Herb Alpert and A&M Masters

I have read in previous information that Steve Hoffman was mastering the Herb Alpert - Definitive Hits CD which was recently issued. However his name does not appear on any of the reviews. Also I understand the "Lonely Bull" is in mono, but still not the original version but rather a folded version of the stereo LP. likewise the original hit versions of Zorba The Greek and Tijuana Taxi were not used.
I wonder what condition the herb Alpert tapes are in?

 

As far as I can tell, there was no Hoffman involvement in the mastering of Definitive Hits or any other Alpert CD (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

Awhile back, Steve asked the forum to help him locate a copy of the mono 45 of "Tijuana Taxi" and the Going Places mono LP. That seemed to open a can of worms that had many people speculating that he'd be working with the Alpert catalogue. Subsequent comments indicated that this is not the case.

Any of the Alpert/A&M folks (where's Rudy?) want to fill in the blanks?

 

I think i remember that Steve said he was merely copying the masters to digital for Herbs own personal archives. I could be wrong, but I think thats what he said.

We really need a double Cd set of all of those great TJB songs mastered by you know who.

 

I third that. Last I read here, Steve may have mentioned that Universal was working on remasters...I distinctly remember "compression city". (I'm all for hybrid SACD reissues of the entire catalog, but I know that'll never happen.)

Not to worry: Universal keeps us ALL in the dark. I run an A&M collector site, and I even own the tijuanabrass.com domain name for a Herb-specific discography that ties into my main site. Do you think I get even one passing glance from Universal? Hardly. My gut feeling is we'll see the same handful of top-selling albums we saw in 1988, only compressed and no-noised to death. The only other teaser I'd heard was at a Julius Wechter tribute concert (and Tourette's Syndrome fundraiser) when one of my pals ran into Larry Levine, who mentioned something about he and Herb listening to his old masters. Another contributor of mine has mentioned that "something big" is in the works. Hmmm...I'll believe it when I see it.

Keep in mind that Herb Alpert does own his masters, so he has only to license them out to get them reissued.

That said, the A&M catalog does need a good remastering. I never thought those TJB CDs sounded very good--I'll go for the vinyl before pulling those out. But with the no-noise and compression hanging over ANY new CD like a cloud of doom, I fear we still may not get a decent remastering of these. I have the first Brasil '66 album on Mobile Fidelity vinyl that just runs circles around any CD that A&M released in that era...it makes me think the A&M masters have a lot more life in them than those CDs would make me think.

 

Going from memory here.

Those single mixes of "Zorba" and "Taxi" were created for the single only--they have a lot of compression, and "Zorba" is not only edited, but also contains fake "crowd" noises so it sounds like it's a live recording. I think Steve mentioned (correct me if I"m wrong, Steve ) that A&M stored all of their single mixes on large master reels, mixed in with other artists. I agree that these single mixes (even for other TJB recordings...there are some unique variations) should be relased somehow. But locating them on those large reels (if they still even exist...??) would be a major undertaking, if Universal would even allow it.

As for the condition of the tapes, listen to "Tijuana Taxi" closely. That song is deteriorating quite badly--there are a lot of dropouts on that one, especially in the left channel if I remember correctly. The later tracks fare much better..."Casino Royale" is still sounding pretty good all these years later.

 

Makes sense....the master for "Tiquana Taxi" was probably used more than any other TJB master, save for "Tase of Honey". Hopefully there is a stereo safety mix. If not, let Steve remix it to sound exactly like the original stereo mix.

 

I'd also love to see a Steve Hoffman produced Herb Alpert set.

 

Wait a second......when Herb and Jerry Moss sold A&M , they kept the rights to the TJB masters?

You SURE about that? They got an enormous amount of money for the company.....and NO TJB masters>?

 

This news is bound to get a "Rise" out of some of us here.....

 

Yes, Herb Alpert owns all his own masters. You'll notice the lack of Universal "exploitation" compilations--the only thing out there now is "Definitive Hits", other than a couple of import compilations (which are far better conceived, IMHO).

I don't know what will cause more excitement though--remastered reissues, or a "new" TJB release of music we've never heard before!

 

Yea, but "new horn overdubs" by Herb??

THAT doesnt thrill me. I want to hear what they recorded in 1966!!!

 

LOL......Ok, THEN I could see it.

Steve, isnt the TJB a natural for one of your SACDs? If Herb owns the rights and the masters, why does the term "Universal" keep cropping up?

 

Not an expert on Herb Alpert, but to my knowledge, he is still a stockholder in the Universal Music Group. When Definitive Hits came out, it was implied that it was "an important record" because of that reason.

 

Herb seems to be licensing out his recordings to Universal...like "Definitive Hits" was. Might partially be a fondness for the old A&M logo on his recordings. But technically, he could license them to anyone I'd assume.

 

Yes, and I would think that there are other places other than universal thart would do a bang up job promoting them.

Whats
REALLY needed are all the TJB lps on two-fers ar a midline price. They would sell TONS of those.

It continues to AMAZE me that the Record Companies cry about no sales, but refuse to make something like the TJB , who sold zillions of records in their day, an option for us to buy.

Mikey

 

He and Jerry Moss were (and may still be) stockholders. I do know that because Universal's stock was below a certain point for a lengthy amount of time, Universal had to pay a penalty to them. (Or was it Rondor stock?) Anyhoo, they got a hefty bonus because of it.

 

Good for them, but you know something......heres another example of the kind of RIDICULOUS deals the major labels made in the 80s and 90s.

 

You're telling me!! These mergers killed a damn good little record label called A&M! Now it's just an imprint for Interscope!

 

Yea, every time you hear about a deal like this, where they have to pay enormous penalties, you know that downloading isnt the reason they are in trouble, management incompetance is.

I mean, how could ANYONE at Interscope know what their stock price would be? Impossible!!

 

While I'm all for the new unissued Herb & T.J.B., I'd really like to have S.R.O., Herb Alpert's Ninth, and Sounds Like on CD!!!

Chris C