Customer Reviews

South Of The Border

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

 

 

If this CD is "remastered", it certainly was not from the 1st generation, multi-track session tapes. From listening to this CD, I can hear distortion and an audible amount of tape hiss, especially through the quiet passages of "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face". And after all these years, we STILL get "Mexican Shuffle" in MONO! Which leads me to believe that this, and other TJB CD's in Herb Alpert's Signature Series, were mastered to CD directly from the original mixdown album masters that were used to press the original A&M vinyl LP's back in the 1960s (a common practice that was routinly done by the record industry with past album masters during the dawn of the CD era 25 years ago, which magnified the imperfections of analog album masters on CD). In this day and age of today's advanced digital technology, a golden opportunity to digitally remix and remaster some of the greatest music of the '60s, was missed. I liked the idea made by a previous reviewer when he stated that remastering these CD's in both STEREO and MONO, just as Capitol did with The Beatles box set of the first four Beatles' Capitol albums, would have been nice. Maybe Universal, given time, would have done a much better job at remastering these early A&M classic albums. I say this because, in my opinion, I think the people at Universal are doing an outstanding job at remastering some of the Motown material (i.e. "The Motown Box"). Sorry Herb, but I think you missed the boat with this series.

I just want underscore the well-summarized review that Sixties Music "stereo fan" gave this release.

Musically, this is arguably Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass' finest material. If you haven't audtioned this music, I hope that you give it a go. I feel the highlights are "South Of The Border", "The Girl From Ipanema" [yes, there really is such a place], "Up Cherry Street", and "Mexican Shuffle" (which you may remember as 'Teaberry Shuffle', made popular by a 60's TV ad for chewing gum).

Technically, if sound quality is important to you, you're likely to be disappoined in this release. Not only does it suffer from the lack of bass that I know should be there (based on my orignal release recordings), what bass is there, is troubled by IM distortion. And, then there's the issue of "Mexican Shuffle": it's in mono.

I bought this Shout reissue CD to replace my worn A&M CD which in turned replaced the LP I bought in the mid-60's. After 40 years, this music is just as fresh as ever. I am very appreciative for Shout reissuing these albums on CD.

It's disappointing to see ratings here that are not based on the merit of the music, but rather on the marketing or even worse demerits based upon the other Tijuana Brass releases. This CD is better than 95% of anything offered on Amazon and that certainly deserves 5 stars despite whatever trivial complaints the MBA types are whining about.

Since I was a kid, I used to enjoy this incredible TBJ album, now the amazing Herb Alpert is making a "special colectible edition" of their greatest album in the "Brass Era".

"South Of The Border" is a very powerful album in which the trumpet master and his merry men makes a astonishing stuff with latin music and anglo-sajonian style. Not only from mexican roots (in which Alpert said "don't like mariachis, just the mariachis trumpet fanfarre"), this album for me is the very beginning in the Tijuana Brass sound.

Another great albums as the first "Lonely Bull", "Vol. 2" (sorry to say, buy this nice album is not gonna see the light as like the others), "whipped cream" and the rest have the trademark of the Herb Alpert's music, but this South is completely unique. All their themes have their own characters, starting with "South of the Border" and finishing with "Adios mi corazon" (just say goodbye sweetheart) very propertly put on.

Very shining sound, very well mastered and as like a remembrance for all the TJB fans, "Girl from Ipanema" sounds fantastic and if isn't like another versions from different artists, this bossa nova style puts its signature deep inside. "All my loving" is a pretty cool Beatles tribute, "Salud, dinero y amor" and "Numero cinco" makes heavy punches in the "modern Mariachi" as they printed in the original back-cover art from the LP and re-issued in the CD booklet.

More soft and romantic? Just hear "I've grown accustomed to her face" or the funny-steppers as like "Up Cherry Street" (thanks for your inspiration be in somewhere you are Julius) and "Mexican Shuffle" (Sol Lake, is a real Sun Lago composer).

And no matter to say, Herb Alpert thanks a lot for giving us (all of your loyal fans) the opportunity for having your real lost treasures: all your albums. If you sometime can read this, I hope you will more and more, please, don't miss "Coney Island", "Bullish" and your solo albums "Herb with Hugh Masekela (the Skookian album)" and "Fandango". This works must be inmortalized on CD.

I am so pleased that Shout! Factory is working with Herb Alpert to put out his classic TJB recordings finally onto CD. I know some have been previously released on A&M CD when the CD boom began and not properly remastered. I never got those releases, and have been living mostly on "Definitive Hits". When the LPs were released when I was 5, if I was lucky to get one, it was a mono copy. I haven't heard most of the TJB recordings in stereo.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER, being one of my personal favorites includes an album track called "Numero Cinco" that I've always liked. Not sure if this was a Mono track thingie when first released, but before the music started, there was a spoken introduction to the song in Spanish that is not on the CD here. However, the stereo remastering of the song breathes brilliant new life into one of my favorite pieces.

The entire SOUTH OF THE BORDER album, liner notes, and Herb's comments, have brought this 60s gem into a brilliant lusture for a new century. It's meant for those who loved it when it was new, and introducing another generation of music lovers to some great latin-style instrumental pop.

Hey, it's a real treat to have these re-issues available and the packaging is nice BUT the alleged "re-mastering" is horrendous throughout the entire signature series. Sorry Herb, I still love ya and the TJB but I cannot tell a lie here. So...I proceeded to email Shout Factory on this and I got back a robotic-style message that these were re-mastered to Herb Alpert's exceedingly high level of quality. Yeah, OK. The LPs, which reside in my basement, have more punch, more presence, better low and high ends to them than these Shout Factory re-issues. The hiss is prevelant throughout the series of CDs, yet there are a few scattered tracks, like Casino Royale on Sounds Like, that actually sound really good....almost as if a different process was used just for that track. Very odd. There is distortion on SRO and a "bump" sound on one of the tracks that can be heard in the car as well as the home equipment. Herb's trumpet should come thru clean & bright but it seems to be under a cloudy membrane. Now I don't want to sound like an audio geek, which I am truly not, but these CDs could have sounded A LOT better!!! The LPs do, and they were purchased 40+ years ago and are quite worn. ~SL

After a slightly dissapointing album, Herb Alpert was back on the charts with this album. During the sessions for this album, the song Mexican Shuffle, was picked up and used for a tv gum commercial. This put Alpert's sound back on the map.
At this time, Lonely Bull was his only other hit, and people thought the sound of the Brass was over. Mexican Shuffle is featured on this album. It is the only hit here, but the rest of the album is very good. For the first time, Alpert demonstrates his knack for arranging, taking a completely left turn on Antonio Carlos Jobim's classic Girl From Ipanema, and The Beatles' All My Loving. Overall, the mexican feel is still evident in this album, perhaps the last album that would showcase this.
This is an enjoyable album from start to finish!

From a long list of great albums that I listened to as a kid, remember the smile that was on your face when you first heard "Up Cherry Street"? Or "Mexican Shuffle"? And what about the wanting to be a horn player just like Herb? Anyone who likes the TJB wanted to play a horn, and "Numero Cinco" pretty much sealed our fates!! These just get better with each passing year don't they?

I just received the newly remastered South of the Border, complete with great liner notes and, well, this is just impressive. While Going Places is still my personal favorite, South of the Border nearly equals it. Just listen to the fantastic craftsmanship that went into the making of this album. There isn't a bad song here. The Brass just roll effortlessly through each song. Wow! Thanks to Herb for releasing this unbelievable album all those years ago. While I have to agree with reviewers who say the sonic quality isn't what it might be, I'm nonetheless pleased to see this terrific album available again. Well done!

South of the Border has some great work from the early days of the mighty Brass. I was able to learn the notes on my trumpet for Up Cherry Street in a few minutes and started playing along until they changed key part way through. What a great song! South of the Border, Mexican Shuffle, El Presidente, All My Loving, and several others are also outstanding.