The Lonely Bull (album)

The Lonely Bull, released in 1962, is the debut album from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, and was also the first album ever released by A&M Records - which was co-founded by Alpert and Jerry Moss. The album was originally issued in both mono and stereo versions, though the stereo version essentially had the mono version on the right channel with a separate solo trumpet track on the left. Because of this, critics have noted that when listened to on headphones, the stereo album sounds excessively "heavy" on one side. This led many later fans to prefer the mono version.

The original stereo version of the album has since been reissued on the Shout! Factory music label.

A more balanced stereo remix of the title track, "The Lonely Bull", can be found on the Herb Alpert compilation Definitive Hits.

Most of the tracks on the album were geared toward the TJB's Mariachi sound. There were also a few cover versions of popular songs, a trend which would grow in their next two albums, Volume 2 and South of the Border.

"Limbo Rock" covered a novelty dance song that had been a calypso-style hit by Chubby Checker. "Struttin' With Maria" was later used as the theme for a TV game show called Personality, hosted by Larry Blyden. The tune "Acapulco 1922" uses the old song "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" (by Seymour Brown and Nat D. Ayer, 1911) as a starting point, with a mariachi spin.

Track listing

Side 1

1. "The Lonely Bull" (El Solo Toro) (Sol Lake) – 2:29
2. "El Lobo" (The Wolf) (Harry Green, Lake) – 3:00
3. "Tijuana Sauerkraut" (Herb Alpert, Jerry Moss) – 2:44
4. "Desafinado" (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Newton Mendonca) – 3:42
5. "Mexico" (Boudleaux Bryant) – 2:36
6. "Never On Sunday" (Manos Hadjidakis, Billy Towne) – 2:38

Side 2

1. "Struttin' With Maria" (Herb Alpert) – 2:10
2. "Let It Be Me" (Gilbert Becaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoe) – 2:55
3. "Acapulco 1922" (Herb Alpert) – 2:38
4. "Limbo Rock" (Billy Strange) – 2:05
5. "Crawfish" (Lake Doran, Sol Lake, Ben Weisman, Fred Wise) – 2:20
6. "A Quiet Tear" (Lágrima Quieta) (Herb Alpert) – 2:23