"Warm"..It's 40 this June!
- Thread starter Steven J. Gross
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I remember it well...happened to have the $5 in my pocket when I saw it at KMart, early in that year's summer vacation from school. Put it on my little plastic blue and white record player and was playing my horn right along with "The Sea is My Soil" before it had completed. Warm is still a wonderful summer album (remember Herb's toll free number you could call to listen as he promoted it; my heart was racing when the "secretary" answered 'Herb Alpert's office...just a moment'...thinking I was actually going to be patched through to him.)
I remember seeing it for the first time, too. It was in the V-Store Trading Post, a variety store here in town that had a "record department." (Our store was selling 8-track tapes then, but had not branched into LPs yet.)
I first heard the album on 8-track, then that tape got lost somehow. I had made a compilation "best of TJB" cassette using that 8-track as a source, so for several years that hissy tape was the only way I could hear my favorite WARM tracks.
A few years later I saw an ad somewhere (Billboard, I think) for a "record search" service. You sent in the title you wanted, and they would respond with a price if they found it. I asked for WARM and I think they wanted $25 for it in 'excellent' condition, which I gladly paid. I made a decent cassette dub from that album, but it had an annoying scratch right in the quiet part of "Sea is My Soil."
Fast forward to my discovery of the A&M Corner where I found out that Ithere were a lot of big fans of the album. That led to one of the Cornerites sending me a much better copy of the album on CD, which I cleaned-up a bit further using Sound Forge Noise Reduction. That version outshines the iTunes version in some spots and sounds just as good in the rest.
My favorite tune on the record has always been "The Sea is My Soil" but in recent years I've really gotten to like "Marjorine." It's the TJB at its most swingin'. I guess the vocal tunes are my least favorite tracks on the record (except "Zazuiera," which cooks)!
I first heard the album on 8-track, then that tape got lost somehow. I had made a compilation "best of TJB" cassette using that 8-track as a source, so for several years that hissy tape was the only way I could hear my favorite WARM tracks.
A few years later I saw an ad somewhere (Billboard, I think) for a "record search" service. You sent in the title you wanted, and they would respond with a price if they found it. I asked for WARM and I think they wanted $25 for it in 'excellent' condition, which I gladly paid. I made a decent cassette dub from that album, but it had an annoying scratch right in the quiet part of "Sea is My Soil."
Fast forward to my discovery of the A&M Corner where I found out that Ithere were a lot of big fans of the album. That led to one of the Cornerites sending me a much better copy of the album on CD, which I cleaned-up a bit further using Sound Forge Noise Reduction. That version outshines the iTunes version in some spots and sounds just as good in the rest.
My favorite tune on the record has always been "The Sea is My Soil" but in recent years I've really gotten to like "Marjorine." It's the TJB at its most swingin'. I guess the vocal tunes are my least favorite tracks on the record (except "Zazuiera," which cooks)!
Dave
Well-Known Member
Well, with all the talk here about how definitive Herb Alpert's Warm is, here, it seemed inviting enough to offer a lot to someone like me who is not your "basic, meat & potatoes artist A&M fan"...
So in that regard I did find a very good-playing copy and, yes, found it endlessly rewarding and enough that I did buy into a lot of the Alpert catalog, thereafter...
(And if collecting Herb didn't begin with that album, then it must've been my "Rise" on a 12" or in some sort of compilation such as Classics, Vol...???...)
I regret my failing to buy a still-sealed copy of Warm which I kept seeing in a store, which when I planned to finally buy it, then disappeared, but fortunately years later, and maybe 1- or 2-ago, I did acquire a whole slew of still-sealed TjB titles and a couple of solo stuff, including this one, so all worked out for better...
I remember also raiding my coin collection (only needed $2, and luckily grabbed them in the form of early-1970's half-dollars, which I had duplicates of) to buy a "Without Her" / "Sandbox" '45' in a "Warm" Picture Sleeve from a guy who used to set up a table at our local record conventions and remember seeing the record there, but he no longer set up a table and sold stuff there, so I came to his house to buy it from him...
Yes, a mighty "tour-de-force" that really is unlike anything else Herb has done... And what "The Sea Is My Soil" is to many of you, I stand by "Sandbox" as being my personal fav'...!
Dave
So in that regard I did find a very good-playing copy and, yes, found it endlessly rewarding and enough that I did buy into a lot of the Alpert catalog, thereafter...
(And if collecting Herb didn't begin with that album, then it must've been my "Rise" on a 12" or in some sort of compilation such as Classics, Vol...???...)
I regret my failing to buy a still-sealed copy of Warm which I kept seeing in a store, which when I planned to finally buy it, then disappeared, but fortunately years later, and maybe 1- or 2-ago, I did acquire a whole slew of still-sealed TjB titles and a couple of solo stuff, including this one, so all worked out for better...
I remember also raiding my coin collection (only needed $2, and luckily grabbed them in the form of early-1970's half-dollars, which I had duplicates of) to buy a "Without Her" / "Sandbox" '45' in a "Warm" Picture Sleeve from a guy who used to set up a table at our local record conventions and remember seeing the record there, but he no longer set up a table and sold stuff there, so I came to his house to buy it from him...
Yes, a mighty "tour-de-force" that really is unlike anything else Herb has done... And what "The Sea Is My Soil" is to many of you, I stand by "Sandbox" as being my personal fav'...!
Dave
Steven J. Gross
Well-Known Member
Steven J. Gross
Well-Known Member
[email protected] said:
I remember!!
I was 13...and, after the innovations of NINTH, THE BEAT OF THE BRASS and CHRISTMAS ALBUM, I couldn't wait for the new album. Fortunately, we were visiting L.A. the week of its release, so I could buy it new cheap.
Bottom line: I was and still am knocked out.
In 40 years, I've only owned two versions...I still have my original LP, and a CD dubbed from reel-to-reel.
It may have been a disappointment from the standpoint of sales (especially following BEAT OF THE BRASS), but it's a high-water mark in terms of artistry...and the subsequent retreat (THE BRASS ARE COMIN') and neglect of WARM as a major moment in Herb's canon have been huge disappointments.
It definitely deserves the Shout! Factory CD reissue.
---Michael Hagerty
Bottom line: I was and still am knocked out.
In 40 years, I've only owned two versions...I still have my original LP, and a CD dubbed from reel-to-reel.
It may have been a disappointment from the standpoint of sales (especially following BEAT OF THE BRASS), but it's a high-water mark in terms of artistry...and the subsequent retreat (THE BRASS ARE COMIN') and neglect of WARM as a major moment in Herb's canon have been huge disappointments.
It definitely deserves the Shout! Factory CD reissue.
---Michael Hagerty
If I remember correctly, there were three different singles that preceeded the WARM album containing four tracks from it. "To Wait For Love" was the earliest on single #964. Next came "Zazuiera" on #1043, and finally "Without Her" and "Sandbox" on #1065.
So when WARM finally arrived as an album, I'd already heard a third of its tracks. But nothing could beat the feeling of sitting down with the new album in hand, placing the stylus down on track 1 and hearing "The Sea Is My Soil" for that first time. An incredible track that still remains a favorite after all these years.
After that, I got to hear the stereo versions of the 45 songs for the first time, revealing a different take on "To Wait For Love" and the different layers of the complex "Zazueira".
Somehow in the later years, I've acquired one more 45 from WARM, a beat-up "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" backed with "Marjorine". I never really thought about either of those being a single, but here it is in front of me. It must have come out after the WARM album had already hit the shelves.
Great album. 40 years, huh?
Harry
So when WARM finally arrived as an album, I'd already heard a third of its tracks. But nothing could beat the feeling of sitting down with the new album in hand, placing the stylus down on track 1 and hearing "The Sea Is My Soil" for that first time. An incredible track that still remains a favorite after all these years.
After that, I got to hear the stereo versions of the 45 songs for the first time, revealing a different take on "To Wait For Love" and the different layers of the complex "Zazueira".
Somehow in the later years, I've acquired one more 45 from WARM, a beat-up "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" backed with "Marjorine". I never really thought about either of those being a single, but here it is in front of me. It must have come out after the WARM album had already hit the shelves.
Great album. 40 years, huh?
Harry
toeknee4bz
Well-Known Member
Funny how your tastes change over a course of time. This album never really caught me like the earlier TJB albums did. Of course, I was a mere 13 years old when I got my first copy back in the summer of '82. Back in those days I was just happy to get my hands on any- and everything Alpert. I did have a few faves from WARM, but that's changed over the years as well. Nowadays I actually find myself whistling "Zazueira" moreso than any other WARM track. Used to be "Girl Talk", and at one time, "Pretty World". Wonder what my next WARM fave will be...
As Herb likes to sign off, "Warm wishes",
Tony
As Herb likes to sign off, "Warm wishes",
Tony
I think I posted this in some other comment thread here in the last 7 years or so, but what made WARM work for me was it sounded exactly like Southern California felt that summer of 1969...especially along the beach.
My idea of a great three minutes...a top-down convertible drive along a (relatively) traffic-free Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu with "Girl Talk" playing on the car stereo.
So to me, WARM was really the soundtrack of a great place at its peak. By August, it was fear, loathing and Charles Manson.
And as I think about it, if I was told I could have one and only one album from here on out, I'd grab WARM and rely on my memory for everything else I've heard.
---Michael Hagerty
My idea of a great three minutes...a top-down convertible drive along a (relatively) traffic-free Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu with "Girl Talk" playing on the car stereo.
So to me, WARM was really the soundtrack of a great place at its peak. By August, it was fear, loathing and Charles Manson.
And as I think about it, if I was told I could have one and only one album from here on out, I'd grab WARM and rely on my memory for everything else I've heard.
---Michael Hagerty
Steven J. Gross
Well-Known Member
Also a difficult era for him was just beginning.
If you missed it in the "interviews" section here on the Corner, here's the brief exchange with him during a 1979 interview:
RW: Seasons were a part of “Summertime,” “The Christmas Album”…Are you a fan of seasons?
HA: I don’t consciously think about it. But Warm was a result of my trip to Rio De Janeiro which had a major affect on my life. Chose a lot of Brazilian songs written by well-known Brazilian composers of that period.
RW: It opens with “The Sea is My Soil…”
HA: This was during a period when I was producing Brazil ‘66 records and got infected by Brazilian music. I had never been exposed to those rhythms before. I didn’t want to step on Sergio’s toes, but I knew that little by little, it was gonna seep into my own work.
If you missed it in the "interviews" section here on the Corner, here's the brief exchange with him during a 1979 interview:
RW: Seasons were a part of “Summertime,” “The Christmas Album”…Are you a fan of seasons?
HA: I don’t consciously think about it. But Warm was a result of my trip to Rio De Janeiro which had a major affect on my life. Chose a lot of Brazilian songs written by well-known Brazilian composers of that period.
RW: It opens with “The Sea is My Soil…”
HA: This was during a period when I was producing Brazil ‘66 records and got infected by Brazilian music. I had never been exposed to those rhythms before. I didn’t want to step on Sergio’s toes, but I knew that little by little, it was gonna seep into my own work.
Steven J. Gross
Well-Known Member
audiofile
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That interview is a little odd. Herb says he's never been affected by Brazilian rhythms before Warm, yet many TJB songs before Warm have Brazilian rhythms. My Heart Belongs To Daddy, Love Nest, Cabaret, Panama, She Touched Me, The Robin....yeah. Practically the whole Beat of the Brass album.
Steven J. Gross
Well-Known Member
lonely bull
Active Member
I have to admit, this album is not familiar to me at all, the only " Warm " tracks I have are from other CD's. I really like them. I have " Warm " and " Without Her " on the Foursider CD and " Zazueira " on Greatest Hits Vol 2. Being from Britain I am familiar with " Marjorine " which appeared on our version of " Greatest Hits " ( the White cover ).
Why oh why couldn't we have a " Warm " CD from Shout! Instead of itunes? Please, Please, Please, there is still time!!!!!!!
I have just got a new Turntable so I suppose I will have to console myself and dig out my vinyl L.P instead. Looking forward to that now!
Dave.......
Why oh why couldn't we have a " Warm " CD from Shout! Instead of itunes? Please, Please, Please, there is still time!!!!!!!
I have just got a new Turntable so I suppose I will have to console myself and dig out my vinyl L.P instead. Looking forward to that now!
Dave.......
Matt Clark Sanford, MI
I think by then the concept of listening to music from rotatiing disks will be antiquated, just like the notion of tinfoil cylinders is today.
I think the day will come when every piece of music ever recorded will be available by some kind of subscription service. You'll plug your little "device" into whatever listening portal you have -- home system, car system, portable or whatever -- and the tunes or album you want will be streamed for you. (Of course the small tape blip at the end of Burt Bacharach's "I Might Frighten Her Away" will still be there.)
audiofile
Member
Mike Blakesley said:
Good point. I guess Herb was talking about the period from 1966-to 1969, instead of during the making of Warm. However, there are a couple of TJB tunes with Brazilian influence right off the bat. Herb covered the Brazilian classic, Desifinado in 1962 on Lonely Bull. I guess I'm taking the statement too literally.
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