North on South St.

North on South St. is a hip-hop influenced album by Herb Alpert released in 1991 and his last vinyl release on A&M Records before he released Midnight Sun (available on CD and cassette only) in 1992. The album was a commercial success and produced two singles: "Jump Street" and "North on South St." Both of the singles had a video, yet "North on South St." got a bit of popularity because the video was featured on Beavis and Butt-head several years later. There was a promotional plastic compass that was created as a marketing advertisement piece to commemorate the album release.

Track listing

1. "Jump Street" (Greg Smith, Herb Alpert) - 4:47
2. "It's the Last Dance" (Herb Alpert, Greg Smith) - 4:37
3. "Passion Lady" (Troy Staton, Herb Alpert, Marc Jay Goodman, Mike Schlesinger) - 4:47
4. "North on South St." (Herb Alpert, Greg Smith) - 3:37
5. "Paradise 25" (Robert Jerald, Herb Alpert) - 4:21
6. "Na Na Na" (Greg Smith, Herb Alpert) - 4:16
7. "Funky Reggae" (Jimmy B, Herb Alpert) - 4:51
8. "Where's Tommy?" (Herb Alpert, Jimmy B, Eddie del Barrio) - 4:01
9. "City Terrace" (Herb Alpert, Greg Smith) - 4:11
10. "I Can't Stop Thinking About You" (Herb Alpert) - 5:09

Critical reception

Shelly Weiss of Cashbox praised the album as “the tightest, most finely crafted quality album I've heard all year… across-the-board appeal, and will get the street crowd as well as the yuppies..”

Personnel

• Herb Alpert – all trumpets, voice (4), drum programming (8, 10), keyboards (10)
• Greg Smith – keyboards (1, 10), programming (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), guitars (1), bass (1)
• Joe Rotondi Jr. – acoustic piano (1, 5, 7), acoustic piano solo (3)
• Troy Staton – keyboard programming (3), bass and drum programming (3)
• Marc J. Goodman – additional keyboards (3), interlude solos (3)
• Michael Schlesinger – synthesizer programming (3)
• Robert Jerald – programming (5)
• Eddie del Barrio – keyboards (8, 10), bass (8), strings (10)
• Kenny McCloud – guitars (7), drum programming (10)
• Anthony Sapp – bass (7)
• Jimmy "B" Bakker – drum programming (7)
• Chris Boyd – drum programming (8)
• Steve Smith – drum programming (8)
• Kevin Ricard – percussion (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)
• Brenda Andrews – sampled voice (8)

Voices on "Funky Reggae"

• Jimmy B, Stayce Branché, Karen "K-Dean" Cover, Karime Harris, Michelle James, Janeen Jewett, Vatrena King, Lynette Lewis and Linda Williams

Production

• Chris Boyd – executive producer
• Herb Alpert – producer
• Greg Smith – producer (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10)
• Troy Staton – producer (3)
• Robert Jerald – producer (5)
• Jimmy B – producer (7)
• Eddie del Barrio – producer (8)
• Steve Smith – producer (8), engineer, remixing
• Mike Baumgartner – assistant engineer
• Michael Morongell – remixing, technical advisor
• Tom Hardisty – remix assistant
• Brian Gardner – mastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood, California)
• Chuck Beeson – art direction, design
• Caroline Greyshock – photography
• Kip Cohen – management direction

References