The door is still open to my heart...

Dean Martin - "The Door Is Still Open To My Heart" (1964) - Reprise Records

Hello Friends,

Its a boozy Saturday night here on Vinyl in the Valley and we've got some boozy Dean Martin on the ol' turntable.  Martinis be flowin'.

In the 50's and 60's, Dino had a sort of alter-ego in Dean "Tex" Martin where he would get away from the American Songbook-type standards and would instead croon some cowpoke-style tunes.  

Now, this isn't stripped-down, shit-kickin', rural honky tonk music, but very lush, over-produced and orchestrated easy listening/lounge music.  The stuff your parents and/or grandparents (depending on your age) would put on their living room console turntables on a Saturday night while mixing highballs or pitchers of watered-down martinis.  

And watered-down is a pretty apt description of what's going on.

Not that its a bad record, by any means!  Sure its big on sentiment, but its all very safe, very saccharine, very uninspired.  

Three songs from this record-- "I'm Gonna Change Everything", the Sheb Wooley-penned (yes, that Sheb Wooley) "The Middle of the Night is My Cryin' Time" & "My Sugar's Gone"-- were directly lifted Dean's 1963 record entitled Dean "Tex" Martin Rides Again.  #lazy.

The great title track and the song, "You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You" were pretty big hits for Martin.  Other highlights include the cha-cha-shuffle of "In The Misty Moonlight" (originally written by Cindy Walker), the fantastically lush "Every Minute, Every Hour", the sappy "Always Together", the muted guitar work on "Take Me" and the epic kiss-off of a closer "So Long Baby".

Honestly, there's not a bad song in the bunch!  Its a great LP for gathering around the record player, drink in hand and washing down the problems and realities of the working week.  There's no due dates, or bills due, or tax forms, or clients, or traffic jams or yelling bosses.  Just you, your girl, a dimly-lit tiki bar and a half-empty bottle of rye whiskey!

RATING:  4 so long baby's you better go now out of 5

Hi-Fi Holidays: Christmas Joy

George Melachrino and his Orchestra - "Christmas Joy" (1959) - RCA Victor

Hello Friends,

Enjoying some Christmas Mood Music tonight at the ol' tiki bar while we get busy testing out various Christmas cocktails! 

Christmas Joy is a fun instrumental album with 16 holiday standards.  Featuring very economical arrangements of the songs that almost sound like they could be used in television episodes or commercials.  Lots of lyrical strings and woodwinds upfront, with brass and percussion used as tasteful window dressing.  Throw in the occasional skating rink-sounding organ and you got yourself an xmas album!  

Decca Records had such great success with Mantovani records in the late 50's that RCA came up their own "Mantovani" in English bandleader George Melachrino.  (Columbia Records had Percy Faith, Capitol had Jackie Gleason, etc.)  The music is moody, pleasantly dated and totally NOT annoying-- a trait that unfortunately plagues many of the orchestral-style records found in your grandparents' closets!

Extra points for the cozy looking album cover!

RATING: 3.5 Good King Wenceslases on the Feast of Stephens out of 5

Hi-Fi Holidays: Christmas Album

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - "Christmas Album" (1968) - A&M Records

Hello Friends,

Wow!  What a great schmaltzy & swinging Christmas record by everyone's favorite Jewish, trumpet-playing Santa Claus!

Its like the soundtrack to a Holiday-themed wrap party on The Dating Game featuring plenty of Dubonnet on Ice (how nice!), Leisure Suits, mustaches, side burns and lambskin condoms where you're hoping like heck that the wet spot you just sat down in is someone's spilled cocktail and nothing more!

Oy Vey!

Ten tracks all performed in the TJB style featuring a hybrid of lite jazz and latin arrangements, weaving vocal choruses, zippy time changes and Herb Alpert's signature overly-accentuated trumpet playing.

For better or for worse, its unlike any other holiday record in our collection.

Songs like "Winter Wonderland", "Jingle Bells" & "Sleigh Ride" all begin with a melodramatic "whimper" and end with a spastic and bombastic bang.  Hold on to your sombreros, amigos!

"My Favorite Things" sounds like a mariachi mash-up of The Sound of Music and an early Bond film.

Herb even steps out from behind his trumpet to sing Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song" and Burt Bacharach's "The Bell That Wouldn't Ring".

We're not sure what it has to do with Christmas, but there's even a smooth as silk take on the traditional Mexican birthday song, "Las Mananitas".  ¿Porque no?

You can definitely slow dance to Alpert's dreamlike pacing on "Let It Snow" while looking forward to a striptease by the end of "Jingle Bell Rock" all to be lulled into a gentle and graceful sleep by the strains of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", the album's closer. Classic!

RATING: 4.5 chestnuts roasting on an open fire out of 5

Hi-Fi Holidays: Merry Christmas Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis - "Merry Christmas" (1958) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

No doubt that this record was a mainstay on many suburban household hi-fi console systems in the late 1950's/early 1960's.  I'm pretty sure it was on constant rotation at my grandparents' house during the holidays.

There's really not much to not like about Johnny Mathis and this album features some fine velvety vocals and some lush, string-heavy arrangements courtesy of Percy Faith.

No real surprises on the record.  Twelve standard holiday selections with Side One containing more of the fun/secular tunes ("Winter Wonderland", "Sleigh Ride", "Blue Christmas", etc.) while leaving Side Two the more reflective/religious side.

"Winter Wonderland" would be a modest hit for Mathis.

The best thing about the record?  There's no "Twelve Days of Christmas" to be found! We're sort of done with that here at the Vinyl in the Valley HQ.

Also, we're pretty sure after a few highballs and a few listens of Mathis' sultry take on "A Christmas Song" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas" gramps would start to get a little handsy with nana!

RATING: 4 Holiday Highballs out of 5

Sergio Mendes has a cult following

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - "Look Around" (1967) - A & M Records

Hola Friends,

The weather is getting warming and tropical drinks are flowing!  There's nothing like some Sergio Mendes to spruce up some fancy patio cocktails!

Look Around is the third album by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 and probably represents the band at their peak. It features Mendes as organist and arranger, jazzman John Pisano on guitar, Bob Matthews on bass, Joao Palma & Jose Soares providing the drums and percussion, and the dynamic duo of Janis Hansen and Lani Hall (aka Mrs. Herb Alpert) sharing vocal duties.   Its an album full of upbeat, user-friendly bossanova favorites that pairs perfectly with a tall and frosty caipirinha.  

There's a swinging, Brazilian bachelor pad cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends"; a snappy version of Gilberto Gil's "Roda"; an english version ("Like A Lover") of the Brazilian standard, "O Cantador"; a tropicalia take on the David-Bacharach classic, "The Look of Love"; and two Mendes originals, "So Many Stars" & "Look Around."

It feels like Carnival tonight at the Vinyl in the Valley headquarters!  Now if I could just figure out how to give myself a Brazilian wax... 

RATING: 3.5 like a lover the river wind sighs and ripples its fingers through your hair out of 5 

Martin Denny - "Misirlou" (1961)

Hello Friends,

Some genius decided to take Martin Denny's version of "Misirlou" and set it to a scene from Fritz Lang's 1959 adventure film, The Indian Tomb.  It's diabolically sexy and borderline unbelievable!  Take that Tarantino...

By the way, the brunette hottie performing the snake dance is Debra Paget who also appeared in Cecil B. Demille's The Ten Commandments & Elvis Presley's film debut, Love Me Tender.  Give this girl an Oscar!

Sunday Jazz Brunch on the tiny island of Espiritu Santo

Les Brown and his Band of Renown - "Dance to South Pacific" (1958) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

We're enjoying another Sunday brunch here on Vinyl in the Valley.  The mimosas are flowing and Tiki T. is poaching up some eggs benny.  I'm no soothsayer, but I can see into the future of this Sunday and I see a lot NOT getting done today!

The chores can wait.  In the meantime, we've got this great Les Brown record on the turntable.  Twelve mostly swinging tracks lifted from the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical that captivated the nation throughout the fifties, South Pacific.

"Dites-Moi" and "Some Enchanted Evening" are fun, bouncy numbers punctuated by a solid brass section.  Frank Comstock's arrangement of the brunch-themed "Bloody Mary" is pretty solid as well.   "This Nearly Was Mine" is Brown and his orchestra at their somber creamiest.  "There Is Nothin' Like A Dame" sounds like something that The Count Basie orchestra might have recorded. The album's highlight is probably Billy May's cha-cha arrangement of the tiki anthem, "Bali Ha'i". 

All today needs to be perfect is a hammock strapped between two palm trees and a sexy native bringing me rum drinks in hollowed-out pineapples!

Oh and if someone can do the dishes!

RATING: 3.5 gonna wash that man right outta my hairs out of 5

Hi-Fi Holidays: Christmas with Melis

Jose Melis - "Christmas with Melis" (1958) - Seeco Records

Hola Amigos,

We couldn't wait to hear what sort of magic was contained herein on these grooves when we found this little treasure on our annual Black Friday record store sojourn!

Early research (i.e. the liner notes on the back of the album) reveals that Jose Melis was a Cuban-born child prodigy who began playing music at a very early age.  He attended conservatories in Havana and Boston, and later Julliard.  He played percussion in a U.S. Navy band during World War II before eventually being recruited by Jack Paar to be the house musician on his "Tonight Show", essentially making Jose Melis an early version of ?uestlove!


From the looks of it Tiki T. and I were expecting some bombastic Space Age Pop not unlike that of the genre's grand wizard, Esquivel.  But, while the songs on Christmas with Melis are very much in a late 50's lounge form, the album overall isn't as weird as we would like it to be!

Its actually very understated, subdued (two words that really don't really speak to late 1950's Latin artists in general) and listenable!  There's some interesting sounds going throughout the record but the strength of the record is definitely his arrangements!  

On "Jingle Bells", for instance, Melis breaks the song up into three distinct sections.  He playfully starts out by adding a hint of Mozart to the familiar melody while a simple, understated organ provides playful counterpoint beneath the piano.  The middle section of the piece changes the melody to in include more minor chords on the piano, which sounds more Beethoven-y.  For the finale, things lighten up again and both the piano and the organ (probably a Wurlitzer) feverishly run to their conclusion.  All this in 3 minutes & 40 seconds!


Probably the highlight of the record is the original composition, "The Christmas Story".  Melis apparently performed this spoken-word Christmas gem (complete with his thick Cuban accent) on Jack Paar's "The Morning Show" during the Yuletide season four years prior to this release and got such an overwhelming response to it that he decided to record it for the album! link

The only other song with vocals on the album is another original, "Merry Christmas Music" which is also pretty good, but we can't help think of Ricky Ricardo when we listen to it!

The first side of the LP contains the more secular songs ("Sleigh Bells", "Winter Wonderland", "Jingle Bells", et cetera) while Side Two is home to the more religious ones ("Silent Night", "Adeste Fidelis", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and the like).  Overall, a fun holiday record that pairs nicely with some rum punch!



RATING: 3.5 making spirits bright out of 5 

Cocktail Time!

Carmen Cavallaro - "Cocktail Time" (1961) - Decca

Hello Friends,

Its our favorite time of day... Cocktail Time!  

In an age of gimmicks there is nothing more refreshing and delightful than genuine style-- the sort of style that represents a rich background of talent, imagination and good taste; style that becomes the universally-known signature of a great artist.

Actually, the above is cribbed directly from this LP's liner notes.  Carmen Cavallaro, the self-proclaimed "poet of the piano", delivers eleven easy listening interpretations of American standards and show tunes.  And although the liner notes would go on to compare his keyboard stylings "as familiar to everyone who enjoys music as the unique brushwork of Picasso is to an art lover" we really wouldn't go that far.  Sure, its laidback and unassuming, but its all background dressing.  Its not as lavish as, let's say, Liberace, not as proficient as an Oscar Peterson, and not as entertaining as a Bobby Short.

The more we think about it, the more it seems like the guy who wrote these liner notes was a real fuddy-duddy who had a bone to pick with some of Cavallaro's more "gimmicky" contemporaries such as Liberace or the dueling piano duo of Ferrante & Teicher!  

Geez, get over yourself! 

RATING: 3 Happiest Girls in the World out of 5

Music to Change her Mind

Jackie Gleason - "Music to Change Her Mind" (1956) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

Its been a while since we've had The Great One on the VITV turntable and tonight we've got a classic piece of Gleason "mood" music spinning.  And just what mood is that?  How about the mood to feed our date some red wine and sleeping pills while taking complete advantage of her! 

You think we're kidding?  All the clues are there friends.  Something is amiss! Just check out some of these song titles: "You've Changed", "GUILTY", "It WAS so Beautiful", "She's Funny That Way", "All By Myself", "You and the Night and the Music", "Dancing in the Dark", "You Call it Madness", et cetera.  It reads like some creepy night stalker's diary entries!

Music to Change Her Mind is the sound you hear in the wee hours of the morning, just before you fall asleep, with a good buzz going, after you smoked your last cigarette.

It's the sound of your brainwaves in a dense fog: misty, muddled, familiar and dreamlike.

The ethereal horn of Bobby Hackett is present throughout like a beacon in the night guiding us to shore!

FUN FACT: Side One's haunting "You're My Greatest Love" is also the theme music to The Honeymooners!

RATING: 4 Strings of Poloponies out of 5

Spraying My Night Mist All Over the Place

The George Shearing Quintet with Voices - "Night Mist" (1958) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

We're trying to catch a break from these Winter Blues so we cracked open 3 or 4 bottles of wine, dimmed the lights and listened to this LP by The George Shearing Quintet.

For the most part, its a nice, relaxing affair.  We'll give the music a solid "A" (straightforward and competent jazz for the Sears crowd), but we'll give the vocal choruses that appear throughout the record a "D+".  Man, they really bring the record down: they're obvious and obtuse and are mixed too loudly and sound too tinny.  Basically, the "follow-the-bouncing-ball" Mitch Miller vocal choruses are unnecessary and distracting and bring down what is otherwise a pretty good record.

The wine is good though... my teeth are purple...

RATING: 3.5 Polka Dots and Moonbeams out of 5

There's Something in the (Fresh) Air

The Baja Marimba Band - "Fresh Air" (1969) - A & M Records

Hello Friends,

These zany cats are back for their Ninth record!  Can you believe it?  Originally a side project (and novelty act) of Herb Alpert's percussionist, Julius Wechter, The Baja Marimba Band survived the 60's and were still going (somewhat) strong 9 albums in!

Slightly more relaxed and less manic than some of their previous records, the highlights being their take on the Mexican Ranchera song, "Cielito Lindo" (aka the Frito Bandito's theme song); Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Wave"; the haunting takes on "Eleanor Rigby" and "The Windmills of Your Mind" (aka the theme song from the movie, The Thomas Crown Affair); the dueling marimbas in "I'll Marimba You"; and what is arguably the album's best track, "Madagascar".

As an added bonus, the album also feature Julius Wechter's singing debut on the Loesser & Styne song, "I Don't Wanna Walk Without You."  Stick to your day job Jules!

Besides the clever title and funny mustaches another running joke on these records is how there always seems to be someone pissing in the background on the album cover!  Keepin' it classy!  

Maybe that's where The Who got the idea for the Who's Next cover art?!?

RATING: 3.5 windmills of your cabezas out of 5 

Hawaiian Holiday with Johnny Pineapple

Johnny Pineapple & His Orchestra - "Hawaiian Holiday" (1965) - Pickwick

Aloha Friends,

No one gets a party started quite like Johnny Pineapple.  Actually, before we got this LP we never heard of the guy, but boy are we impressed!  This guy is like the Duke Ellington of Luau Music!

From what we can delineate ascertain, Johnny Pineapple was born David Haonohi on the isle of Hawaii.  He became an expert steel guitar player which eventually landed him gigs at New York's Stork Club and the Polynesian Room of Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel.

Now we have dozens of generic-sounding Hawaiian Holiday-type LPs.  All are fun, to an extent, but most are not very good or very memorable.  This one is different. Expert arrangements that are big on atmosphere and big on ethereal-sounding steel guitar, with subtle flourishes of acoustic guitar, percussion and Ellington-style pianos gently wading in the background.  Check out "The Pretty Mermaid of the Southeastern Sea"...

or the sublime, "Paradise Isle".

This album is the soundtrack to a perfect Hawaiian Sunset: after a long day of luau's, scuba diving and drinking out of pineapples, you pass out on the beach with the salty ocean air kissing your sun-drenched skin and hear the gentle and soothing notes of Johnny Pineapple's band. 

Plus check out those pearly white smiles on the album cover!  Johnny Pineapple must have a heck of a dental plan, kids!

Thanks for the record Marilyn!

RATING: 4.5 Pretty Mermaids of the Southeastern Seas out of 5

Get Yer Cha-Cha's Out!

Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra - "The Best of Cugat" (1961) - Mercury Records

Hola Friends,

Time to get your Cha-Cha's out!  We've got a great "best of" record from composer Cugat's Mercury years on the turntable tonight.

Spanish-born Cugat is most famous for being married five times and also for introducing American audiences to Latin-inspired big band music.

Tracks include: "Mama Inez", "Tea for Two (Cha-Cha-Cha)", "Tequila", "Taboo", "Sway", "Amor", "Amapola", "El Cumbanchero", "Ba-Tu-Ca-Da", "Misirlou", "It Happened in Monterey" and "Always in My Heart".

This is a fun record that's very good for a midsummer's cocktail party that's sure to end with a drunken and debaucherous conga line!  Olé!

That buxom blonde minx on the album's cover is Cugat's fourth wife, singer-model, Abbe Lane.  

Nice maracas!

RATING: 4 Cases of the Cha-Chas out of 5

Herb Alpert's Number 2

Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass - "Volume 2" (1963) - A&M Records

Hola Amigos,

Everyone's favorite Jewish trumpet player is back with his second album, simply titled, Volume Two, a record that at the time sold poorly compared to his debut record, The Lonely Bull (1962). Funny, because there's really not a big sonic departure on this record.  In fact, it sounds pretty much like everything else Herb Alpert has ever done!  

Lesson learned! Put a sexy brunette on the cover and come up with a snappy title and you're good to go!  Speaking of which, here's an interesting article about Alpert's famous Whipped Cream album cover model, Miss Dolores Erickson.

Volume Two kicks off with a rowdy crowd at a bullfight with "The Great Manolete"-- Alpert's tribute to the great Spanish Matador featuring some great spaghetti western-style trumpet solos.

His take on Ben E. King's (actually Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector's) "Spanish Harlem" is pretty good, too.  It features some signature Alpert trumpet-playing over an accompaniment of marimba and percussion, and ending with a pleasant wordless-vocal chorus with some fine acoustic guitar soloing.

"The Swinger from Seville" is a boozy, striptease-type number written by Alpert.  Its like the theme song to some sleazy television game show!  (Wife Swap?)

Side one ends with a trio of easy listening ballads, "Winds of Barcelona", "Green Leaves of Summer" and "More."  Much of the same, although, we really like the Spanish style guitar and lone trumpet that starts off "Green Leaves".

Side Two kicks off with a cover of Leonard Bernstein's "A-me-ri-ca" from West Side Story.

Perhaps influenced by the fledgling California band called The Beach Boys (heard of 'em?) is Alpert's own composition, "Surfin' Senorita".


There's two Sol Lake compositions, "Marching Thru Madrid" and "Crea Mi Amor", as well as another Herbal Pert original entitled, "Mexican Corn".  Sounds yummy!

The album concludes with some more of that rowdy crowd noise, cat calling and bottles clinking.  It sounds as if the Mezcal's been flowing all album long!  We end with a jubilant, sing-along take on Edith Piaf's familiar "Milord"!  (Although I don't think this version is necessarily what the original songwriters intended! A quien le importa!)      

RATING: 3.5 Surfin' Señoritas out of 5 

Havana in Hi-Fi

Richard Hayman and his Orchestra - "Havana in Hi-Fi" (1957) - Mercury Records

Hello Friends,

This record was a great thrift store find and we're enjoying the hell out of it while we suck down some mojitos and wait for the summer sun to set.

We were first introduced to bespectacled bandleader Richard Hayman on his record, Voodoo (1959).  (Review here.)  This LP, like that one, has a very soundtracky quality to it.  The heavily orchestrated arrangements are at times classical, at times jazzy, with hints of exotica and a healthy dose of spaghetti western.  (As Tiki T. points out the opening number, "Rhapsodero" would not sound out of place in a Quentin Tarantino movie!)     

The liner notes on the back of the record describe in great detail the recording process and instruments used!  In the 50's, the term "High Fidelity" was used by record labels to help market their products by promising a fuller, more authentic sound.  (Eventually, the term "Hi Fi" became pretty generic and was mostly used to replace "phonograph" or "record player.")  So if you care you can read about the "authentic"-sounding oboe on "Caminito", what kind of RCA microphones were used on the violas, or how the track "Love and the World Loves With You" is a real "treat for tweeter fans", you can! 

Plus, we love the cover!  We're always suckers for a bongos and a brunette with nice gams!

RATING: 4 Tropical Merengues out of 5

Once you go Black Orpheus...

The Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" (1962) - Fantasy Records

Hello Friends,

Three years before he would start composing music for the Peanuts' television specials, Vince Guaraldi released this album of songs from, and inspired by, the 1959 Brazilian film, Black Orpheus; a movie that transplants the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to the gritty and musical streets of Rio de Janeiro during Carnavale!   We haven't seen it, but it sounds pretty great!  
Its as hot as hell so we're turning the tiki bar into a favela tonight friends! (Editors Note: No we're not!)

Who doesn't love a good threesome?  With Guaraldi on piano, Colin Bailey on drums and Monty Budwig on upright bass, Side One does jazzy justice to the bossanova tunes originally composed by Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim for the film.  Think Charlie Brown with a Latin flair!  Charlie Marrón, if you will!  Olé!

The second side features Guaraldi's hit, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind"-- a chart topper as well as a Grammy winner!  Atta boy Vince!  There's also a behind-the-beat version of "Moon River", another Latin-flavored original ("Alma-ville"), and a sublime and loungey (in a good way) rendition of Buddy Johnson' jazz standard, "Since I Fell For You." 



Overall a great, fun and relaxed record.  Perfect a late night caprihana at the tiki bar!

"Anyone seen Tiki T?"

RATING: 4.5 Days in the Life of a Fool out 5

Soft Lights and Sweet Music

Stanley Black and his Orchestra - "Soft Lights and Sweet Music" (1958) - Richmond High Fidelity

Hello Friends,

An imprint of London Records, the Richmond High Fidelity record label was a budget label that re-released mono and stereo LP's in the U.S. from 1958 to 1963 and sold for $1.98.  What a bargain!

British bandleader & conductor, Stanley Black delivers some swinging, late night instrumental lounge music on this 1958 LP.  Lush and softly exotic, its the perfect soundtrack to a balmy spring night at the old tiki bar.

The highlights here include a trio of Cole Porter songs, "Just One of Those Things", "Begin the Beguine" and "Why Can't You Behave?"; the Rodgers & Hart ballad, "My Heart Stood Still"; the Exotica staple "Bali Ha'i"; the South-of-the-Border lounge of "Adios" & "Estrellita"; and the jumpy "Alice Blue Gown"-- which would sound right at home in a Woody Allen movie.

RATING: 4.5 Trips to the Moon on Gossamer Wings out of 5   

Romantica!

Martin Denny - "Romantica" (1961) - Liberty

Hello Friends,

Tonight on the turntable?  How about the lush and exotic sounds of Martin Denny?  I'll drink to that!

Actually we picked up this gem in a used bin during Record Store Day.  Another great Martin Denny album cover featuring the incomparable "face of Exotica", Miss Sandy Warner and those inviting eyes!

As the liner notes state, "Denny has chosen twelve selections that are ideal for a dream voyage on an ocean of serene romance" and folks we couldn't have said it better ourselves!  

Pianos and vibraphones square off with exotic percussion sounds and lush string arrangements.  

Songs include: "And This Is My Beloved", "Romance", "My Reverie", "Magic is the Moonlight", "A Fine Romance", "Tenderly" and Denny's own compositions, "Love At Sight", "Aloha, I Love You" & "Blue Paradise".

RATING: 4 La Pampas Y La Punas out of 5 

Rusty Trumpet

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - "What Now My Love" (1966) - A&M Records

Hello Friends,

Herb Alpert's "magic trumpet" is making another appearance on Vinyl in the Valley tonight.

What Now My Love is Herb's sixth album with the Tijuana Brass and its more of the same Ameriachi-style jazz-inspired lounge muzak.  Great music to mix up a batch of margaritas to while waiting for your special lady to come over.  

So spray that cologne on heavy and tie up that bolo because tonight you're either getting lucky or hosting a Spanish game show!

Fun Fact: The puckery brunette on the cover is Mrs. Sandra Moss, wife of Jerry Moss, Herb's partner at A & M records.  Wonder if things ever got awkward?

RATING: 3.5 Memories of Madrid out of 5