🎵 AotW Herb Alpert - BEYOND (SP-3717)

[Captain Bacardi]

Herb Alpert
BEYOND
A&M SP-3717

Released 1980 (Peaked at #6 on Jazz Album chart, #26 on the R&B Album chart and #28 on the Top 200 Album chart)

Format: Vinyl/Cassette/CD (Japan only)

Produced by Herb Alpert, Randy Badazz & Andy Armer

Songs & Musicians:

• 1. Kamali (Dana Barry) - 4:48
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpet, Vocal, Arp 2600 & Percussion
    Manolo Badrena - Drums
    Abraham Laboriel - Bass
    Kevin Calhoun - Drums
    Tim May - Guitar
    Chris Pinnick - Guitar
    Dana Barry - Guitar
    Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Guitar
    Mike Lang - Acoustic Piano
    Andy Armer - Electric Piano, Clavinet & Synthesizer
    Julius Wechter - Marimba
    Ernie Watts - Tenor Sax
    Don Hahn, Don Koldon & Steve Mitchell - Engineers
  
  2. The Continental (Andy Armer/Randy Badazz) - 3:58
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpets
    Randy Badazz - Drums, Bongos, Lamb & Artillery
    Andy Armer - Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet & Synthesizers
    Steve Gadd - Hi Hats
    Steve Schaeffer - Drums
    Robert Russell - Bass
    Chris Pinnick - Guitar
    Tim May - Guitar
    Bob Findley - Trumpet on Fanfare
    Bill Reichenbach - Trombone on Fanfare
    Don Hahn, Don Koldon & Steve Katz - Engineers
  
  3. Reach For The Stars (Ruben Rada/Andy Armer) - 5:11
  • Herb Alpert - Flugelhorn and Trumpet
    Steve Schaeffer - Drums
    Abraham Laboriel - Bass
    Tim May - Lead Guitar
    Chris Pinnick - Guitar
    Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Guitar Solo
    Mike Lang - Piano
    Andy Armer - Electric Piano
    Don Hahn & Don Koldon - Engineers
  
  4. Interlude (For Erica) (Andy Armer) - 3:30
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpet
    Abraham Laboriel - Bass
    Andy Armer - Piano
    Tim May - Acoustic Guitar
    Randy Badazz - Bongos
    Don Hahn - Engineer
  
  5. Red Hot (Howard Massey) - 3:37
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpet, Piano, Vocals & Percussion
    Steve Gadd - Drums
    Abraham Laboriel - Bass
    Chris Pinnick - Guitar
    Tommy Tedesco - Guitar
    Randy Badazz - Lead Vocal, Tambourine & Spirit
    Mike Lang - Electric and Tack Piano
    Andy Armer - Prophet 5
    Tom Tom "84" - String Orchestration
    Don Hahn & Don Koldon - Engineers
  
  6. Beyond (Richard Hewston) - 6:00
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpets
    Steve Gadd - Drums
    Abraham Laboriel - Bass
    Tim May - Guitar
    Chris Pinnick - Guitar
    Andy Armer - Piano & Synthesizers
    Michael Boddicker - Vocoder & Synthesizer Programmer
    Kevin Calhoun - Congas
    Don Hahn & Don Koldon - Engineers
  
  7. That's The Way Of The World (Maurice White/Verdine White/Charles Stepney) - 4:29
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpet
    Steve Schaeffer - Drums
    Abraham Laboriel - Bass
    Tim May - Guitar
    Chris Pinnick - Guitar
    Mike Lang - Acoustic Piano
    Andy Armer - Electric Piano, Clavinet & Synthesizers
    Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Lead Guitar
    Michael Boddicker - Vocoder
    Don Hahn - Engineer
  
  8. Keep It Goin' (Les McCann/Andy Armer/Randy Badazz) - 4:00
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpet & Percussion
    Abraham Laboriel - Bass
    Chris Pinnick - Guitar
    Andy Armer - Electric Piano, Acoustic Piano & Percussion
    Randy Badazz - Percussion
    Don Hahn - Engineer
  
  9. The Factory (Andy Armer/Randy Badazz) - 5:25
  • Herb Alpert - Trumpet & Mouthpiece
    Randy Badazz - Bongos, Drums, Chains, Pipes, Voices, Harmonized Artillery & African Talking Drum
    Andy Armer - Piano & Moog Bass
    Peter Frampton - Guitar Solo
    Don Hahn - Steel Girders
    Don Hahn & Don Koldon - Engineers

The Clap Section:
Herb Alpert, Randy Badazz, Andy Armer, Bill Morgan, Ken Dean, Steve Katz, Dore Alpert, Mike Glick, Wendy Barry, Rise Snyder, Tyrone Griffin, Effie Griffin, Paul "Hands" McKenna, Dayle Gloria, Bill Earl, Ron Ensminger, Don Koldon, Don Hahn, Ellis Sorkin and Mike Medina

Recorded at A&M Recording Studios
Additional Assistant Engineers - Dan Haverty, Paul McKenna & Jim Cassell
Remix Engineer - Don Hahn
Mastered at A&M Recording Studios by Bernie Grundman

Art Direction & Design - Chuck Beeson
Photography - Norman Seeff

Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I like this album a lot. It's quite a bit more "jazzy" than Rise was, but contained a lot of the same kind of elements as that album did. A lot of dance beats, "handclap" choruses, "party" sounds in the background, etc.

There is a lot to like on the record -- the opening track is one of my favorites, but the highlight is the amazing title song, which long-time readers may know is one of my favorite Herb Alpert recordings ever. The song just cooks. I love the way it's a dance song, but sounds nothing like any other dance song before or since. From a production standpoint, it's one of the most interesting records in Herb's whole catalog in my opinion. The drums are "understated" -- which is unheard-of for a dance record -- but it still works. The acoustic rhythm guitar that starts chiming in just before the second verse -- something else you don't see on a dance record -- is a wonderful touch. The keyboard bass line that runs through the whole song (except one break in the middle) is very cool as well. Overall, the intensity of the trumpet performance is what brings it all home and makes it great.

 

[Rudy]

I was hoping the title track would climb higher on the charts than it did. One of my favorite tracks also! There also wasn't any 12" remix or extended version either.

 

[Harry]

There also wasn't any 12" remix or extended version either.

No remixes, but there was the nifty clear-vinyl 12" with the full 6:00 album version on one side and a 4:14 edited version on the flip. (SP-12034)

Harry

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I always loved his version of "That's The Way Of The World". It has such a nice groove to it. Gotta love Frampton's solo on "The Factory".

 

[Rudy]

"The Factory" seems like it was a lot of fun to record; look at the percussion arsenal that Capt. Badazz played on that track.

 

[Harry]

I was playing the middle disc of HERB ALPERT IS... today and "The Factory" came on. I hadn't heard that one in awhile, and as we're in the Halloween season, it seemed to me that "The Factory" is a pretty 'scary-sounding' record. Lot's of shrieks and metallic noises (chains rattling?). Good soundtrack for Halloween night.

 

[Bobberman]

I was playing the middle disc of HERB ALPERT IS... today and "The Factory" came on. I hadn't heard that one in awhile, and as we're in the Halloween season, it seemed to me that "The Factory" is a pretty 'scary-sounding' record. Lot's of shrieks and metallic noises (chains rattling?). Good soundtrack for Halloween night.

I totally agree and I will say as a follow-up album to Rise this album picks up where it left off still a great album from start to finish

 

[Aaron Bitman]

I heard that Alpert commented about his successes during his Tijuana Brass years in these words: “During the period the band had all those hits, I felt I was working in a factory making songs. Push a button, write a song, sell a million." Working so much on music in that same style tired him out and caused him stress. He had to take a break and move onto other musical styles.

And eventually, he came out with another huge success, his Rise album. After that, it seemed an obvious choice to keep making records in THAT style... but would that trap Alpert into turning out many more albums in that style, like a factory worker, while he suffered because of it? The Beyond album had many songs like that, but "The Factory" was clearly very different; it had an ominous tone that implied suffering factory workers.

Coincidence? I think not.

In all seriousness, if anyone could point me to some documented evidence - like a quote - that suggested that's what Herb Alpert (or Andy Armer, or Randy Badazz, or someone) meant, I'd appreciate it.

And yes, I agree that "The Factory" is scary, when I listen to it under certain conditions. In fact, it can leave me so rattled that when I listen to the Beyond album, I try to plan it so that I listen to some other music immediately afterward.

 

[Mr Bill]

One of the last super-8 movies I started (and never finished as I entered the "professional world of film and TV production) was a horror/comedy called It Lived and the plan was to use "The Factory" as the theme song. Back in the day (pre-mid-80s) amateur super-8 filmmakers would often use actual songs for their films, legalities of doing so aside. I even won 2nd place in the Starlog Magazine Film Contest its first year for an animated film called Midnight Fantasy to which I attached Herb's "Coney Island."

A lot of the effects techniques my friends and I worked up for It Lived would nowadays be done by computers... but it was a lot of fun... An example: Titles were in red and then they'd run like blood. We Achieved this by putting titles in wet red paint on glass on a gimbal shooting straight down, then tilt it up after a few seconds, making the blood "run." I often wish I'd finished it. I've actually dusted the script off and have been toying with making it into a musical...

--Mr Bill