S.R.O.

Infobox Album | Name = S.R.O.
Type = Album
Artist = Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass


Released = November 1966
Recorded = 1966
Genre = Jazz / Easy Listening / Instrumental Pop
Length =
Label = A&M Records
Producer = Herb Alpert, Jerry Moss
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hvftxqt5ld6e link] | Last album = "What Now My Love"
(1966)
This album = "S.R.O."
(1966)
Next album = "Sounds Like..."
(1967) |

"S.R.O.", issued in 1966, was Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' seventh album. It included work by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, as well as the band's cover of "Mame" (from the hit musical of the same name), one of the first TJB recordings to include vocals from Alpert, as he and the group sang the song's chorus in the middle of the otherwise-instrumental rendition. Released as a single, "Mame" reached the U.S. singles top 40, as did "The Work Song", which featured the sound effects of a pickaxe, suggesting mining (for gold, perhaps). The album reached number 2 on the U.S. album chart.

S.R.O. means "Standing Room Only", and perhaps suggests the size of crowds that the Brass were drawing, then being at the peak of their popularity.

Bean Bag became famous in the UK as the theme tune to the popular long-running game show It's a Knockout.

Track listing

# Our Day Will Come (Garson-Hilliard)
# Mexican Road Race (Sol Lake)
# I Will Wait For You (Jobim-Mendonca-Gimbel)
# Bean Bag (Pisano-Wechter-Alpert)
# The Wall Street Rag (Ervan Coleman)
# The Work Song (N. Adderley-O. Brown)
# Mame (Jerry Herman)
# Blue Sunday (Julius Wechter)
# Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Burt Bacharach, Hal David)
# For Carlos (Pisano-Ceroli-Alpert)
# Freight Train Joe {Joh Pisano)
# Flamingo (Grouya-Anderson)

The recording personnel for this album pretty much mirror the album cover. Backing Alpert were:

Nick Ceroli (drums), Bob Edmondson (trombone), Tonni Kalash (trumpet), Lou Pagani (piano), John Pisano (guitar), Pat Senatore (bass). Not pictured: Julius Wechter (marimba, vibes).