Herb Alpert - Tijuana Taxi
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Topic: Herb Alpert - Tijuana Taxi
Posted By: Paul Esch
Subject: Herb Alpert - Tijuana Taxi
Date Posted: 24 August 2005 at 5:20am
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Pat--I'm just now catching up on your CD reviews, and I agree with
you that the Herb Alpert/Tijuana Brass reissues on Shout! Factory are a little skimpy on extras, though they do sound great. I just thought that I'd add that, as you note in your book, the 45 version of "Zorba The Greek" (A & M 787) is different from the LP version (it sounds live), but did you know that the flip, "Tijuana Taxi," is also different? Besides being in mono, there are extra horn honks at :07 during the intro, and at 1:13 in the middle of the marimba solo. I've compared the 45 to the versions on !!Going Places!! (both the original A & M issue and the Shout! Factory reissue), Definitive Hits (A & M 069 490 886-2). Classics (A & M 2501) and The Very Best Of... (A & M UK 397 165-2), and so far no extra honking. I don't own Foursider to compare, so I can't be conclusive. Thanks for the informative reviews. |
Replies:
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 26 August 2005 at 11:14am
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Given the skimpy run times of the Herb Alpert CD reissues, you'd think this would have been an ideal opportunity to include single versions as bonus tracks on these discs. I have read a posted message on another message board by a disc jockey who recently conducted an in-studio interview with Alpert. The poster reports that Alpert said he will definitely be issuing some sort of anthology which will use "correct" versions and 45 edits of the hits after all the original studio albums are reissued on CD.
On an unrelated side note, it's great to read Pat's news on the CD Reviews site that "The Happening" has surfaced on CD for the first time! |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 16 May 2010 at 11:39am
| Although not in the database, this flip side to "Zorba The Greek" did peak at #38 in BB in its own right, in 2/66. My commercial 45 has a listed time of (2:05) and an actual time of (2:06). I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents here. As I continue my 1966 45 timings, I noticed the exact same thing that Paul had in his initial post, with those additional "horn honks" at both :07, and 1:14 and 1:15. My compliments to him for noticing. Although identifying such details are not my specialty, my ears did hear this one, though. I'd go over to my then-best-friend's house in 1966 every day after school on weekdays. His dad was a baker who worked the 4AM-Noon shift, so he was already home from work when we got there. And, man, he had Herb Alpert albums on the home stereo at least 95% of the time (and, for a break, he'd pop on Al Hirt for the other 5%!) :) Strangely, hearing ol' Herb still brings back great memories for me to this very day, for that reason (not to mention the fact that, due to his Dad's bakery leftovers, they always had the best cookie jar in town!!) Man, I must've heard "Tijuana Taxi" at least 1000 times, so the tune is unusually ingrained within me. And those extra horn toots that Paul has noted on the 45 version absolutely jumped out at me, as well. I've never heard them on any album or any CDs I own, so take it to the bank and cash it, as of now the 45 is the only place I know of to find that 1966 mono mix. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 17 May 2010 at 6:32am
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I remember seeing Herb "perform" this on one of the tv variety shows at the time. The host of the show (don't recall who or what show it was) was supposedly in charge of tooting the horn at the appropriate places. They used the 45 version to mime to and apparently Herb wasn't expecting it because he kind of waved "not now" when one of the non-album toots played.
My father was also a big fan of the TJB and got most of their albums...I noticed right away that the album had the "wrong" version of TT on it. |
Posted By: Paul C
Date Posted: 17 May 2010 at 6:32pm
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The only one of Alpert's mono single versions on a domestic CD is "The Lonely Bull" on Definitive Hits. The liner notes contain the following comment: "After recording the Lonely Bull album the multi-track tape of 'The Lonely Bull' single was lost...You are listening to an enhanced monaural version." I've never really understood that comment.
Steve Hoffman, who put together the Chris Montez All-Time Greatest Hits CD, has stated that most A&M mono masters have not survived. |
Posted By: KentT
Date Posted: 06 July 2010 at 8:23pm
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The A&M Forget Me Not 45 reissues kept the mono unique single versions of "Zorba" and "Tijuana Taxi" into the early 1980's. Unfortunately, they are styrene. Best alternatives for better pressing would be the Mono A&M Records Dee Jay Sampler. But it is hard to find in nice shape and in demand for those singles. Also, you might be able to locate UK or West German 45 singles made by licensees. ------------- I turn up the good and turn down the bad! |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 08 July 2010 at 6:09pm
While a few of the older "specs" logo reissues of that single probably remained in the retail pipeline for a few more years, the revamped http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh240/YahShure/HerbAlpertTJB-TijuanaTaxireissue.jpg - 1977 "Zorba"/"Tijuana Taxi" Forget Me Not had the stereo LP versions on each side. My copy arrived that June when A&M sent boxed sets of most of the FMN series singles to their independent distributors to promote the reconfigured line that bore the new string-on-finger label design. A&M concurrently produced a promo-only Forget Me Nots double-LP for in-store play, which pictured the same green/orange-striped finger logo on the cover. |
KentT wrote:Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 09 July 2010 at 5:22am
This album contained a unique (as far as I know) edit of Free's "All Right Now". It appears to be a re-creation of the radio edit of the song, but using the less punchy album mix. |
Posted By: KentT
Date Posted: 09 July 2010 at 10:32am
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I must have had one of the String/Orange Striped Finger 45 singles which used an older stamper and they subbed the Stereo LP version when the stamper my copy was pressed from wore out. My 45 is indeed a mono copy. And it is the edit. ------------- I turn up the good and turn down the bad! |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 09 July 2010 at 12:02pm
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It wasn't simply a label redesign when Forget Me Nots switched from the blue spectacles to the stripes/finger design; the series itself was revamped at the same time. Case in point with some Boyce & Hart examples:
Original "spectacles" Forget Me Not pairings: 8534: "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite" b/w "Out & About" 8535: "Alice Long" b/w "Goodbye Baby (I Don't Want To See You Cry)" Those two releases were deleted and replaced in 1977 with: 8577: "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite" b/w "Alice Long" Some of the new Forget Me Nots introduced to the series with the label redesign also differed from their original 45 releases. One that comes to mind was Head East's AOR staple "Never Been Any Reason". The original 1975 single (A&M 1718) was highly edited, with an early fade. When it appeared as Forget Me Not 8592 in 1977, the edits were the same, but the single now played through to the cold ending. The label time was still listed at 3:25, and the matrix numbers remained unchanged. You really needed to play some of these to know for sure which versions they contained. |