez album The More I See You.)

Burt Bacharach: Reach Out. A&M brings aboard one of the most popular composers of the day and gives him the freedom to reimagine his past hits as instrumental versions. While there are better albums in his catalog (his self-titled is more adventurous, and his last two for A&M, Futures and Woman, both have excellent post-Hal David tunes), this one set the stage for his brand of sophisticated instrumental pop, and also included his own vocal take on "A House Is Not A Home."

The Merry-Go-Round: You're A Very Lovely Woman/Live. One of those early pop/rock albums that has attained cult status in recent years, largely fueled by the talents of leader Emitt Rhodes. Albums like this one that were of high quality with solid songwriting, yet flew under the radar, were a hallmark of A&M.

Ike & Tina Turner: River Deep - Mountain High. Interesting backstory--this was a Phil Spector project recorded and released in 1966 on Philles Records, and it tanked. Spector felt it was a high point of his career and withdrew from the music business for a couple of years. A&M reissued the album in 1969. Notable for being one of the early Soul/R&B albums on the label, which A&M would explore more fully in the 70s and 80s with Quincy Jones, L.T.D., Janet Jackson, and dozens of others. It also showed they weren't pigeonholed into the soft pop that was growing out of favor with the record-buying public.

Procol Harum: A Salty Dog. Notable for being one of A&M's early excursions into psychedelia and early prog rock. The hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale" preceded this album, but would not appear on A&M until an album release in the 70s. Another signpost of a new direction A&M was taking at the time, although this really wouldn't come to fruition until the 70s (such as with Rick Wakeman).

Antonio Carlos Jobim: Wave. While this was part of the joint venture with Creed Taylor (under his CTi Records banner), it's still under the A&M umbrella, so this and other picks to follow are in that same sphere. Wave was arguably Jobim's finest album (Stone Flower the other one), bringing his gentle Bossa Nova stylings to the label and showing how A&M could attract world-class talent.

Wes Montgomery: A Day in the Life. The first A&M/CTi release, and one of the first genuine jazz releases on the label by a major, well-known artist. While it wasn't a "purist" jazz release (it might be defined as pop-jazz or soul-jazz, depending on the artist), the very nature of it defined A&M's direction in jazz, as well as the tone that the following Creed Taylor-produced albums would take. There are others I like more than this one (such as Tamba 4's We and the Sea, the Paul Desmond LPs or J&K's Stonebone), but this defined the standard for all that followed.

Milton Nascimento: Courage. Nascimento's debut album, also an A&M/CTi release, paved the way for the newer wave of Brazilian artists who would dominate the industry through the 70s and 80s. Edu Lobo had also recorded an A&M album but it suffered from a few questionable production choices--he recorded many other albums better than his lone LP for A&M. With Nascimento, though, it launched the career of one of the most storied Brazilian composers. A&M was instrumental in launching the careers of many musicians and composers who became famous, and this is one stellar example.
 
Thank you, @Rudy!
I have not heard of The Merry-Go-Round or Milton Nascimento, so listening to them for the first time will be interesting.
I love Bacharach compositions (how could any lover of music not?) so listening to instrumentals will be fun.
 
I'm going to go with a mix of singles and albums, because I think it paints the "definitive" picture of the 60s at A&M we're talking about. I'm also sticking to hits (with one exception), because I think a record has to have impact to be definitive:

1. THE LONELY BULL/"The Lonely Bull" (album and single). The big hit right out of the gate that put Herb's music on the radio and his face and the A&M logo in millions of homes.

2. WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS (album). The second breakthrough, three years later. Bigger than the first. Enough to take the public's attention away from the Beatles (can anyone doubt that their "butcher" cover was at least in part a reaction to seeing what a high-concept, controversial cover could do for sales?).

3. "You Were On My Mind"(single). We Five's debut for the label gives A&M its first top five hit single.

4. "Guantanamera"(single). The Sandpipers didn't chart as high as "You Were On My Mind" (or the TJB's "A Taste of Honey" or "The Lonely Bull"), but it did go top ten and the song was everywhere in the late summer of 1966.

5. HERB ALPERT PRESENTS SERGIO MENDES & BRASIL '66 (album). The debut album peaked at #7 without a true hit single, outperforming the Sandpipers' GUANTANAMERA album and cementing A&M's Latin image (yes, there was Baja Marimba, but they'd yet to break the Top 100 on the album chart).

6. "The Look of Love"(single). The choice of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 to perform this at the Oscars was exactly what the group needed---putting the single into the top five and overcoming the sophomore slump of EQUINOX with a top five album as well.

7. "This Guy's In Love With You"(single). Television strikes again. Herb had #1 albums in the past---a string of them following WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS---but never a number one single. Nobody knew it at the time, but it was nearly the coda for the first generation of A&M.

8. THE FOOL ON THE HILL (album). The momentum from "The Look of Love" was so strong that, despite declining singles chart peaks (#6 for "The Fool on the HIll", #16 for "Scarborough Fair"), THE FOOL ON THE HILL peaked higher than LOOK AROUND, and for that matter, better than THE BEAT OF THE BRASS did with a #1 single and a television special behind it. The very sly album cover may have helped.

9. AHEAD RINGS OUT (album). Not a hit for the English band Blodwyn Pig, but the album cover, with the prominent A&M drop-down box on it, was on display in record stores in the final months of 1969---a very clear declaration that the A&M of WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS had moved on. Boyce & Hart and The Merry-Go-Round were one thing. This was another.

10. JOE COCKER! (album). Cocker reversed the sophomore slump by delivering a much bigger hit for his second album than he did for his first. Peaking at #11, this was A&M's biggest record of 1969, and pointed the way for the label's path in the 1970s.
 
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  • Lee Michaels / Carnival Of Life (SP 4140; 1968) — A&M’s 1st genuine rock LP. For my nickel, this is also arguably the first LP where A&M transitions away from Herb’s direct musical oversight. (I could be wrong here, but as I understand it in 1967 Herb and Jerry didn’t really know much about the "new" rock/pop music (e.g. The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane); because of this, I don’t really see Herb saying something to the tune of: "Lee is a great musical artist and I really like this LP -- which is the musical future for us here at A&M...".)
  • Melvin Van Peebles / Br’er Soul (SP 4162; 1968) — 1st do you really want this stuff to represent A&M? LP and the first obvious indicator that there are significant forces beyond Herb and Jerry at A&M calling the shots for releases. Put another way: with this LP, one could argue Herb and Jerry no longer had 100% creative control regarding "company product".
Gonna argue with these two points. Herb and Jerry always had creative control. It was their company.

Jerry went to the Monterey Pop festival in June of 1967 as the co-owner of a record label that had, at that point, in five years, released 25 albums by ten artists (TJB, George McCurn, Baja Marimba Band, Dave Lewis, Lucille Starr, We Five, Chris Montez, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, The Sandpipers and Claudine Longet). Only seven of those artists were still signed to the label.

A&M until then had relied on singles play on adult-oriented radio stations and TV appearances to sell albums. It was clear from Monterey that was not the key to success. Something new was happening and Jerry understood it, and responded to it. That meant changing A&M.

Herb and Jerry were good partners. Herb trusted Jerry on rock and roll (and let's not forget, Herb wrote hits for Sam Cooke and Jan & Dean before A&M---hell, Herb went to London in the early days of A&M to see if he could sign the Beatles before they went to EMI---he was not rock-illiterate). Jerry trusted Herb on Carpenters, a solo career for Lani and a bunch of other stuff. Some of what Jerry wanted worked, some of what Herb wanted worked. Ultimately, A&M was a success.
 
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I'm going to go with a mix of singles and albums, because I think it paints the "definitive" picture of the 60s at A&M we're talking about. I'm also sticking to hits (with one exception), because I think a record has to have impact to be definitive:

1. THE LONELY BULL/"The Lonely Bull" (album and single). The big hit right out of the gate that put Herb's music on the radio and his face and the A&M logo in millions of homes.

2. WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS (album). The second breakthrough, three years later. Bigger than the first. Enough to take the public's attention away from the Beatles (can anyone doubt that their "butcher" cover was at least in part a reaction to seeing what a high-concept, controversial cover could do for sales?).

3. "You Were On My Mind"(single). We Five's debut for the label gives A&M its first top five hit single.

4. "Guantanamera"(single). The Sandpipers didn't chart as high as "You Were On My Mind" (or the TJB's "A Taste of Honey" or "The Lonely Bull"), but it did go top ten and the song was everywhere in the late summer of 1966.

5. HERB ALPERT PRESENTS SERGIO MENDES & BRASIL '66 (album). The debut album peaked at #7 without a true hit single, outperforming the Sandpipers' GUANTANAMERA album and cementing A&M's Latin image (yes, there was Baja Marimba, but they'd yet to break the Top 100 on the album chart).

6. "The Look of Love"(single). The choice of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 to perform this at the Oscars was exactly what the group needed---putting the single into the top five and overcoming the sophomore slump of EQUINOX with a top five album as well.

7. "This Guy's In Love With You"(single). Television strikes again. Herb had #1 albums in the past---a string of them following WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS---but never a number one single. Nobody knew it at the time, but it was nearly the coda for the first generation of A&M.

8. THE FOOL ON THE HILL (album). The momentum from "The Look of Love" was so strong that, despite declining singles chart peaks (#6 for "The Fool on the HIll", #16 for "Scarborough Fair"), THE FOOL ON THE HILL peaked higher than LOOK AROUND, and for that matter, better than THE BEAT OF THE BRASS did with a #1 single and a television special behind it. The very sly album cover may have helped.

9. AHEAD RINGS OUT (album). Not a hit for the English band Blodwyn Pig, but the album cover, with the prominent A&M drop-down box on it, was on display in record stores in the final months of 1969---a very clear declaration that the A&M of WHIPPED CREAM AND OTHER DELIGHTS had moved on. Boyce & Hart and The Merry-Go-Round were one thing. This was another.

10. JOE COCKER! (album). Cocker reversed the sophomore slump by delivering a much bigger hit for his second album than he did for his first. Peaking at #11, this was A&M's biggest record of 1969, and pointed the way for the label's path in the 1970s.
Michael, thanks for this!
I was reading your list, and didn't think I knew "Guantanamera" until I sounded it out- and the melody jumped into my head! :)
 
For Michael's benefit or anyone who doesn't already know: AHEAD RINGS OUT by Blodwyn Pig came about when Mick Abrahams left Jethro Tull. His jazz-blues influence could be heard on 'THIS WAS' - Tull's first album and the only one with Mick's participation. Afterwards Tull's sound focused more on Ian Anderson's flute and classical influences.

"The Pig" would release a 2nd album for A&M, titled GETTING TO THIS. Later Abrahams released a solo album on A&M. All are heavily jazz & blues oriented.

JB
 
Gonna argue with these two points. Herb and Jerry always had creative control. It was their company.
Well, I did write that my point was arguable...👍

Based on what we can discern regarding Herb’s and Jerry’s musical taste in 1967, conjecture tells me it’s highly doubtful either thought highly of Melvin Van Peebles / Br’er Soul and I’m sure Herb was dubious regarding the issuing such an LP under the A&M banner. (Imagine 30% of all A&M LPs sounding like that.)

In any event, I believe I may have not articulated my overall opinion very well. To further elaborate: The "rock and roll" of Sam Cooke’s day (early '60s) was very much deep in the past by mid-67 and had little in common with the progressive music of The Who, Blue Cheer, Hendrix, and Sly. Remember, even as late as 1966, "rock" music was still somewhat thought of as a flash-in-the-pan trend that the majors didn’t seriously recognize as a bonafide genre. To that point A&M was really only addressing rock music in the 45 market; and Capitol called it "Teen Music" — suggesting the audience was both steady and would eventually mature and into "traditional" pop music. By mid-67, however, it was clear there was a valid music shift afoot in recorded popular music. Indeed, many of the independents were doing quite well in this regard — particularly with the 45 market. Jerry’s attendance, like other label reps, at Monterey Pop was surely to fully immerse himself in the sounds and culture to better understand it all as it relates to A&M's LP future. The rock music of 1967 was vastly different than even the music of 1965. As a businessman Jerry was surely paying as much attention, if not more, to the audience and the vibe in wanting to gain insight into common values (clothes, social interactions, personal philosophies, etc.) so as to better understand emerging marketing trends. To that end, I’m sure he brought an associate or two along with him to the festival to take detailed notes. (Herb may have been there himself; we know he was in SF Friday night attending the Kingston Trio’s farewell show at the Hungry i, 17JUN67.)

One thing’s certain: in JUN67, no industry execs could predict where pop music was heading — which is born out given the relatively high volume of "unique" pop LPs being produced during the '67-'68 period. As for Lee Michaels he didn’t perform at Monterey but being from from San Luis Obispo and living at SF at that time, it’s plausible that Jerry may have become hip to him at the festival… He was truly an unknown when signed to A&M to record rock LPs.
 
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Well, I did write that my point was arguable...👍

Based on what we can discern regarding Herb’s and Jerry’s musical taste in 1967, conjecture tells me it’s highly doubtful either thought highly of Melvin Van Peebles / Br’er Soul and I’m sure Herb was dubious regarding the issuing such an LP under the A&M banner. (Imagine 30% of all A&M LPs sounding like that.)

In any event, I believe I may have not articulated my overall opinion very well. To further elaborate: The "rock and roll" of Sam Cooke’s day (early '60s) was very much deep in the past by mid-67 and had little in common with the progressive music of The Who, Blue Cheer, Hendrix, and Sly. Remember, even as late as 1966, "rock" music was still somewhat thought of as a flash-in-the-pan trend that the majors didn’t seriously recognize as a bonafide genre. To that point A&M was really only addressing rock music in the 45 market; and Capitol called it "Teen Music" — suggesting the audience was both steady and would eventually mature and into "traditional" pop music. By mid-67, however, it was clear there was a valid music shift afoot in recorded popular music. Indeed, many of the independents were doing quite well in this regard — particularly with the 45 market. Jerry’s attendance, like other label reps, at Monterey Pop was surely to fully immerse himself in the sounds and culture to better understand it all as it relates to A&M's LP future. The rock music of 1967 was vastly different than even the music of 1965. As a businessman Jerry was surely paying as much attention, if not more, to the audience and the vibe in wanting to gain insight into common values (clothes, social interactions, personal philosophies, etc.) so as to better understand emerging marketing trends. To that end, I’m sure he brought an associate or two along with him to the festival to take detailed notes. (Herb may have been there himself; we know he was in SF Friday night attending the Kingston Trio’s farewell show at the Hungry i, 17JUN67.)

One thing’s certain: in JUN67, no industry execs could predict where pop music was heading — which is born out given the relatively high volume of "unique" pop LPs being produced during the '67-'68 period. As for Lee Michaels he didn’t perform at Monterey but being from from San Luis Obispo and living at SF at that time, it’s plausible that Jerry may have become hip to him at the festival… He was truly an unknown when signed to A&M to record rock LPs.

I think it's a mistake to try to discern Herb & Jerry's musical taste based on the ten artists A&M had signed up to mid-1967.

As for Melvin Van Peebles, Herb's an artist who is very open and I've never known him to be dismissive of another artist's work. A&M had plenty of one-shot artists who did an album (or just a single) and were gone---off to another label or never to be heard from again.

A&M released three Melvin Van Peebles albums plus a two-disc compilation over a six-year period (BRER SOUL, AIN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE A NATURAL DEATH and AS SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK). Clearly, they thought highly enough of Melvin and his work to do that. Here's a rather thorough bio the label put out to accompany the two disc compilation GHETTO SONGS in 1971: https://bit.ly/3fA4DhW

I think you may be projecting your tastes onto Herb and Jerry.

Jerry's a businessman who wanted a successful record label.

Here's what Jerry said in a recent (the past decade) interview about Monterey:

"... heard Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin. “There was all this great music and new talent out there, and I was embarrassed we hadn’t signed any of them,” Moss said.

And I can't agree that in June of '67, no industry execs could predict where pop music was heading. Look at the Monterey lineup and who was signed to whom:

Warner Bros/Reprise.: The Association, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead

RCA: The Jefferson Airplane

Decca/UNI: The Who, Hugh Masakela

Columbia: Big Brother & The Holding Company/Janis Joplin, Simon and Garfunkel, Al Kooper, The Electric Flag, Moby Grape, The Byrds

MGM: Eric Burdon and the Animals

Atlantic/ATCO/Stax: Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, Buffalo Springfield

Verve: Laura Nyro, The Blues Project, The Paupers

Dunhill (owned by Herb's longtime friend Lou Adler): The Mamas and the Papas

Ode (Lou Adler's new label): Scott McKenzie

World Pacific: Ravi Shankar

Capitol: Lou Rawls, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band

Liberty/Imperial: Johnny Rivers, Canned Heat

Vanguard: Country Joe and the Fish

Elektra: Butterfield Blues Band


Jerry had nobody that could have been on that bill. And so Jerry got to work, licensing overseas acts and signing promising newcomers. When did it finally click? When he signed an act that could have held his own---and then some---on the Monterey stage, had he been there---Joe Cocker.

And Jerry's timing was good. Joe was on the label before he played an even bigger festival---Woodstock.
 
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Michael Hagerty said:
...Herb went to London in the early days of A&M to see if he could sign the Beatles before they went to EMI...

To clarify this a bit: Here’s a quote from Billboard (Herb Alpert Premieres Beatles Michelle Cover, Says He Regrets Not Signing the Fab Four; 2017-06-09):

"When people ask me, 'Do you regret anything,' I was thinking, man, in 1962, after A&M (Records) started, the Beatles were hunting for a record company," Alpert tells Billboard. "They were on VeeJay for a while and I guess nobody really was coming to the party. I was thinking, 'Man, if I had flown over to London just to see if we could do something...' but the timing was off. I didn't get them at that moment. I retrospect you think, 'Man, they were available...'"

This appears to be wishful thinking. Actually, his timeline is off: prior to signing with EMI (JUN62), The Beatles had not issued any singles in the UK (their audition tape was previously rejected by DECCA, JAN62). Indeed, the band was virtually unknown in the UK beyond the local Liverpool scene — so there was no logical reason for anyone in the U.S. to want to sign them at that time. I think the passage of time has clouded the timeline. Herb is probably referring to the Vee Jay / Swan recordings that Capitol licensed during 1963. Capitol licensed the first Beatles recordings to Vee Jay and Swan believing that UK rock music was a risky endeavour in the U.S.; however once She Loves You broke (SEP63), Capitol took full control of the US issues.
 
@Michael Hagerty

You bring up some good points!

However, it’s not accurate to say Jerry had no one who could have been on that bill. The Merry-Go-Round, who the week prior to Monterey had played to 36,000 concertgoers at the Magic Mountain Music Festival up in Marin, easily qualify.

What’s interesting is Jerry calling Joplin and The Who "great music", yet Captain Beefheart — who like The Who and Hendrix was quite progressive — was by all accounts personally dropped from A&M by Jerry apparently based on his own adverse opinion regarding song quality. Ironically, Beefheart also played at the Magic Mountain Festival.

There’s no projection on my part other than merely acknowledging the kind of music they were producing — you gotta walk the talk as we used to say as kids in the early '70s. If The Who and Joplin was truly "great music" and this is what Jerry wanted to sell at A&M then they would have done so from the beginning (of course, owing to full disclosure the countless and nameless 45 rock acts that they were recording, but here we’re focused squarely on LPs). His interview is probably the all-too-common quasi-revisionist episode where these '60s guys are treated like sages and in response they embellish the narrative a bit… From what I can tell, Jerry was a straight-ahead business man (I mean, we’re all assured he made the call to meltdown Warm and The Brass Are Comin' round about 1971-2, no?); so the expectation is that moving units trumps emotional connections). When it became clear he needed to sell a new kind of musical product he made his move; but it wasn’t because he thought the music was necessarily "great" — that’s just for the TV cameras — it was because he thought it would $ell. Back at Monterey, I seriously doubt he was proclaiming The Who as a great band or feeling embarrassed that he hadn’t signed them…particularly after enduring Townshend’s ear-splitting distortion and watching Pete and Moonie violently destroy their instruments on stage. (Rather, he was probably thinking "What on Earth are those guys doing!!)

For my nickel, the reason A&M didn’t have any of those Monterey bands is simply because A&M was not yet genuinely interested in that kind of rock music — at least for LP consumption. It’s not like A&M was based in Laramie, Wyoming soliciting local talent. This was 1967 LA: budding rock bands were crawling everywhere. In any event, from an LP standpoint A&M had no viable rock band in mid-67 (unless you count Boyce and Hart; I don’t: they were two west-coast type Brill Building pop songwriters, not a rock band); and although The Merry-Go-Round had completed the songs for their debut LP by JUN67, it would not be released until NOV67.

The list of musical artists at the festival actually supports precisely why no industry execs could predict a definitive musical direction in pop music at that time. First off, consider for example the bulk of RCA’s 1966-67 roster. With only modest musical diversity, much of the talent was mining Broadway or Hollywood or Brill Buidling offerings by way of A&R decisions typically based on a musical formula frequently involving pre-conceived musical arrangements (look what Columbia did to Aretha Franklin!).

For instance, if one put together a festival with pop singers of the day — aside from an outlier (e.g., Oscar Brown Jr.), there wouldn’t be much overall musical difference per se: Jack Jones, Andy Williams, Johnny Hartman, Nancy Wilson, Earl Coleman, Helen Merrill, Bill Henderson, Peggy Lee, Jerry Vale, Toni Harper… From an LP-to-LP standpoint there was an obvious underlying predictable aspect with the bulk of their work. On the other hand, the bands you cited were not predictable with their LPs, which was a hallmark of the times. With groups like The Who, The Beatles, The Mothers, The Kinks, Cream, et al every LP was vastly different than its predecessor. No one knew what the follow-up LP was going to sound like; hence, label execs had no predictive aspect regarding definitive music direction at that time. I recall an article in Time making a big deal out of The Band (JAN70) calling it the new sound of country (by way of pop) music — and of course the prediction didn’t really fan out. Then there was Randy Newman in a 1970s interview lamenting (to paraphrase) that "we all thought music was going in a different direction…" (in referring to what he was doing relative to arena rock's dominance of the early 1970s).

Apologies for any offenses here, particularly to Michael, whose posts I routinely enjoy — and I promise not to write any more desultory novellas on the topic. Think of this response as capturing the written spirit of that fine Brubeck LP, Brubeck Plays and Plays and Plays and Plays… (now to recover the past 2½ hours! Oh, my goodness!).

Oh, and you're 100% correct: Cocker nailed it at Woodstock!👍
 
To clarify this a bit: Here’s a quote from Billboard (Herb Alpert Premieres Beatles Michelle Cover, Says He Regrets Not Signing the Fab Four; 2017-06-09):

"When people ask me, 'Do you regret anything,' I was thinking, man, in 1962, after A&M (Records) started, the Beatles were hunting for a record company," Alpert tells Billboard. "They were on VeeJay for a while and I guess nobody really was coming to the party. I was thinking, 'Man, if I had flown over to London just to see if we could do something...' but the timing was off. I didn't get them at that moment. I retrospect you think, 'Man, they were available...'"

This appears to be wishful thinking. Actually, his timeline is off: prior to signing with EMI (JUN62), The Beatles had not issued any singles in the UK (their audition tape was previously rejected by DECCA, JAN62). Indeed, the band was virtually unknown in the UK beyond the local Liverpool scene — so there was no logical reason for anyone in the U.S. to want to sign them at that time. I think the passage of time has clouded the timeline. Herb is probably referring to the Vee Jay / Swan recordings that Capitol licensed during 1963. Capitol licensed the first Beatles recordings to Vee Jay and Swan believing that UK rock music was a risky endeavour in the U.S.; however once She Loves You broke (SEP63), Capitol took full control of the US issues.
This is my mistake. I found a piece quoting that interview that changed "if I had flown over to London" to "I had flown over to London".

Violated my biggest rule---always track it back to the original. Thanks for catching it.
 
Back to the main topic of how the label defined the 60s. Here's a series of just three albums that could help a newbie appreciate what A&M Records was like in the 60s:

1628250240431.png1628250262821.png

1628250327926.png1628250354945.png

1628250409472.png1628250420739.png

Those three samplers were originally sold at unlikely special locations, like sewing stores, banks, etc., in order to tie-in with commercial sponsors of the TV shows, as well as standard record stores. They were cheap, usually less than $2, and provided an invaluable sampling of the artists of the label and the times. And they were made in such quantities that they are still plentiful today.

And those samplers even still work today to promote artists that one is unfamiliar with. As late as the 2000s, it was FAMILY PORTRAIT that got me interested in Phil Ochs' albums. Same with Wes Montgomery and Tamba 4. I would never have expanded my collection to those artists without the inclusions on these samplers.

Today, it's a little different. One can usually go out to YouTube and find not only these recordings, but many others as well.
 
@Michael Hagerty

You bring up some good points!

However, it’s not accurate to say Jerry had no one who could have been on that bill. The Merry-Go-Round, who the week prior to Monterey had played to 36,000 concertgoers at the Magic Mountain Music Festival up in Marin, easily qualify.

What’s interesting is Jerry calling Joplin and The Who "great music", yet Captain Beefheart — who like The Who and Hendrix was quite progressive — was by all accounts personally dropped from A&M by Jerry apparently based on his own adverse opinion regarding song quality. Ironically, Beefheart also played at the Magic Mountain Festival.

There’s no projection on my part other than merely acknowledging the kind of music they were producing — you gotta walk the talk as we used to say as kids in the early '70s. If The Who and Joplin was truly "great music" and this is what Jerry wanted to sell at A&M then they would have done so from the beginning (of course, owing to full disclosure the countless and nameless 45 rock acts that they were recording, but here we’re focused squarely on LPs). His interview is probably the all-too-common quasi-revisionist episode where these '60s guys are treated like sages and in response they embellish the narrative a bit… From what I can tell, Jerry was a straight-ahead business man (I mean, we’re all assured he made the call to meltdown Warm and The Brass Are Comin' round about 1971-2, no?); so the expectation is that moving units trumps emotional connections). When it became clear he needed to sell a new kind of musical product he made his move; but it wasn’t because he thought the music was necessarily "great" — that’s just for the TV cameras — it was because he thought it would $ell. Back at Monterey, I seriously doubt he was proclaiming The Who as a great band or feeling embarrassed that he hadn’t signed them…particularly after enduring Townshend’s ear-splitting distortion and watching Pete and Moonie violently destroy their instruments on stage. (Rather, he was probably thinking "What on Earth are those guys doing!!)

For my nickel, the reason A&M didn’t have any of those Monterey bands is simply because A&M was not yet genuinely interested in that kind of rock music — at least for LP consumption. It’s not like A&M was based in Laramie, Wyoming soliciting local talent. This was 1967 LA: budding rock bands were crawling everywhere. In any event, from an LP standpoint A&M had no viable rock band in mid-67 (unless you count Boyce and Hart; I don’t: they were two west-coast type Brill Building pop songwriters, not a rock band); and although The Merry-Go-Round had completed the songs for their debut LP by JUN67, it would not be released until NOV67.

The list of musical artists at the festival actually supports precisely why no industry execs could predict a definitive musical direction in pop music at that time. First off, consider for example the bulk of RCA’s 1966-67 roster. With only modest musical diversity, much of the talent was mining Broadway or Hollywood or Brill Buidling offerings by way of A&R decisions typically based on a musical formula frequently involving pre-conceived musical arrangements (look what Columbia did to Aretha Franklin!).

For instance, if one put together a festival with pop singers of the day — aside from an outlier (e.g., Oscar Brown Jr.), there wouldn’t be much overall musical difference per se: Jack Jones, Andy Williams, Johnny Hartman, Nancy Wilson, Earl Coleman, Helen Merrill, Bill Henderson, Peggy Lee, Jerry Vale, Toni Harper… From an LP-to-LP standpoint there was an obvious underlying predictable aspect with the bulk of their work. On the other hand, the bands you cited were not predictable with their LPs, which was a hallmark of the times. With groups like The Who, The Beatles, The Mothers, The Kinks, Cream, et al every LP was vastly different than its predecessor. No one knew what the follow-up LP was going to sound like; hence, label execs had no predictive aspect regarding definitive music direction at that time. I recall an article in Time making a big deal out of The Band (JAN70) calling it the new sound of country (by way of pop) music — and of course the prediction didn’t really fan out. Then there was Randy Newman in a 1970s interview lamenting (to paraphrase) that "we all thought music was going in a different direction…" (in referring to what he was doing relative to arena rock's dominance of the early 1970s).

Apologies for any offenses here, particularly to Michael, whose posts I routinely enjoy — and I promise not to write any more desultory novellas on the topic. Think of this response as capturing the written spirit of that fine Brubeck LP, Brubeck Plays and Plays and Plays and Plays… (now to recover the past 2½ hours! Oh, my goodness!).

Oh, and you're 100% correct: Cocker nailed it at Woodstock!👍
1. Okay. If the Association made the bill at Monterey, the Merry-Go-Round could have, too.

2. Everything I can find says Jerry rejected Captain Beefheart's album because it was "too negative" and "too risque' for his daughter's ears". Song quality wasn't mentioned. Within a year, he's releasing Melvin Van Peebles. Jerry figured out fast (maybe from his experience at Monterey) that the world was changing around him.

3. If RCA hadn't had distribution rights to Colgems, giving them the Monkees, their biggest album of 1966 would have been Ssgt. Barry Sadlers' BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS. Apart from Jefferson Airplane and Jose' Feliciano, that label was treading water until 1969 and the debut of the Guess Who. It was the textbook example of the decline and death of A&R departments choosing material for "song stylists". And they released a hundred or more mostly poorly-selling albums a year. Columbia was in only slightly better shape thanks to Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Paul Revere and the Raiders and Simon & Garfunkel until Clive Davis took the wheel. But they were releasing 200 or more mostly poorly-selling albums a year.

4. I think we each mean something different by the direction pop music was going. You seem to be talking about styles---I'm suggesting that the direction was artists who would determine the styles. People who could, like Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and The Beatles in the years leading up to '67, invent and evolve. And ultimately, that fit perfectly with Herb's vision of A&M as an artist-friendly label.

No offenses taken on my part, JOv2, I enjoy your posts as well! I just thought there were some points in this one I needed to speak up on.
 
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Back to the main topic of how the label defined the 60s. Here's a series of just three albums that could help a newbie appreciate what A&M Records was like in the 60s:

1628250240431.png1628250262821.png

1628250327926.png1628250354945.png

1628250409472.png1628250420739.png

Those three samplers were originally sold at unlikely special locations, like sewing stores, banks, etc., in order to tie-in with commercial sponsors of the TV shows, as well as standard record stores. They were cheap, usually less than $2, and provided an invaluable sampling of the artists of the label and the times. And they were made in such quantities that they are still plentiful today.

And those samplers even still work today to promote artists that one is unfamiliar with. As late as the 2000s, it was FAMILY PORTRAIT that got me interested in Phil Ochs' albums. Same with Wes Montgomery and Tamba 4. I would never have expanded my collection to those artists without the inclusions on these samplers.

Today, it's a little different. One can usually go out to YouTube and find not only these recordings, but many others as well.
MUSIC BOX was the only one I had---mom brought it home after stopping in at Bank of America.
 
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