The Beat of the Brass

by Herb Alpert, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

Overview

Meant as the companion album to a Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass television special of the same name and packaged in a fancy double-fold LP jacket, The Beat of the Brass came out amid signs that Alpert's hot streak was finally beginning to run out. Not quite. Viewer requests for a new Burt Bacharach song, "This Guy's in Love with You" -- featuring an Alpert vocal -- were so strong that A&M released it as a single, which shot up to number one and took The Beat of the Brass with it to the top. Herb's vocal is touching in its strained naivete; he sounds sincere, and that overrides the lush, overbearing Bacharach orchestral arrangement. The rest of the album generated an often nostalgic quality then and now; the tunes by John Pisano and Sol Lake are exquisite, and Alpert's arrangements of songs like "Thanks for the Memory" seem autumnal in quality, as if an era were about to close. The band still has the ability to groove; the vamp on Julius Wechter's bossa nova "Panama," with Wechter's jazzy vibes and Pisano's strong rhythm guitar, could have been stretched to half an hour. Yet Alpert's trumpet sounds a bit withered at times, and the band vocals and cloying children's chorus on "Talk to the Animals" could be done without. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Product Details

Release Date:	09/09/2016
Label:	Herb Alpert Presents
UPC:	0814647021119
Rank:	23908

Tracks

1. Monday, Monday
2. A Beautiful Friend
3. Cabaret
4. Panama
5. Mein Shtetele Belz (My Home Town)
6. Talk to the Animals
7. Slick
8. She Touched Me
9. Thanks for the Memory
10. The Robin
11. This Guy's in Love With You

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass   Primary Artist
Herb Alpert   Primary Artist,Vocals

Technical Credits

Fred Ebb   Composer
John Pisano   Composer
John Phillips   Composer
Leslie Bricusse   Composer
Ralph Rainger   Composer
Burt Bacharach   Composer
Herb Alpert   Composer
Hal David   Composer
Leo Robin   Composer
Julius Wechter   Composer
Michelle Phillips   Composer
Jacob Jacobs   Composer
Alexander Olshanetsky   Composer
John Kander   Composer
Sol Lake   Composer