Best of Baja Marimba Band [Import]

1. Along Comes Mary

2. By The Time I Get To Phoenix

3. Comin' In The Back Door

4. Georgy Girl

5. Ghost Riders In The Sky

6. Dream A Little Dream for Me

7. The Portuguese Washerwoman

8. Puff(The Magic Dragon)

9. Sounds Of Silence

10. Somewhere My Love

11. Baja Nights

12. Do You Know The Way To San Jose

13. Walk On By

14. Eleanor Rigby

15. Flyin' High

16. More

17. Fiddler On The Roof

18. Spanish Eyes

19. I'll Marimba You

20. Those Were The Days

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Digitally remastered Japanese reissue of A&M's 'best of' forthis '60s Tijuana Brass-ish outfit that Herb Alpertdiscovered. 25 tracks, including renditions of 'Along ComesMary', 'Georgy Girl', 'Puff (The Magic Dragon)' and 'Walk OnBy'. The band's full name is 'Julius Wechter & The BajaMarimba Band'. 1998 A&M release.

Best of Baja Marimba Band,Baja Marimba Band,Pid,Vocal

Jazz

Music

jazz

Tracks:

Along Comes Mary
Juarez
Comin' In The Back Door
Georgy Girl
Ghost Riders In The Sky
The Cry Of The Wild Goose
The Portuguese Washerwoman
Sunrise, Sunset
Sounds Of Silence
Those Were The Days
Windy
Acapulco 1822
Fowl Play
The Look Of Love (From The Columbia Motion Picture 'Casino Royale')
Maria's First Rose
Somewhere My Love
Baja Nights
Do You Know The Way To San Jose
Walk On By
Picasso Summer
Flyin' High
More
Fiddler On The Roof
Spanish Eyes
I'll Marimba You

Product Description

1. Along Comes Mary
2. Juarez
3. Comin' In The Back Door
4. Georgy Girl
5. Ghost Riders In The Sky
6. Cry Of The Wild Goose, The
7. Portuguese Washer Woman, The
8. Sunrise, Sunset
9. Sounds of Silence
10. Those Were The Days
11. Windy
12. Acapulco 1922
13. Fowl Play
14. Look Of Love, The
15. Maria's First Rose
16. Somewhere My Love
17. Baja Nights
18. Do You Know The Way To San Jose
19. Walk On By
20. Picasso Summer
21. Flyin' High
22. More
23. Fiddler On The Roof
24. Spanish Eyes
25. I'll Marimba You

Format: CD

Customer Reviews:

Musical anarchy that works !!!.......2007-02-15

The Baja Marimba band possessed an uncanny ability to fuse marimba with Dixieland, jazz and pop with the aid and direction of the late Julius Wechter. Despite the fact that 1960s music was driven by rock and roll songs, the Baja Marimba Band scored coup after coup with their lush, creative instrumental recordings that appealed to the adults who wanted record albums that they themselves could enjoy. This CD displays the multifaceted talents of The Baja Marimba Band.

The CD begins with "Along Comes Mary." The arrangement would be called "easy listening today;" but it was nothing less than chic when it was released. "Comin' In The Back Door" starts off with a pop feel to it and then unexpectedly fuses into Dixieland only to switch back to easy listening with a female choir all over again. The effect stuns you and makes you want more.

"Georgy Girl" boasts a pop flavor to it that is infectiously catchy yet this number also has a touch of marimba added in just for fun. Other pop influenced instrumentals on this CD include "Sounds Of Silence" with an excellent arrangement for the flute; and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" highlights the xylophone and other instruments to add a touch of a jazz-Mexican-Caribbean influence. Moreover, "Somewhere My Love" includes the xylophone to fuse pop with a Latin influence and "Those Were The Days" uses horns and percussion to once again join pop with marimba. How creative!

The tracks on the CD switch gears often to sing the praises of the band members who were remarkably facile at performing complex arrangements. "Juarez" gets the jazz treatment added to this Latin number for an incredible effect. The arrangement for "Acapulco 1822" employs both Dixieland and marimba to bat this one right out of the park! The piano playing on this track is stupendous, too. "Baja Nights" has an unmistakable Mexican-Caribbean feel to it. There is also the distinct pop number entitled "Fowl Play;" listeners will delight in the rendition of this number. Although "Fowl Play" falls under the pop music category, The Baja Marimba Band performs this number with a bit of Mexican and Dixieland flavors to enhance its beauty.

"Sunrise Sunset" and "Fiddler On The Roof" are two surprises on this CD. Both numbers come from the show and movie "Fiddler On The Roof" which has such a Jewish slant that you would never expect them on this CD! Nevertheless, The Baja Marimba Band performs these numbers with remarkable sensitivity and passion. "Sunrise, Sunset" starts off as pop and then bounces back and forth between a jazz arrangement and the original pop rendition. Great! "Fiddler On The Roof" keeps the beat of the original number but the band superimposes a Mexican arrangement over the much more traditional pop melody. It works very well.

The CD ends fittingly with the distinctly Latin number "I'll Marimba You." The infectious Latin beat makes you want to jump up and dance the instant you hear it!

The liner notes give you an extensive essay written by James Ritz about Julius Wechter, the man who formed the band, as well as the history of the band itself.

Olé!

A&M RECORDS.......2004-10-09

okay, so if you've got this CD, Herb Albert's Greatesat Hits and Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 Greatest Hits, along with some old Dionne Warwick, you've just about got all of A&M Records important music in its' entirety. Unique sound, definitely stands up today.

Baja Marimba Memories!.......2004-04-12

I grew listening to The Baja Marimba Band on my dad's scratchy old records, and mine to after I got into The BMB, and was surprised to see their material on cd, without all the pops and humming of the record. Sadly, the BMB was over-looked and never scored big with any piece, Along Comes Mary, Goergy Girl, and Fowl Play are some songs that should of made it on the charts, but anyway, they're my favorite band and never dissapoint me when I listen to them. You can hardly find anyone who knows who they are today, just walking around on the streets, but they're out there! Although BMB did pop covers of the day, they recorded jazz style songs as Can You Dig It, Wall Street Rag, and Sunrise, Sunset, and latin ones as Summer Samba, Baja Nova, Wave, and fun swingin songs as Madagascar, Fresh Air, and Flyin High. Sadly, none of their albums individually are yet, if ever, to be realeased on cd, but you got these compliations. The songs on here aren't the best out of The BMB's repotoire, but they'll do for listening to in the car. Pick up a BMB record, you'll enjoy, and maybee people incharge of resteration of cds will to and release Fowl Play, Heads Up, Watch Out, and Naturally on cd.

Ole!.......2004-03-17

Julius Wechter's Baja Marimba Band, the sometimes musically quirky marimba band that encompassed flavors from jazz, pop and dixieland, finally gets its due in this first-ever domestic gathering of a mere sample of their music. Overshadowed commercially by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, BMB nevertheless placed many albums on the charts and even had four singles crack the top-100 during the 60's. This collection draws tracks from eight of the BMB albums along with all four singles including the lighthearted "Comin' In The Back Door". For fans of BMB, this 25-track snapshot of their music is a welcome arrival as none of their lp's have yet to make it to the digital domain. Considering the flood of CD's issued on so many other instrumental groups of the era, the dismissal of BMB in the medium is genuinely puzzling. For those only vaguely or not at all familiar with the engaging sounds of BMB, this disc offers an outstanding way to sample and appreciate their dynamic performances. This deserves its space in any collector's library of contemporary music of the era.

Where are the best??.......2002-01-30

There was something mystical about the first Baja Marimba Band album that was never quite captured in any of those that came later. Some of the best songs are here, but conspicuously lacking are "Up Cherry Street," "December's Child," "Back to Cuernavaca," "Moonglow/Picnic Theme," "Desafinado," and "Pedro's Porch." Still, it's great to know that the genius of Wechter and associates will never die and that subsequent generations will at least get a taste of what they did.

Average customer rating:

From Japan of all places...
This was great instrumental music of the 60's
Julius Wechter & The Baja Marimba Band Top Wizzards
Memories of the Baja Marimba Band
A Fun Trip!

Best of Baja Marimba Band
Baja Marimba Band
Manufacturer: Pid
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000009G20
Release Date: 1999-09-14

Tracks:

Along Comes Mary
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Comin' In The Back Door
Georgy Girl
Ghost Riders In The Sky
Dream A Little Dream for Me
The Portuguese Washerwoman
Puff(The Magic Dragon)
Sounds Of Silence
Somewhere My Love
Baja Nights
Do You Know The Way To San Jose
Walk On By
Eleanor Rigby
Flyin' High
More
Fiddler On The Roof
Spanish Eyes
I'll Marimba You
Those Were The Days
Windy
Acapulco 1922
Fowl Play
The Look Of Love
Maria Elena

Album Description

Digitally remastered Japanese reissue of A&M's 'best of' forthis '60s Tijuana Brass-ish outfit that Herb Alpertdiscovered. 25 tracks, including renditions of 'Along ComesMary', 'Georgy Girl', 'Puff (The Magic Dragon)' and 'Walk OnBy'. The band's full name is 'Julius Wechter & The BajaMarimba Band'. 1998 A&M release.

Customer Reviews:

From Japan of all places..........2004-03-17

One of the biggest and most incomprehensible oversights in the CD reissue realm is the complete lack of availability of the music of the Baja Marimba Band. Although commercially much less visible than Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, BMB provided an enormous amount of engaging, top-notch perfomances during the 60's. Their eclectic blend of marimba with jazz, pop and dixieland filled ten albums and they even had four singles ride up the top-100 singles charts. Ironically, it has taken Polygram of Japan to finally provide the CD music buying public with any of BMB's catalog. Though this is a mere sampling of BMB, this piece is very well done with excellent sound quality and a generous 25 tracks. There is a liner notes booklet, however, unless you are fluent in Japanese, not a whole lot to be gained here other then the track listings. Until Universal Music wises up for the domestic market and mines the BMB catalog, this excellent though brief foray into their music is the only game in town.

P.S. This item has gone out of print but thankfully there is an excellent replacement version though with slightly different content put out by Collectors' Choice. If you miss out on this, that new entry is totally worthwhile.

This was great instrumental music of the 60's.......2001-06-07

I was a teenager in in 60's and my favorite group of instrumentalist was the Baja Marimba Band. This cd has all the great picks of the group. My lp's are shot playing them so much that having a cd that sounds good all the time is great. I enjoy hearing them when I get the blues. This album will make you feel fine after the first song.Their style can never be matched or beat.

Julius Wechter & The Baja Marimba Band Top Wizzards.......2000-02-27

When i was young i heard the band playing on the radio & was immidiatly fan of them. Later when i grew older & had more money i bought all the great available albums here in Amsterdam, or even order them from overseas. As long as i remember i was always looking for good populair music from in my opinion the best Orchestra's. Like Percy Faith, Edmundo Ros, Henri Mancini, Roberto Delgado & Bert Kaempfert. Roberto Delgado made several records playing the Marimba, Steel-Drums, Vibraphone en Xylophone by himslef, and made me a great fan of that kind of music. So when i heard of Tha Baja Marimba Band i went crazy. With my favourite South, & Middle American music flavor. I found the music i heard playing them GREAT. So i ran to the Music shop, where i was suprised to hear that those records where not normaly available but had to order by a very special way. Overseas deliveries, so they said. But when i got those records i felt a warm feeling in my entire bodie only by Listning to them. Later in the early seventies Herb Alpert was on a World Tour in Amsterdam where i've seen Julius Wechter alive on stage, sinds that time i tried to follow the rest of his career. Still buying his Record Albums like; The Mono lp Baja Marimba Band on London Records, with songs like Maria Elena, Up Cherry Street & Acapulco 1922. For Animals Only with numbers like, La Cucaracha, Las Mananitas, Yellow Bird & the golden oldie, How Much Is That Doggie In The Window. Rides Again, with sounds like The Woody Woodpecker song, Guacamole, Juarez & the best song ever BRASILIA. Watch Out where they played songs like Sabor A Mi witch was also soung by Chris Montez, Yours what made Julio Iglesias famous in his own language. The Telephone Song what was played hre in Holland by a Radio game what was played thru the telephone, & a great Mexican oldie A Gay Ranchero what made Percy Faith famous in the fourties & fifties. Fowl Play, with golden evergreens like The Loke Of Love, Windy & Summer Samba. Do You Know The Way To San Jose, witch was including together with Sunrise Sunset, Yes Sir That's My Baby & By The Time I Get To Phoenix. Four Sider, also known als. The Very best Of The Best Of The Baja Marimba Band. For Animals Only till Foursider where from A&M Records. The Baja Marimba Band's Back, including songs like, If from Bread, My Love from Paul McCartney & Just An Old Fashioned Love Song from Paul Williams. From Bell Records. Naturally, what is also my latest album i could order & buy here in Amsterdam. So i am glad to know that i can buy this opportunity cd release of this great Marimba Orchestra, The Baja Marimba Band. Thanks Marty.

Memories of the Baja Marimba Band.......1999-11-15

As a high school student in the mid 1960's I was fortunate to see the Baja Marimba Band live "in the round" in Houston, Texas. Their rendition of "The Look of Love" gave me goose bumps. Still does today. It's a fine cd that I can associate with many fine memories.

A Fun Trip!.......1999-09-05

Finally, a compilation of the Baja Marimba Band! This set was way overdue. However, I'm puzzled about which songs were selected for this collection. Nowhere is the BMB's biggest hit "Brasilia". But that aside, the sound on this CD is fabulous. This was a fun, zany band that featured great musicians! And the late, great Julius Wechter shines on several songs, especially on "I'll Marimba You". A lot of good memories in this one. Bueno!

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