Listening to The Lonely Bull--Herb Alpert's first record and the first release by his label A & M--links simplicity to concept. We start in the middle of Tijuana, with Carmen fanfares and crowd noise. We are at a bullfight! The two trumpeters play simple, hummable melodies played in thirds, and they match perfectly. (They are both Alpert via overdub.) Guitars, bass, and understated percussion (mostly tamborine with gentle snare and bass drum) stay out of the way but add classy touches. The first two songs, "El Solo Toro" and "El Lobo (The Wolf)" follow this formula.
Dripping with vibrato, of course.
Then comes "Tijuana Sauerkraut." What happens when tuba-heavy polka meets gentle mariachi? Don't drink the water.
But "Desafinado," the classic bossa nova, is every bit as sexy and groovin' as Stan Getz's classic reading. A more "American" attitude towards straight tone, vibrato and bends for emphasis, underscore Alpert's really tasteful solos. Listen, if you hear the album, for the squarest vibe solo that ever was.
The track "Mexico" begins with a whistle, and then busts into a tuba-trombone-two trumpet-guitar statement of a slow two-step. Every sixteen bars, this attractive AABA melody is reorchestrated sometimes subtly, sometimes drastically, always cheesily. But by the time that Alpert's trumpet (overdub) floats over the ensemble, the melody has endeared itself to us. This is eminently untroubled music. It is happy being camp, and its fun is unending unless you approach it with hostility.
LIstening to the last track of the first side, "Never On Sunday," prompts me to ask: whenever did wordless choirs go out of style in pop music?
Not soon enough.
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