Definitive Hits

Personnel includes: Herb Alpert (trumpet); Janet Jackson, Lisa Keith (vocals); Tijuana Brass. Producers include: HerbAlpert, Jerry Moss, Burt Bacharach, JoseQuintana, Randy Badazz. Compilation producers: Herb Alpert, Larry Levine, Mike Ragogna. Includes liner notes by Herb Alpert and Quincy Jones. Digitallyremastered using 20-bit remastering technology by Doug Sax and Robert Hadley (The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California). Before his run at the top of the easy-listening charts, Herb Alpert was already a music-industry veteran, writing and producing hits for Sam Cooke and Jan& Dean. Alpert also deserves a place in history as co-founder and owner of A&M Records, one of the most successful independent labels of all time. A solid 20-track compilation spanning Alpert's career, DEFINITIVE HITS covers the trumpeter/singer/label executive's glory years--the1961-'68 stretch between "The Lonely Bull" and the Burt Bacharach-penned vocal showcase "This Guy's in Love with You. " However, it also conveniently gathers material from the post-Tijuana Brass periodwhen Alpert specialized in easy-listening fusion hits like the disco-tinged jazz-funk of 1979's "Rise" and the adult-contemporary R&B of 1987's "Diamonds, " which features A&M Records' then-new star Janet Jackson on lead vocals. But, of course, the real meat of the collection is the brilliantly arranged suburban exoticaof "Spanish Flea, " "A Taste of Honey, " and "Whipped Cream, " along with other fine examples of Alpert's Latin-tinged pop.

Track Listing

• 1 the lonely bull
• 2 mexican shuffle
• 3 whipped cream
• 4 lollipops and roses
• 5 a taste of honey
• 6 spanish flea
• 7 tijuana taxi
• 8 zorba the greek
• 9 what now, my love?
• 10 so what's new?
• 11 work song
• 12 this guy's in love with you
• 13 casino royale
• 14 route 101
• 15 fandango
• 16 rise
• 17 rotation
• 18 diamonds
• 19 keep your eye on me
• 20 making love in the rain