Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Greatest Hits

With its cinematic mix of dramatic brass fanfares, crowd noise, chorus, twangy guitar, and mandolins, "The Lonely Bull" was as much a novelty as an instrumental hit, but it served as an ideal launching pad for Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass. During the 1960s, they created some of the most popular instrumental music of all time, blending catchy tunes, Mexican dance rhythms, and a lively brassiness. "Spanish Flea" and "Tijuana Taxi" may best define the style, but Alpert possessed keen insight into the tradition of lighthearted danceable music, touching on swing in "Getting Sentimental over You," and doo-wop in Leiber and Stoller's "Love Potion No. 9." The movie themes "Never on Sunday" and "Zorba the Greek" tie the music even more strongly to the '60s, while expanding the group's inclusion of ethnic themes and sunny climes. It's the lightheartedness that ties this material together as much as the trumpets and trombones. Even "A Taste of Honey," a tune given moody treatment by everyone else who recorded it--from the Beatles to jazz saxophonist Eddie Harris--becomes irresistibly cheerful. The playing time of the CD is brief--little more than a half-hour--but it contains all hits, no filler. --Adam Rains