Customer Reviews
Sunshine in music form - By: S. Bentley, 02 Jan 2008 
I love Herb Alpert. The best known stuff on this album are the likes of the superlatively bouncy Spanish Flea, the sublime A Taste of Honey, the energetic Tijuana Taxi, Tetris theme Zorba the Greek & of course the theme to the original Casino Royale (the one with David Niven) which is so clever it hurts. But there's nothing on this album that doesn't delight.
Mostly it's instrumental, brass band work & very good brass it is. Like a Mariachi band. It's jolly & fun, & it gets mein a good mood & that makes it pretty fab stuff.
Happy Childhood Memories - By: , 10 May 2001 
I was delighted to get hold of this album, which I did via Amazonin the U.S.
Playing this Herb Alpert & his hits CD, particularly the sixties inclusions, has brought back much nostalgia & happiness, as his is the sort of music that used to boom out of my mum & dad's tinny transistor radio at home about 30+ years ago when I was a small(very small) child!!
The album is beautifully presented, with reminiscences by Herb on the sleeve notes, about each of the 20 included tracks, & pictures of each HA & Tijuana Brass album they originally came from. Sound quality is first-rate, I assume most of the earlier tunes, being digitally enhanced to suit modern ears?
Like me, I'm sure most Herb Alpert fans will likein particular, the classic 'Mexican Shuffle', 'Tijuana Taxi', 'Spanish Flea', 'A Taste of Honey' & 'Casino Royale' & the beautiful & rare vocalled, by Herb, 'This Guy'sin Love with You', written by Bacharach & David & his joint biggest UK hit.
The later stuff on the album is also top class. My favourites including 'Rise' & 'Keep Your Eye on Me' from 1987, one of his last UK hit singles, that also produced a classic video,in the 'Sledgehammer'(Peter Gabriel) special effects mode, that is well worth seeking out. 'Diamonds' his final British hit to-date, has a great vocal by Janet Jackson, & is also included on the album.
Though far from being a really definitive collection, how could it be, from a man who's has been recording for around 40 years?? Herb Alpert's 'Definitive Hits' is complete enough, to give you a real feel of the man & his music. Buy this album if you remember him & enjoyed his music first-time-around. If not, still buy it, & get to know the wonderful instrumentals he & his band produced throughout the 1960's, the odd classic vocal number too, & see how the man evolved with the times, to produce some great late-seventies & eighties dance music.
We have waited so long ... Herb Alpert has been forgotten. - By: , 20 Apr 2001 Wow! At long last a new Herb Alpert CD backin the shops. I have searched half the world's record shops for anything other than a bargain bin copy of Titjuana Brass, & it's sad to report that most record shops these days have a whole new generation of staff that have never even heard of the man. This new "Greatest Hits" album goes a long way to make up for Herb Alpert's now sadly long deleted back catalogue; it's just a shame it doesn't offer more. Surely a 2cd or 4cd set would have done us proud? Most of the album concentrates on the old brassy lounge/lift music period, which is fine if you're that way inclined, but once the strains of "Rise" & "Rotation" come up you want to cry out loud: "Herb Alpert, where the hell are you now?" Please come back! This could have been a great album with a longer tracklisting, but even as it is it's still as welcome as breath of fresh air.
