"Lost Treasures"
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana
Brass
Shout! Factory, 2005
In
the 1960's, Herb Alpert was a musical force to be reckoned
with. According to the liner notes of Lost Treasures, he
was forth only to Elvis, The Beatles, and Frank
Sinatra as the top-selling album artist of that decade. His Tijuana
Brass albums became required listening to anyone who owned a hi-fi.
The swinging melodies and easy-going beats gave Alpert's
music a happy-go-lucky quality--something that was desperately needed in
the turbulent sixties.
To celebrate the 40th
anniversary of his albums, Alpert worked on a project to
digitally remaster the early Tijuana Brass albums--The
Lonely Bull, South of the Border, and the legendary
Whipped
Cream & Other Delights--as part of Signature Series of
discs. While Alpert went through the archives, he found many
unfinished, unreleased, and forgotten songs.
The tunes on this disc
cover 1962-1969, the whole of the Tijuana Brass' existence.
The album is mostly a collection of pop tunes, like The Beatles
"And I Love Her," "Lazy Day," and "Flowers on the Wall." With each one,
Alpert puts his own spin on it and makes it his own. You
even get a taste of Alpert's vocal styling with his version
of "(They Long To Be) Close To You." He actually makes this light-rock
groaner sparkle with a touch of suave hipster charm. (The liner notes explain
how Alpert was given the song first by Hal David
and Burt Bacharach. As the story goes, Alpert
was unsure of his performance on this song, so he mothballed it, and gave
the song to Richard and Karen Carpenter who,
of course, had a huge hit with it.)
One of the best tunes
on Lost Treasures is "Happy Hour." It a lively and cool two-minute
number that any space-age bachelor would be proud to have as a personal
theme. For this tune, Alpert actually had to go back into
the studio to record the trumpet part. It good to see that his chops are
still intact four decades on!
Lost Treasures
is a welcome addition to the Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
library. And along with the rest of the CD re-issues, a whole new generation
can now swing along with all the classic Tijuana Brass hits.
Buy this album from
Other Herb Alpert albums available
from Amazon.com
Whipped Cream and Other Delights |
The Lonely Bull |
South of the Border |
What Now My Love |
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