Sol Lake and Other Delights

[JOv2]

Greetings, just came across your fascinating site and thought I’d drop a comment or two.

The songwriter, Sol Lake, intrigues me a great deal. This fellow appears to have consistently contributed material to the original group LPs (The Lonely Bull through Summertime). A few of songs are of excellent quality: More and More Amor, Memories of Madrid and Bo-Bo quickly come to mind. Is there any information about this interesting songwriter?

Regarding the LPs – I’ve always found the production and arrangements of interest.

The arrangements were normally a treat. Although some of the throwaways could get tedious (Robbers and Cops, Darlin’), the truly marvelous are quite memorable and exhibit some of the finest ‘60s pop arranging (Blue Sunday, The Sea Is My Soil, Shade of Blue).

The 1960s were a time of much studio experimentation – and these LPs do well to document the unique period; indeed, nearly every LP has a singular sound. For traditional sonics, !!Going Places!! is hard to beat with its fat kick drum, sizzling cymbals, and chiming electric 12-string – a marvelous combo album; while Warm, is...indeed warm with its many fully-realized orchestrations. It’s interesting to note how the sound of the lead instrument changed throughout the period (’62 -’71): Through !!Going Places!!, the trumpet’s natural brilliance reins; from What Now My Love, on out, however, the tone quality becomes increasingly mellow. I wonder if Mr. Alpert was distancing himself from the only other A&M trumpeter of constant note, Lee Katzman – where Lee is truly bright and shimmering – like Freddie Hubbard or Blue Mitchell, Herb is subdued and opaque – ala Kenny Dorham or Miles Davis.

All things considered -- overall performance, songwriting, and arrangement -- Sounds Like... is, arguably, the finest group effort...the spirit and mirth of Lady Godiva is always guaranteed to yield a smile! And the harder edged Town Without Pity, Treasure of San Miguel and, Wade In The Water are gems – the last two taking us about as close to contemporary rock music as the group would go! Aside from the unimaginative title and unnecessary cover photograph, its yet another fine LP from that pivotal year, 1967.

Lastly, once a friend was playing Claudine Longet / The Look Of Love [A&M/SP-4129]. I seem to recall the last selection on one of the sides fading out with a trumpet solo – given the distinctive style, it must’ve been Mr, Alpert; I wonder if he made other cameos.

Thanks for the opportunity – happy listening,

-James

 

[Harry]

James, welcome to the A&M Corner Forum.

Sol Lake contributed many fine songs to the TjB canon, and we hear through the grapevine that some of his unreleased material will be surfacing on the new TjB releases that Herb and Larry Levine are working on. We don't know WHEN these will appear, but *something* is due in the near future. Stay tuned!

We DO know that Sol Lake's real name was Sol Lachoff, and there's not a whole lot of information out there about him.

As for Herb's cameos, there have been many. They're usually credited as such, but many of us swear that certain passages in songs just have that distinctive 'Herb' sound. The song you speak of is "Manha de Carnaval", the side one closer on THE LOOK OF LOVE - and you're right, it DOES have that Herb Alpert flare to it.

Harry
...welcoming James to the Forum, online...

 

[Captaindave]

While some of the TJB's most popular songs in terms of radio play were penned by others; eg, Tijuana Taxi, A taste of Honey, Zorba the Greek, Spanish Flea, etc, it is many of the Sol Lake compositions that really go a long way to help establish the unique sound and style of the TJB. I really like the songs like Winds of Barcelona, Up Cherry Street, Mexican Shuffle, Memories of Madrid, and all the others that were written by Sol Lake. It is these that I find myself coming back to and are among my personal favorites - even more than the big radio hits.

This is one reason why I look forward to the reissues. All those songs - IMO, just about EVERY song on all those original albums was a good, worthy song - will be back to be heard again, and not just the ones that became the big chart successes that fill up the compilation albums.

These original compositions - never heard or recorded before by other artists - were simply good songs. Good melodies and good arrangements. Written specifically for the TJB to record. I enjoy a good song written specifically for a particular artist. That seems to be what the Sol Lake songs were.

I think that is what I like so much about Sol Lake's songs. They were original songs written for the TJB. And, they were good songs. I like just about ALL of them very much.

 

[JOv2]

~~ Harry ~~ Thanks for the Sol Lake info; perhaps someday one could attempt to find and interview this gifted songwriter... It will be a pleasure to hear some of his other compositions.

~~ Captaindave ~~ I agree; in fact, generally speaking, the hits and covers were usually my least favourites opting instead for those 3-6 originals offered on most LPs – with Sol Lake, John Pisano and Julius Wechter apparently contributing most of the identified originals. As you say, Sol’s melodies seem integral to the group sound; and to be able to write such accommodating music strongly suggests he was a close friend and/or very much empathetic to Mr. Alpert’s vision: at their best, songs like Memories Of Madrid, and More, And More, Amor – in both performance and arrangement -- are blissfully perfect! Simple, smart, tuneful melodies that are quick to find a home in one’s head definitely characterize his work: El Presidente, She Touched Me – just wonderful! (Check out Wes Montgomery / California Dreaming [Verve/ LP ‘66] for covers of More, And More, Amor; Winds of Barcelona, and Green Peppers.)

Similarly, in the “in search of perfect pop” vein, Mr. Pisano’s Felicia, For Carlos, and The Charmer (the latter, like Paul McCartney’s Hey Jude – already seeming familiar upon initial listening) are quite addictive. I think For Carlos, may be their best performance: its emotive quality -- dynamic in its tension and release – always raises the arm hairs!

Four of Julius Wechter’s contributions -- Panama, Shades of Blue, Warm, Blue Sunday – do well to both complement the group’s sound as well as to head them into hitherto unknown musical directions (particularly Panama).

In today’s rap-dominated world, it’s more than a pity that quality music is neither encouraged nor promoted by the corporate boys and girls; indeed, it probably marks the end of Western civilization as we once knew it: when music -- by definition -- was tuneful and memorable. When I was a kid I was always humming and whistling songs... It’s doubtful that such would even occur to today’s kids...or that they would even care.

Born about 50 years too late,

-James

 

[Captaindave]

Ditto, and double ditto, especially when it comes to the "rap-crap."

It must be more than coincidence that "rap" rhymes with "crap...

 

[Harry]

~~ Harry ~~ Thanks for the Sol Lake info; perhaps someday one could attempt to find and interview this gifted songwriter...

That would be problematic - I'm pretty sure he passed away, maybe back as far as the 1970's.

Harry
...remembering a very old thread about Sol having died, online...

 

[Steven J. Gross]

James,
Welcome to the site. Cool observations!

 

[Captain Bacardi]

That would be problematic - I'm pretty sure he passed away, maybe back as far as the 1970's.

It wasn't that long ago, but he did die back in the mid-90's (I forget the exact year).


Capt. Bacardi
...just home from work online...

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Sol died in 1991... go to the top of this page and click on search, and type in his name...there ws a rather lengthy thread about Sol Lake not too long ago.


Dan

 

[JOv2]

~~ Stephen ~~ Thanks for the note....quite an interesting site i must say.

~~ Dan ~~ Thank you, too, for the search info. As you wrote, there were a few entries regarding Sol Lake; it was a pleasure reading information conerning this elusive fella.

-James