Most Tijuana Brass albums are plentiful and easy to find on vinyl; even the monaural versions are still available at many locations for a very fair price.  Don’t be fooled by all of the “Rare!!” exclamations on eBay or anywhere else: TJB vinyl is not rare at all, and is very affordable to collect.  Well…in most cases it is, anyway.  There is one title that is worth seeking out for its relative rarity, as well as its uniqueness.

Back in the late 60s, DJs still spun a lot of their hits from 45RPM records.  Ones that got heavy airplay often got worn or abused from all of the playback on radio station equipment.  To remedy this, A&M released a pair of promotional-only LPs that were serviced to radio stations only:  Dee-Jay Sampler: The Best from Herb Alpert & The TJB.  This album has 16 tracks on it (8 per side) and covers the hits from “The Lonely Bull” up through the #1 smash “This Guy’s In Love With You”.  It misses some of the hits, but it provided DJs with a good, clean, durable copy of the hits which they could use to replace their worn 45RPM single copies of.

What is unique about this collection is that it was released in two version:  stereo (A&M SP-19004), and monaural (A&M LP-9004).  The stereo version, other than the track listing, is nothing special: it contains all of the stereo album version of his hits.  The monaural version is one of the most unique releases by A&M.  It has the same track listing, but rather than use the monaural album versions of the songs, it uses the monaural single versions.  Some of the single versions were identical to the monaural LP versions, but for others, like “Tijuana Taxi” (with the extra horn honks in it) and “Zorba The Greek” (which has its midsection edited down, and a fake audience track dubbed in), these are the same versions used on A&M’s 45RPM singles.  This is the only way to get some of these single versions on LP, and that makes it a rarity for anyone’s A&M or Tijuana Brass collection.

The stereo version of the LP sounds like you’d expect: in fact, it does not sound quite as good as the Greatest Hits LP, but it does have more tracks on it.  The mono version sounds really good, though: some of the songs have more bass, and the mix “nails it” with a more cohesive sound.  Larry Levine engineered all of those mono mixes, where Herb Alpert did the stereo mixes.  Back then, the mono version were still considered the definitive versions of these songs.  Not that the stereo mixes are bad—the mono mixes sound different, and in a good way.

I’ve seen stereo versions of this LP around for a low price, but the mono is much more rare.   Careful shopping might net you a copy for as little as $25, but be prepared to pay a lot more for it, especially in this age of eBay.