''S.R.O.'', issued in 1966, was the seventh album by

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...

Background

The album includes work by

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

and

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

, as well as the band's

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

of "Mame" (from the hit musical of the same name), one of the first of the group's recordings to include vocals by Alpert; he and the group sing the chorus in the middle of the otherwise-instrumental rendition. Released as a single, "Mame" reached No. 19 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in November 1966. "The Work Song", which features the "ping" sound effect of a hammer or pickaxe hitting rocks or other solid objects, reached No. 18 in July, and "Flamingo" peaked at No. 28 in September. The album reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. S.R.O., an acronym for

standing-room only An event is described as standing-room only when it is so well-attended that all of the chairs in the venue are occupied, leaving only flat spaces of pavement or flooring for other attendees to stand, at least those spaces not restricted by occup ...

, is a reference to the group's frequently sold-out concerts. "Bean Bag" became famous in the UK as the theme song of the popular long-running game show ''

It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show ''Intervilles'', and was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 Au ...

'', and as a prize cue for the game show ''

The Guinness Game ''The Guinness Game'' is an American game show that aired in weekly syndication from September 17, 1979, to September 1980 for a total of 24 episodes. Bob Hilton was the host, later replaced by Don Galloway. The announcer was Charlie O'Donnell wh ...

''. The

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

-inspired "Wall Street Rag" was not the

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ra ...

song of the same name, but was composed by Alpert associate and

Baja Marimba Band The Baja Marimba Band was a musical group led by marimba player Julius Wechter. Formed by producer Herb Alpert after his own Tijuana Brass, the Baja Marimba Band outlasted the Tijuana Brass by several years in part due to TV producer Chuck Barris ...

member Bud Coleman. "For Carlos" was covered by jazz guitarist

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

as "Wind Song".

Critical reception

In his retrospective review for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, music critic Richard S. Ginell wrote "The arrangements are very tightly knit and don't allow much room for spontaneity, but they still sound fresh and uninhibited, and Alpert often allows the flavor of jazz to come through more clearly... Though S.R.O. only went to number two on the LP charts, Alpert's creativity and popularity were still peaking."

Track listing

Side 1

# "

Our Day Will Come "Our Day Will Come" is a popular song composed by Mort Garson with lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was recorded by American R&B group Ruby & the Romantics in early December 1962, reaching #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Ruby & the Romantics' orig ...

" (

Mort Garson Morton Sanford Garson (20 July 1924 – 4 January 2008) was a Canadian composer, arranger, songwriter, and pioneer of electronic music. He is best known for his albums in the 1960s and 1970s, such as '' Mother Earth's Plantasia'' (1976), He also ...

Bob Hilliard Bob Hilliard (born Hilliard Goldsmith; January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971) was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs: " Alice in Wonderland", "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", " Any Day Now", "Dear Hearts and Gentle ...

) – 2:21 # "Mexican Road Race" (Sol Lake) – 2:30 # "

I Will Wait for You "I Will Wait for You" is the English version of "Je ne pourrai jamais vivre sans toi", a song from the French musical ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (''Les Parapluies de Cherbourg'', 1964). Its music was composed by Michel Legrand and the original ...

" (

Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many son ...

Jacques Demy Jacques Demy (; 5 June 1931 – 27 October 1990) was a French director, lyricist, and screenwriter. He appeared at the height of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebrat ...

Norman Gimbel Norman Gimbel (November 16, 1927 – December 19, 2018) was an American lyricist of popular songs, television and movie themes. He wrote the lyrics for songs including "Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Ready to Take a Chance Again" (both with ...

) – 3:15 # "Bean Bag" (

John Pisano John Pisano (born February 6, 1931) is a jazz guitarist born in Staten Island, New York. Biography Pisano has worked with Herb Alpert, Billy Bean, Chico Hamilton, Peggy Lee, and Joe Pass. Discography As leader * ''Makin' It: Guitar Duets'' with ...

Julius Wechter Julius Wechter (May 10, 1935 – February 1, 1999) was an American musician and composer who played the marimba and vibraphone. He also played various percussion instruments. He composed the song "Spanish Flea" for Herb Alpert and was leader of The ...

, Herb Alpert) – 1:58 # "The Wall Street Rag" (

Ervan Coleman Ervan F. "Bud" Coleman (July 7, 1921 – May 26, 1967) was an American guitar and mandolin player, member of Baja Marimba Band, worked with Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, and who wrote the hit track, "Tijuana Taxi". On the liner notes of Herb A ...

) – 2:25 # " The Work Song" (

Nat Adderley Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000) was an American jazz trumpeter. He was the younger brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, whom he supported and played with for many years. Adderley's composition " ...

Oscar Brown, Jr. Oscar Brown Jr. (October 10, 1926May 29, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, playwright, poet, civil rights activist, and actor. Aside from his career, Brown ran unsuccessfully for office in both the Illinois state legislature and the U. ...

) – 2:10

Side 2

# "

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

" (

Jerry Herman Gerald Sheldon Herman (July 10, 1931December 26, 2019) was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre. One of the most commercially successful Broadway songwriters of his time, Herman was the composer and lyricis ...

) – 2:08 # "Blue Sunday" (Julius Wechter) – 2:49 # "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (

) – 2:38 # "For Carlos" (John Pisano,

Nick Ceroli Nicholas Mathew Ceroli (December 22, 1939 – August 11, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Ceroli was born in Niles, Ohio, United States. He did a tour of Central and South America in 1963 with Ray Anthony, and that same year ...

, Herb Alpert) – 2:46 # "Freight Train Joe" (John Pisano) – 2:37 # "

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

" (

Ted Grouya Ted Grouya (31 July 1910 – 14 April 2000) born Teodor Gruia in Bucharest, Romania, was a composer who studied composition with Nadia Boulanger. He wrote the jazz standard "Flamingo" (1940), first recorded by Herb Jeffries and Duke Ellington. ...

, Edmond Anderson) – 2:25

Personnel

Along with Alpert, the musicians pictured on the album cover (excepting

) are: *

– drums *Bob Edmondson – trombone *Tonni Kalash – trumpet *Lou Pagani – piano *

– guitar *

Pat Senatore Pat Senatore (born August 19, 1935) is a jazz bassist born in Newark, New Jersey. Biography He attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York for two years but left because it did not offer jazz at that time. He then toured the country with ...

– bass *Julius Wechter – marimba, vibes

References

{{Authority control 1966 albums Herb Alpert albums Albums produced by Jerry Moss Albums produced by Herb Alpert Albums recorded at Gold Star Studios A&M Records albums