Consider the three top-selling-album artists of the 1960s: The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
Each act has been subjected to endless examination and lionization. They’re part of our collective consciousness.
But the fourth-largest-selling act from that turbulent decade more often than not seems consigned to America’s flea markets, though the music created by this unit is not only unforgettable – in its time it was inescapable.
The outfit’s unceasingly happy hit records served as a welcome backdrop for a vivid, sun-drenched imaginary paradise populated by alluring young women dressed in little more than gobs of whipped cream. The impresario behind this fantasy turned a literal “garage” band project into one of the more prosperous careers in show business.
It’s time Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass receive their historical due.
“There was a period where people were chasing us,” a relaxed Alpert responded when asked about mid-’60s TJB-mania. “At one concert, somebody gave me two ears and a tail (taken from a bull). “After the joke wore off, I realized it was kind of a macabre thing to do.”
But the Tijuana Brass, headed up by exuberant horn man Alpert, was focused on anything but gruesome imagery. Three remastered ’60s titles, including the 1965 “Whipped Cream and Other Delights” with the then-provocative cover, are again available in all their deliriously cheerful glory from Shout! Factory; the label plans to rerelease other TJB titles this year.
“Obviously the ‘Whipped Cream’ cover was very successful, but I don’t think people would buy an album at that time just based on the cover,” said Alpert. (Trivia note: Dolores Erickson, the fetching cover model, was three months pregnant at the time of the shoot; except for the dollop on her head, she was slathered in shaving cream.)
Whether it was the packaging or the goods inside, “Whipped Cream” spent 141 weeks on the top-40 album charts in the U.S. The title track eventually became the theme to the equally perky “Dating Game” television show. If you’re of a certain age, there was also a very good chance that your dad had a copy close to his hi-fi system.
And long after the group’s end, the
music still holds a sense of undiluted optimism that hasn’t been successfully re-
created since. A new CD, “Lost Treasures,” adds to that legacy.
The commercial triumph of the TJB, and the record label (that had its beginnings in his garage) formed as Alpert’s success as a recording artist grew, A&M (formed with his business partner Jerry Moss), paved the way for other multi-platinum sellers, from The Carpenters to Sting.
The hits began with the kitschy yet evocative “Lonely Bull” single, recorded by Alpert in 1962 after experiencing a bullfight in Mexico.
As for the TJB itself, “it was studio musicians of my choice,” said Alpert. There was no touring unit to speak of until 1965.
“I didn’t form the group, actually, until after the ‘Whipped Cream’ album,” Alpert said. And even though he toured with another trumpeter to achieve that signature unison horn sound live, it’s unlikely that the record-buying public knew it was Alpert overdubbing himself on the trumpet several times on all of the TJB albums.
It didn’t matter. Alpert was selling the Tijuana Brass fantasy to millions of Americans taken with bouncy, safe entertainment. He sold millions of albums throughout the rest of the decade.
Always the savvy businessman, Alpert knew when it was time to put that phase of his career to rest. In 1969, the TJB closed shop.
“I stopped having fun, and when I started losing interest, I knew it was time to get out of the ring,” he said. He’d periodically release solo albums, like “Rise” from 1979, featuring the cushy, discofied title hit. What he didn’t know at the time was that he would assemble a “new” album under the TJB banner in the 21st century.
“I was going back to preserve the tapes,” he said. “They (the original album masters) were on magnetic tape, and I wanted to transfer them to the digital domain. In the process I found a bunch of unreleased masters that I quite frankly forgot I recorded.”
The result is “Lost Treasures,” which captures much of the lighthearted spirit of the original albums. It’s hard to imagine anyone making music like this now, and it’s that feeling of being happily marooned in its own era that makes the disc so charming.
“Every now and then people come up to me and ask when the Tijuana Brass are going to record again,” Alpert said. “So here it is.”
At the age of 70, Alpert says his musical interests range from classical to jazz. He owns an L.A. jazz club, and creates abstract sculptures and paintings. He occasionally surfaces with some new music. But the music business could likely use a maverick like him again.
“A lot of the time it seems like people are listening with their eyes,” Alpert said about current record industry types. “If you can put together a good video, you can dance in a slick way and it’s merchandised properly, you have a good chance of being an artist now. Back then, it was based on songs and the record itself.”
It’s true: In the glory days of the Tijuana Brass, you created the fantasy/video in your own head instead of letting the industry do the thinking.
Bret Saunders writes about jazz for The Denver Post. Saunders is host of the “KBCO Morning Show,” 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays at 97.3-FM. His e-mail address is bret_saunders@hotmail.com.
