Nö Bull Getting

The Lonely Bull, released in 1962, is the debut album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. 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. The album was remastered from the original analog tape mixes by Grammy-winning mastering engineer Bernie Grundman, who was the mastering engineer on many of the Tijuana Brass and Alpert albums.

Originally released in 1962, The Lonely Bull was not only Herb Alpert’s musical debut, but the first album released on A&M Records. "After experiencing my first bullfight in Tijuana, Mexico," Alpert recalls, "I was inspired to find a way to musically express what I felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd, and hearing the brass musicians introducing each new event with rousing fanfare."