Book Of Lists 5
Getting close to Christmas now, but I've still got lists for you. You no doubt remember Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass. They hit it big in the sixties and released a record with one of the most iconic images of all time, a seemingly naked woman covered in a pile of whipped cream, an image that's been parodied over and over. Those parodies would be a great list in and of itself, but wouldn't have much to do with Christmas. What does have a Christmas connection is all the bands that copied the Tijuana style of happy trumpet sounds put out by Herb and his gang, a group of artists I call the Tijuanabees. So this list is a bunch of the records that came out in the wake of HA&tTB with a Christmas theme. Most of these are vintage but there are still artists today making happy Christmas music in this same vein. Feel free to add those records in the comments and I'll think about adding them to my main list.
I've got one for you, and it has a connection to Canada no less!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/master/994741-Benny-Barbara-Tijuana
Got it on there, thanks! Now I have to dig up my own copy! :)
DeleteThanks for compiling this; you just replaced the two previous duplicate slots on my own playlist, bringing the total number of titles represented to a proper dozen, not including the Mame selection.
DeleteOh yeah, forgot about the Mame one! I smell a good compilation in there, unless they're all different releases of the same twelve songs. ;)
DeleteWhen I sorted the playlist by song title that's how I distinguished the same lp was there three times; a decent non-repeating comp will probably be compiled shortly as they're not all thankfully the same 12. ;-)
DeleteI also found a few of the "Luis Gomez Mexican Brass" (aka Pete Winslow) tunes online a few years ago (though I can't locate the source of them now) and they're not reinventing the wheel at all; the most notable aspect is that despite it being a 1979 release they all contain a swinging guitar sound straight out of 1965 in the mix.
Lots on the list that I've never seen! I've always thought the Herb Alpert album was the least Tijuana-y of the ones I've listened to.
ReplyDeleteAlso I really enjoy your commentary on these lists.
DeleteWell, Herb wasn't one to repeat himself. All these others are stuck firmly in the same groove, and they get in trouble if they leave that groove.
DeleteHerb's album is re-listenable now as it's not just a rehash of his TJB template. The a capella intros are unlike anything else out there, which makes it all the better.
DeleteTo be honest, I haven't listened to Herb's record in ages. I think I've listened to the Something Festive comp much more recently. I suppose I need to revisit it at some point if I'm going to talk about it. :)
DeleteThe Something Festive album contains versions of Winter Wonderland and Jingle Bell Rock sans introductions, in addtion to Sergio Mendes' version of The Christmas Song and Claudine Longet's take on Randy Newman's "Snow", which originally appeared on her Love Is Blue album. "Snow' is a cut I try to play at least once every Christmas season.
DeleteAlso, my pristine copy of the Mexicali Brass' Winter Wonderland has only 9 cuts on it; found it this past Spring at a local thrift store for 99 Cents with the Cellophane still on the cover!
DeleteSnow is a great song! And yes, they reissued an album called Winter Wonderland without the track called Winter Wonderland on it. Budget labels are weird... :(
DeleteYou should know from the stuff Lee tries to put out on his blog! Hopefully he will find a server that will work for him; He is the ONLY one who apparently is not allowed to use MEGA, for some reason.
DeleteNot sure why that is to be honest. :(
DeleteGreat list - includes several I've never seen. Of course, I can't say I've heard any of these except for Herb A.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that the second Philips 66 LP was half Wally Stott (!).
Half Wally & half, wait, no, I'm thinking of a different collection of theirs. Another one of them is half Dorothy Collins!
Deletethe -Benny-Barbara-Tijuana Album Sound quite interesting. Two examples are on YouTube . Can't wait to hear the whole album.
ReplyDeleteNice List. Thank you ERNIE for your work.
These lists were a fun little thing to add this year. Hope I can come up with something new for next season. :)
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