Tell me about Fandango...anything, anyone!

[aymnostalgico]

The nylon-string guitar on "Route 101" doing the rhythmn section is awesome. I don't think is Abe Laboriel on this one. I think Abe played it on the "Fandango" track. Yes, I've seen those biographies on Abe. I also found one on Jose Quintana. I have extensive biography on Juan Carlos Calderon which is the producer/arranger/songwriter I admire the most, but not much on what he did during the Herb Alpert years at A&M, except for the usual stuff from AyM. I am looking for interviews of Alpert with Calderon, press releases about Fandango mentioning Calderon. Things such as these.

 

[aymnostalgico]

I found an interesting article while researching 'Fandango' it came posted right here in amcorner. who would've known.
http://www.amcorner.com/features/interview_view.php?fetchtopic=13
Now I know why Alpert used Jose Quintana as producer. this is why:

Wagner: This guy — Jose Quintana — is very famous, but not in this country.

HerbAlpert: He just joined us at A&M Records. He is the premiere producer in Latin America. Last year he was responsible for 17 of the top 25 albums in Latin America. He’s produced albums with all the most important artists: Jose Jose, Camilo Sesto, Raphael.

Uff, this article blew me away. Also I think I will have to correct one of you who said "Fandango" was not recorded completely in Mexico City. It says in the article it was. Check it out.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Also I think I will have to correct one of you who said "Fandango" was not recorded completely in Mexico City. It says in the article it was.

No it doesn't. It says they recorded the album in Mexico City, but nowhere does it say that's the ONLY place they recorded. Why else would there be other credits on the LP sleeve? Most likely, there were overdubs etc. done later at the American studios.

 

[aymnostalgico]

I find a lot of these albums have miscredit information. Most of all, in this one particularly, they could've just put A&M studios, because it is an A&M recording. But who knows...

 

[Dave]

I'm siding with the idea that Fandango was recorded at CBS Studios in Mexico City, Mexico AND (though, uncredited) A&M Studios in Hollywood... Surely CBS in Mexico was the main location for the "core-musicians" while overdubs (and it seems like there were SOME) had to have been done at A&M in Hollywood, for those musicians who could have not possibly been with Herb and his "group" 100% of the time, nor 'sent out there' just for that one lil' "bit"...

Funny how I was listening to some LP's suppossedly done in California, with some New York musicians (usually 1 or 2) added to one track; it can be worth sending one or two out to LA because a producer (like maybe Richard Perry) likes a certain playing style of a certain musician or it could be due to limited recording space in NYC, that a certain musician is coincidentally "outsourcing" out-West, anyway... (as was a common practice, where recordings in the '70's, for example became NUMEROUS, and places like Nashville & New York were increasingly overcrowded and records having to be "quickly" done or "finished" boasted "additional recording" on the West Coast)

A cello player, George Ricci on a Gabor Szabo LP I have 1969 was probably overdubbed in New York (though the LP fails to give proper credit) Steve Gadd, a drummer, realy was sent out to Hollywood play on Leo Sayer's "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", because producer Richard Perry really was truly unable to find a suitable drummer for the track, and one other, on the LP he was making with Sayer... (and was pretty sold on Gadd's drumming on Paul Simon's "50-Ways to Leave Your Lover", done the year before)

So, to summarize my legnthy example, it can be debatable where a player is added and whether it is worth it going to one location for an "overdub" or having someone sent to where a recording is actually "made" (or where the Artist and/or Producer chooses to have credited on the back of the album) sometimes based on where the MAJORITY, in this case, of the recording is done...


Dave

...a/k/a, "Studio Nut", online...

 

[aymnostalgico]

Well dave, it makes a lot of sense. you successfully have put doubts on me about this record. It's a shame that record companies did not document credits the way they should be back in those days.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Well maybe they DID, and maybe that's why those other studios are listed on the album credits. Possible, no?

 

[Dave]

Well dave... ...It's a shame that record companies did not document credits the way they should be, back in those days...

Hmmm, I have seen some LP's without studio credits, too, made back then, but the majority of them do tell where they were recorded and sometimes "engineers listed" should give you a clue...

Whether or not a guitar or two is worth sending across the country or being recorded and "everything else" put on later, or "put on first" then a "lead guitar" added, is uncertain... (Now I'm talking about Barbra Streisand's "I Mean To Shine" on her Barbra Joan Streisand album--questionable credits, regarding players/locations there...)

But at any rate, given that nearly all of Alpert's works were recorded at A&M, it was probably in that instance, unimportant to really print it "again" as opposed to the "different recording venue" Herb's Fandango was done at... Who knows?


Dave

 

[TonyCurrie]

Certainly FANDANGO is one of my favourites - for a year or two I used "Coco Loco" as my show opener on the radio.

But I still prefer BULLISH!

 

[PartyRico]

Fandango is a beautiful recording. My favs on that one are "Route 101", plus the Latin American Medley, that includes "Moliendo Cafe'", and Ary Barroso's "Bahia" from Brazil. The cover photo by Scavullo is great, and Herb's tone is in top form. Perhaps the fact he recorded in Mexico added a certain mysterious ingredient. This album will make a fine re-issue.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

Hmmm, I have seen some LP's without studio credits, too, made back then, but the majority of them do tell where they were recorded and sometimes "engineers listed" should give you a clue...

Whether or not a guitar or two is worth sending across the country or being recorded and "everything else" put on later, or "put on first" then a "lead guitar" added, is uncertain... (Now I'm talking about Barbra Streisand's "I Mean To Shine" on her Barbra Joan Streisand album--questionable credits, regarding players/locations there...)

But at any rate, given that nearly all of Alpert's works were recorded at A&M, it was probably in that instance, unimportant to really print it "again" as opposed to the "different recording venue" Herb's Fandango was done at... Who knows?


Dave

Honestly, I think some of it has to do with the individual project - and how much of a detail person the producer and/or production coordinator are. If they don't really care, it doesn't get documented. it does matter, however, for the people who work on the albums, because it's so much easier to collect the royalties you're due if your name is on the cover somewhere. One famous story - on "Thriller", the tracks changed so much, with people replaced and parts re-recorded, Dean Parks was listed as playing guitar on "Billie Jean" when it wasn't really him! (I forget who it was....) Dean was getting lots of session calls from people looking for that famous sound from that record, and eventually took out an ad in Billboard to tell everyone, "I love the work, but it wasn't actually me playing that part...."

 

[aymnostalgico]

One famous story - on "Thriller", the tracks changed so much, with people replaced and parts re-recorded, Dean Parks was listed as playing guitar on "Billie Jean" when it wasn't really him

oh my gosh! you have just killed me with this news. I feel my throat tightening up. I'm upset of hearing it wasn't Dean Parks playing. I can't believe a little miscredit representation can do such things.

 

[aymnostalgico]

You know, I'll say something else on this thread about Fandango. Some of you know that I ask a lot of questions on AyM, particularly when Juan Carlos Calderon was composing for Herb Alpert. We know of certain Alpert's appearances on Calderon's production such as Luis Miguel and Maria Conchita Alonso. I know these two have to have a great friendship. I am guessing these two met in a Jazz festival somewhere in this planet because Calderon has a jazz ensemble to this date. I just don't know much about it. Alpert has said he enjoys playing Calderon's music. Why can't they make another recording together? I ask. It would be great to see these two come out with something new! Maybe is a financial thing, but how can it be if Alpert is insanely rich? and Calderon is not far behind in wealth. He had made mega millions with Luis Miguel productions! man, please....do it for the fans!