Looking Around...

As I stated in another discussion, that cover looks very creepy!!!
It's the stuff that nightmares are made of. 😁

I do not have the ability to create a disc but when I made a cassette for the first car I owned that had a player, I used several selection from Fool On The Hill. It always gets the short end of the stick in compilations.
I agree--the only two songs that seem to get attention are the title track and especially "Scarborough Fair." My favorites are "Festa," "Casa Forte," "Lapinha," "Upa Neguinho" and "Reza" (aka "Laia Ladaia"). Not that the others are bad but if I want a "speed listen" (without playing the LP at 78 RPM), these five tracks will always come to the front.
 
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Of course, as time went on, virtually all of Sergio Mendes' output has been released on CD somewhere in the world, and tracking them down has been a fun pursuit over the years.
I agree tracking them down was sure fun and Thankfully thanks to Verve reissuing the Brasil 66 albums domestically I was finally able to upgrade all my brasil 66 to CD and even Beyond that and Atlantic was very generous reissuing the instrumental jazz albums through the collectables label and the list goes on and on and I'm so glad I still have everything
 
I remember getting that "Very Best Of" release from Thoughtscape and being surprised that it contained so much of virtually every album but only the two "hits" from Fool on the Hill. That album always seemed to get hosed when it came to compilations. But I was absolutely thrilled to have "Sometimes in Winter" and so much of the rest of Stillness included. It's still my favorite album.

As for my Sergio intro.... like Harry's, it's been documented here before, but I first heard Sergio on a compilation album Music Box, which was sold at our local appliance store. It had "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" from the Herb Alpert's Ninth album as the lead-off track on Side 1, so from that point forward I have thought that tune should be the opening track on that album.

It also contained "Look Around," by Brasil '66, which I liked immediately. I had seen their album cover of the same name in the local record store, but I didn't buy any of the records until Stillness came along. From that point I bought everything new that came out, and started collecting the older albums in somewhat reverse order. For years I only had most of them on 8-track tape, and with Equinox, the tape tangled up before I ever got to hear the whole thing; so it wasn't until later when I was buying LPs that I heard it all the way through. I'm pretty sure I heard the Herb Alpert Presents album last.

I still remember my first time listening to the Primal Roots album. I didn't know it was coming out; my family was vacationing at a lake near here, and we'd gone into Sheridan WY for supplies. I was browsing the record department at the Woolworths store and there it was, Primal Roots. I didn't want to wait another week to get home to hear it, so I bought the 8-track tape instead. When we got back to the lake, I sat in the car and listened to the whole thing all the way through. I was not impressed at first, but I really liked "After Sunrise" and I had to admit a couple of the other songs were catchy. Plus I was intrigued that Sergio would be crazy enough to put a 19-minute song on a whole side of the record, so I kept playing it from time to time. When we got back home I picked up the album, and it served until the CD came out. I've got the Japan issue and the later Japan "mini-LP" version. It's probably tied with Stillness for my favorite, depending on my mood. I still marvel that it ever came out on CD at all.
 
but I first heard Sergio on a compilation album Music Box, which was sold at our local appliance store. It had "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" from the Herb Alpert's Ninth album as the lead-off track on Side 1,

Ah yes, MUSIC BOX. That was the sampler that came after FAMILY PORTRAIT. MUSIC BOX was one of those albums that they drenched in HAECO-CSG, so I "undid" it and remastered a copy of it. Here is my effort on YouTube:

 
The first time I heard anything from Primal Roots was Promise of a Fisherman and After Sunrise which were on the Foursider album. Later I heard side A as I stated at a school theater. It was not until the late 80's that I found the LP and side two as one selection was a shock. The Circle Game was fantastic! The only part of that song that I do not care much for is the male vocal towards the end. Gracinha should have been able to come back in for the closing. I can only imagine the lyrics that could have come out of Lani Hall's poetic mind to go with that song!
 
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It's been ages since I've played Primal Roots...I'll have to dig out the LP and give it a spin soon!
 
I remember getting that "Very Best Of" release from Thoughtscape and being surprised that it contained so much of virtually every album but only the two "hits" from Fool on the Hill. That album always seemed to get hosed when it came to compilations. But I was absolutely thrilled to have "Sometimes in Winter" and so much of the rest of Stillness included. It's still my favorite album.

As for my Sergio intro.... like Harry's, it's been documented here before, but I first heard Sergio on a compilation album Music Box, which was sold at our local appliance store. It had "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" from the Herb Alpert's Ninth album as the lead-off track on Side 1, so from that point forward I have thought that tune should be the opening track on that album.

It also contained "Look Around," by Brasil '66, which I liked immediately. I had seen their album cover of the same name in the local record store, but I didn't buy any of the records until Stillness came along. From that point I bought everything new that came out, and started collecting the older albums in somewhat reverse order. For years I only had most of them on 8-track tape, and with Equinox, the tape tangled up before I ever got to hear the whole thing; so it wasn't until later when I was buying LPs that I heard it all the way through. I'm pretty sure I heard the Herb Alpert Presents album last.

I still remember my first time listening to the Primal Roots album. I didn't know it was coming out; my family was vacationing at a lake near here, and we'd gone into Sheridan WY for supplies. I was browsing the record department at the Woolworths store and there it was, Primal Roots. I didn't want to wait another week to get home to hear it, so I bought the 8-track tape instead. When we got back to the lake, I sat in the car and listened to the whole thing all the way through. I was not impressed at first, but I really liked "After Sunrise" and I had to admit a couple of the other songs were catchy. Plus I was intrigued that Sergio would be crazy enough to put a 19-minute song on a whole side of the record, so I kept playing it from time to time. When we got back home I picked up the album, and it served until the CD came out. I've got the Japan issue and the later Japan "mini-LP" version. It's probably tied with Stillness for my favorite, depending on my mood. I still marvel that it ever came out on CD at al
I have seen many albums released as CDs that I never expected to see. Some entire catalogs of artists, even albums that never charted are or were available. We had a store called Planet Music and they have massive volumes of CDs both new and used but then they got too heavy into DVDs and games and the CD stock dwindled and now they are gone.
 
I had been listening to one of my parents 8 tracks from the time I was a small child and that was Crystal Illusions. I didn't know who it was because the label was damaged. Then, when I was in my early teens at a christmas gathering at Aunt Sharon's house, I was playing records in the den and put on Equinox. Eureka! Then HAP the Look Around. When I got my drivers license, I was going to Car City Records and buying all Sergio and related artists.
 
I had been listening to one of my parents 8 tracks from the time I was a small child and that was Crystal Illusions. I didn't know who it was because the label was damaged. Then, when I was in my early teens at a christmas gathering at Aunt Sharon's house, I was playing records in the den and put on Equinox. Eureka! Then HAP the Look Around. When I got my drivers license, I was going to Car City Records and buying all Sergio and related artists.
I miss Car City...it's a shame it ran into the ground and closed up. It was originally Car City Classics when Peter Dale owned it, and then Bob Setlik bought him out (renaming it to Car City Records) and took over the empty storefront next door to double the space. Then I believe Bob moved out of town and tried to keep it going remotely, and it lost its lustre. My very last visit, I was thumbing through new arrivals and found a 12" single sitting in the bin, not even in a jacket or sleeve. It closed not too long after.

I spent many lunch hours there in the 90s, since our office was only half a mile down the road. Dangerous place to have so close by. 😁 Surprisingly I found many sealed A&Ms there over the years, including a couple of Deutches Gramaphone pressings.
 
I had been listening to one of my parents 8 tracks from the time I was a small child and that was Crystal Illusions. I didn't know who it was because the label was damaged. Then, when I was in my early teens at a christmas gathering at Aunt Sharon's house, I was playing records in the den and put on Equinox. Eureka! Then HAP the Look Around. When I got my drivers license, I was going to Car City Records and buying all Sergio and related artists.
The very first time that I heard Look Around was on an 8 track tape while traveling in a friend's car for a weekend trip. I did see 8 tracks tapes of nearly all the Brasil'66 records in the record stores but I did not have an 8 track player and when my dad did get one, most of the stores stopped carrying them so I have not seen them since the early 70's. In an A&M catalog that I had years ago, they also mentioned that their albums were also available on 4 track tapes. I vaguely remember seeing one of those in a record club advertisement and they were the same size as the 8 track cartridge.
I still think that there has to be tapes of songs that never made the cut for albums by Brasil'66 somewhere. It would be great to have them see the light of day.
 
I miss Car City...it's a shame it ran into the ground and closed up. It was originally Car City Classics when Peter Dale owned it, and then Bob Setlik bought him out (renaming it to Car City Records) and took over the empty storefront next door to double the space. Then I believe Bob moved out of town and tried to keep it going remotely, and it lost its lustre. My very last visit, I was thumbing through new arrivals and found a 12" single sitting in the bin, not even in a jacket or sleeve. It closed not too long after.

I spent many lunch hours there in the 90s, since our office was only half a mile down the road. Dangerous place to have so close by. 😁 Surprisingly I found many sealed A&Ms there over the years, including a couple of Deutches Gramaphone pressings.
Peter Dale also owned Encore Recordings in Ann Arbor. I stopped in one day and was so surprised. He has since retired.
 
Someone somewhere sent me a really old cassette tape of EQUINOX.

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Other than some track order jumble to equalize sides, it's the same as the LP.
 
Peter Dale also owned Encore Recordings in Ann Arbor. I stopped in one day and was so surprised. He has since retired.
I followed that drama for a while. 😁 I guess his sister owned it with a partner, and he bought the partner out. Then he bought out his sister's half. He retired several years ago and employees bought him out. They've since moved to another location in downtown Ann Arbor, as I'm betting the rent went up in their original location. He was always great to talk with and remembered me from my Car City visits.
 
The earliest A&M cassettes I own don't even have paper labels--the shells were an ivory color, and the information was printed right on them. Horrible sounding things, but it's not like my little GE portable was all that high fidelity either. 😁
 
It's been ages since I've played Primal Roots...I'll have to dig out the LP and give it a spin soon!
One good thing about the Japan release of Primal Roots on CD is that they added "The Crab" as a bonus selection. When I first heard The Crab on AM radio years ago, I thought there was another album coming out to include that but never saw one and then Sergio switched to Bell Records.
 
One additional note that I think everyone will enjoy. Here in Eastern VA, there were two radio stations that did heavy play for Sergio Mendes and Brasil'66..
The surprising thing was that they would play selections that were not released as singles. Some of the ones I remember was Roda, Easy To Be Hard, Laia LaDaia. Roda got the most airplay of the three. The B sides, Masquerade and YeMeLe also got good airplay as well
 
One additional note that I think everyone will enjoy. Here in Eastern VA, there were two radio stations that did heavy play for Sergio Mendes and Brasil'66..
The surprising thing was that they would play selections that were not released as singles. Some of the ones I remember was Roda, Easy To Be Hard, Laia LaDaia. Roda got the most airplay of the three. The B sides, Masquerade and YeMeLe also got good airplay as well
Most middle-of-the-road stations in the 1960s played album cuts. The downside was that they sometimes were finished with an album before the last single from it was released.
 
Back in the day, I would tune into AM stations from around the eastern half of the country at night and listen to them as a change of pace from local stations. I heard a lot of Brasil'66 and started listing the songs I heard and the station I heard it on. Pretty World was by far the leader followed by Fool On The Hill.
 
A CD set I would love to see would be a Singles Collection, featuring A and B sides for all the A&M singles for Brasil'66 and '77. With people producing singles sets for other artists, this would be welcome by the fans of the A&M years. The same should be done for Herb Alpert as well.
 
Last night I was working with my Boy Scouts on Collections Merit Badge. I brought in some albums to show differences and what to look for to get collectible albums. I used three albums by Brasil'66-Herb Alpert Presents, Fool On The Hill and Greatest Hits. For the first, I showed them how to recognize mono from stereo, the second to show with and without the sticker that covered the hill on the back of the jacket and the last to show the different jacket colors. These youth get to hear Brasil'66 when riding in my car for various trips. I also discovered that the mono copy of Herb Alpert Presents was sold as a cutout. There was a small hole punched through the upper left hand corner of the jacket. This makes the first Brasil'66 album I have ever seen as a cutout.
 
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The earliest A&M cassettes I own don't even have paper labels--the shells were an ivory color, and the information was printed right on them.
Your earliest A&M cassettes must have been late in the game.... they didn't start printing the information directly on the plastic until the tail end of the cassette era.

That tape Harry posted must have been one of the very early ones considering it's on "Ampex" tape -- A&M's earlier tape labels and packaging looked terrible next to the later ones, when they started using the black 8-track shells. (Too bad those black shells were so unreliable though... just about every A&M tape we sold came back all tangled up.)

In an A&M catalog that I had years ago, they also mentioned that their albums were also available on 4 track tapes. I vaguely remember seeing one of those in a record club advertisement and they were the same size as the 8 track cartridge.

4-track tapes are easily distinguishable from 8-tracks because 4-tracks have no pinch roller -- the roller was built in to the player, rather than being built into the cartridge. You would slide the tape into the player, and the pinch roller would swing up into position through a hole in the back of the cartridge. The first time I ever heard the Tijuana Brass was on a 4-track tape being played in a deck that was installed in a boat we were riding in. Lucky thing my parents were party animals who had a lot of boat-owning friends... otherwise who knows how long it would've been before I heard the TJB!
 
Your earliest A&M cassettes must have been late in the game.... they didn't start printing the information directly on the plastic until the tail end of the cassette era.
I got those in the early 70s, maybe 1972 or 1973. They coincided with getting a GE portable cassette recorder. Aside from blanks, those were the first two prerecorded cassettes I ever owned. Looks like this:

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The first three were like this (I also had BMB's As Time Goes By and B66 Greatest Hits with the same printed-shell label), but when I got Crystal Illusions, it had the paper label:

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(Photos from Discogs.)

Given the times, I have no way of knowing if these were original releases or a second duplication run, for instance.
 
I never thought of this before, but one thing that might distort my perception of when paper labels went away is the fact that while I was selling a ton of cassettes by the time Summertime came out, I never was a major cassette buyer. I tended to buy mostly LPs and make my own compilations. So, the paper labels could have gone away sooner than what I knew about.
 
So, the paper labels could have gone away sooner than what I knew about.
That certainly is possible. I've never seen a timeline for cassette labeling with A&M. Some had AMPEX on the paper label, others didn't, and then the tapes with the printing right on the plastic. It kind of makes sense that they would find it less expensive to print right on the shell, and that it might have followed the tapes with the paper labels.
 
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