📷 Gallery TJB 45rpm US Picture Sleeves

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Harry

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The following pictures represent my collection of Tijuana Brass-era 45rpm picture sleeves as issued by A&M in the United States. There are of course many more that were issued around the world. Steve S. has a handle on a good bit of those, but I wanted to exhibit just the US sleeves. These show both the a- and b- sides of the sleeves. In many cases, the b-side has it's own image; in some, it's an exact repeat; others change some text.

It appears to me that the very first picture sleeve in the US was issued with "What Now My Love" / "Spanish Flea". I can't find any reference to any before that. And, though I believe this collection is complete, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that there is something that I've missed. But again, I can't find any reference to other picture sleeves on Discogs.

I was fortunate to have found the great bulk of these in one eBay purchase a few years ago, and during my current free time, thought I'd share them here.

[Edit: After a further review, I've added a T.J.B. sleeve, and one from the BULLISH era with the "Tijuana Brass" moniker.]

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Wow! Thank you for scanning these, Harry. I have about 80% of these, but yours look like mint copies. I’d never seen the Christmas sleeve, as well as a few of the later ones.

Really cool.
 
It's a great collection of photos. I always got an extra charge and my heart always seemed to beat a little faster when I found a new release with a picture sleeve. It wasn't that common in the 60s.
 
As most here know, I used to run a music store. During that era I always thought that most singles came in "generic" sleeves with the label showing through, and only "priority" releases would have the picture sleeves. But since then I've come to realize that (apparently, at least) MOST singles did have the picture sleeves -- at least, if you look up popular singles on Wikipedia, picture sleeves are usually shown. These Herb Alpert sleeves sort of bear that theory out.

I suppose the reality is that they only produced a limited number of pic-sleeves and then went to the generics, and our store (being very small) was probably lower in the pecking order. I'd guess that maybe one title out of ten we'd receive would come in a picture sleeve, if that.
 
This discussion brings up a curiosity I've held for quite some time. I actually had someone tell me some time ago that posting covers of any kind like these were "illegal copyright infringement" or some other such nonsense. I told the guy that when they're posted online in a social media setting, it's obviously for discussion purposes and falls under the 'fair use' clause. Thoughts, anyone?
 
Maybe there is a vague technicality that would prove an infringement, but a good lawyer would probably say, "what are your damages?" and that would end the discussion. Although, this year has been so fouled up nothing would surprise me anymore. Maybe they'll make singing along with the radio illegal, saying it constitutes a public performance.
 
International copyright law has a "right to quote" paragraph, that includes the possibility to show e.g. an album cover in a publication (book or newspaper), where the album is reviewed or referred to in the manuscript.

- greetings from the north -
Martin
 
Any idea what the heck it is that Herb is perched upon here? Is that a miniature train or school bus?

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Herb's a fairly compact guy---that would be a really narrow school bus.

What I think this is is the old miniature trainyard at Griffith Park. It started back in the 40s and by '69, there'd probably have been cars retired or waiting for restoration. It's still a thing today and, in fact, has grown considerably:


A lot of A&M photography was done at Griffith Park (FAMILY PORTRAIT, BEAT OF THE BRASS, LOOK AROUND). Three miles from A&M, it could yield dozens of different looks, most of them with no hint of being in the city.
 
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