Compiled by Alpert Himself, Shout! Factory's 'Lost Treasures' Mines Previously Undiscovered Riches From Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

Compiled by Alpert Himself, Shout! Factory's 'Lost Treasures' Mines Previously Undiscovered Riches From Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

The Rarities Disc, Set for Release Today, February 8, Introduces the 'Herb Alpert Signature Series'

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- At the close of the 1960s, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass -- behind only Elvis, The Beatles and Sinatra -- were the fourth top-selling album act of that decade. From 1962-1969, they had the nation swingin' to their sound with fourteen Top 40 Billboard singles, and achieved the since-unmatched feats of having four albums in the Top 10 one week, and five in the Top 20 another. Celebrating this phenomenal heyday, the 22-track 'Lost Treasures' -- also featuring new liner notes and a personal intro from Herb -- is the premiere release in Shout! Factory's 'Herb Alpert Signature Series.' The disc mines previously unreleased gems and rarities spanning 1963-1974, and will be available February 8.

The compilation evolved after Alpert, much to his surprise, found many unreleased master tapes, and immersed himself in listening to them. "I didn't realize I was going to be affected the way I was," Alpert recalled. "When I heard some of the tracks, I got old-time goose bumps, the kind I used to get when I did the original Brass recordings. So I knew I was on the right track."

Several tracks, including "Happy Hour," were missing trumpet parts, so Alpert hit the studio and played along with them, literally re-performing them. The new lines Alpert laid down blend seamlessly into the vintage takes, and he says, "I had a good time doing that. I wanted to keep the tracks in the genre that I had recorded them in during that period. It's actually the same trumpet I've used for years."

A funky down-tempo riff on James Taylor's "Fire And Rain" -- which L.A.-based music journalist, U.C. Riverside professor and 'Lost Treasures' liner notes writer Josh Kun predicts is, "bound to find its way into DJ chill sets" -- is another previously unissued discovery. Kun, whose book 'Strangers Among Sounds: Music, Race, And America' will be published this year, also writes that "Killing Me Softly" "imagines Roberta Flack on a Mexican vacation, napping in a hammock."

Alpert's said that in interpreting famous popular songs, one of his goals is, "to express the song through the trumpet as if I were singing the lyric," an inspired approach evident throughout 'Lost Treasures.' Other renditions include Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)," Cat Stevens' "The Whistle Star," the early '70s favorite "Popcorn," and two Bacharach/David standards, including "(They Long To Be) Close To You." Featuring Alpert on vocals, it was originally intended to be the follow-up to his 1968 #1 smash "This Guy's In Love With You." Alpert remembers, "recording engineer Larry Levine said he didn't think the song was right for me. I ... gave the song to Richard and Karen Carpenter. The rest is music history. Lucky for them and lucky for A&M records."

And lucky for music lovers, the effortless cool of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass is revisited for past, present and future fans with 'Lost Treasures.' Today, Shout! Factory will also release remasters of the classic TJB albums 'The Lonely Bull' and 'South Of The Border' in its launch of the 'Herb Alpert Signature Series,' which will eventually include all of the Brass' and Herb Alpert's solo albums.

For more information, visit www.herbalpert.com or www.shoutfactory.com


Source: Herb Alpert

CONTACT: Michael Jensen, or Meghan Helsel, both of Jensen
Communications, +1-626-585-9575, info@jensencom.com, for Herb Alpert

Web site: http://www.herbalpert.com/
http://www.shoutfactory.com/


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