SOUNDS LIKE: Comments and poll

[martin]

Sounds Like, Ninth, The Beat Of The Brass (and Whipped Cream, as I recently gave away my copy for a 50th birthday present) arrived this morning by UPS. It's amazing to have all these great reissues coming out, Christmas all year! On Sounds Like, I think Josh Kun's notes are very good and interesting. The "Gospel Brass" angle on Wade in the water is both enlightening from a historical point of view and appears to "ring true" in terms of analysis. The picture material is also very good. I agree 100% with Harry about the sonic quality of the disc. I have trouble with this "favorite track" thing, to me it is the album as a whole that counts.

- greetings from the north -
Martin

 

[Ed Bishop]

Sounds Like, Ninth, The Beat Of The Brass (and Whipped Cream, as I recently gave away my copy for a 50th birthday present)

Oh spit, another reminder!

I have trouble with this "favorite track" thing, to me it is the album as a whole that counts.

Just for fun, ya know? No more, no less, to get the discussions going....funny how things like The Weakest Link have soured so many folks on something as benign as a poll about your fave song on an album, or going day by day, song by song, until you get a board concensus on a 'fave.' Can't believe how seriously this stuff is taken these days!

- greetings from the north -
Martin

Greetings backatcha, Martin!

 

[martin]

Well, I guess you're right that I'm serious about the Herb Alpert stuff. Serious, and a bit crazy! I'm choosing "In A Little Spanish Town", then, mostly because it was my favorite track when I first got the LP at 11, and it was SO GREAT to hear it on a real CD for the first time.

- greetings from the north -
Martin

 

[Captain Bacardi]

RE: Trp. farts...In high school we called them "kiss offs".

I like my phrase better.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Greg Shannon]

I bought 'em yesterday and have been trying to listen to them, but things keep coming up, like my daughter having a baby, so I haven't listened to them all the way through yet. I have listened to Sounds Like all the way through once, listening intermittently as I drove back and forth to work or to the hospital to visit my daughter, and I'm listening to it again as I type this. First impressions: Has anybody else noticed how abruptly the first track begins? It almost sounds as if the very beginning was cut off. Or is it just my stereo? As far as a favorite track, I was going to go with Wade in the Water, but the instant smile brought on by Casino Royale changed my vote. As far as sound quality, my point of comparison is the original vinyl purchased in 1967--so it's like I'm listening to something I've never heard before. The mere elimination of the clicks and pops would have satisfied me, but the clarity, to my untrained ears, is fantastic. I agree with the comments that Nick Ceroli's percussion stands out. Fantastic.

Greg Shannon

 

[thetijuanataxi]

Yes. I mentioned it in an earlier post. The couple of seconds of echo or recording studio ambience is gone. Other than that, en excellent transfer. I am upgrading my original rating of sound quality from an 8 to a 9. The cover art however, is still very disappointing. Almost looks like bootleg quality to me.

David,
about to tear open BEAT OF THE BRASS......

 

[Timeframe]

Jeez David - You're about 5 miles from me. I live down in the Fort Worth side of Keller.

BTW, I pulled out my Vinyl of SL, and by gosh, it looks just like the back cover of the CD insert, right down to the slight outline of the disc.

Steve

 

[thetijuanataxi]

Exactly my point, neighbor! I don't see any nostalgia effect by using a soiled photo. Giving the covers the rich vibrant coloring of the LPs( which in this case would have been a cobalt blue instead of nearly white) and putting a fresh looking original back cover on the rear of the digi-pack would have earned an 11 on a a scale of 1-10. THE BEAT OF THE BRASS cover is almost as bad. Even the half-effort 1988 insert cover blows it away. I'll admit we've taken a considerable step up in audio quality with most of these reissues, but geez, the cover art is very disappointing. BTW, why the heck couldn't they have left the stereo bullet on on SOUNDS LIKE. There's no consistancy: LB, SOTB, WCAOD-no bullet. GP-bullet. WNML, S.R.O, SL-no bullet. HA9, BOTB-bullet. What the deuce?

David,
who lives in Argyle........

 

[Mike Blakesley]

The couple of seconds of echo or recording studio ambience is gone.

The effect you guys are talking about is called "pre-echo" and is not supposed to be there. It's caused by the phonograph needle reading the very slight undulations from the "next groove over." The better your turntable, the less you will hear it (unless the record you're playing is mastered very loud). The same effect can be heard in a couple of places on S.R.O., but I believe that was caused by tape print-through. The sound is very similar.

FWIW, the CD version of "Gotta Lotta Livin'" probably sounds the way it was always meant to sound.

 

[Harry]

I bought 'em yesterday and have been trying to listen to them, but things keep coming up, like my daughter having a baby, so I haven't listened to them all the way through yet.
Greg Shannon

Well congratulations there, Grandpa! Be sure to teach that baby what good music really is!

Harry

 

[Greg Shannon]

Thank you, thank you. I'm not quite used to the "g" word yet. Maybe in about 10 years . . .

Anyway, August 16th turned out to be a pretty good day.


Greg Shannon

 

[AudiophilePhil]

After listening to it twice, here are my 5 favourite tracks from Sounds Like:

Gotta Lotta Livin' To Do
In A Little Spanish Town
Wade In The Water
The Charmer
Casino Royale

 

[AM Matt]

I liked "Treasure Of San Miguel" as my favorite. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Very well said Harry!!!

 

[manifan]

I posted this a few days ago, but since all my posts from that day have disappeared, I'm going to say it again.

I've discovered why "Casino Royale" sounds so great: the volume inconsistencies have been corrected. Now, instead of one instrument overpowering the others, each one is equal to the other. I have no doubt this is the way the song was supposed to sound from the very beginning.

 

[Dave]

Beneath the "minimalist" Cover Art, lie some pretty catchy compositions: "Spanish Town", "Lotta Livin To Do" and "Wade In The Water" are also what grab me....

Another fine addition for the even novice Herb & TjB collector...


Dave

 

[Maitlen]

My fave is "Lotta Livin"," but "Wade," "Bo-Bo" and a couple of others are darn close ... Casino Royale, too. The only song that doesn't work for me is "Spanish Town" -- just me, I know a lot of people greatly enjoy this cut. SL is my favorite TJB album ... a new, tougher sound. "Town without Pity" and "Wade" rock harder (I would suggest) than anything the Rolling Stones were doing in 1967. Herb's playing is taut, aggressive, and almost menacing in a few passages -- yet still playful and typically charming elsewhere. Ceroli's drumming is so sensational and powerful that it seems the band is headed for an explosion -- Town Without Pity ends just in time, one senses. Wechter's playing sounded more driven and jazzier than ever -- what a talent he was. And Pisano's mesmerizing guitar is rightly recorded more up-front in the mix than usual, adding to its power. My impression is the entire band was operating at white-hot intensity -- ready to blow any presumed competition right off the stage -- no wonder they needed to back-off a bit for NINTH, such energy couldn't possibly be sustained. More than any other album, I'd love to have a video record of the studio sessions for SL -- the TJB found a great groove and worked it to the max. Damn, what a great album!

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

Until these re-releases I hadn't listened to my TJB records in years. So listening to them now has brought back the things that excited me musically 30 years ago. Mr. Alpert's trumpet playing of course. But the drive and crunch of Nick Ceroli and John Pisano really drove the band. Just using the songs of SRO and Sounds Like could produce a wonderful jazz concert. later...J

 

[daveK]

You gotta wonder about Josh Kun's musical knowledge though -- in the SOUNDS LIKE liner notes he refers to Paul Whiteman as a "crooner".

 

[Rudy]

I have an extraordinarily clean slab o' vinyl for this release, so it will be interesting to compare it. Although the bass on the LP wasn't all that strong, there is a lot of other detail in there.

As for relative loudness of the CDs and LPs, that's just a mastering decision.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

You gotta wonder about Josh Kun's musical knowledge though -- in the SOUNDS LIKE liner notes he refers to Paul Whiteman as a "crooner".

At least he doesn't repeat himself as much in these booklets...



Dan

 

[reechie]

"Trumpet farts"? Is that a technical term that I've been missing?

I always listened for that stuff on the old vinyl when I was a kid. I thought he was just emptying out his spit valve, and didn't mix it out.

I went with "Treasure" in the poll, BTW.

 

[Dore Adler]

I agree with Harry!! Well said, that.

I voted for Casino simply because I always loved it, always had the single or the soundtrack lp, yet it is almost like hearing it for the first time because such care was taken in the sound dept. Now, many album tracks are jumping out at me as really superior TJB. This is one happy discovery!

 

[Rudy]

I thought that the DEF. HITS version of "Casino..." was pretty darn good when I first heard it (one of the high points of that release), but it's like a veil has been lifted. I don't own that old Colgems soundtrack album with this song on it, but a buddy of mine had it years ago, and I still recall the purity of the sound on that vinyl.

An original pressing of that soundtrack on Colgems is something that audiophiles have coveted for years. The TJB's track probably sounds as good as it does because IIRC, it was recorded in the UK and sent back to the US for Herb's trumpet overdubbing, where TJB tracks would have been recorded here at Gold Star.

It's basically a Bacharach recording, if you think about it...

 

[Harry]

For the most part, "Casino Royale" *sounds* like a Bacharach recording, but two things make it Herb & the TjB: Herb's trumpet, or course, and the understated, but effective use of Julius Wechter's marimba in just the right places.

Outstanding track!

Harry