Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Herb Alpert

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This contains a lot of the hits that Herb Alpert had with the Tijuana Brass, as well as his solo career. What's interesting about the solo hits are the mixes that are on this compilation. Most of them are of the 45 rpm nature, rather than the full length versions. And the final two songs on here - "Diamonds" and "Jump Street" - are different remixes than the album or the single versions. While they are interesting to hear, they just don't stack up to the album versions. There is a nice photo collage of Herb's career in the booklet, which is also worthwhile.

I bought this CD because I couldn't find a release of Alpert's album 'Rise' on CD. Well, the songs from the original Rise album are not the original versions. The song 'Rise' is cut down with about a minute, and the bad thing is you can hear where the cut was made, it's not done very well. Then for no seemingly logic reason at all the song 'Rotation' is faded in the end. I don't know why on earth they did that, only to save about 30 seconds from the original running time??? I was very irritated from this. Then the three last songs are really just crap. 'This guy's in love with you' is a very nice tune though. But I'd rather buy a dedicated Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass best-of-CD instead of this, and then I WANT A RE-RELEASE OF THE ORIGINAL RISE ALBUM ON CD...PLEASE! It seems to have gone out of print, which is understandable but no excuse for not printing up more copies. Also the price of this cd is ridiculously high and not justified. Sorry but I simply cannot recommend it.

Our friends in Canada bring us this 15 track set that encompasses highlights of Herb Alpert's illustrious career 1962-1991. Many of the usual Alpert compilation cuts are here but there are a few surprises toward the end of the disc as several "not-yet-available-on-CD-in-America" versions of songs are featured. There are long forgotten single edits of "Rise", "Rotation" and "Keep Your Eye On Me" and rare remixed versions of "Diamonds" and "Jump Street", the latter featuring a vocal by Yvonne De La Vega. The sound quality is great and the fold out photo collage is nice. All in all, a first class collection of hits from a classy artist.

The playlist here is extremely selective and certainly doesn't contain all of Alpert's best music. But what is here is wonderful music and will bring back may memories if you're over 40 and introduce you to a brand new world if you've never sampled it. It's a mystery why Herb Alpert's magnificent music is sadly dismissed today. He was innovative, talented and his music is such fun to listen to. For anyone who grew up in the 60's he brings back as many memories as the Beatles (if that's possible). This collection is a good introduction, but it does omit many of the best Alpert classics, such as the trippy "Zorba the Greek." The musical quality is better than on other Alpert retrospective discs and the remastering has improved the vocal on "This Guy's in Love with You." Herb never sounded better! It's amazing how well these recordings have held up over the years, they don't sound dated or syrupy in the least.

I recommend this if you're new to Alpert or you want to update the sound quality on your old vinyl recordings. Though there are several glaring omissions in this collection, it will give you a basis on which to expand your Alpert horizons.

The first 7 tracks are classics,the last 8 tracks will justify the price..from his cool vocals to superb productions by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis,this is my favorite Herb Alpert collection to date...GET IT NOW!

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass had 26 Billboard Pop Hot 100 hits and Herb added another 14 as a solo singer between 1962 and 1987. Most crossed over to the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts, where he added another 12 which did not make the Hot 100, in addition to seven more that made only the R&B charts. That's a lot of hit singles for the man who also holds the record for being the ONLY artist to have a # 1 Hot 100 with both a vocal [This Guy's In Love With You in 1968], and an instrumental [Rise in 1979].

So, when you see someone putting out a 15-track compilation blaring "The Very Best Of" you might reasonably expect to see the top 15 in terms of his hits. Not even close, although it starts off great with The Lonely Bull (El Solo Toro), his first hit which made it to # 6 Hot 100 late in 1962 billed to The Tijuana Brass Featuring Herb Alpert, followed by A Taste Of Honey which reached # 1 AC/# 7 in the fall of 1965 as by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.

Zorba The Greek [# 2 AC/# 11 Hot 100 in January 1966] is another of the very best of Herb and the TJB, as are Tijuana Taxi [Zorba's flipside and a # 9 AC/# 38 Hot 100 on its own], What Now My Love/Spanish Flea [# 2 AC/# 24 Hot 100 and #4 AC/# 27 Hot 100 respectively in May 1966], and Casino Royale [# 1 AC/# 27 Hot 100 in May 1967].

But then, by that reckoning, what about The Work Song [2 AC/# 18 Hot 100 in August 1966], Flamingo [# 5 AC/# 28 Hot 100 in October 1966], Mame [# 2 AC/# 19 Hot 100 in December 1966], The Happening [# 4 AC/# 32 Hot 100 in August 1967], and A-Banda [# 1 AC/# 35 Hot 100 in October 1967]? Two of these were better hits than the four mentioned, and all were ahead of Tijuana Taxi in terms of chart positions.

The same applies to several of his solo efforts. Also, the liner notes are skimpy - 33 lines written by Bob Garcia in 1991 appear in large print in the over-sized fold-out insert. On the reverse are numerous photographs of Herb and the group.

The sound reproduction is excellent, but it seems to me high time we get a truly definitive Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass compendium delivered by an outfit that knows how to go about arranging such a collections - such as Varese-Sarabande, Ace Records of London, Rhino, or Eric Records.

The Very Best of Herb Alpert was released by A&M Records in the United Kingdom in 1991 to go along with a VHS video of the same title. The tracks selected for the CD match those contained in the video. The music collection was released as CD, cassette and vinyl album. About a year or so later, the CD, video tape and a laser video disc were released in Japan. For some strange reason the CD and video were never released in the U.S., but the CD was released in Canada sometime after the Japanese releases. It is a very good compilation of Herb's work, both with the TJB and solo.

The playlist here is extremely selective and certainly doesn't contain all of Alpert's best music. But what is here is wonderful music and will bring back may memories if you're over 40 and introduce you to a brand new world if you've never sampled it. It's a mystery why Herb Alpert's magnificent music is sadly dismissed today. He was innovative, talented and his music is such fun to listen to. For anyone who grew up in the 60's he brings back as many memories as the Beatles (if that's possible). This collection is a good introduction, but it does omit many of the best Alpert classics, such as the trippy "Zorba the Greek." The musical quality is better than on other Alpert retrospective discs and the remastering has improved the vocal on "This Guy's in Love with You." Herb never sounded better! It's amazing how well these recordings have held up over the years, they don't sound dated or syrupy in the least.

I recommend this if you're new to Alpert or you want to update the sound quality on your old vinyl recordings. Though there are several glaring omissions in this collection, it will give you a basis on which to expand your Alpert horizons.

back in the day as a Kid hearing "Rise" was something else because his Playing that Groove was catchy. hard to believe there was a time when a Instrumental Jam could be a Hit and you didn't need no words to just bop your head. I dug Diamonds and some of his other modern cuts, but the Cut that got me digging Herb Alpert the most was "This Guy's in Love" that classic Burt Bachrach magic cut that fit Herb like a glove. i dug the arrangements and overall musical presentation that Herb Alpert had on his hits. there are better compilations,but this is a good place to start. i dug the Tijuana brass.

It had songs on it that I haven't heard in years and love to hear them again. I grew up with the songs and I knew what I was doing when I heard them then