5 Days of Xmas: Ferrante & Teicher - "Snowbound" (1962)

Ferrante & Teicher - "Snowbound" (1962) - United Artists

Hello Friends,

We're ready for a blizzard tonight on Vinyl in the Valley.  Outside the snow is piling up and we're inside getting toasty and listening to the perfect soundtrack record for a cold winter's eve! 

"She makes my bell ding-a-ling!"
(E. Simms Campbell)

This mostly instrumental album is loungey & hypnotic and would be great to put on when your Jewish friends come over because its more of a "Winter" record, rather than a Christmas record.  Lots of songs about sleighrides and snowmen and moonlight and not a mention of Jesus, elves, wise men or Ol' Saint Nick.  Shalom!  

The dueling pianists are in fine form backed by an orchestra and chorus conducted by Nick Perito.  Not as experimental, or as space-age, as some of their 1950's recordings, but a great addition to any vinyl collection.

Would probably sound right at home on one of those one-piece console stereos that looked like a piece of furniture that families gathered around in the early 1960's!





RATING: 4 snow drifts out of 5

Fall's here!

Ferrante & Teicher - "Autumn Leaves" (1966) - ABC-Paramount

Hello friends,

On the turntable tonight we're celebrating the Autumnal Equinox with the dueling piano stylings of Mr. Arthur Ferrante and Mr. Louis Teicher!

This 1966 release is actually a re-release of an earlier LP, Postcards from Paris (1962).  Its solid and schmaltzy, with a definite French flair, but not a lot in the way of exotic arrangements or weird experimentation like on their earlier records.

Their version of the title track, "Autumn Leaves" makes me wish they covered the sad walking away music from the 1980's "Incredible Hulk" television show! 

RATING: 4 Bruce Banners out of 5

You Asked For It!

Ferrante & Teicher - "You Asked For It!" (1966) - United Artists

Hello friends!

Our favorite dueling pianists are back with "You Asked for It!"-- a pretty straightforward living room lounge LP with lush arrangements and familiar cover songs. Not as experimentally-minded or exotic-sounding as some of their earlier records, but by the late 60's, lounge music became redundant and very vanilla.   

Their instrumental version of "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" is pretty good, but how can you screw that song up?   Their original composition, the fast and frantic "Firebird" is probably the LP's highlight!  Glad to see the boys still have something in the tank.

Fun Fact: According to Stephen Davis in his book, Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith, frontman Steven Tyler states that Arthur Ferrante & Louis Teicher would practice playing piano at his grandmother's house in New York while they were students at the Julliard School of Music!

"You cats know 'My Big Ten Inch'?"

RATING:  2.5 spaghetti nights at Grandma Tallarico's out of 5

Dueling Pianists



"I see you!"

Pianos in Paradise?  Yes please! 

How about dueling pianos in Paradise?  I say, pass the mojito!

Ferrante & Teicher are in fine fingered form on this 1962 release.  They take a break from their usual fare of piano-laced movie themes and the usual pop standards and invite us into a virtuosic world of "Jungle Rhumba", "Taboo" and "Moon of Manakoora."  

Oh, have you seen these two btw? 

"We're here for the gang bang..."

RATING: 3 1/2 creepy moustaches out of a possible 5