Revisiting A&M Records No. 33
Nat Adderley: ‘You, Baby’ (late winter ’68)
Sometimes these CTI albums impress immediately, seizing our attention with intricate compositions, remarkable interplay and an enveloping warmth that offsets bracing coolness. Other times it takes multiple spins before arrangements click, distinctive solos sink in and subtler charms emerge.
Revisiting A&M Records No. 28
Herbie Mann: ‘Glory of Love’ (December ‘67)
I must not be jazzbo enough to understand why this very enjoyable one-off the groundbreaking flutist cut for Creed Taylor’s CTI subsidiary isn’t held in nearly as high regard as albums that came before and after it.
Revisiting A&M Records No. 26
Tamba 4: ‘We and the Sea’ (November ’67)
Now this is serious shit. Makes Sérgio Mendes seem exactly like the lightweight he was — highly capable, yes, and plenty enjoyable, just nowhere near the heavyweight class that this prodigious quartet was punching at by the time sunset fell on the Summer of Love.
Revisiting A&M Records No. 25
Phil Ochs: ‘Pleasures of the Harbor’ (November ‘67)
In hindsight there couldn’t have been a more sadly ironic song for this under-appreciated folkie to choose as an opening statement for the next phase of his career.
[Measuring the marigold.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 22
The Sandpipers: ‘The Sandpipers’ (May ’67)
[Cherchez la femme.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 21
Claudine Longet: ‘Claudine’ (April ’67)
Claudine Longet: ‘The Look of Love’ (October ’67)
[What a groovy time they were having.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 18
Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart: ‘Test Patterns’ (Sept ’67)
Initially I’d planned for this lengthy look back at A&M Records to be a series of twofers, the better to coincide with #VinylTwosDays, a weekly scene I’m always happy to join. But as I started sorting through titles and structuring future installments, it quickly occurred to me that not everything will pair up so pleasingly.
I know what at least four or five of you are likely muttering to yourselves right now: ‘Man oh man, is she ever gonna stop with these damn Tijuana Brass albums?!? It’ll be Christmas 2024 by the time this #TuesdaysWithJerry series finally gets to the Police!’
Shooting from the hip here, so feel free to kindly counter this claim in comments, but I suspect there was no more prolific group on either side of the Atlantic in 1969 than Fairport Convention, and only Led Zeppelin achieved more impactful strides within those 12 months.
FC is the subject of this installment of #TuesdaysWithJerry, my journey through A&M Records’s past, in tribute to that label’s late co-founder Jerry Moss. I’ll get to why you’re as likely to find UK editions on Island Records as stateside pressings.