Herb Alpert Definitive Hits CD

Personnel includes: Herb Alpert (trumpet); Janet Jackson, Lisa Keith (vocals); Tijuana Brass.
Producers include: Herb Alpert, Jerry Moss, Burt Bacharach, Jose Quintana, Randy Badazz.
Compilation producers: Herb Alpert, Larry Levine, Mike Ragogna.
Includes liner notes by Herb Alpert and Quincy Jones.
Digitally remastered using 20-bit remastering technology by Doug Sax and Robert Hadley (The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California).
Personnel: Herb Alpert (trumpet); Lisa Keith (vocals).
Audio Remixers: Don Hahn; Bryan Stott.
Liner Note Authors: Quincy Jones; Burt Bacharach.
Arrangers: Herb Alpert; Juan Carlos Calderón.
How self-serving can one musical genius be to have a label he co-founded release a collection of his best-loved songs? But this is not just any self-serving genius. This is the guy who brought the world Dolores Ericson covered in shaving foam. This is the self-serving genius who scored the best James Bond film that wasn't really a James Bond film ever. This is the self-serving genius who set the music to elevators and waiting rooms around the world. This is Herb Alpert. From the opening charge of "The Lonely Bull" (complete with homesickness-inducing crowd noise) to the closing washes of "Making Love in the Rain," this album chronicles one of the most prolific and constantly contemporary careers in the music industry. Taking his Tijuana Brass in their jalopied "Tijuana Taxi," Alpert blows from the "Heat Wave"-inspiring "Mexican Shuffle" to the bouzouki blitz of "Zorba the Greek." Perhaps his most famous film-related song, however, is the Burt Bacharach classic "Casino Royale," a song that could inspire even Woody Allen to take on the world's most dastardly criminals. Bacharach also gave Alpert one of his most famous ballads, and one of Alpert's peachiest vocal offerings, with "This Guy's in Love With You." Alpert has a groovy thing going with Nat Adderley's "Work Song" as well. On this collection, Alpert swings from the authentic Latin punch of "Fandango" to the smooth American drive of "Route 101," and from the funky crescendo of "Rise" to the hip pop hops of "Diamonds" and "Keep Your Eye On Me." Along the way, Alpert offers delicious delights like the minor-keyed rag "Whipped Cream," the sweet blooms of "Lollipops and Roses," and a bee-utiful spin through "A Taste of Honey." How sweet it is to have all his hits together at last. ~ Matthew Robinson
Before his run at the top of the easy-listening charts, Herb Alpert was already a music-industry veteran, writing and producing hits for Sam Cooke and Jan & Dean. Alpert also deserves a place in history as co-founder and owner of A&M Records, one of the most successful independent labels of all time. A solid 20-track compilation spanning Alpert's career, DEFINITIVE HITS covers the trumpeter/singer/label executive's glory years--the 1961-'68 stretch between "The Lonely Bull" and the Burt Bacharach-penned vocal showcase "This Guy's in Love with You." However, it also conveniently gathers material from the post-Tijuana Brass period when Alpert specialized in easy-listening fusion hits like the disco-tinged jazz-funk of 1979's "Rise" and the adult-contemporary R&B of 1987's "Diamonds," which features A&M Records' then-new star Janet Jackson on lead vocals. But, of course, the real meat of the collection is the brilliantly arranged suburban exotica of "Spanish Flea," "A Taste of Honey," and "Whipped Cream," along with other fine examples of Alpert's Latin-tinged pop.