'60s TjB: The Singles -- The Most Impressive Release
- Thread starter JOv2
- Start date
- Status
Dave said:
James has likely decided not to include the vocal releases as "TjB" singles, as "This Guy's In Love With You" is not listed either.
My first gut reaction as favorite single might possibly be "Tijuana Taxi"/"Zorba The Greek" just because of the different mixes found on that 45.
But whether or not that's the "most impressive" will need some further thought.
(One thing we DO need to do, is to get our friend James to sit down for five minutes, holding a copy of either the "Zazueira" single or the WARM album, and to study the spelling of "Zazueira", noting that there is no "N" in the title.)
Harry
Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
Harry said:
Same thing with "My Favorite Things", since there's no "U" in "Favorite".
Capt. Bacardi
For a look at the picture sleeves for these releases, go here: http://www.amcorner.com/gallery/v/amfannet/Herb-Alpert-Picture-Sleeves/album01/
JOv2
Well-Known Member
[quote="American-English" Captain Bacardi][quote="Spell-Check" Harry](One thing we DO need to do, is to get our friend James to sit down for five minutes, holding a copy of either the "Zazueira" single or the WARM album, and to study the spelling of "Zazueira", noting that there is no "N" in the title.) [/quote]
Same thing with "My Favorite Things", since there's no "U" in "Favorite". [/quote]
Dang, you folks are tough -- making me feel like I've never listened to a Herb Albert record before or somethin'... Anyway, it was like 1:30AM or some such groovy time and the last can of Schlitz hadn't yet kicked in. Seriously, am probably darn-tootin' lucky I came away with only two spelling errors.
Oh yeah, as for the absence of the vocal 45s, as expected Harry's on top of it: I just worked from the singles list here at the corner -- only including those 45s fully credited to the group.
Same thing with "My Favorite Things", since there's no "U" in "Favorite".
[/quote]Dang, you folks are tough -- making me feel like I've never listened to a Herb Albert record before or somethin'... Anyway, it was like 1:30AM or some such groovy time and the last can of Schlitz hadn't yet kicked in. Seriously, am probably darn-tootin' lucky I came away with only two spelling errors.
Oh yeah, as for the absence of the vocal 45s, as expected Harry's on top of it: I just worked from the singles list here at the corner -- only including those 45s fully credited to the group.
The editor in me took care of the two items and also added the ~ to “Las Mañanitas.”
JOv2
Well-Known Member
Thanks, Steve.
I selected Mexican Shuffle / Numero Cinco. With this 45, Herb finds the arrangement feel that would underscore much of the TjB sound. Additionally, the mono mix kicks some serious hindquarter -- the fender bass + 12-string guitar drive this number and the playful call and response section is memorable. I really like the unexpected dead-stop as well as the snare triplets that signal the song's end.
It's the ideal single: "two minutes-five" of AM radio bliss -- with a catchy B side that does well to complement the A!
(Up to this point, the "group" still seemed like a novelty to some degree. Mexican Shuffle, as well as the South Of The Border LP, established a stable, mature sound. Too bad Herb didn't issue more TjB-original A sides; during the group's '66-'68 popularity peak he focused on cover versions.)
I selected Mexican Shuffle / Numero Cinco. With this 45, Herb finds the arrangement feel that would underscore much of the TjB sound. Additionally, the mono mix kicks some serious hindquarter -- the fender bass + 12-string guitar drive this number and the playful call and response section is memorable. I really like the unexpected dead-stop as well as the snare triplets that signal the song's end.
It's the ideal single: "two minutes-five" of AM radio bliss -- with a catchy B side that does well to complement the A!
(Up to this point, the "group" still seemed like a novelty to some degree. Mexican Shuffle, as well as the South Of The Border LP, established a stable, mature sound. Too bad Herb didn't issue more TjB-original A sides; during the group's '66-'68 popularity peak he focused on cover versions.)
Captaindave
Well-Known Member
Well, if the topic is impressive releases, I'd say Zorba the Greek/Tijuana Taxi would be hard to beat.
Not necessarily my favorite among the list, but certainly a major "tag team" event.
My personal preference would be the Wade in the Water/Mexican Road Race combination, but that might not be quite the "heavyweight" combo of the other one.
Other personal favorites would be South of the Border/Up Cherry Street and Flamingo/So What's New?
Oh well...I like them all.
Not necessarily my favorite among the list, but certainly a major "tag team" event.
My personal preference would be the Wade in the Water/Mexican Road Race combination, but that might not be quite the "heavyweight" combo of the other one.
Other personal favorites would be South of the Border/Up Cherry Street and Flamingo/So What's New?
Oh well...I like them all.
martin
Well-Known Member
Here in Europe (Germany-Scandinavia) there were some different combinations on the TJB singles. A Taste Of Honey had Mexican Shuffle as a B-side and was my favorite TJB single as a kid. In 1968 Winder Wonderland/Jingle Bell Rock came out and the year after Ob-La-Di,Ob-La-Da had Marjorine as the B-side.
- greetings from the north -
Martin
- greetings from the north -
Martin
DAN BOLTON
Well-Known Member
For me, it would have to be CARMEN/LOVE SO FINE, because it was the first single I ever bought.
Dan
Dan
Wow, tough one , but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Up Cherry Street, the first Herb tune I ever heard on the radio, and TO THIS DAY I can't get that catchy little melody out of my head. And the modulation near the end (Herb used that device A LOT, to good effect)--- And what can you say about his landmark arrangement/treatment/overhaul of South of the Border ?? He turned a sappy mexican style tune into something much, much bigger and meaningful (LOVE those tympani !!!) What a tremendous album opener. And for me his best single.
Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
When you say "impressive" I'm thinking of the 45 that I would want to play for someone who wanted to know what the TJB was all about, something with a 'wow factor' to it - as opposed to a personal favorite. With that in mind I had to choose "3rd Man Theme/A Taste Of Honey", which has almost all the elements of the TJB - part raucous and rowdy with a touch of humor, backed with a sleek, swinging, grooving instrumental.
Capt. Bacardi
Capt. Bacardi
The only bad thing about 3rd Man/Taste is that you get shortchanged on Julius Wechter. That tips the balance toward "Tijuana Taxi" for me, but at the same time I wish it had a different 'other side.' If there was a Taxi/"Spanish Flea" single, it'd be a no brainer.
There are a lot of my faves here, but "impressive?" That's a much tougher choice to make than just "best," because it can mean different things -- impressive chart performance, impressive instrumental performance ("Zorba" would win that one hands down in my book!), or just impressive 'impact' on society. I gotta think about this one some more.
There are a lot of my faves here, but "impressive?" That's a much tougher choice to make than just "best," because it can mean different things -- impressive chart performance, impressive instrumental performance ("Zorba" would win that one hands down in my book!), or just impressive 'impact' on society. I gotta think about this one some more.
After further deliberation, I've made mny choice, and voted for "Casino Royale" / "The Wall Street Rag".
This single covers a few bases: there's a big hit Burt Bacharach tune, mostly produced by Burt, with overdubs by Herb and Julius, making it a "TjB" record. It served as a movie theme and remains popular to this day.
On the flip side you've got a homegrown tune - Ervan "Bud" Coleman's "Wall Street Rag", a nice, bouncy studio recording from the main touring Tijuana Brass aggregation. It's as good a demonstration of what the "Tijuana Brass" sound was all about as you could want with excellent delineation of all of the instruments and players. The track was always a favorite of my Dad's too.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Next!
Harry
This single covers a few bases: there's a big hit Burt Bacharach tune, mostly produced by Burt, with overdubs by Herb and Julius, making it a "TjB" record. It served as a movie theme and remains popular to this day.
On the flip side you've got a homegrown tune - Ervan "Bud" Coleman's "Wall Street Rag", a nice, bouncy studio recording from the main touring Tijuana Brass aggregation. It's as good a demonstration of what the "Tijuana Brass" sound was all about as you could want with excellent delineation of all of the instruments and players. The track was always a favorite of my Dad's too.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Next!
Harry
Yeah but there are so many facets to the TJB, it's hard to capture it in one ALBUM let alone one single!
I went with "Zazueira"/"Treasure of San Miguel" mainly because I like to go for underdogs. "ATOH"/"3rdMT" would have to be up there, too though.
"Treasure" is one of my favorite TJB tunes and "Zazueira" was such a radically different tune for the TJB at that point in their careers. With almost all the other singles -- particularly in the picture sleeve era -- I usually prefer the "B" side over the "A."
Now we should do a similar survey of the 70's TJB singles (to include the Masekela collaborations and Just You & Me 45s)...
--Mr. Bill
"Treasure" is one of my favorite TJB tunes and "Zazueira" was such a radically different tune for the TJB at that point in their careers. With almost all the other singles -- particularly in the picture sleeve era -- I usually prefer the "B" side over the "A."
Now we should do a similar survey of the 70's TJB singles (to include the Masekela collaborations and Just You & Me 45s)...
--Mr. Bill
Harry amusingly said:
I can always let what appears to be a typo go. And even his hilariously intentional spelling of "Albert" in another post responding to this issue.
But I have to ask about a word James puts in a lot of posts that I can't figure out: "NOWAMSAIN" Does this mean he is "NOW (at the time of making the post) IN SAIN??? Or is he "NOW trying to insert a medication called AMSA IN"to his post? I haven't wanted to mention it before as it may be some sort of abbrev the kids these days use when texting, and I did not want o appear to be an ignoramus about such things. But I cannot for the life of me make sense of it...
--Mr. Bill
Allow me to answer for James.
I'm pretty sure that "NOWAMSAIN" is a run-together string of letters that's meant to denote the question, "(Do You) Know what I'm saying?"
It likely originates from the way people would string together these words, slurring them into one large entity - knowha'msayin'.
It reminds me of an old bit my Dad used to do, where two people could meet on a street and carry on a fully meaningful conversation and only use three syllables:
"Djeet?"
"No. Djoo?"
[rant mode, not directed at James or anyone in particular]
I usually try to avoid such colloquialisms, particularly when I know that there might be some non-English-native speakers around. They probably have a difficult enough time trying to figure out the crazy English language.
I go back to the era when school teachers actually taught us grammar and spelling, and one of the rules was that you shouldn't abbreviate anything. Spell everything out and readers will understand you.
That's one of the reasons why I try not to use acronyms for song names or album titles. It drives me nuts going into a forum and seeing people discussing something like "ICGOLBWY", when they really mean "I Can't Go On Living Baby, Without You". Still, I'm sure I've fallen into the trap a number of times.
An abbreviation like that is OK in my book in an informal forum like this, as long as it's initially spelled out. If I were making a post about the above song, I'd spell the whole thing out once, add parentheses and include the acronym, so that anyone reading it would be able to follow what I was talking about.
But I fear that in this age of text messaging, this kind of thing is just going to get worse over time.
[/rant mode off]
Harry
I'm pretty sure that "NOWAMSAIN" is a run-together string of letters that's meant to denote the question, "(Do You) Know what I'm saying?"
It likely originates from the way people would string together these words, slurring them into one large entity - knowha'msayin'.
It reminds me of an old bit my Dad used to do, where two people could meet on a street and carry on a fully meaningful conversation and only use three syllables:
"Djeet?"
"No. Djoo?"
[rant mode, not directed at James or anyone in particular]
I usually try to avoid such colloquialisms, particularly when I know that there might be some non-English-native speakers around. They probably have a difficult enough time trying to figure out the crazy English language.
I go back to the era when school teachers actually taught us grammar and spelling, and one of the rules was that you shouldn't abbreviate anything. Spell everything out and readers will understand you.
That's one of the reasons why I try not to use acronyms for song names or album titles. It drives me nuts going into a forum and seeing people discussing something like "ICGOLBWY", when they really mean "I Can't Go On Living Baby, Without You". Still, I'm sure I've fallen into the trap a number of times.
An abbreviation like that is OK in my book in an informal forum like this, as long as it's initially spelled out. If I were making a post about the above song, I'd spell the whole thing out once, add parentheses and include the acronym, so that anyone reading it would be able to follow what I was talking about.
But I fear that in this age of text messaging, this kind of thing is just going to get worse over time.
[/rant mode off]
Harry
That's the rule I try to follow, too. If an album or song title is referred to enough in the preceding posts, I might abbreviate or shorten it...I use "This Guy" for "This Guy's In Love With You" for example.
Sometimes it doesn't quite work though...like in the thread about the Wrecking Crew, I abbreviated it to WC in one post -- but when I re-read that post, it "looked" like "Whipped Cream" to me when I passed that abbreviation!
- Status
