Customer Reviews

Rise

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally, the Herb Alpert Signature Series continues. We didn't get CDs of TIJUANA BRASS VOLUME 2, WARM, or THE BRASS ARE COMIN' but they have been made available in digitally remastered form on Apple iTunes. Not counting compilations, the next 6 albums chronologically would be SUMMERTIME, YOU SMILE-THE SONG BEGINS, CONEY ISLAND, JUST YOU & ME, HERB ALPERT/HUGH MASEKELA, and THE MAIN EVENT/LIVE, all origially issued from 1970 to 1978. Instead, they've skipped ahead to 1979 and Herb's big comeback hit, RISE.
This CD is another high quality reissue in the Signature Series. As far as improved sound over the previous CD issue, there is no comparison. "Rise" and "Rotation" even sound remarkably better than they did on DEFINITIVE HITS which wasn't mastered all that many years ago. The drums and fanfare on "1980" come barrelling out of the speakers to let you know up front that there are some serious sonic improvements on this new edition of the album. On "Rise" the voices from the first bass break are much more audible, on "Rotation" the opening percussion has an echo that I've never been able to distinguish before. It gives the intro to the song a bounce that only improves upon what was already my favorite track on the album. Louis Johnson's bass on "Love Is" is much more pronounced -- it really restores the snap to Johnson's slap and the whole track sounds much fresher. There's too many things going on in "Aranjuez" to discuss, but they all sound better now due to a first rate remastering job. As the crazy-mad-one-star-reviewer pointed out earlier, Alpert did resequence the album, swapping "Street Life" with "Aranjuez". This keeps the orginal "Aranjuez" track from being too close to the bonus track remix though, and personally, I think the order of the songs works just fine. The new version of "Aranjuez" is listed as a 2007 dance mix but there really isn't a whole lot that's been changed on the track and I have to agree with Crazy-mad-one-star-reviewer once again when he says that the track doesn't seem all that modern dance-wise. But there are some noticeable differences -- the Spanish guitar intro has been cut and the drums have been remixed to the point where it doesn't scream "Disco!" as much as the '79 original. It's a good mix and I think I may like it as much, maybe even a little more, than the original version. The other bonus track is a new version of "Rotation". I originally thought they had included a '79/'80 era dance version of the song but this version sounds like it would be right at home on the WHIPPED CREAM RE-WHIPPED album along with "Lemon Tree" and "Ladyfingers". At any rate, it's a great version and I think fans of the original will like it.
I always thought RISE was a great album and really deserved all of its success. With this reissue, I think it's become an even better album.

This album broke Herb Alpert from the "easy listening" category that everyone tried to put him in when he led the Tijuana Brass. This is a great mix of pop/jazz/funk. "1980" opens the album. This song was to be the theme to the 1980 Olympics, but the boycott of the Olympics by the U.S. destroyed any real chance of airplay for this song. But "Rise" had no problems at all. This song was a perfect change from the disco sounds of the day. A perfect groove, and a very pretty melody. Listen to the interplay between the guitar, marimba, and keyboards. It's magical! "Behind The Rain" has a searing rock guitar solo, followed by a hot flugelhorn solo by Alpert. "Rotation" is a great mix of techno-turned-samba jazz. Another nice solo by Herb. But his best solo is saved for "Aranjuez". This classical piece is turned uptempo, sort of a disco-ish style with a Middle Eastern section in the middle of the song. And Alpert blazes away on one of his better recorded solos in a long time. Sometimes the thump-thump-thump gets in the way of the songs, but overall this is a terrific recording!

I was hoping when the original CD of this album went out of print a remaster would follow soon and it did.This album supervised by Mr.Albert himself contains not only a fat liner booklet but a remastering sound so vivid it will simply blow you away!As for the music itself,being that 'Rise' is Herb's big comeback he did everything in his power to beef up his sound and make it contemporary;what that really means is Herb Albert brings in members of the Crusaders for a huge sound that embraces modern pop,jazz-funk and a lot of disco.The open fanfare of "1980" does showcase one fact;Albert has not elected to alter his trumpet style one bit despite the extremely produced music.And then we're onto the title song everybody knows-again given new life here by the GREAT sound!"Behind The Rain" finds him in full on 4/4 disco beat mode,complete with all the big strings that usually come with it.The real fine for funk fans on this album though has GOT to be "Rotation"-now this is almost as pure a "rare groove" as you can get,with little more then a brooding funk bass synth pulse backing up Albert's dramatic trumpet solo-next to the title song it's probably one of the finest tunes on the album.Along with a couple more returns into the disco relm,including one with a lite reggae influence the catchy "Love Is",the only vocal tune on the album appears and the album ends with a funky cover of The Crusaders "Street Life".Herb Albert proceeded to smooth out his sound on his releases after this recording but 'Rise' is a pivitol moment in his career.And well worth investigating.

Like many others have indicated, Herb's 1979 "Rise" album marks a major turning point in his musical career. On Alpert albums from earlier in the '70s such as "You Smile--The Song Begins", "Coney Island" (both with the T.J.B.), & Just You and Me" (his first official solo album), in general there were a lot of super-mellow, dreamy ballads, & the uptempo/ more rousing stuff was strongly Latin-flavored. With "Rise", Alpert clearly wanted to shift gears--perhaps it was because he was eager to sell a lot of records again, something he hadn't done for basically a decade. Indeed, he did sell a lot more records with "Rise", but the album is far from a sell-out--it's an ambitious effort and probably the most adventuresome album he'd ever made. As much credit as Herb deserves, he did get some major assistance. The title track was written by Randy Badazz (Herb's nephew) and Andy Armer, and although it was filed under disco, it feels more like funk (admittedly these two kind of go hand-in-hand)--unlike other disco tunes, it never gets boring over the course of its 7+ minute running time, thanks to its splendid tunefulness, and its lush, mellow, easy-riding groove--this terrific track was released as a 12" single in mid-1979 and hit #1 in the US and went gold. With the actual "Rise" album which came out a few months or so later, Herb came tantalizingly close to delivering a masterpiece. The album-opener "1980" was written by Herb himself for NBC Sports, and on one hand, it really does sound uncannily like the kind of thing you'd hear being played underneath a introductory spoken voiceover for a championship sports game, but don't get the wrong idea--it's a really neat tune with cool use of synthesizers, plus the opening fanfare portion is kind of obnoxious, but amusingly so. "Behind the Rain" is another Alpert solo composition, and it's fascinatingly creative and brilliant--it starts off with an appropriately 'misty'-sounding intro before suddenly transforming into a stomping, uptempo track with pulsing synth, dramatic orchestration, a rip-roaring electric guitar solo, and brilliant chord changes on what I suppose you could call the chorus; oh, and how could I forget to mention Herb's melodic trumpet/ flugelhorn parts, and his wordless vocals that basically double the main melody--smartly, the vocals aren't high up in the mix, and they are rather corny on their own, but they add a certain something to this incredble stew. "Rotation" is another Armer/ Badazz composition, and it has an ingeniously textured, looping groove, although the annoying "moaning" percussion sounds the crop on the last minute or so of the track do mar it a bit, which is too bad but it's otherwise another terrific track. Herb seems to have taken a liking to the Crusaders; not only does he have Joe Sample playing keyboards on the album, but he covers their "Street Life" which had come out earlier in 1979, & Herb ends up beating them at their own game--it has a mellow, seductive groove much like the title track. The next track is a cover of a Bill Withers track that had also come out in 1979, "Love Is"--Herb's version is a lot of fun, and it's the closest thing to a bonafide vocal track, but again, his vocals are pretty buried--he repeats the same four lines over and over--and it feels a bit like a lazy toss-off; it's a rare case of Herb doing a vocal number that doesn't demonstrate what a terrific vocal stylist he actually was; admittedly, when Herb did have a vocal spotlight, it was usually with a ballad, again making "Love Is" something of an oddity in the Alpert canon. There is one slight sore spot on the album... It seems Herb was really into keeping up with contemporary music at this time (not an insult whatsoever). "Angelina" is yet another cover of a then-recent track; it's from the 1979 debut solo album by Gary Brooker (of Procol Harum)--unfortunately, the reggae-fied version of it here, though quite harmless, is kinda lame and melodically limp. The album closer "Aranjuez (Mon Amour)" is an extremely ambitious attempt at merging Latin, Eastern, and disco sounds, and I have to admit I was way off initially, finding it to be an awkward-sounding fusion, but now I just love it with its variety, piles of riffs, orchestral flavorings, and a can't-miss descending chord progression. Overall, this is a heck of an enjoyable reinvention for Herb, and it very much laid the groundwork for the first half of the '80s for Herb. If you love "Rise", you'll find a load more gems by exploring Herb's subsequent albums up through 1985's "Wild Romance", if you haven't done so already. "Rise" is a HIGHLY recommended album that marks the beginning of a new and great period for a masterful instrumental performer, Herb Alpert.

(P.S. In addition to A&M's CD release of "Rise" from the late '80s or early '90s, the album was released on CD in Japan with great sound quality as part of their "Millennium Fusion Collection".)

(P.P.S. Herb's wife Lani Hall, seemingly following her husband's lead, 'went disco' herself on about half of her 1979 album "Double or Nothing" including the 4 tracks produced by David Kershenbaum and Lani Hall. The rest of the tracks were produced by Herb and Lani. Although it's certainly not as high quality of an album as "Rise", it's still a pretty strong album in its own right (the title track is infectious) and it's worth checking out if you come across it at a good price.)

Relax people. RISE is scheduled for re-release in May of 2007. Shout! Factory, the label that's been re-releasing the Signature Series has let it be known that Herb's chart topping RISE will be out with two bonus tracks. Additional details at AMCorner dot com

Unlike many of my middle-aged compadres here, I discovered "Rise" by way of The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotise." I'd owned "Whipped Cream & Other Delights" for a while, but I did not know that Alpert had done anything as funky as the title track for this 1979 LP.

From the second "1980" starts playing, the listener quickly realises this is no Tijuana brass. It's a thumpin' funky ensemble which does it's best to get down. Unfortunately, much of the disc crosses over into the "Music for Lifts" category, "Love Is" being the most proper example. Last week, hearing a snippet of "Rise" on the radio, I was horrified to discover it was playing on a "smooth jazz" channel!

But you get the idea, "Rise" was a great statement and change of pace for Alpert, and that classic bassline has turned up everywhere from "Hypnotise" to Brian Eno & David Byrne's "Regiment" from the "My Life In the Bush of Ghosts" experiment.

I got this Album about 12years ago and it still sonds good. It's easily one of the finest smooth jazz compositions with a touch of 80's disco Nostalgia. One day this will be remastered and I will be the fiirst to get it. Rise and Street Life are the best tracks, if you like this you'll love Passion Dance also by the same artist.

"Rise" is the one you should start here 'cuz of bass lines and everything which the Notorious B.I.G. sampled for his hit song in '97 "Hypnotize". Wow I can't believe I said that the beginning. Need I say more?

This album kinda reminds me when I was getting interest in the trumpet while in middle school or junior high school and soon got an interest of who's the best in trumpet playing. (e.g., Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker (my favorite), Al Hirt (my other fav), Wynton Marsalis, Chuck Mangione (who is also the first I grew up), Chris Botti, Rick Braun, etc.)

The first song on the album has to be "1980" which starts right here. And there came "Rise" (which we'd talk about), Behind the Rain, Street Life (once done by the Crusaders led by Joe Sample and them), just to name a few on my lists.

I actually each and every song on it but there's nothing I dislike on the album. It's b/c of the singing, playing, rhythm, strings and everything. It's blend with jazz, funk, rock, pop, a lil disco on "Aranjuez" which I'd like, a lil everything which I'll say. Enuff said.

This is an album I should keep around 4 a long time. Recommend it if u try it out 4 a change if u're a first-time lover to jazz or else just love it. He's part of the "easy-listening" category which he's best known for since working w/ the Tijuana Brass which he formed back in the 1960s.

I grew up with Herb Alpert blaring from my father's turn-table almost every Saturday morning. I remember him & my sister & I singing along with the wonderful trumpet licks. I got this from Dad last Christmas, and it is one of my favorite albums. The dynamics Mr. Alpert gets out of his funky, groovy trumpet are amazing. This is definately the best blend of disco-funk and easy listening that I have ever encountered. I can't say enough good things about this album. If you can find it, buy it!

The single Rise from the album of the same name, may very well be the sexiest one song ever recorded...