Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Box Set

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I've seen (and purchased) the slimline double-CD jewel cases. These are the ones that have the inside that flips over to reveal a second disc, but are the same size as a standard single CD case. There must be someplace that sells the fat cases that hold three or four discs, but I've not investigated it very far.

I often prefer having the multiple set discs in their own case anyway. One of my perpetual "future projects" is to make three individual jewel cases for the Bacharach box set. The liner notes are wonderful, but who needs them in the car? My intention is to scan some graphics and track lists in and fit them to size.

Harry
...projects, projects, projects, online...
 
Harry: if you get a chance, peruse the local newspaper and see if there's a "computer show" happening in your area. Our local Gibraltar Trade Center (which is a big indoor marketplace bordering on flea market) has a computer show every month. One vendor stocks all sorts of empty CD jewel cases and, in fact, I bought a bunch in bulk (of a few different varieties) last time I went. Here's what he's had in the past:

1. Standard jewel cases, black trays.
2. Standard jewel cases, clear trays.
3. 2-CD single-width jewel cases (center tray folds out).
4. 4-CD multi-CD jewel case (the thick ones).
5. "Slimline" jewel cases (half the width of single-CD cases, like the one CD I sent you w/ the colored lid)
6. "Soft plastic" jewel cases, similar to the material used in those DVD cases when you rent a DVD or video game.

He has other variations as well, and prices are cheap, and lower if you buy more. I know the price on 100 standard jewel cases is dirt cheap--they actually sell them disassembled in a case.

I like this because I can buy spindles of 100 CDs, and then buy cases in bulk so I can get the type of cases I like. And it works out cheaper.

The only thing I haven't tried yet are 3" CDs. Best Buy's price is too high (spindle of 50 for $35), but they finally sell jewel cases. The computer show sells out of the 3" CDs before I ever get there. The shows also have those credit-card CDs for recording on, as well as the cool black CDs and some of the new 90 minute variety (which I'm still meaning to test).

The worst part of a computer show, for me, is temptation. Looking over all the components makes me want to build another system...or beef up the ones I have. Prices at these shows are at rock bottom, and are usually a good place to buy add-ons like memory, hard drives, DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives, etc. Only caveat is to avoid the generic crap...sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It is an eye opener regardless--once you've seen what the componentry costs for a computer, it makes you wonder why you'd pay all the extra $$$ to one of the big computer makers.

-= N =-
 
Hi All,

Following this thread , a " Complete TJB / Alpert Recordings" is a great idea, BUT ...too bulky and far too costly for anyone except die hard fans.

A 4 CD Box would be better , with some hits, album favourites , rare cuts and extras etc and perhaps some rare unissued live recordings.

Alpert Solo and other projects would be best on a 3 CD set.

Both the Box Sets with extensive liner notes, archive photos and lyrisc to key songs , could be marketed at special prices (initally for the first year) to attract wider music lovers.

Rather like Carpenters re-issue CD's , both TJB and Alpert back catalogue sets could be released at mid-price level for fans and the curious to buy / dip into their favoured albums.

Rhino would be a great company for these releases , anyone except the majors and NOT UNIVERSAL......! :D
 
PJ said:

Glad you could make it, Peter! :)

PJ said:
Following this thread , a " Complete TJB / Alpert Recordings" is a great idea, BUT ...too bulky and far too costly for anyone except die hard fans.

Even priced at an affordable $10/disc, being "complete" would be out of reach of many buyers. The one good part of doing an complete box set is that the albums themselves weren't all that long, and it would not take as many CDs as other artists would need for a complete catalog. But as much as I'd like a complete set (I'd probably buy that before I'd buy a 4-CD set if both were available simultaneously), it's not something the majority of buyers would consider. In fact, for others who are not big on the TJB like we are, just listening to a set that size could be exhausting.

PJ said:
Alpert Solo and other projects would be best on a 3 CD set.

Agree with you there. On Definitive Hits, that was the one flaw that stuck out in my mind--most of his solo recordings don't fit well with the TJB recordings. I like all the music, but not so closely assembled.

PJ said:
Rhino would be a great company for these releases , anyone except the majors and NOT UNIVERSAL......! :D

Now I'm drooling! :wink: If someone were to properly assemble a good selection of tracks, create a few sets of liner notes, a track-by-track description of the songs (including recording dates and session numbers--another Rhino-ism), it would be a first class set. And actually, anybody could assemble it, and just license the recordings from Herb and/or Universal. As long as it's done correctly, without the corporate politics, it would be a fine set in anyone's hands!

-= N =-
 
Rhino's approach recently has been to put out a box set of 3 or 4 disks, then later, issue a "very best of" single disk packed with hits. With the Doobie Brothers, they did this, and also issued a set called DOOBIES CHOICE which was the band's own handpicked favorites. Such an approach would work great with the TJB. I'll bet Herb A. has favorites that weren't hits (like the ones on SOLID BRASS and GH 2).
 
I've been eyeing that 4-CD Doobies set. Wasn't aware that Rhino had input (that makes it all the more desireable), but not surprising now that Rhino's in bed w/ WEA. I have both of the Doobs "Best Of" compilations, both of which are decades old. Can't say I would buy an entire catalog of Doobage on CD, but I know the four-CD set would get a lot of play around here.

Never have been a big Eagles fan (I like some of their songs), but still may consider their box set. They've been growing on me.

-= N =-
 
Let me answer several things that have been brought up in this thread.

Herb Alpert and the TJB are one of the few major acts for which a definitive box set is not available and never has been. So if a good one, which features hits (in their single mixes), key LP tracks and rarities/obscurities, would come out, that would be wonderful! I like the 4-CD idea; then a single CD with "the hits" can be boiled down from it, much as was done with the Byrds, Fats Domino and Les Paul & Mary Ford boxes.

Someone asked where one could find multi-CD jewel boxes. Try Bags Unlimited: www.bagsunlimited.com. I know they offer most kinds of jewel boxes for CDs, up to a 15/16th-inch-thick jewel box for 4 CDs. And you can buy them in bulk for all your replacement needs. :) They are a regular advertiser in Goldmine, so I have no problem recommending them.

Someone else mentioned the Citizen Steely Dan box. As "complete" as it supposedly is, it is missing their first two songs, "Dallas" and "Sail the Waterway," a single issued before "Do It Again." These songs were on their extremely rare first 45, plus they appeared on a British 12-inch EP from around 1977.

Someone else mentioned Rhino Records. Now that Rhino is wholly owned by AOL Time Warner, almost all its single-artist compilations come from material wholly or mostly owned by WEA, unless it's material that Rhino itself controls (e.g., The Monkees), so you can probably forget seeing a TJB compilation on Rhino. Rhino's various-artists sets are the only ones that feature much cross-licensing any more.

I think the most likely label to do TJB CDs would be Collector's Choice Music. The TJB doesn't seem to fit into Sundazed's bag, and they aren't "jazz" enough for Mosaic, probably. Perhaps Germany's Bear Family label might be interested in a "complete" TJB box, as that label seems to do American artists better than American labels do. It just did two huge boxes of all of Dean Martin's Reprise sessions. So that might be the best place to have a "complete" box done.
 
Tim Neely said:
Someone else mentioned the Citizen Steely Dan box. As "complete" as it supposedly is, it is missing their first two songs, "Dallas" and "Sail the Waterway," a single issued before "Do It Again."

Were these two songs on ABC? Sounds like something I'll have to look for. There is a lot of pre-Steely Dan material out there, but a lot of it is very rough demos. I have a couple of those early ones, but can't say I listen to them hardly at all.

Tim Neely said:
I think the most likely label to do TJB CDs would be Collector's Choice Music. The TJB doesn't seem to fit into Sundazed's bag, and they aren't "jazz" enough for Mosaic, probably.

Other alternate ideas that don't involve any of our favorite "collector" labels (CC Music, Bear Family, etc.):

1. A&M release--this would be the most authentic, but would require UMG's distribution. I don't know the complete details of Herb's arrangement with his masters (he's in control...but exactly of what?), but if he could produce a box set or some kind of reissue program that would exactly meet his own specifications, and UMG allow him to do it, then A&M is a possibility.

2. Almo Sounds is a possibility, but more remote. With everyone in the same UMG bed now, what's the difference?

3. Self-releasing product on his own new label (like many artists are doing now). The big drawback is lack of distribution. Although with the smarts of Jerry Moss, they'd find a way if they really wanted to do this w/o creating an entire label machinery behind it.

For that matter, would another label take them in? (I'm thinking of a label like Rykodisc.)

All we're left with now is "wait and see!" (And it's not as far away as you'd think!)

-= N =-
 
Rudy said:
Were these two songs on ABC? Sounds like something I'll have to look for. There is a lot of pre-Steely Dan material out there, but a lot of it is very rough demos. I have a couple of those early ones, but can't say I listen to them hardly at all.

Yes, this was their first ABC single (ABC 11323). The British EP with both "Dallas" and "Sail the Waterway" is called "+ Fours: Four Tracks from Steely Dan"; its catalog number is ABE 12003 and was issued in 1977. As they are in mono on the EP (which I own; alas, I don't own the 45), these songs evidently were never even mixed to stereo. I suspect that the masters for these songs were two of many victims of the ABC Masters Purge of 1979, right after MCA bought the company and merged ABC into MCA. Almost all the ABC single master tapes were destroyed in the transition. And as the songs evidently were never even intended for Can't Buy a Thrill, who knows where the multitracks have gone.
 
Neil - That Doobies box set is a winner. Great booklet (thick!) with complete credits, 2 essays, etc. The "rarities" are better than average too. The whole thing is very nicely done, topped off with classy understated artwork.
 
I'm not in doubt that Herb has the resources, the rights and the possibilities of putting together a box set of everything that we would all want. The question is if he himself wants to. The Billboard article indicates that the possibility is there now. Earlier we know that he's been very reluctant to revisit the TJB past, and has been eager to be producing new material, not dwelling on the past too much.

- greetings from the north -
martin
 
Everyone keeps mentioning how Rhino is unlikely because now that they're part of AOL Time Warner they don't issue single-artist CDs that require total outside licensing.

But don't forget thate other label that has been part of AOL Time Warner for ages before AOL got involved, and yet puts out discs of material 100% licensed from others to this day: "not sold in stores" king Time-Life.

They've already broken the mold: They've licensed at least one TJB track ("A Taste of Honey" for INSTRUMENTAL FAVORITES: POP CLASSICS) already. (It's hard to be sure if any more because their web page Search feature doesn't work right. If you Search on "Alpert" you don't find any CDs in series they made, but if you click Music then Instrumental then the Instrumental Favorites collection then you clearly find the word "Alpert" in the highlights listing of POP CLASSICS, and I have the CD so I can attest that it's really on there.)

Time-Life prefers subscription series to box sets, and repackaging to get the same big number of tracks on each disc rather than following original album sequencing. But they've shown a willingness to go deep on an instrumental artist: They've got a 20-disc collection just on Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops alone! (That's not counting the one volume devoted to that artist in the INSTRUMENTAL FAVORITES collection.) And that required mostly licensing from BMG.

T-L is not proud. If they need to do all their licensing from one label, that's no problem, they just put "manufactured in conjuntion with [in our case] Universal Music Special Products" or whatever. They just care that the costs work out to their benefit.

So what's the sales potential of a TJB collection compared to a Boston Pops collection? (I know of way fewer collecting fans of the Boston Pops than the TJB, but maybe that's just me [g]?)

Of course, since we all know that T-L's #1 marketing outlet is infomercials, there's probably another requirement before they could put out a TJB collection: Finding CLEAN copies of all those TJB specials so they could have plenty footage for the 25-minute ad! :)
 
Mike Blakesley said:
Neil - That Doobies box set is a winner. Great booklet (thick!) with complete credits, 2 essays, etc. The "rarities" are better than average too. The whole thing is very nicely done, topped off with classy understated artwork.

Two sellers had the Doobage box set for $26 and change. I've got one on order now! I missed a chance to see the Doobs for free last summer. Still wish I'd gone, couldn't find anyone who wanted to go...almost took the girl I used to work with, but our schedules never worked out. :confused:

-= N =-
...noting return Doobage this summer...
 
Of course, since we all know that T-L's #1 marketing outlet is infomercials, there's probably another requirement before they could put out a TJB collection: Finding CLEAN copies of all those TJB specials so they could have plenty footage for the 25-minute ad! :)[/quote]


Now THAT'S one infomercial I'd tape and break the tab off the cassette...do it...do it...do it....do it.... :o


Dan
 
Hi All,

Herb & Jerry should consider four main labels if Rhino pass / or unable to release the Box Set :

Time -Life

Readers Digest

Collector's Choice or Collectibles

Perhaps Herb & Jerry could use some of their $multi-millions from A&M & Publishing sales to fund their re-issue programme on their own new small record company , with some other A&M favourites...Sergio , Carpenters (plus solo), Supertramp , Styx , Joe Cocker , Rita Coolridge and Bacharach......


Peter....Ever hopeful for future good record companies...... :) :) :)
 
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