Herb Alpert & The TJB - VOLUME 2 Comments + Reviews

[Dave]

What Herb attempted on The Lonely Bull, in ..., Volume 2 he finally achieves... Just bumped-up the quotient of his earlier effort, offering in its successor, a more polished, greater advanced and highly evolved product...

He put aside the Chart Position-hopping Radio Fodder and delivers a set of more modest, yet flavorful, tunes in more of a Party Atmosphere...

Not to dimenish The Lonely Bull, in any way; this just compliments the stylings of Herb's debut and shows "another side of the Tijuana Brass" making this outing The Perfect Compadre...!



Dave

 

[Hurrikane]

I am happy to have a mint vinyl copy! Someday I will do the i tunes thing. My favorites are still Marching through Madrid, and Surfin' Senorita!

 

[Ed Bishop]

Interesting that this album didn't chart until early 1966; on the other hand, it didn't have a big hit to support it for a time, as THE LONELY BULL did. The fact is that 1963 & '64 were times of struggle for Herb and A&M; no hits beyond some action for the TJB, Baja Marimba Band, and Lucille Starr. But even these were modest successes at best. SOTB garnered some activity, but it wasn't until the WHIPPED CREAM album exploded that A&M finally began to turn a profit. A year after that, in the spring of '66, the TJB had three albums in the US Top Ten, amazing when you consider they weren't the Beatles...very impressive, and pervasive! Even so, this album Billboard insisted on mistltling THE TIJUANA BRASS, for some unknown reason.

As a sophomore effort it was good, but as noted by some here, repeated the style and feel of "The Lonely Bull" single, while offering a more polished, neat sound. Herrb was being kinda conservative musically, but that's understandable; he was unknowingly building a franchise, and VOLUME 2 was an essential foundation. SOTB would stretch a lot more, and the result was a return to the Lp charts after a year and a half away. Filled with good material and performances, however, so it was hard to ultimately go with "Marching Through Madrid," since several others are just about as strong. I've often wondered if Herb's reluctance to reissue this one might be due to its transitional nature, as if he hadn't quite found the sound he would ultimately embrace and exploit.

Collector note: Although the original cover(or I should say, back cover)is uncommon, like the cover of WHIPPED CREAM that doesn't highlight "A Taste Of Honey," it's not rare, just that millions of 2nd covers were made, so the original seems more obscure than it actually is. However, a mint first vinyl press with the logo on top is genuinely hard to find, though they are out there(and apparently, more in mono than stereo. The original pressing didn't sell that well, so Herb and Jerry, understandably, didn't press a whole lot until everything went nuts during '65).

 

[BBrownlie]

Question about volume 2:

I have a music collector database program from collectorz.com. It would really help me if I knw the upc bar codes for volume 2, the brass are comin' and warm.

Shout Factory! uses 82663 as its prefix and then there are six additional numbers.

I know these are downloads only, but maybe, just maybe someone knows of the upc bar codes for these releases. I've searched around itunes and shout factory, but no luck. Not that I was expecting to find them.

It's not that big a deal, but what they hey, can't hurt for askin'.

Thanks in advance.

Barry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Would they even have bar code numbers if they're online only releases? I wouldn't think so.

Volume 2 might have a barcode number from its original CD release in the 80s but of course that was on A&M, not Shout Factory.

 

[BBrownlie]

Yeah, Mike, I totally agree. But I wonder if Shout Factory would assign a bar code number for its own purposes in light of the download only.

I figure I'm not going to get the bar code(s) because, yes, they probably don't exist, but I thought it's worth a try.

I have already manually keyed in the information for all three releases in my software, but the bar codes are helpful if they exist.

Barry

 

[ormandy]

Someday I will do the i tunes thing.

This whole thing with CD's on the way out,
and from now on, it's download your music
my consumer lemmings, is really bugging me.
What if I want to spend less time near a computer?
I feel like I've been stabbed in the back by the very
people who got me "gung ho" about CD's in the first place.

Fortunately I did find a copy of the original CD of Vol. 2,
or I'd be really tempted to bad mouth those people who are
keeping fans from having their own remasterd CD of Vol. 2.
They get us started on buying all the other discs in this
Signature Series only to pull the plug towards the finish line.

Tell me there's been news about Vol. 2 finally getting a CD release date?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

No news yet. We expect more other Herb albums to get CD release however.

Anyone can have a remastered CD of V2.. Just burn a CD from iTunes, print the artwork from right here on A&M Corner, stick it in a jewel box and you're good to go. You can make more than one copy that way, too.

As the Stones said, "you can't always get what you want...but you get what you need."

 

[Leif Henriksen]

But us in Europa do not have this possibility and we can't buy the CD's as well.

 

[Captaindave]

Well, you can choose to spend less time around computers, but the majority of the rest of the world is going the other way.

I would say that the technology driven universe is well established, will not be turning around to go in reverse, and if anything, will accelerate at blinding speed forward.

I have a feeling that the entire CD, DVD, and any other kind of hard storage medium is on the way out - it's just a matter of time. I would say that all current technology is rapidly on the way to being replaced by whatever replaces it. The only real question is when and with what.

I made my peace with technology, the Internet, etc, a few years ago. Downloads will be the name of the game until some other method develops...

 

[spanky1]

.............SNIPPED
I have a feeling that the entire CD, DVD, and any other kind of hard storage medium is on the way out - it's just a matter of time. I would say that all current technology is rapidly on the way to being replaced by whatever replaces it. The only real question is when and with what.

....snipped...

I hear what you are saying, but I just don't understand the logic. How can we be moving away from the hard storage medium, while we are being forced(via music downloading) to download it, and THEN make a copy on a hard storage medium(i.e. cd). Either way, you've got a cd of it, whether it's bought as a cd or bought as a download and then copied. Nobody wants to trust all of their purchased downloads to a hard drive, so they must be backed up to something that is permanent.

For many collectors, myself included, I want a jewel case and liner notes. The digi-pak is garbage in my opinion, but I'd much rather have this in my cd shelf than a blank cd of the Herb Alpert tunes which I am encouraged to download from I-Tunes.

 

[Mike]

I consider myself a music collector. Without original LPs or CDs, for me, the whole concept of being a collector goes out the window. Who wants to show off their collection of digital files on a computer?

Mike

 

[Captaindave]

One word...iPod.

OK, it's a "hard" storage medium of sorts, but I contend that eventually all your access will be via the Internet. Movies, music, the whole "she-bang"... It's already here, why I am saying "eventually?"

Once upon a time there were 8 tracks and cassettes and AM radio and 13 inch black and white TVs, and more...

I will just go ahead and admit it, and come what may...I love technology and computers and iPods and the Internet and all the rest. It isn't an age thing either, cause I'm 56. When I see a new iPod, I start to slobber...

Did you see the commercial for the Mercury that will store all your CDs and makes hands free, voice activated cell phone calls? All controls voice activated

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I am no artist, but I created a nice package for V2 (and WARM and TBAC) using my computer and some empty jewel boxes. I wrote my own liner notes. I think my packages look as good as, or maybe better than, the Shout Factory packages. While I still wish these albums would migrate to CD, I'm fine if they don't.

I do think the time will come when we all think a spinning doohickey holding our music is just so quaint, as we hook up our stereo systems to some gigantic server array somewhere that holds all the music (and TV) that was ever created in history, and we view the album cover art on our video screens.

 

[Dave]

I do think the time will come when we all think a spinning doohickey holding our music is just so quaint, as we hook up our stereo systems to some gigantic server array somewhere that holds all the music (and TV) that was ever created in history, and we view the album cover art on our video screens.

--And, if everything I want to hear which I still yet haven't but from reading on the Internet about I'm curious about and can hear, and if it fits right where my Stereo is in my Living Room right now, then I'll be soooooo looking forward to it...



Dave

 

[JOv2]

Once upon a time there were 8 tracks and cassettes and AM radio and 13 inch black and white TVs, and more...

I will just go ahead and admit it, and come what may...I love technology and computers and iPods and the Internet and all the rest. It isn't an age thing either, cause I'm 56. When I see a new iPod, I start to slobber...

Oh my, Cap'n D. -- I'm totally on the other extreme -- for me, it's an old tube amplifier from the early '60s and a '40s cornet! (Heck, I don't even own a TV or a $ell phone.)...Hmmm, well I do have a new vacuum tube CD player...otherwise, I'll take my '74 LA Benge...it's a goodie -- the same vintage as my girlfriend!! And she's a sugar!!

(Oh yeah, as this is a Vol 2 thread...I'll take Winds of Barcelona + the Wes Montgomery version too!)

-James

 

[Rudy]

I do think the time will come when we all think a spinning doohickey holding our music is just so quaint, as we hook up our stereo systems to some gigantic server array somewhere that holds all the music (and TV) that was ever created in history, and we view the album cover art on our video screens.

Actually with a not-so-gigantic server, you can put all your CDs on hard drives (using a lossless compression like FLAC), and play them on any system in the house using a Squeezebox in each system. I do like my collection, but lately I am too impatient to want to mess with fetching or storing LPs, CDs, etc. I just want the music.

And yet I'd still take a well-maintained tube amp and a turntable over all this digital crap we have today...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Not to mention album covers. The CD generation doesn't know the thrill of popping open a new album cover, especially a gatefold YEAH!

 

[JOv2]

And yet I'd still take a well-maintained tube amp and a turntable over all this digital crap we have today...

Rudy -- Two years ago I asked my dad if he'd part with his old 32w H.H. Scott/340A receiver...he did; I paid a fella a couple hundred to refurbish the amp to run at its original 1963 specs. When the unit was ready, I did a side-by-side comparison with my fancy-dancy ADCOM amp and controller. Well, needless to say, the Scott shut the ADCOM down! Instantly. In short, although the ADCOM had wayy more power, the Scott reproduced in a far more musical manner -- and coupled with a vacuum tube CD player, the best CD transfers are almost as good an audiophile LP pressing.

Almost.

I think back in the '80s the immediate "advantages" of digital -- as expressed on CDs (no surface noise, turntable rumble) -- seduced us into believing CDs and digital productions sounded "better". In truth, analogue is more musical because the grooves in an LP are an accurate transcription of the sound waves. Digital transcription is not consistent with natural hearing...which is why, after the hype -- when one just compares the "musicalness" of an analogue LP to a digital CD -- the CD DOES sound like crap. CDs are getting better, but still cannot compare to the warmth and richness of an audiophile-quality LP. To date the "best" -- i.e. "most musical" -- sounding CDs I have are the needle drops of premium LP pressings.

-James

 

[JOv2]

Not to mention album covers. The CD generation doesn't know the thrill of popping open a new album cover, especially a gatefold YEAH!

You said it, brother! I'll never forget the first time you split the shrink wrap on a gatefold -- and slowly opened the gate....... ~

-James

 

[Captaindave]

Once upon a time there were 8 tracks and cassettes and AM radio and 13 inch black and white TVs, and more...

I will just go ahead and admit it, and come what may...I love technology and computers and iPods and the Internet and all the rest. It isn't an age thing either, cause I'm 56. When I see a new iPod, I start to slobber...

Oh my, Cap'n D. -- I'm totally on the other extreme -- for me, it's an old tube amplifier from the early '60s and a '40s cornet! (Heck, I don't even own a TV or a $ell phone.)...Hmmm, well I do have a new vacuum tube CD player...otherwise, I'll take my '74 LA Benge...it's a goodie -- the same vintage as my girlfriend!! And she's a sugar!!

(Oh yeah, as this is a Vol 2 thread...I'll take Winds of Barcelona + the Wes Montgomery version too!)

-James

One of my trumpets is an older model King Silver Flair - about 1969 or so based on the serial number. I do tend to live in the past in some ways, especially in terms of music and personal memories.

However, we did just get new cell phones (not an iPhone - just basic Motorola RAZRs) - although I do not intend to give up my land line home phone for the cell phone only. I also see a widescreen 1080p HDTV in the future - about a 47 inch screen. I saw one in the store recently that was nice.

 

[ormandy]

Just burn a CD from iTunes, print the artwork from right here on A&M Corner, stick it in a jewel box and you're good to go.

Thanks for the tip.

But that's really not the point. This disc should be
available like the others in the series. Perhaps the
whole Herb Alpert series should have been download
only, or even both ways from the get go. I just smell
something funny with this stunt of withholding Vol. 2.

Again, thanks for the tip.

 

[Harry]

Hmm, I get the feeling that some of our members have forgotten the ground rules set in the first post in this thread.

Harry

 

[JOv2]

...with apologies to Harry and other Cornerites -- it wasn't me, it was the Schlitz! (But I did say I liked Winds of Barcelona -- even voted for it: número trece!)

Well, I guess it's back to Sing-a-long with Mitch ~

James Out ~

 

[ormandy]

Those ground rules were so 2007.