What Now My Love

by

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

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With over 2 months in the #1 spot, this was the commercial peak for Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass. Like other popular acts of the sixties, Herb was releasing LPs fast and furious and this came hot on the heels of "GOING PLACES". And like he had with every previous album, he took the basic elements of what made his earlier recordings work but added a little something extra here and there to make the current release unique. "WHAT NOW MY LOVE" finds Herb in a more pensive mood on most of the tracks, and even the more upbeat numbers have an air of sophistication about them. "Freckles" and "Brasilia" may swing free and easy, but the raucous throwing-caution-to-the-wind attitude of "Third Man Theme" and "Zorba The Greek" are absent. Herb's arranging genius continues to shine on great versions of "If I Were A Rich Man", "Five Minutes More", an elegant "Shadow Of Your Smile" and a somber "It Was A Very Good Year". And then there's the title track which waged a cover battle in 1966 with Sonny and Cher. Both versions were big hits, perhaps because both were unique. While S&C's version relied on the schmaltzy lyrics and the singers' dramatic intensity, the Brass' version was the complete opposite -- melody driven with a light, breezy jazz arrangement.

There were two different mixes of this album floating around when it was originally released. For anyone familiar with both, it should be noted that this CD contains the extended "bump and grind" version of "Plucky" and the version of "Brasilia" which is missing the trombone overdub.

Overall, another great Shout Factory TJB reissue with beautifully remastered sound and a nice booklet containing an essay and great photos.

Hey, it's a real treat to have these re-issues available and the packaging is nice BUT the alleged "re-mastering" is horrendous throughout the entire signature series. Sorry Herb, I still love ya and the TJB but I cannot tell a lie here. So...I proceeded to email Shout Factory on this and I got back a robotic-style message that these were re-mastered to Herb Alpert's exceedingly high level of quality. Yeah, OK. The LPs, which reside in my basement, have more punch, more presence, better low and high ends to them than these Shout Factory re-issues. The hiss is prevelant throughout the series of CDs, yet there are a few scattered tracks, like Casino Royale on Sounds Like, that actually sound really good....almost as if a different process was used just for that track. Very odd. There is distortion on SRO and a "bump" sound on one of the tracks that can be heard in the car as well as the home equipment. Herb's trumpet should come thru clean & bright but it seems to be under a cloudy membrane. Now I don't want to sound like an audio geek, which I am truly not, but these CDs could have sounded A LOT better!!! The LPs do, and they were purchased 40+ years ago and are quite worn. ~SL