First new Herb Alpert VINYL releases in decades, released today!

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Rudy

¡Que siga la fiesta!
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Vinyl collectors have every reason to celebrate today: after decades of digital releases, two noteworthy Herb Alpert titles make their debut on vinyl today!

Continue reading...

Note: this thread is for discussing only the new 180 gram vinyl releases. For the music, we have existing threads for the albums mentioned. If vinyl is not your "thing," please comment elsewhere so that we may keep this discussion on track.

We will post official reviews of these vinyl releases on http://www.tijuanabrass.com once our copies arrive, and will link to those here in the forum for comments as well.
 
Both are on their way. Now I'm in hurry up and wait mode. It's probably been over 30 years since I've purchased any new vinyl, so I'm excited about these!
 
Mine are a week or two out, so unfortunately I have to wait before posting a review.
 
While I was out running errands for the wife I happened to be by a Barnes & Noble and went to check to see if they had any of the vinyl there. Sure enough, they had both Whipped Cream and Come Fly With Me on vinyl, as well as a CD of Christmas Album. So I quickly snatched those up!

Just gave WCOD a listen. The first thing I noticed is how much cleaner it is from the Shout! Factory version. For example, the SF version of "Taste Of Honey" had some garbled noise around the :37 mark in the left channel. I didn't hear it on the vinyl. I hear a bit more piano than before as well on certain tunes, especially on "Honey" and "Bittersweet Samba". It's a slight difference. It could be I never really paid attention to it before. I thought there was a bit of distortion on the trumpet at the beginning of "Ladyfingers". Other than that I found it to have quite a warm sound and pretty true to the original, albeit the vinyl is heavier than before. And, of course, I have to get up every 15 minutes to turn the side over. :D
 
One other thing - the inner sleeve is your basic white. I think it would be neat if they would put all of the TJB covers on the inner sleeve. Maybe do it the way they had the A&M LPs in the 60's. Just a thought....
 
Thanks for the update! :thumbsup: The real comparison I'd like to make with Whipped is with a first pressing LP, but I really doubt that I'd ever find a clean one. Since Grundman cut this new one, it'll sound as good as it can from the masters. :thumbsup:

Tentative date for Christmas Album vinyl was supposed to be this coming Friday (27th). Not sure if I'll get one from Amazon, or see what's available locally. The problem with local is that in this area, few stores carry new vinyl, their selection often isn't very good when they do, and some that do carry a selection are often at higher prices than what I can buy them for online.

Quick tour of Grundman Mastering, courtesy of Mikey Fremer:

 
One other thing - the inner sleeve is your basic white. I think it would be neat if they would put all of the TJB covers on the inner sleeve. Maybe do it the way they had the A&M LPs in the 60's. Just a thought....

Just a paper sleeve? Or did they at least use a lined paper sleeve? (Reminds me I need to order more "rice paper" sleeves...)
 
Just a paper sleeve with a hole cut out in the center.

BTW, the Come Fly With Me LP's inner sleeve has the liner notes from the CD plus a photo of Herb. There's also a card there that gives you access to a free download of the album from Herb's website.

I noticed on the back cover a little logo of a circle with "ada" in it. It stands for Alternative Distribution Alliance. It's kind of nice to be able to read liner notes again! :wink:
 
While at Barnes and Noble to pick up the WHIPPED CREAM CD, I too spotted both the WHIPPED CREAM and COME FLY WITH ME vinyl. The vinyl prices were both $22.99. I held them both in my hands but ultimately put them back.

I've reasoned (or rationalized) that I've still got my old vinyl and don't need new. I will better appreciate the new versions on CD.

It's been ages since I saw such a well-stocked record/movie store. I only wish a Barnes & Noble were closer to me.

The store also had the new CHRISTMAS ALBUM CD and Carpenters CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT SE prominently displayed.

I've still not had a chance to listen to the WCOD disc, but plan to in the next couple of hours.

Harry
 
I hope I am posting this in the right thread if not please move it to the right thread. Harry, see that is why I

got the cd version of Whipped Cream and the Christmas Album The CD has a brighter sound without the

ticks and pops as you would get

on the vinyl. sometimes that is the static sound. but with the CD you do not hear that. and plus with a CD

you always get a booklet with it. that has pictures.pluse they are less in price on best buy web site they have

the Whipped Cream and the

Christmas Album on CD for $9.99. I have not bought a brand new vinyl since the 80's.

take care
bob
 
While at Barnes and Noble to pick up the WHIPPED CREAM CD, I too spotted both the WHIPPED CREAM and COME FLY WITH ME vinyl. The vinyl prices were both $22.99. I held them both in my hands but ultimately put them back.

I've reasoned (or rationalized) that I've still got my old vinyl and don't need new.

Given the superior vinyl and pressing quality, and Bernie's modern mastering (his equipment chain runs circles around the equipment used back in the 60s), it would be an improvement over the old vinyl. That is why I'm anxious to compare this to the older vinyl, to see how well they stack up.
 
Without hearing the new vinyl - and going on my listen to the CD - I'm going to predict a really nice vinyl experience. Even on the CD, the tracks have an "airiness" that was covered up by a bit of harshness on the Shout! reissue ten years ago. I'm usually one that likes almost exaggerated highs, yet this new CD has a little bit tamer highs than the Shout!. The words I'd use are "natural" and "balanced" sound. I know they are not the most descriptive words, but that's how it comes across.

Harry
 
Interesting. In reality, Whipped is a bit weak in sound quality, just due to the tracks being bounced from tape to tape in an early form of multitracking. But if anyone could extract everything that was there on the tapes, Bernie (or one of his colleagues, like Chris Bellman) is the one to do it. I'm looking forward to hearing it. We'll have vinyl, in addition to a good reference digital version as well. I'll be getting the HDTracks downloads on these, so that will be a treat also.
 
I'm VERY pleased with the way this sounds. The Shout disc before it was pretty darned good, but this one trumps it.

Harry
 
the SF version of "Taste Of Honey" had some garbled noise around the :37 mark in the left channel. I didn't hear it on the vinyl.

I hear that garbled noise in the right channel, but yes, it's gone in the new version.
 
I should have my copy of Whipped Cream some time this weekend. I have two playable copies from back in the day so I have something to compare to. One of these was my dad's and it's in excellent shape and fairly early I think. He was very careful with his records and I was even more so as any crud or scratches on the vinyl would earn you swift retribution. :uhhuh:
 
I grew up in a house where records weren't exactly abused, but the older mono records were never put back into the sleeves often, and they were stacked on the Admiral hi-fi's changer quite regularly by me. When we got the Magnavox console upstairs, which was stereo (oooooh, ahhhh....probably 1969 or 1970), those were the "good" records and were always put away. The record players back then were no so kind on the records (they do have "groove burn"), but at least they weren't in too terribly bad condition. I got a taste of the "retribution" one day when I was rotating a record in one of the corners on top of the console, and left some scratches in it. I didn't get whooped personally, but the 45 was swiftly converted into two pieces at Mom's hands. :laugh: (That was the shortest-lived A&M record in my collection. :D )
 
My first experience with anything "hi-fi" was courtesy of my uncle. He had been in the Navy and loved to bring home bits of stereo equipment. He had a Garrard turntable which was mounted in a custom-built (by my grandpa) cabinet in the basement family room. The amplifier was built into the wall above the turntable, and there was a combination speaker/record cabinet in the corner. That outfit really sounded good. That's where I heard my first Martin Denny record (the original Quiet Village album).

At home, we had a more generic cabinet-type phonograph; my dad raised me from the very beginning to be extra-careful with the records. Thus I was allowed to operate the phonograph, which made a few of my friends jealous because they weren't allowed to operate their dad's setups!

My first taste of stereo was at our auto parts store, where they had put in the "latest thing" for cars, 8-track tape decks. They mounted some speakers on the wall behind the counter and we delighted in listening to the "Audio Fidelity Stereo Spectacular Demonstration" tape, which included some very funny bits from an album called "Cartoons in Stereo." Which is of course available on YouTube.... here's a link to one of my favorites:
 
In the later 50s I was given one of those RCA 45 RPM record players and thus listened exclusively to 45s. Then someone gave me some albums - related to my piano lessons, so my dad found me a used record-player-in-a-suitcase that would do both 33s and 45s. For Christmas, sometime around 1965, I was given a Magnavox portable stereo record player, one of those fold-up, all light-blue-plastic things - but it was my first taste of stereo. That was the year that I got a bunch of Tijuana Brass albums, most in stereo.

The turntable had a crappy ceramic cartridge in it, but just hearing music separated into two channels was amazing. I was delighted hearing the Tijuana Brass with the drums in the left channel, the guitars in the right, and Herb's horns floating in between in the middle. Improvements followed a few years later with a separate magnetic cartridge turntable (BSR), a Sears tuner/amplifier and some home-made speakers that Dad rigged up. Now I had some thumpy bass in my stereo! At this point I was expanding to more A&M artists like Sergio Mendes.

I still have all of those records. Some are just a little worn, some are pretty beat up from heavy use on those early record players. In the 90s, I stumbled on a flea market selling virtually all of the TjB records for a buck, and I picked out really clean copies of just about every album to improve from the old records. These were used to make cassette tapes for the car and served well. They are still my go-to vinyl copies.

Harry
 
This got me to thinking about my own "stereo chronology."

My first stereo of "my own:" Lear Jet P550 portable 8-track player (I had asked for a phonograph for Christmas and got this instead)
First stereo I bought myself: A Lear Jet home system with 8T, radio and turntable all in one
First separate turntable: I forget the model, but it was a rather crappy Voice of Music unit (with plastic base, that should have been a red flag)
First component system: Technics receiver, Technics direct drive turntable, and a pair of Akai speakers -- I still have the speakers hooked to our downstairs TV setup and use them most every day
I also had a Technics auto-reverse cassette deck, a pair of Technics speakers (we were a Panasonic/Technics dealer so I was a big fan)

The receiver and tape deck are long gone, but I still have the same turntable and another Technics one, neither of which will hold their speed very well. But I've digitized most everything I want to anyway.

Currently I have a Pioneer receiver and Blu-Ray player and the aforementioned Akai speakers in the house, but that setup is mostly used for TV/video purposes. I do about 99% of my music listening on my pickup stereo (JVC headunit, and all JL speakers) or my computer (Logitech amplified speakers/subwoofer). My equipment tastes have gotten progressively less picky over the years since we got out of the stereo business, because I'm not the "latest gadget" freak I used to be. Thankfully for my bank account!
 
My first experience with anything "hi-fi" was courtesy of my uncle. He had been in the Navy and loved to bring home bits of stereo equipment. He had a Garrard turntable which was mounted in a custom-built (by my grandpa) cabinet in the basement family room.

That was the neat thing about being in the service--you could get really high quality electronics for prices far below what we'd pay stateside. I'm not sure how that plays out today, but back then, some of the military had the coolest gear. :D

In the later 50s I was given one of those RCA 45 RPM record players and thus listened exclusively to 45s.

I still haven't restored my 45EY-3 yet. Bought it a decade ago but never got around to rebuilding the amp and getting new rubber parts, and something other than the record-shredding crystal cartridge it used. They were all basically the same, differing mainly in packaging. (They used the same mini turntable.)

 
That was the neat thing about being in the service--you could get really high quality electronics for prices far below what we'd pay stateside.
My uncle also had this huge reel-to-reel Sony tape deck. My dad had a smaller reel deck but it was mono -- my uncle's had HUGE speakers (well they were huge to me!) and was a stereo machine. I guess I was surrounded by a lot of cool electronics pretty much from birth! No wonder I'm a sound nut today.
 
My grandfather built Heathkit electronics. (Still kicking myself for not taking that tubed integrated amp when they cleaned out the house.) So part of my "gear lust" comes from having been around that, and led to my own tinkering. It hasn't stopped! :laugh:
 
That was the neat thing about being in the service--you could get really high quality electronics for prices far below what we'd pay stateside. I'm not sure how that plays out today, but back then, some of the military had the coolest gear. :D

Yup, I bought my first component stereo rig at the BX at Bergstrom AFB back in '76. It was a Sanyo system. Not the best in the world but at that time it fit my needs since I still lived in the barracks at the time. It even had an 8-track recorder. Truly hi-tech. :wink:
 
We had a big Curtis Mathis console - tv, stereo, radio - all the good stuff! I remember the day dad brought it home. I was 7. When mom and I saw it we had widely differing reactions. Mom said, "You spent too much," and my first words were, "Is that a color TV?" It wasn't but was still very cool. Had to earn the privilege of using it. I watched dad like a hawk when he would play a record. After about 6 months he let me try. I did it right & was allowed to play it after that. I was 8 by that time. When I was 12 I got my own little stereo so I could play the "crap" that the adults didn't want to hear.

My brother was in the USAF and brought home some interesting stuff. He still has a big reel-to reel that he is wanting to get rid of. He's gone for the winter, but I'll have to see what that is when he gets back next spring.

My component system was a Kenwood tuner, amp, and turntable with Cerwin Vega speakers. I miss that setup.
 
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