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 "Jump Street" (Greg Smith, Herb Alpert) - 4:47 "It's the Last Dance" (Herb Alpert, Greg Smith) - 4:37 "Passion Lady" (Troy Staton, Herb Alpert, Marc Jay Goodman, Mike Schlesinger) - 4:47 "North on South St." (Herb Alpert, Greg Smith) - 3:37 "Paradise 25" (Robert Jerald, Herb Alpert) - 4:21 "Na Na Na" (Greg Smith, Herb Alpert) - 4:16 "Funky Reggae" (Jimmy B, Herb Alpert) - 4:51 "Where's Tommy?" (Herb Alpert, Jimmy B, Eddie del Barrio) - 4:01 "City Terrace" (Herb Alpert, Greg Smith) - 4:11 "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