WEBVTT - Herb Alpert 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.760 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.800 If you were listening to the radio in n it 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:10.760 was a true hodgepodge of what was then considered popular music. 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.600 And right up there with the Supremes and Simon and 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:19.120 Garf Uncle and Frank Sinatra and even the Beatles, was 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:46.760 this guy, Yes, that signature Tiajuana Brass sound. Herb Albert 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.040 had no Latin roots, but wanted to recreate the sound 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:55.040 he'd heard at the bullfights in Tijuana. When he decided 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.600 to overdub his trumpet on two different tape machines, he 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:04.119 captured it, and he captured more than that. Whipped Cream 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.560 and Other Delights was the number one album in the 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:11.160 country in nineteen sixty remaining on the charts for three years. 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.399 In nineteen sixty six, the Tijuana Brass sold over thirteen 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.280 million records, out selling the Beatles. I started playing when 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.600 I was eight, and I was earning a living on 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.760 weekends playing. I love playing. What happened when you were eight? Well, 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.400 what had you seen or heard that made you say 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.160 I want to pick up a trumpet? Some fine? Well, yeah, 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.039 I was really fortunate in my elementary school they had 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.279 a band appreciation class and they had this table filled 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.119 with various instruments and I was able to just pick 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.760 one up. And where were you going to school? Melrose 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.360 Elementary School in Los Angeles. What did your dad do? 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.760 Ladies coats and suits? Yeah, that was he was in 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.360 the clothing business. He was a Schneider. You know. My 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.840 brother was a professional drummer. My sister played the piano, 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.480 mother violin, and my dad played the mandolin by ear. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.640 So your parents were musical, very musical, but it wasn't 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.120 their professional No, not at all. What did your parents 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.160 think about when you were so devoted to music? Were 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.640 they discouraging you? We doing there? Then? Dad wasn't so 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.680 crazy about it. He thought, what do you want to play? 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:17.720 And sawdust pits the rest of your life? That was 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:26.560 his image of it. The Brass as they were called, 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:30.040 toured often as a kind of review in the sixties. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.679 We played some college affairs in uh, Upper California. What 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.040 do you Allen opened the show for us as a 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.720 stand up comic. Yeah, it wasn't a concert style music. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.760 You had comics open for you in different kinds of Yeah, 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.919 what are you open for us? George Carlin opened for us, 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.720 Jim Carey opened for us. I go back aways, Man, 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:58.160 I'm older than dirt, you know. At the time he 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.120 didn't know it, but Albert was on just beginning an 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:06.200 extraordinary career as a musician, eventually earning five number one hits, 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:12.320 eight Grammys, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold However, those 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.160 achievements might be seen as a kind of act one 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:20.639 to his later, unimaginably successful career as a music producer. 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:31.359 We've only just speak use. In nineteen sixty two, with 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.920 his friend Jerry Moss, Albert founded what would become the 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:39.320 world's largest independent record label, A and M Records. They 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:43.960 signed such artists as The Carpenters, Cheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:50.960 and the Police Rocks You Don't Have to the Red 0:03:51.120 --> 0:04:01.080 Night those days to the nine. Albert and Moss started 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.560 the whole thing with two hundred bucks and a handshake, 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:08.880 ultimately selling A and M to PolyGram Records for half 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:13.520 a billion dollars. Today, Albert's a prolific sculptor and painter 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:18.400 and continues to make music, touring occasionally. He's seventy six 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.400 and still as handsome as ever. Herb Albert has always 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.640 had matinee idle looks, but he never took up acting. 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.080 Let me tell you something. When I was in high school, 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.640 I was working at a gym. This agent came up 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:32.159 to me says, man, you look like you should be 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.719 in the movies. So I said, well, what can you 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:37.760 do for me? He set me up with the people 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.599 at Paramount. I auditioned. They said I was a little green, 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.080 so I started taking lessons. I studied with Jeff Corey 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.000 and also Leonard Nimoy, and I realized I didn't have it. 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.360 I'm passionate about playing the horn. What's the music scene 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.520 like in Los Angeles? Then? For a young guy who 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.560 wants to play, well, it was quite different. It was 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.280 shah Boom, shah boom, sixty minute man in those type 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.440 of songs that were kind of popular at the time. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.159 I had a great experience, though. I was partners with 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.599 Lou Adler at the time. How did you become partners 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:15.880 with him? Well, he was dating my ex wife. Oh Hollywood, yeah, 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.680 I forgot. We're talking about l a. Lou was writing 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.599 poetry and I started writing some some you know, music 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.440 to his poetry. And he's kind of a knock on 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.240 every door type of guy, and I'm on the shy one. 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.760 So we got this job at Keen Records in Los 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.000 Angeles and started working for Bumps Blackwell, who was the 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:38.800 producer for Sam Cook and Lou and I became really 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:43.120 close friends with Sam Cooke. We wrote Wonderful World together 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:47.880 with him. He was really special. He had something very unusual. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.800 He's very unpretentious guy, but very elegant. What did he 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:56.880 teach you? Sam had this number one records you sent 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.760 me and his follow up was I love you for 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.560 sentimental reasons. And so the owner of this company that 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.760 I was working for was like an amateur piano player. 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.840 So Sam was recording, goes into the control room and 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.400 starts listening to a playback. I was there with this owner, 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.360 and the owner walks up to Sam and says, Sam, 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.039 you know in bar twelve you can put in a 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.640 whoa whoa, and in bar thirty five you can put 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:24.560 it in another wow. You know. He had the sheet music, 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.200 and Sam looked at the guy and says, it's jack, Yeah, 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.240 just put in a whoa whoa whenever you want. Man, 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.560 you gotta feel it, he says, Man, you're listening to 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.919 a cold piece. Of wax, and it either makes it 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.360 or it don't you know? He broke it right down 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.880 to the nub. For me, what's interesting about your career 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.880 is not just virtuosic musicianship, but you go on to 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:49.880 become a very serious and like incredibly successful producer. Did 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.120 you feel when you met those people did you have 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.000 that skill as well? Oh? No, I didn't have any 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:59.080 skills wise. No, in producing wise. I didn't even think 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:03.160 about it. I had an experience at a place, uh 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.440 called the Annex in Los Angeles, a recording studio, and 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:12.680 I was watching a reasonably famous producer producer record. So 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:18.160 the musicians rehearsing. Plas Johnson was a saxophone player. He 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.880 was a saxophone player that played on the Pink Panther. Yeah, 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.240 they rehearse Plas played this incredible solo. Producer gets on 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.600 the horn and said, okay, Plass, beautiful, just play the 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:33.080 same thing again. Plas, what do you mean? He said, 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.480 just play that solo again? I love that. He says, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.320 did you record it? He says, no, but you know what, 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.400 you know what you did? Just play it again? I said, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.360 well I can do this. This is always be rolling. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:49.960 Oh well, I always do that. Oh yeah, No, great 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.440 success for you with t Juana Brass and great success 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:59.200 for you recording albums. And when does producing become something, 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.200 if ever, that was as important to you? I mean 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:05.840 A and M is not some mom and pop shop. 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.840 You and Moss set up a huge company that you 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.800 sold to PolyGram for an enormous amount of money. Could 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:16.360 you strike me as a guy that's there is a 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.640 real artist. You're painting and your sculpting, and you're playing music. 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.600 When does it start to really take over the business side? 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.840 And A and M? Well, you know, I surround you 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.680 let Jerry do that well exactly, and I surround myself 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.760 with really quality people that people that can do things 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.000 that I can't. And I'm a right brain guy, you know, 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.760 I'm percent on the right side of my brain. So 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.200 business is uh was always a little funny for me, 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.720 you know. Jerry and I always discussed the big broad 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.440 stroke of n M, but you know, the little incidental 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.440 things that happened on daily basis. I wasn't interested in 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.240 front of the house, back of the house. Yeah, exactly. 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:57.760 What was it about Jerry that you think it lasted 0:08:57.760 --> 0:08:59.320 so long and it was so successful? He's just a 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.400 really good guy. He's an honest he has a lot 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.720 of integrity. He doesn't lie. It sounds strange, but we 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.760 never had a contract. Jerry and I had a and 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.320 M on a handshake and the only time we ever 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.680 signed a contract was when we sold to PolyGram. Now, 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.720 during that period when you're producing, I know nothing about 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:23.840 how records are made, which must be just completely unrecognizable 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:28.240 now from what it was back in technically completely I 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:33.480 did an album called Whip. We ripped, we whipped, you know, 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.280 re whipped. Yeah, thank you very much. I'm your pr 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.280 man than the guy who got the concept for this album. 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.400 You know, got a bunch of young producers together to 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:48.960 redo the Whip prim and Other Delights album. So they 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.120 sent me music files on a c D or on 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.920 a DVD or through the net. I would put my 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.439 trumpet on, put the trumpet on a CD because it's 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.600 all time coded, send the CD back to them. They 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.200 would slip it right into their master recordings. And I 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.280 never met these guys. I spoke to one, but ultimate 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.199 Internet dating. These guys could have been in Afghanistan. It 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.880 will work the same way. What was it like before 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.360 when you recorded Whip Creaming of the Delights, which is 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.959 obviously one of the most famous records you ever made. 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.320 Where did you record that album? Well, it was recorded 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.720 at gold Star Studios in Los Angeles. But you know, 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:32.200 prior to that, my first recorder recorder was a wire recorder. 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.520 I had a webcord wire recorders. If you wanted to, 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.559 you know, inter cut some things, you need a soldering iron. Yeah. 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.680 Do you feel that all this technology and all of 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.520 the power that comes with that, has it made people lazy? 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.040 Like people can't get in a room and they just 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:51.800 can't play a song all the way through anymore. I 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:53.520 don't think it makes them lazy. I think it gives 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.160 them too many options. You know, now with the digital 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.480 you know set up, you have empty album tracks and 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:01.400 you can just keep going and keep going, and then 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.200 you can tune them up and you can shift it around, 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:06.000 take something that was happening at the end of the 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.760 song and move it up to the front. Too many options. 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.000 I think it takes some of the hardaway. Yeah. I 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.520 mean I also wonder people say, what's the difference between 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.280 you know, theater and film and more and more the 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:24.319 technical cost of these highly technical fields, whether it's filmmaking, television, 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:29.079 recorded music. It's expensive, and so they want everybody. It's 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:30.839 almost to the point now where they don't care how 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.319 you feel about the experience, because I'll stand there and 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:35.839 I'll say, well, I want to do another take, man, 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:37.959 and I want to feel it. You know, I want 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.200 to do this whole speech on page two all the 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:42.840 way to the bottom of page four. It's like a 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.880 ski run. I want to ski that hill all the 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.960 way to the bottom without falling. And everybody looks, goes, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.760 we don't have time for that, man, we gotta get 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.560 out of here. Yeah, that's the way the music businesses now. No, 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:55.679 I don't think so. I mean it depends on you 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.440 know what artists you're talking about. Who's someone that you 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.240 recorded that you sat there and you were like, wow, man, 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:02.840 this is really a thrill for me as an artist 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.080 to watch this man or woman. Well, there are a 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.360 lot of men. We had a must incredible artists with 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.560 the name A couple that you dug cast Stevens was wow, 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:16.040 unusually special. Now I've been happy lately thinking about the 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:21.840 good things to come and believe it could be something 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:26.080 good at it begun, get us something magical. You guys 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.400 signed him. Oh yeah, but I mean he was so 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:32.040 passionate and so you know, the lyrics and so unusual. 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.520 He had his own interpretation of all these songs that 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.199 it was. He was beautiful. I remember those records, and 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.720 of course, you know the police. Sting just writes a 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.720 great song. And when we saw them, you know, Sting 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.080 was bouncing around the stage like he was on a 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:49.199 pogo stick. They were great to watch. And of course 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.280 I had an unusual experience with the carpenters. I signed 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:59.680 the carpenters, and on my iPod I have the Carpenters, 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.960 I have Sting, and then I have Home. On a second, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.360 I have Cat Stevens on my iPhone. Oh yeah, you 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.120 got a lot of my money. Man. Well, you know, 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.320 in nineteen sixty this is an interesting story if you 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:21.160 want to hear this joke. In nineteen sixty uh six seven, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:25.120 were I was doing a special for NBC. Jack Hayley Jr. 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.360 Was directing. He said, why don't you sing a song? 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.319 I said, well, if if I can find the right song, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.000 I'll give it a go. So, you know, I go 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.319 through my brolla decks and I called Bert back rack. 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.000 I said, Bert is there a song that you have 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:40.960 that do you think I could handle? That you have 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.439 tucked away in your drawer someplace where you find yourself 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.840 whistling in the morning, or you know a tune that 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.560 haunts you well. Three days later he sent me this 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:56.880 Girl's in love with You? You see this guy? This 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:09.880 guy love with you? Yes? Uh? Who looks at you 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:16.040 the way? When I watched the video this morning of 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:20.760 what have you singing the song? When he saw my 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:27.280 ex wife, then that's your wife. Cute? I record the song, 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.120 I go, I fly to New York. So how David 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:34.320 Hell David would change you know, the lyrics to suit me. 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.360 As I'm marking out of Hell's door, I said, how 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:38.920 is there a song that do you think I might 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.640 be able to handle? Or song that you have talked 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.000 away in the door in the same yard I gave Bert. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:48.200 Two days later he sent me close to You, which 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.240 was going to be the follow up to This Guy's 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:53.960 in Love with You. I recorded it in the studio. 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.000 I'm listening to the playback and my engineer friend Larry 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.800 Levine rested. So look to me, says, man, you sound 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.600 terrible singing this. I don't forget it. I lost my confidence. 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:05.920 I put that thing in the drawer. When I signed 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:10.920 the Carpenters in nineteen seventy, they had an album that 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.720 didn't sell. I mean, the first album was zero and 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:20.880 people have described the first album to rely on Richard Carpenter. No, no, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.320 it has had Karen. But it was very soft. It 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.920 was very delicate and very it wasn't really radio friendly. 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:34.120 Uh So a year later I gave him Close to You. 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.320 They recorded it and it was really light. Again. I 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.840 said this, we need we need a little bit more 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.400 energy on this one, because because Karen thought she was 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.440 a drummer, I mean she and she played drums and 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.080 she was good, but she wanted to record and I 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:49.080 when I listened to the recording, I said, no, it's 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.640 a little too too light. You know, we need some more. 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.680 They recorded again and it still wasn't quite there, and 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.120 so finally we got the Wrecking Crew. I don't know 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.280 if you know that name. Those these guys that did 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.960 most of the sessions in l A. They held Held 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.800 Blame on drums and Tommy Tedesco on guitar and Carol Kaye. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:17.680 The third recording was The Charm Why from every Time 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:32.520 You Want just like me. What's the difference? How do 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:34.920 they get there? For you? As a person who has 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.720 this ear, this gift, something happens for you like an 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.320 alchemy where you just go that's it. They got it? Well, yeah, 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:43.840 how do they get there? How do you help them 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.840 get there? Or do you you try to flag them 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:47.640 down to the runway. You know, That's what we did 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.440 with most of our artists. You know, we didn't try 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.640 to sign the beat of the week. We tried to 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.920 get you know, like I'm saying that Cat Stevens and 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.600 the artists we chose, we're artists that just had their 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.880 own little identity which we loved, and the carpenters had that. 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:03.760 I mean, I signed them because it wasn't the type 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.320 of music that I normally listened to. But they were 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.040 so sincere about it, and we were so passionate about 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:14.560 the music. Apologetic, Oh beautiful, one of the most clarion voices. Well, 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.399 when I heard the original tape, you know they are. 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.120 And the original tape was presented to me like studied 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:21.439 one era tape, you know, And when he handed me 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.639 a tape through the gates at A and M and 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.399 I sat down in my couch at in my office 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.239 at a m and I did what I usually do, 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:32.920 put on the tape. The speakers were on the floor 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.760 about ten feet in front of me. Closed my eyes 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.280 and it felt like Karen's voice was sitting right next 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.639 to me on the on the couch. So I was 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.720 just really intrigued to meet them. And when I did, 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.280 I just realized, this is the real deal. So you 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.280 build this big company, you know, you gotta, you gotta, 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.639 You've got a great record company, you and Jerry, and 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.679 then the time comes and aside from deal making and 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.359 aside from you know, PolyGram making it well worth your while, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.399 what was it like in terms of the decision to 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.280 let it go and to sell the company. Well, I 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.639 felt something coming. I felt the music file sharing, and 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.280 something just just felt like the time is right. It 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:14.200 was well in most of these companies were run by 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:17.320 these big corporations, and you know, they were throwing millions 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.840 and millions and dollars around for new artists, and we 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.280 felt that, you know, you make one mistake at our 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.160 size and then you your your ship is sinking. So 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.600 we just thought it was it was time. And originally 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:34.639 we were just going to sell, which we held on 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.000 too for a long time, and then they said, look, 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.440 we'd like to gobble the whole thing. And I thought, 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:41.920 what can I do to throw in a little something. 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:46.119 I'd like my catalog back, her Bopera, Tijuana Brass and 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:50.320 her boper single catalog plus Lonnie Hall's catalog. And I 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.959 got it. I mean, that's what all artists crave, right, 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.960 is to control their own music. I wanted it back, 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.760 and they agreed to it. We signed the contract and 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.200 you may the deal and sold the company. Yea, to them, 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.840 was painting and sculpting becoming more important in your life 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:07.959 right at the same time you decided to get rid 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.000 of A and m to polygraph. Not really those two 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.840 things intersecting. No, no, no, I've been painting for forty 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.919 two years. I started painting in nineteen seventy. I'm not 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.239 a Sunday painter. I'm not a Sunday artist. I do 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.399 it every day, you know, traveling in the sixties with 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.159 the two Wanter Brass around the world, I used to 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.320 go to museums and I go to the modern arts section. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.200 For whatever reason, that just appealed to me. And you know, 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.840 I see these paintings like a black painting with a 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.240 purple dot or something hanging on the wall, and I think, 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:39.000 let me try something like that. I wasn't doing it 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.119 to think something would come of it. I'll tell you 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.719 what's great. And I know, Alec you know about this. 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.440 It's just there's something about being an artist, being a musician, 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:51.320 being a painter, being a sculpture. When you're doing it, 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.960 you're in the exact moment of your life, and that's rare. 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:58.800 You know, when you're not in that mode, you're you're 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:01.359 thinking about yesterday or tomorrow or some other house a 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.520 rye that really doesn't make any sense. But when you're 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.080 doing it, man, it just feels so right on the moment. 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.320 I feel that we would have'm on my boat. Well 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.359 I don't paint, and I don't I wish I could paint. 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.159 Well I should try it. I mean when I started painting, 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:19.840 I painted like a monkey, you know. I would just 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.200 I squeezed some paint on a canvas and moved it 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.960 around with Yeah, you had no training, no training. I 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.080 didn't know what I was doing. But I think there's 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.240 an advantage to that. I think when you're an amateur 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:35.159 and you're just fooling around, you have infinite possibilities. You know, 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:36.960 if you go to a professional, they'll tell you what 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:38.600 not to do and what to do and how to 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:40.479 do it and blah blah blah. And I didn't know 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.600 about that. I just did whatever. I'm always going for 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.280 a feel, you know. It's it's I do that in 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.280 music and sculpting and painting. It's like, I'm not looking 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.680 for something that's going to, you know, excite my eyes. 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.320 I wanted to something that's excites my soul, you know, 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.600 it's something that really resonates. I'm assuming there's no preference 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.600 between paint and canvas and sculpture for you. You enjoy 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:07.280 them both equally. I got a copy from your office 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.119 of the Black Totem's exhibit in the work you've done. Now, 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:16.600 these are obviously immense pieces there in bronze, and these 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:20.080 exclusively for people who have cliff side homes in Malibu 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.960 with Really, I'm not interested in really selling, you know. 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.240 I know, I'm to say they're big, they're big. Yeah, 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.040 they're huge. I think of my homes in New York 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.639 and on Long Island. I would be interested in buying 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.680 the lower four feet of this way. If we could 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:36.800 cut this into sections. Actually, that would be kind of 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:38.520 that would work quite well for me. I don't have 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:48.760 eighteen feet in Manhattan, but they're absolutely stunning. This is 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:52.000 Alec Baldwin and I'm talking with Herb Albert. More in 0:21:52.040 --> 0:22:11.080 a minute. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:16.679 Here's the Thing today. Talking with Herb Albert. What is 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:19.159 music for you? Now? I know that's the the ultimate 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:22.360 cliche question, but how do you how do you view 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:24.720 the music world now beyond zeros and ones in the 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:27.560 digital and everything. You must be sitting home and sometimes 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:30.040 you sit there and go, wow, that sounds great. I 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:33.320 really did that. Well, you know, I have really varied taste. 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:36.520 So I love classical music. I love you know, listening 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.520 to your favorite composer. Well, yeah, I love revel. I 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:42.399 mean actually Ravel taught me a lesson. Actually, I was 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:45.240 going to sc for a few moments. I was in 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:49.480 the orchestra there and they were playing um Pictures at 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:53.480 an exhibition, you know. I was in the Yorkshire playing that. Yeah, 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:57.320 Missoursky wrote it, Ravel arranged arranged it good for you, 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:00.879 and they were playing the last Monte rate Gate of Kiev, 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:03.679 you know, And I was like, so intrigued with the 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:06.199 sound of the orchestra. I was leaning forward listening to 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.119 everybody and sounded like, wow, it's like natural stereo, and 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:11.600 I forgot to come in. I've had to come in 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:13.760 on my part. Right at that moment, I thought, hey, 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:15.920 you know, this isn't for me. What I really want 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:18.159 to do is just close my eyes and play. I 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:20.920 love Miles Davis, I love Louis Armstrong. I love those 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:23.360 guys that just, you know, create I want to try 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:26.479 doing that. And so I started, you know, working on jazz, 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:29.439 which is a very specific language. I mean, just because 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:32.600 you want to play jazz doesn't mean you can play jazz. 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:35.200