Who thought this was a good idea?

Actually, freebie promotional records weren’t uncommon back in the ’60s and ’70s. Visit any charity shop and you’ll find loads of Christmas albums courtesy of Firestone tires, for example, and I still remember my parents dragging home a free LP after a GM test drive. Records even showed up on the backs of cereal boxes.

Taco Bell Presents Tijuana Taxi wasn’t even the only promotional record of its kind in 1968. Phillips 66 Presents Tijuana Christmas, also a George Garabedian production, is stylistically in every way–musically, cover art, etc.–this album’s twin. In other words, no matter how you chose to get gas in 1968, you were leaving with a record.

Honestly, neither album is horrible. If you have a taste for Herb Alpert you might dig them, but really the only reason to own either is for the novelty factor. Remember when Taco Bells looked like this? Remember when grinning, cartoon mariachis in sombreros seemed like a good marketing idea?

If you pay more for this than you did your bean burrito you’ve paid too much. Happy hunting.