Whipped Cream & Other Designs

If you've ever flipped through records at a yard sale or thrift store, chances are good that you've seen the classic LP "Whipped Cream & Other Delights" by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass about 637 times. First, it's a running joke among record collectors--this thing is literally everywhere. Second, it's cover is unforgettable.

It's a concpet album: each song has some sorta food in the title ("A Taste Of Honey," "Peanuts" and, of course, "Whipped Cream"). The record itself is one of Alpert's better records, I'd say. Not significantly above par--at least not enough to explain why the record reached the Number 1 album slot and stayed in the Top 40 for months and months. Musta been that cover.

The woman sporting the whipped cream (actually shaving cream since the lights and whipped cream didn't get along) is Delores Erickson. She was three months pregnant at the time of the shoot, so the strategically-placed goo had to be a little more strategic than would've otherwise been necessary. Herb Alpert says he had to be convinced to use the shot--he felt they'd gone too far.

Not only was that album a smash, thanks to the cover (not to take anything away from Alpert and band), but the band's previous releases re-entered the charts, and the next album also did very well. And all sorts of records suddenly appeared with covers clearly derived from "Whipped Cream & Other Delights." Sometimes it was just the way the type appeared on the cover, other times the phototographer was in on the joke. Three examples appear here: The Frivolous Five's "Sour Cream & Other Delights," Pat Cooper's "Spaghetti Sauce & Other Delights" and Soul Asylum's "Clam Dip & Other Delights."

What prompted me to write this was hearing that Miss Erickson will be making an appearanceat at an upcoming local record show. This coming Saturday, the 23rd, at the Clayton Center in Clayton. It's an all-vinyl show. Looking forward to it.

Recently, "Whipped Cream" and a couple other HA & TB records were released on CD (by Shout Factory) in remastered editions with bonus tracks. Also, there was a new piece called "Rewhipped" that featured all the tunes from "Whipped Cream" in heavily remixed form, some with additional horn parts from Alpert. What you think of the music is a matter of taste, but for my money, the new cover pales by comparison to the original.