The Official WHIPPED CREAM Review Thread

Which Is Your Favorite Song?

  • A Taste Of Honey

    Votes: 14 29.8%
  • Green Peppers

    Votes: 8 17.0%
  • Tangerine

    Votes: 5 10.6%
  • Bittersweet Samba

    Votes: 2 4.3%
  • Lemon Tree

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Whipped Cream

    Votes: 2 4.3%
  • Love Potion #9

    Votes: 3 6.4%
  • El Garbanzo

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ladyfingers

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Butterball

    Votes: 2 4.3%
  • Peanuts

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Lollipops And Roses

    Votes: 8 17.0%
  • Rosemary (Bonus Track)

    Votes: 2 4.3%
  • Blueberry Park (Bonus Track)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    47
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No feathers ruffled here...you're right about this album being uneven, and taking a definite "dip" on side 2. (Look at the votes -- the choices bear this out.) I agree with most of your observations about the various songs, although "Honey" is one of my all time favorites.

To me, the very peak of the TJB started with the next album, GOING PLACES. To me that's the first time Herb really seemed firmly on the track...with this one and the ones before, he was still experimenting. He really plunged into the American influences on SOTB, and let them run rampant on this album. With GP and beyond, he "got organized" so to speak.
 
I think you have done a very good review of this album. There is no doubt that Herb Alpert and the TJB is my favorite musical artist of all time, but that doesn't mean I like everything equally well. This is a milestone album in the TJB catalog, but Going Places, IMO really gets the the sound "going places."

Yes, Taste of Honey was a big hit, but some of my favorite TJB songs were not among the big hits. Songs like So What's New, Abanda, Slick, Mae, More and More Amor, Up Cherry Street, Winds of Barcelona, among others, are favorites of mine.

Tangerine is a great solo. I have played it more times than I can count.

I'll observe that when the TJB did Whipped Cream in concert, they jazzed it up a lot, so it has a different feel than the original recording. It had a lot more swing and "punch" than the recording. I really liked the concert sound of it. Much more than the recording. They did play it faster than the recording also.

Never liked Peanuts at all. That one reminds me a little bit of Talk to the Animals later on.

My favorite tunes from the album are Tangerine and Lollipops and Roses. I will give Taste of Honey it's due credit, because it does show what Herb Alpert could do with an arrangement of someone else's song. It firmly establishes the TJB as a major musical force on the American music landscape of the times, and begins the TJB portion of the sixties soundtrack to which they contributed so much.
 
JO said:
I'll probably roast in virtual A&M Corner hell for my opinions about this LP...but, that's why we have forums -- to exchange ideas, for if we all thought alike what'd be the point for exchange and discussion?

:thumbsup:

I can't say it's my favorite TJB album (maybe my favorite album cover...for artistic reasons, of course :angel: ), but since I've listened to it since the age of three, I've just pretty much accepted it for what it is. "Bittersweet Samba", "Taste of Honey", "Green Peppers" and "Lollipops and Roses" are my top four favorites. I only have two words about "Peanuts": Polka Party!! :D

The two bonus tracks are nice, but don't fit the sonics of the album. In fact, for the backup CDs I made, I put these at the end of the CD I made of Lost Treasures.

It recently hit me how good the arrangement was for "Taste of Honey", though: I made an instrumental compilation, coming immediately after Al Hirt's "Java". The intro notes are a teaser, but the bass drum beats kicking off the tune just give you an immediate jolt, that the song is going to be something different than what other "instrumental" tracks sounded like back in the day.
 
Thanks for the responses...

I know the LP is a personal fav to many people and I had no intention of writing an opinion piece to antagonize.

Virtually all record reviewers -- including the "current" e-Bible, AMG -- typically rate this LP as the best (and most representative) of all TjB offerings. For instance, AMG, gives it 5 stars -- the only Alpert LP to get 5 stars...with the writer going off on the concept of food titles, Dating Game music, Grammys, and other social brouhaha -- all the while the actual music (the purpose of a review) is not even discussed! The greater insult occurs when the musically superior !!Going Places!! only received a 3.5. Subsequent LPs receive numerically decreasing ratings concluding with The Brass Are Comin' at 2. It's obvious the reviewers don't give quality time for listening, nor so they appear to attempt to get into the music...instead they take the cruddy way out by rating these things by popularity. Of course, the supreme irony with WCAOD is that it could not be representative per se as it was cut in toto by session cats: the TjB had still had not formed as a band.

The greatest crime of all is that the uninitiated reader, following the review-appraisal system, will then most likely never discover the incredible musical triumphs of SRO or Sounds Like.

Cap'n D -- since the TjB is your fav band, you should be writing the reviews! I'm confident you have the expertise to support more satisfying and useful review information (about the music!!) than these knowledge-challenged music critics.

Anyway, if more reissues do come our way, let's at least hope that Josh Kuhn doesn't get within 500 miles of the project.

-James
 
James - the star ratings on AMG are in fact a popularity contest. People vote for the ratings and they're just tabulated - some nut who's never even heard the music could go on there and put a 5-star rating if he wanted to, and it would get tabulated with the rest.

AMG reviews are written by people who are affiliated with Alliance Entertainment Group, which owns the AMG site. Alliance is one of the biggest CD/DVD distributors in the country. Given that, it's surprising there are any "bad" reviews on the site at all!

It is sad that a lot of people miss out on some great music just because they don't know about it. I often wonder how many potential personal favorites of mine there are floating around -- that I've never heard of.
 
A double load of coal in the stocking of the "name withheld" reviewer! Whipped Cream & Other Delights is a classic by anyone's standards. It's a piece of Americana and perhaps, the best known of all of the Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass albums. To write this kind of review some 42 years later is not fair, in that it takes the album out of the context of the time period in which it was released. Nevertheless, the album has endured, as evidenced by the gold and platinum records it has earned and the number of re-issues it has seen and on-going popularity. In the heyday of the TJB, some of the so-called critics and musical purists downplayed Herb's sound - Leonard Feather for one. But what did the worldwide record buying public do in response? They bought millions of TJB albums and ultimately helped Herb set a Guinness Book record, so far unsurpassed, for having five albums in the BILLBOARD Top Twenty simultaneously! I could go on, but you all already know the statistics.
 
The album is the #1 seller here at the Corner as well--it sells double the #2 most popular title ("Definitive Hits", believe it or not).
 
I agree with Steve completely. I understand that not everyone is going to have the same favorite TJB tunes and I don't find it offensive if someone states that they don't like one of my faves. That's their prerogative. However, when Mr. "Name Withheld" calls songs like "El Garbanzo" novelty children's music as well as "Butterball" and "Peanuts" and implies an attitude of "what was Herb thinking with these songs?", that ticks me off. First, I happen to love all three of those songs. I don't agree that Side 2 is weaker than Side 1. I think they are both very infectious. Third, I don't know how old "NW" is, but if he was alive in the '60's, He would know that it was the bright, bouncy, light-hearted, happy-go-lucky sounds of the TJB that helped people escape from all the political crap and turmoil that was going on. To bash an album like WCAOD because every tune isn't like "Tangerine" is ludicrous. NW is listening to the wrong band if he doesn't like "novelty tunes". BTW, other "novelty" tunes that I love by the TJB include "Tijuana Taxi", "Spanish Flea", "Cinco De Mayo", "Freckles", "Brasilia", "Miss Frenchy Brown", "Bean Bag", "Flea Bag", "Montezuma's Revenge" just to name a few. Furthermore, "Whipped Cream" is "too cutesy cutesy"? WTH. NW? The song was written by one of the most beloved artists in New Orleans jazz, and Herb took the song and made it a household name. It's one of the jazziest tunes of the early Brass. Also, while I do like GOING PLACES even better than WCAOD, GP and all the subsequent albums which didn't feature such risque covers would not have sold if the millions of people who bought WCAOD thought that its cover photo was the big attraction. So, in short, NW, while you are entitled to your opinions, your review for WCAOD to be read by a potential buyer is worthless, IMHO. After reading your review, it's not my feathers that are ruffled, it's my brain.

David

BTW, Merry Christmas, everyone.....even NW!
 
Artistically and Stylistically Whipped Cream is a good concept... Material and Delivery-wise something like Ninth really gets my nod as a good place for the novice to start, least as far as the Best example of Herb's "experimentation" and going "outside of the typical "Ameriachi" theme" goes...

Not giving any more or less praise to either entity... Just that the two above titles seem to be where my Journey into Herb's catalog have taken me first, followed by The Beat Of The Brass, just because I needed something to warm me up for "Talk To The Aniamls"...



Dave
 
I don't agree that Side 2 is weaker than Side 1. I think they are both very infectious.
True, true. BUT, it is a fact that it was a common practice, when sequencing LPs, to to front-load the best of the music on side 1. They would often put a "hit single" or maybe a hopeful 2nd single at the head of side 2. But the rest of side 2 would often be filler.

Look at the voting statistics for WC. The side one songs have more votes on the average. Side 1 (in total) gets 27 votes, vs. 15 for side 2.

Herb, of course would tinker with this tradition somewhat -- putting things like "Zorba" and "Casino Royale" and "This Guy's" at the end of the program -- but that was after the album became more of an artistic entity to be taken as a whole -- as opposed to just a couple of hits surrounded by "other music" as was common practice up until the rock era began in earnest.
 
I grew up back in the sixties, graduating from high school in 1969. I became interested in the TJB back about 1966 with GP being my first album. Obviously, my favorite period by far in the long career of Herb Alpert is the period 1962 - 1968...Lonely Bull to BOTB.

I think Herb is the greatest trumpet "stylist" and most influential instrumental musician of all time. I will confess that Herb is my musical "hero."

I have all the TJB albums, some of the solo albums, and to this day, when I sit down to practice the trumpet, part of that routine is to always play some "Herb."

With that said, I do not personally like everything Herb has recorded (at times, I wonder if even Herb likes everything he has recorded - witness the Volume 2 discussion). Most of it, yes, but not all. I most certainly do not like anything that Herb got involved with that bears the urban, rap, or techno imprint. I am particularly negative on his Janet Jackson collaborations - probably because I am not a fan of Jackson. I also know that some people probably love this stuff, and that is fine with me. I'm not here to set myself up as the judge of what is right and wrong, good or bad. In that regard, I can only speak for myself. But, I know that I, myself, wouldn't give a penny for that stuff. And, some people might give their entire year's pay. I think that is what is meant by the expression "to each his own."

I appreciate reasonable commentary - pro or con. It stimulates my thinking and sometimes I even get another perspective on something. I don't have a problem with that. It doesn't hurt to challenge your thinking. For example, I used to be happily ignorant of the fact that Herb played all the trumpet parts on the recordings. Whenever I heard the harmony trumpet, I just assumed it was Tonni Kalash. Oh well...

I am fine with the WCAOD comments. It doesn't change my opinions, but I enjoy reading someone's else's opinions.

I think that sometimes it is a good idea to look at this artist in an evolutionary way, seeing the progression of the sound and style with the passage of time. Every album is unique and different, and I think that is a very good thing...it keeps my interest alive even after 40 years. Very few artists can boast the progression and development of musical style and sound that Herb Alpert has done.

The WCAOD tunes fit the times. They are a milestone in the artist's development and musical progression from the inception to the end of the original TJB era. I seriously doubt if Herb would have tried to market Lonely Bull at the BOTB time period.
 
Captaindave said:
I am fine with the WCAOD comments. It doesn't change my opinions, but I enjoy reading someone's else's opinions.

I like reading opposing opinions. I would rather read a lengthy note from someone saying what they like and dislike, rather than some off-handed comments like, "This album sucks" or "X___ is overrated."
 
I respect JO’s opinion along with everyone elses. Frankly, I’ve been enjoying all of JO’s posts; they’re well written, informative and fun to read. I hope he continues to post here for a long time to come.

Happy Holidays,
Mike
 
Mike said:
I respect JO’s opinion along with everyone elses. Frankly, I’ve been enjoying all of JO’s posts; they’re well written, informative and fun to read. I hope he continues to post here for a long time to come.

Happy Holidays,
Mike

Wait until everyone hears how much we're paying him! :biglaugh:

Just kidding! :D It's the membership here that keeps us all coming back. :thumbsup:
 
It all goes in circles -- like a community of contributions...and for me, lately, Cap'n D keeps me coming back!

I like it that he is a trumpet player and, as a trumpet player, actually witnessed the maestro in action back in the day! His personal remembrances recently posted I've read and re-read many times and have thoroughly enjoyed. Additionally, Cap'n D has inspired me to incorporate a little Herb in my daily routines as well. Last night, for instance, I worked up A Walk in the Black Forest [!!Going Places!!] . I like the 2-octave range of the song and the tension-filled B-section. Herb plays it in D, but I took it up to F so that I could nail a high C in the B-section.

Similarly with Cap'n D, I also have no interest in Herb's (or anyone's) contributions to anything remotely associated with urban/hiphop/rap/crackmusic and the rest of it... As a cornet player rooted in '60s jazz it absolutely runs counter to my own understanding of what make "musical sense".

-James
 
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