Classics Volume 1

Herb Alpert | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: July 7, 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M Records
• ASIN: B000002G8W
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,007 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #32 in Music > Pop > Easy Listening > Orchestral Pop

Track Listings

1. The Lonely Bull

2. Acapulco 1922

3. A Taste Of Honey

4. Green Peppers

5. The Work Song

6. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

7. Whipped Cream

8. Lollipops And Roses

9. What Now My Love

10. Memories Of Madrid

11. Ths Guy's In Love With You

12. The Maltese Melody

13. So What's New?

14. Spanish Flea

15. Tijuani Taxi

16. More And More Amor

17. Jerusalem

18. Zorba The Greek

19. Tangerine

20. Mexican Shuffle

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

1. The Lonely Bull 2. Acapulco 1922 3. A Taste Of Honey 4. Green Peppers 5. The Work Song 6. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You 7. Whipped Cream 8. Lollipops And Roses 9. What Now My Love 10. Memories Of Madrid 11. Ths Guy's In Love With You 12. The Maltese Melody 13. So What's New? 14. Spanish Flea 15. Tijuani Taxi 16. More And More Amor 17. Jerusalem 18. Zorba The Greek 19. Tangerine 20. Mexican Shuffle 21. Marching Thru Madrid 22. Mame 23. A Banda 24. Casino Royale 25. Love Potion #9

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, but in need of an upgrade, February 25, 2001

By 

"pspa" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classics Volume 1 (Audio CD)

Just about every great number the Brass ever did is on this CD, and noone ever did instrumentals better or came up with more innovative arrangements than Herb Alpert, who surely is a genius. For example, Love Potion No. 9 sounds nothing at all like the original, the beat and rhythm are totally rewritten, but the result is a fresh masterpiece. Same with A Taste of Honey and so on down the line, there is not a weak song or even a weak bar here, and even the group's pop hits such as Tijuana Taxi don't seem too corny. The one big drawback here is the sound, it is a bit hissy and muddled, and surely with all the remastering that has been done the past several years someone should see fit to do the same for this outstanding music. Let's hope so.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible music but the remastering needs updating., November 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Classics Volume 1 (Audio CD)

This is a generous sampling of Alpert's TJB period ('62-'70) and includes most of the groups hit singles and important album cuts. This is some of the most important music produced during the sixties and Herb Alpert is certainly one of the most gifted arrangers and producers pop music had to offer during this period. The only complaint I would have about this collection is that it is the only compilation released on this artist in a dozen years. There have been many advances in digital remastering techniques since 1987 and these tunes need to be upgraded soundwise. I don't know if the TJB catalog is currently owned by A&M or by Alpert's new label, Almo Sounds but I sure wish someone would compile the box set he has deserved for so long, including original single mixes. Musically, it's a five star CD but I knock off a star for sound quality.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Herb Alpert, the undisputed king of Americahi music, March 18, 2005

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Classics Volume 1 (Audio CD)

Once upon a time Herb Alpert and his partner Jerry Moss created A&M, which was run out of Alpert's garage. Eventually the artist owned label would be producing the records of Joe Cocker, the Carpenters, Cat Stevens, and Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, but the signature sound remained that of Herp Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. In 1965 they had hit singles with "A Taste of Honey" and "Spanish Flea," off of the hit albums "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" and "Going Places." Alpert's most popular album, "What's Now My Love," came out the following year, along with "S.R.O." as his Latin-influenced "Ameriachi" music showed significant longevity with 1968's "Beat of the Brash" being the fifth album to reach the top of the charts. The great irony was that when it came to hit singles, the first one to hit #1 on the Billboard was Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's in Love With You" in which Alpert actually did a vocal.

The Americachi formula is fairly simple: Alpert's trumpet defines the melody over a Latin rhythm section, sometimes with airy wordless vocals by nameless singers. The twenty-songs collected on "Classics, Volume 1" date from Herb Alpert's first chart success, 1962's "The Lonely Bull (El Solo Torro)" (#6) to one track from 1970, "Jerusalem" (#74). In between we have "Marching Thru Madrid" (#96), "The Mexican Shuffle" (#85), "Taste of Honey" (#7), "Whipped Cream" (#68), "Mame" (#19), "Spanish Flea" (#27), "Tijuana Taxi" (#38), "What Now My Love" (#24), "Zorba the Greek" (#11), "The Work Song" (#18), "Casino Royale" (#27), "A Banda" (#35), and "This Guy's in Love With You" (#1). Not everything here made the charts (e.g., "Acapulco 1922" and "Love Potion #9"), and some of the songs that did are not here, such as "Third Man Theme" (#47), "Flamingo" (#28), "Wade in the Water" (#37), "Cabaret" (#72), "My Favorite Things" (#45), and "Without Her" (#63). Consequently, while this is an impressive collection of singles, this is not a comprehensive collection. But I think that is to be expected with an artist that had five #1 albums and I can see people picking up this CD for the car while at home they have several of the Tijuana Brass albums.

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass are the most successful instrumental artists between the end of the Big Band era and today. When you look at their competition you are usually talking piano players like Roger Williams and Richard Clayderman, along with orchestras led by the likes of Henry Mancini, Montavani, and Lawrence Welk. But with most of those artists you are talking about elegant and sophisticated covers of songs associated with others (Mancini being the exception that proves the rule here). Alpert had a hand in writing only four of these tracks (10, 12, 17 and 22) but with most of these songs these are the versions you hear when you think of "A Taste of Honey" or "Spanish Flea" (okay, that last one makes you think of "The Dating Game," because that was the intro music for the bachelor, while "Whipped Cream" was the intro music for the bachelorette, and the intro music for the date was "Lollipops and Roses"-What can I say? Chuck Barris liked Herb Alpert).