Time: 32:58
Size: 75.5 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, Jazz-pop
Year: 1969/2016
Art: Front
[2:06] 1. The Brass Are Comin' (The Little Train Of Caipira)
[2:37] 2. Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine
[2:57] 3. Country Lake
[3:16] 4. I'll Be Back
[2:54] 5. Moon River
[2:15] 6. The Maltese Melody
[3:09] 7. Sunny
[2:38] 8. I'm An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande)
[2:38] 9. Anna
[2:15] 10. Robbers And Cops
[2:44] 11. Moments
[3:24] 12. You Are My Life
The Western motif on the double-fold album jacket -- with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in costume -- signals this as another companion album to a TV special. But there is a deeper significance to this LP, for shortly after its release, a burned-out, personally troubled Alpert disbanded the Brass and retired from music for awhile. Indeed, stretches of this record reveal a tired group and a leader whose trumpet has lost much of its old zip. Even so, as on all TJB albums, there are several gems -- the stunning shifts in texture and tempo that enliven the worn-out "Moon River," the chugging bluegrass-tinged arrangement of Villa-Lobos' "The Little Train of the Caipira" that masquerades under the name of the title track, a haunting rendition of the Beatles' "I'll Be Back," the fast samba treatment of "Anna." Dave Grusin and Shorty Rogers contribute an occasional orchestration, and Alpert does a modest vocal turn on the lush "You Are My Life." But this time, the old sales magic was gone; the Tijuana Brass had suddenly become unhip in polarized 1969. ~Richard S. Ginnell
The Brass Are Comin'