Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass – Whipped Cream & Other Delights and Definitive Hits

I like these albums and I like this band. I first discovered Herb Alpert through the Christmas Album they made in the late 1960’s. I really like their Latin-jazz approach to Christmas standards. So I looked into these two albums to complete my picture of the band. The problem with this music is that for all the imagination, the innovative arrangements, and technical ability involved, the music is really lightweight. There’s a reason these songs have been used as game show themes and elevator music: they’re one artistic rung above commercial jingles. This isn’t music I could ever listen to on my headphones with my eyes closed. It’s music made for the background of cocktail parties.
That said, Herb Alpert and the Brass succeed at that task admirably. Definitive Hits covers every notable song from the 1960’s, plus a few from the 1970’s and 80’s that I guarantee you’ll skip. Whipped Cream is their most popular and (probably) best album. Basically, if you like mariachi lounge music from a more optimistic era, you will like these albums.