ALPERT,HERB - DEFINITIVE HITS Price: €9.99 Format: Compact Disc Availability: Immediate Dispatch

Before his run at the top of the easy-listening charts, Herb Alpert was already a music-industry veteran, writing and producing hits for Sam Cooke and Jan & Dean. Alpert also deserves a place in history as co-founder and owner of A&M Records, one of the most successful independent labels of all time. A solid 20-track compilation spanning Alpert's career, DEFINITIVE HITS covers the trumpeter/singer/label executive's glory years--the 1961-'68 stretch between "The Lonely Bull" and the Burt Bacharach-penned vocal showcase "This Guy's in Love with You". However, it also conveniently gathers material from the post-Tijuana Brass period when Alpert specialised in easy-listening fusion hits like the disco-tinged jazz-funk of 1979's "Rise" and the adult-contemporary R&B of 1987's "Diamonds", which features A&M Records' then-new star Janet Jackson on lead vocals. But, of course, the real meat of the collection is the brilliantly arranged suburban exotica of "Spanish Flea", "A Taste of Honey", and "Whipped Cream", along with other fine examples of Alpert's Latin-tinged pop.