🎵 AotW Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass: Foursider (A&M Records SP-3521)

Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass: Foursider

A&M Records SP-3521
Released 1973

A1: The Lonely Bull (El Solo Toro) • 2:28​

A2: More • 2:28​

A3: The Girl From Ipanema • 2:35​

A4: Hello Dolly • 1:55​

A5: Taste Of Honey • 2:43​

A6: Whipped Cream • 2:33​

B1: Tijuana Taxi • 2:05​

B2: Zorba The Greek • 4:25​

B3: If I Were A Rich Man • 2:33​

B4: What Now My Love • 2:18​

B5: The Shadow Of Your Smile • 3:28​

C1: Mame • 2:05​

C2: With A Little Help From My Friends • 2:38​

C3: Casino Royale • 2:35​

C4: Cabaret • 2:38​

C5: This Guy's In Love With You • 3:55​

D1: Moon River • 2:55​

D2: Sunny • 3:11​

D3: Warm • 2:11​

D4: Without Her • 3:22​

D5: Last Tango In Paris • 2:50​

https://www.discogs.com/master/192651-Herb-Alpert-And-The-Tijuana-Brass-Foursider

 

[Harry]

I'm pretty sure I saw the FOURSIDER LP set in a store and bought it then and there. It came out after SOLID BRASS, I believe, and I was still essentially searching for a "greatest hits volume 2" to go along with the orange GREATEST HITS. Both SOLID BRASS and FOURSIDER filled part of that wish, but both also covered territory from GH1. GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2 came along later, first as a club issue, then for general issue.

FOURSIDER was later issued on CD.

 

[Rudy]

Mine was a gift. No clue what year, but it was whenever it came out.

Weird about the Foursider series though--I see conflicting release dates for all of them. I see 1973, 1972, even 1970 (I think for Liza Minnelli's). As it's a compilation though, it's not worth my time to worry about it.

 

[Bobberman]

Until 1982 I was unaware of the foursider series as the BMB Entry was the first one I was aware of 2 years later I got my vinyl copy of Herb's entry and later replaced it with the CD version which I still have. And personally I liked the CD version better and still do. Being somewhat of a completist I'm glad I have at least one copy of Every release on CD except JYAM but as for the compilations they served me well until the reissues finally came.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Mine was a gift. No clue what year, but it was whenever it came out.

Weird about the Foursider series though--I see conflicting release dates for all of them. I see 1973, 1972, even 1970 (I think for Liza Minnelli's). As it's a compilation though, it's not worth my time to worry about it.

All of the Foursider series came out at the same time---released in November of 1973. I remember getting the promo copies all in the same box.

Here's Billboard's piece on them in the November 10, 1973 issue:

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-11-10-Billboard-Page-0004.pdf#search=%22foursider%22

Since the TJB had officially broken up, none of the acts (apart from Herb and Lani as solo artists) were still with A&M at the time of the Foursider releases. Liza was at Columbia, Sergio and Julius had gone to Bell, and the Sandpipers didn't have a record deal.

 

[AM Matt]

Went to # 196 on Billboard Top 200 Album Charts in December of 1973.

 

[Rudy]

All of the Foursider series came out at the same time---released in November of 1973.

That's what I thought. Some of this data is on Discogs, and I saw a 1972 in a discography book that has a fair amount of questionable data in it.

So I've been doing all of these as 1973.

 

[Harry]

It also makes sense that A&M was putting these out as a kind of historical record of the prior decade. These artists were no longer active with the label, so it was an effort to put them out there for anyone who might have missed getting some of their titles. Some of these were popular enough to make it to the CD era (Alpert, Mendes, Minnelli).

 

[Michael Hagerty]

It also makes sense that A&M was putting these out as a kind of historical record of the prior decade. These artists were no longer active with the label, so it was an effort to put them out there for anyone who might have missed getting some of their titles. Some of these were popular enough to make it to the CD era (Alpert, Mendes, Minnelli).

That is the kindest possible analysis, Harry.

My take is Jerry saw Liza taking off at Columbia, wasn't sure if Sergio and Julius would catch fire at Bell and wanted to make some quick cash off the stuff in the vault from the TJB and Sandpipers, so just in time for Christmas, he comes up with a sure-fire "two LPs for the price of one" idea....


...and watches every last one of 'em sink without a trace.

I mean, seriously---a TJB greatest hits package, with the advantage of a ton of the stuff being out of print or at least not easy to find in your local record store---and it peaks at #196?

Yikes.

 

[Bobberman]

I mean, seriously---a TJB greatest hits package, with the advantage of a ton of the stuff being out of print or at least not easy to find in your local record store---and it peaks at #196?

Yikes.

The Same Fate or Worse sales wise was true for the BMB.Sandpipers. Sergio. And Liza. However these collections for the most part Remained in print for a long time and were the only way to get certain songs from the out of print albums. So they did eventually served a good purpose. As the CD Era arrived the Sandpipers and BMB Foursiders were already out of print and only 3 of them made it to digital format you can say 3 Out of 5 ain't bad.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

One thing you have to give this set credit for, it's very democratic when it comes to song selections. Every album in Herb's catalog to that point (except Summertime, which Herb may not have considered a "real" album) gets one or two selections. The lone outlier is What Now My Love, which gets three picks.

The idea caused them to leave out a lot of the TJB's big favorites, however, most notably "Spanish Flea" and "The Mexican Shuffle." In fact, seven of the songs that were included on the Tijuana Brass' Greatest Hits album are left out of Foursider. And taking into account TJB's Greatest Hits Volume 2, only four of those songs appear on Foursider. I guess the intention might have been to give people more songs they didn't already have on the Hits albums.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

One thing you have to give this set credit for, it's very democratic when it comes to song selections. Every album in Herb's catalog to that point (except Summertime, which Herb may not have considered a "real" album) gets one or two selections. The lone outlier is What Now My Love, which gets three picks.

The idea caused them to leave out a lot of the TJB's big favorites, however, most notably "Spanish Flea" and "The Mexican Shuffle." In fact, seven of the songs that were included on the Tijuana Brass' Greatest Hits album are left out of Foursider. And taking into account TJB's Greatest Hits Volume 2, only four of those songs appear on Foursider. I guess the intention might have been to give people more songs they didn't already have on the Hits albums.

What's funny about that is that the TJB had recently had a "Best Of", 1972's Solid Brass, and it omitted those two as well. In fact, I'm not quite sure what the idea behind Solid Brass was, looking at the track listing:

https://www.discogs.com/release/4413904-Herb-Alpert-The-Tijuana-Brass-Solid-Brass

Solid Brass peaked at #135.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Solid Brass really was a weird collection. The most-picked album in it (at 3 songs) was the TJB's worst seller, Summertime!

 

[Rudy]

What's funny about that is that the TJB had recently had a "Best Of", 1972's Solid Brass, and it omitted those two as well.

To me it felt like those two comps were years apart. But as a kid, time moved like a glacier. Today, time flies by way too fast!

In fact, I'm not quite sure what the idea behind Solid Brass was, looking at the track listing:

Solid Brass really was a weird collection.

Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either. I got this as a kid, though--like with Greatest Hits, it was my own copy of the TJB music, and in stereo, where my folks had all those mono LPs up to Sounds Like. So that was the novelty for me in getting it. I don't recall if I had seen Foursider in the store and asked for it as a gift, or if my mother picked it up without my knowing it existed. The real novelty for me was "Last Tango in Paris." I mean, it's not like my folks used the film to put me to sleep at night or anything, or thought it might make me like butter a little more , but all I knew is that it was a new TJB song I'd never heard of. And that mystery was solved when You Smile included the track not too long after.

Solid Brass feels like a collection of some of Herb's favorites that he might have wanted to keep in print while the original albums fell by the wayside.

 

[Bobberman]

The most-picked album in it (at 3 songs) was the TJB's worst seller, Summertime!

I hate to say this Mike but I checked my CD copy and there were only 2 songs from the Summertime album "Jerusalem " and " Summertime". No Offense intened just wanting to keep things accurate.

 

[Mr Bill]

I always thought of Solid Brass as the real "Greatest hit Volume 2" package -- especially since GH V2 was only available as a record club selection for quite some time until A&M decided, "heck, let's go ahead and release it officially...

--Mr. Bill

 

[Bobberman]

I always thought of Solid Brass as the real "Greatest hit Volume 2" package -- especially since GH V2 was only available as a record club selection for quite some time until A&M decided, "heck, let's go ahead and release it officially...

--Mr. Bill

I saw Greatest hits Volume 2 on only cassette and 8 track in the stores when it came out in 1977 I held out until the vinyl was officially in the stores which i saw in the summer of 1980 and knew it was time to buy . Well worth the wait in my opinion.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I always thought of Solid Brass as the real "Greatest hit Volume 2" package -- especially since GH V2 was only available as a record club selection for quite some time until A&M decided, "heck, let's go ahead and release it officially...

--Mr. Bill

The thing is that Greatest Hits really did cover the biggest hits. Apart from the only #1, "This Guy's in Love With You", the highest-charting single not on Greatest Hits is "The Work Song", which peaked at #18. Then comes "Mame" at #19, "What Now My Love" at #24, "Casino Royale" at #27, and "Flamingo" at #28.

If I was going to play armchair A&M A&R man 53 years later, I'd probably have released a Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 in the third quarter of 1970, and kept it to ten tracks, in chronological single release sequence:

Side One:

1. What Now My Love
2. The Work Song
3. Mame
4. Flamingo
5. Casino Royale


Side Two:

1. This Guy's in Love With You
2. My Favorite Things
3. To Wait For Love
4. Zazueira
5. Without Her


And yeah, those last three are a real stretch, but following Greatest Hits that closely and offering those tracks might have gotten some traction. Greatest Hits managed to peak at #43. I'd like to think this would have done better than Solid Brass or Foursider.

 

[Harry]

Where's "The Happening"?
"A Banda"?
"Wade In The Water"?

All of those charted higher than any of the WARM singles.

"Carmen" charted at the same peak as "To Wait For Love"
"Cabararet" charted higher than "Zazuiera".

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Where's "The Happening"?
"A Banda"?
"Wade In The Water"?

All of those charted higher than any of the WARM singles.

"Carmen" charted at the same peak as "To Wait For Love"
"Cabararet" charted higher than "Zazuiera".

That was a conscious choice to avoid having it look like it all ended with "This Guy's In Love With You" and Christmas Album (I was also doing it on the fly while my wife was getting ready to go to dinner).

But you're correct about the chart numbers, I'm over-representing Warm, and I'm stiffing Ninth and The Brass Are Comin' in the process.

Still, by the time we get down to "Carmen", "To Wait For Love", "Cabaret" and "Zazuiera", we're really making academic choices about outright stiffs. The difference between a #72 peak and a #78 is non-existent (as are potential tie-breakers like "Cabaret" peaking at #13 on the Easy Listening chart while "Zazuiera" made it to #9----both were on that chart for seven weeks).

I didn't realize it before now, but Greatest Hits didn't go beyond Going Places for its material. That leaves eight studio albums (including Christmas Album) to cover.

So, let's take another crack at it, and expand to twelve tracks. Greatest Hits used album tracks, so maybe that's a path here:


Side One:

1. What Now My Love
2. The Work Song
3. Flamingo
4. Mame
5. Casino Royale
6. The Happening


Side Two:

1. A Banda
2. The Robin (the one album track)
3. This Guy's In Love With You
4. My Favorite Things ( I could buy off on saying Christmas Album is its own thing and putting "Wade In The Water" between "Mame" and "Casino Royale on side one)
5. To Wait For Love. (nope. “Zazueria”. Flows better out of "My Favorite Things")
6. You Are My Life


I mean, for The Brass Are Comin', you could pretty much just throw a dart at the track list. But "You Are My Life" just feels right to me (this is really subjective), gives Herb one more vocal, and it's the last track on the last album so far, suggesting we've brought it up to date and are ready for Summertime the following year.

 

[Harry]

Yep. I remember looking at the tracks on GH1 and realizing there was nothing from WHAT NOW MY LOVE on, so I figured we were due a volume 2 album in the near future.

Then we got SOLID BRASS, which felt like it was a volume 2 without saying so. FOURSIDER came along later and muddied the waters by essentially being a different two-record hits set.

When GH2 finally did appear, it was so separated from the first GH, it felt anti-climactic.

Understand that I jumped at the chance to grab each and every one of these.

 

[Harry]

Oh - I forgot. In the updated track list above, I'd pick "The Maltese Melody" as a track from THE BRASS ARE COMIN'. The radio station I listened to played that track a good bit right around the time 1969 turned into 1970. And I could always lose "My Favorite Things" as it feels more like a Christmas song in the middle of things.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I hate to say this Mike but I checked my CD copy and there were only 2 songs from the Summertime album "Jerusalem " and " Summertime". No Offense intened just wanting to keep things accurate.

I stand corrected! For some reason, I had the idea "Darlin'" was on there too, but obviously it is not.

 

[Bobberman]

I stand corrected! For some reason, I had the idea "Darlin'" was on there too, but obviously it is not.

No worries Mike I understand that's why sometimes compilations are confusing at times I've made that kind of mistake too.

 

[Bobberman]

And this Foursider set gave us a bonus. " The Last tango in Paris" which was a new single from the upcoming ( unbeknownst to us at the time) "You Smile" album. And after the album was out of print this And Greatest hits Volume 2 were the only ways one could obtain this track. Say what you will but The foursider series did serve many purposes well especially covering Herb's entire discography up to 1969. With many of the albums disappearing by the time of this release it became essential for a time.