TJB releases in 2006 and beyond - Speculations

[bob knack]

I couldn't agree more about a 'live' recording.

In the old days it was about radio 'air-play'. Some people originally found out about the TJB from The Lonely Bull, others after Mexican Shuffle. I started buying the records after hearing Taste of Honey on the radio. I then went back and bought the previous three LP's. I was hooked.

Well, there's not much Easy Listening or MOR programming today where young buyers might be listening. So, a 'live' recording might be the vehicle to get people going back, as I did in the 60's, to sample the other recordings.

That '74 band was great. More like a jazz band. I can't get over Dave Frischberg(sp.) playing piano for the TJB!

 

[Rudy]

That '74 band was great. More like a jazz band. I can't get over Dave Frischberg(sp.) playing piano for the TJB!

IIRC, essentially the same band toured with the TJB for both the You Smile and Coney albums. Saw them both times in fact.

 

[RichardWarner]

Saw them both: the You Smile tour in 1974 at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland. Lawn seats. Alpert's daughter had just been born and he recounted how amazing the experience was. Then the Coney Island tour in 1975 at the same location. This time I had a seat, and the lady next to me was amazed at how well I followed the music (being a trumpet player and all).

Then years later, drove from Atlanta to Memphis for the TJB Bullish reunion tour. Hottest/muggiest place on earth. Had a backstage pass...and when I went to pick it up in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel, all the members of the TJB except Herb were sitting there. So what did I do? Ask for a picture with me playing air horn? Get autographs? No! NOTHING! I was too nervous! What an idiot!

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I would think that the next few albums in the canon would be the ones that need to be reissued the most...since they didn't chart as high as the previous ones, and none of them were readily available on CD, they'd be ripe for rerelease. If Herb is really interested in preserving the sound, it's only a natural that WARM, TBAC and SUMMERTIME would be made available.


All I ever had to listen to in the past for the last three reissues were scratchy old lps...and the CD format sonics are a revelation...the sound is fantastic; very creative arranging and production work that I never heard before...

Because of the demands of the market, the next 3 albums really didn't get a very good chance to be heard when they were originally offferred...and now, with better technology and pent-up demand, there is definitely a market for them.

I was never able to obtain a copy of TBAC or SUMMERTIME...I have some scratchy singles from both lps, and a bunch of downloads from the web, but they really don't do the music justice. There are a couple of songs from SUMMERTIME that I haven't even heard. I'm sure that there are a lot of other Brassniks out there who are in the same boat, and Herb is aware of this.


Dan

 

[Rudy]

Web strategy basics. Let's see.

...

And those are just ideas I came up with sitting here bleary-eyed at midnight after finishing an RFP. Imagine what really smart people could come up with in a day!

You've got it Richard--those are the basics of what makes our "business" tick! And no, not one label person, or anyone in management, has contacted us about the tijuanabrass.com name. Not that I'd want to give it up, but then again, I grabbed it mainly to increase my own traffic a bit but, more importantly, keep it from being held hostage by domain squatters. I've always been more than willing to make it the "semi-official" page and make it work well for all of us. I think at this point in the game, with a good batch of reissues out and more product on the way, someone should help us take advantage of the name before it IS too late.

Look at how much we here are spreading the news and good vibes about these reissues out here on the web. You can't beat good free promotion, and the power of the record-buying public!

 

[thetijuanataxi]

Official news releases about the release date of CHRISTMAS ALBUM is now on Shout! Factory's web site. It also mentions the previous releases saying "thus far" released by SF. I really think there would have been more of a finality to that paragraph if they weren't planning more releases. In any case, you can read about CHRISTMAS ALBUM under "pressroom".

David,
looking forward to October.........

 

[Rudy]

Is it time to sell our old copies of Christmas Album on eBay for $$$$$$ before the new ones come out??

 

[Harry]

http://cgi.ebay.com/herb-alpert-tij...goryZ307QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Harry

 

[Mr Bill]

...It also mentions the previous releases saying "thus far" released by SF....

Indeed! That "thus far" is quite telling -- you wouldn't say "thus far" at the end of the program. This increases my optimism about at least the next three (and V2) "original TJB" LPs coming before the hit solo era of Rise kicks off. I still have my doubts (but hopes, fersure) about the five 70s LPs (YS-TSB, CI, JY&M and the two Masekela collaborations)...

Mr Bill

 

[Maitlen]

I'd love a 2-disc "Son of Lost Treasures, " to include, on disc 1, the entire Warm album, with select tracks from BAC and Summertime; disc II would include all of "Vol. II," single/alternate versionsof TJB songs, and whatever unreleased gems may still remain in the vaults.

 

[Mr Bill]

Among other alternate versions, I'm a bit disappointed to see that the Something Festive version of "Jingle Bell Rock" is not treated as a bonus item on the Christmas Album...

--Mr Bill

 

[Numero Cinco]

I'd love a 2-disc "Son of Lost Treasures, " to include, on disc 1, the entire Warm album, with select tracks from BAC and Summertime; disc II would include all of "Vol. II," single/alternate versionsof TJB songs, and whatever unreleased gems may still remain in the vaults.

That's a great idea, which could be extended. For instance, one could add the remaining tracks from You Smile not covered by the alternative takes on Lost Treasues and Herb's picks from Coney Island. The result would be a selected career-retrospective of the TJB.

Several of us might be tempted to kill for more new tracks, excavated from the vaults. How a "Happy Hour" was ever lost to begin with boggles the brain. But if that means Mr. A. laying down or rerecording new lead-tracks, we'd best not hold our breath.

If things stop with the Christmas Album, the saddest omission for me will be Warm. To my taste, it's not the finest TJB record, certainly not the most typical, but it may have been the most distinctively beautiful.[/quote]

 

[Numero Cinco]

I've no idea how my last message ended up being thrice posted. Four more and I'd have one for each of Dan's seven dwarfs. I'll leave it to the site's moderators to delete my superfluousness, with thanks.

[Moderator: duplicate posts deleted]

 

[DennisN]

One other thing to consider is (if it hasn't already been pointed out) if you look at the songs on Lost Treasures they fall into two categories:

1. songs that never appear on any previous LP
2. songs that have been reissued or tweeked a little bit

As everyone knows, all of songs in category 2 are all from just a single LP (You Smile the Song Begins) .

If there was never any plan to release Warm, The Brass Are Comin' , Summertime, etc. then wouldn't you think the category 2 songs would have been picked from the albums that were not being planned for re-issue?
Instead they are all from just one album.

I can accept that YSTSB likely will not be re-issued (at least not in its entirety), but it seems to me the song choices in Lost Treasures might have been different if nothing after Christmas Album had been planned.

It's certainly fun to conjecture.

Dennis

 

[thetijuanataxi]

I don't think that whether the album was a big seller or not is relevant. Both 9th and Sounds like were not near as big sellers as the first 6 albums. In fact they were deleted from A&M's catalogue by the time YSTSB was released. And they were reissued. In fact, VOLUME 2 outsold the 9th and was kept in the LP catalogue till the mid 80's, yet it's not reissued yet. I think that the powers that be are in a position to and are willing to give us all of this music good, bad, popular, slow selling, rarities, alternate versions, etc. over time. All they need is consistent reassurance that there is a market NOW for this music. Herb and Randy said they found tons of tapes after all the legalities with UMG were settled. Who knows what treats are still to come? The only thing we can honestly do to ensure that the remainder of the unreissued albums and rarities see the light of day is to purchase everything that is released and let everyone we can know about them. The financial aspect of it may or may not be important to Herb at this point, but as far as Shout Factory is concerned, sales mean a lot in keeping their interest in the project. Personally I'd like to see the remainder of the TJB catalogue released individually as the previous ones were and additional volumes of rarities/alternate versions. but I'm sure that good sales will determine how much more we get.

David,
with wallet ready and waiting.......

 

[RichardWarner]

Here's a thought bouncing around in my head:

We're hearing that a box set may be in the works. If I were running the TJB show at Shout!, I would package those additional rarities in the box set so that the fans would have to purchase the box set to get 'em...even though they already bought some or all of the individual discs.

This is the same strategy movie companies use when they release yet another version of a film on DVD --- "new extras!" "deleted footage!" "new commentary!" "higher price for a movie you already bought!"

 

[Maitlen]

Regarding T-Taxi's remark (which I don't question), do we have any reliable estimates for sales (US, International, or both) of the TJB albums? I'm aware of the chart positions, but had never given a thought as to whether SOUNDS LIKE (for example) sold significantly fewer copies than (again, for example) WNML, or SRO (which reached, as we all know, "only" #2 on the Billboard chart. Just as a matter of curiousity, it would be fun to have "units moved" estimates for each of the albums.

 

[martin]

I believe exact, reliable numbers are very hard to get from record sales in the 60's and 70's. The chart data were compiled in a different way than in our "soundscan" age. In the record business there has also always been a tendency to exaggerate the sales figures to impress the media. The best way to determine the sales success of a record is to see how long it lasted on the charts, rather than just look at the chart position. I suppose that this is the basis for "Tijuana Taxi's" analysis. As we all know, around 1970 the total sales of Herb and the TJB were reported to be 35 million albums. According to Herb Alpert's own website in the "chronology" from 1997 it says: "To date,Herb Alpert has sold more than 72.000.000. records worldwide". I would think this includes "the lot"; all albums, singles, compilations, licensed products in all territories. I don't think it would be possible to find out the exact number of copies that e.g. THE BEAT OF THE BRASS sold. The financial records that would state the royalties,probably no longer exist, and this is an album that were kept in the catalog for many years and were licensed to distributors in several countries all over the world.

- greetings from the north-
Martin