Herb Alpert – Rise (Shout! Factory/Almo CD Reissue)

 

Sound: B-     Music: B

 

 

We hear about digital this and digital that as if it will solve the problems of the world, but many may wonder how long digital recording has been used in music.  Films started to really try out digital sound in their masters as early as 1982 and the CD was due in 1980, but was late.  Following Classical and Jazz recordings that we could consider experimental in some ways, popular artists began trying such recording techniques out, especially between 1982 & 1984 before too many involved were disappointed by the lack of character.

 

When The Bee Gees and their producers did Guilty (1980) with Barbra Streisand, they mixed the album digitally to make it more distinct on the radio.  For Rise, Herb Alpert (then the co-founder/co-owner of A&M Records) got his hands on a 32-track digital recorder and made the album, though he would edit in the analog realm, the album was a big hit in 1979.  It was his biggest since 1968, proved he was still one of the best musicians in the business, gave him a chart-topping single in the title song and has since proved to be one of the most influential albums he ever made extending all the way to R&B, Hip Hop, Electronica, Disco and Pop.  Shout! Factory/Almo has reissued the classic in a new expanded Signature Series CD.

 

The tracks have their order shuffled, but include:

 

1. 1980
2. Rise
3. Behind The Rain
4. Rotation
5. Aranjuez (Mon Amour)(A-Ron-Ways)
6. Love Is
7. Angelina
8. Street Life
9. Rotation (Alternate Version)
10.  Aranjuez (Mon Amour) - 2007 Dance Mix (A-Ron-Ways)

 

 

Listening to these tracks again for the first time in decades, it is amazing how well they hold up and music that sounded like tomorrow became tomorrow.  There is a certain maturity in the delivery combined with a slick, smooth ease that comes through as a kind of joy in every single track.  Some tracks are better than others and this was never my all-time favorite album, even among Alpert’s amazing catalog, but the improvement in these transfers are decent and is now finally available so everyone can hear just how innovative Alpert and company were.

 

This is only a CD, so we only get PCM 16/48 2.0 Stereo and as it stands, you can hear some harsh edge from the original digital recording.  Whether MLP or DSD could make this sound better is hard to tell, much like hoping for a cleaner, less harsh copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico; you still listen despite some sonic difficulty because the music is just far too important.  However, it sounds as it sounds and you should expect some slight limit, but what do you expect form a digital recording from 1979?

 

Though there are no extras, there is a nice booklet with an essay, nicely illustrated and with technical information of interest.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo