RITA CHAO (凌雲) "RITA CHAO WITH THE QUESTS" (1967)

Rita Chao, best known to her Mandarin-speaking fans as 凌雲 (…Ling Yun, Ling Ying or Seow Mei-Mei, depending on your preferred source of information…), was born in Singapore, probably sometimes in 1949 or early 1950; she grew up there, where she received her education.

Anyway, according to some reports, her family originated from the city of Hangzhou (杭州), which is located in the Zhejiang Province (浙江省) in Eastern China, not so far from Shanghai (上海).

Rita, the youngest of six children with three brothers and two sisters, started singing at the tender age of 8 and was already working as a singer and actress at 14. At school she was not very interested in her academic studies, instead she excelled with performance arts: singing and acting.

Luckily enough, she was born in a family of artists: her grandmother, Zhao Yongchun (趙永春), was a known Chinese Opera singer, and her mother Jing Yu Xian (荊玉仙) was a Chinese Opera singer too. Growing up in this environment allowed her to be familiar with life in the entertainment business, and helped to mentor her future career.

Her parents and relatives saw her potential as an artist quite soon, and decided to pull Rita out of school to follow the Opera troupe on their performances. Rita was given chances to perform Chinese Opera on stage and her performances were very good.

It is unclear when and where Rita embraced Pop music... However, at the end of 1965 - when she was just 15 - while touring Malaysia with her former group, she joined a band called Super XX.

In the meantime Zhao Yongchun, determined to turn her beloved granddaughter into a star, increased her vocal training, became her manager and successfully arranged for her to perform in various nightclubs in Singapore.

Rita was discovered on the local entertainment scene by Su Yin (舒雲), a.k.a. Henry Foo, a Singaporean singer, songwriter and lyricist, who at the time was also the A&R manager for the Chinese section at Columbia / EMI.

In 1966 she was signed by the label and released her very first 7" EP. On this record, she was paired with the top guitar band from Singapore, The Quests. The EP sold over 50.000 copies, and for Rita it was instant stardom.

During those days Rita met Sakura Teng (櫻花). As the story goes, Sakura was already a star singing at various Cabarets throughout South East Asia. On one occasion before going on stage, Sakura and Rita were backstage talking; they instantly clicked and started singing together. Sakura thought they had a very distinctive sound and that night she decided to add a segment to the show in which they would sing a duet. Obviously, they received a stunning reaction from the public and decided to join forces...

Well, probably that is just the romantic version of the story...: since both singers were doing quite well, it is an easy guess that EMI felt that pairing them would give both their careers a boost. In 1967 Rita and Sakura began performing as a double act and constantly toured Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, building a fan base at each port of call.



During her heyday Rita Chao recorded many great Mandarin covers of popular English songs and she was part of the pioneers who launched the Rock Movement in Singapore. Along with Sakura, they were both known as 'A Go-Go Queens of the Sixties"; in those days, they used to perform at the now defunct New World Amusement Park and they both lived in Jalan Besar.

Rita's career lasted about ten years. In 1975, when her last solo album was released, she declared in an interview that she was about to make a movie in Hong Kong and that she was tired of singing all the time... In 1980-81 she briefly returned on the scene releasing two albums with Sakura, just before disappearing completely.

For more than three decades there has been no news about her in the media, only during recent years unconfirmed information appeared on the Internet that she may have been suffering from a psychiatric illness that required long-term treatment.

In early February 2015 the news about her death spreaded: Rita's 90-years-old mother confirmed that the former singer passed away in July 2014; she has been suffering from colon cancer for about three years when she died at the Singapore General Hospital surrounded by her mother, brothers and sisters. Her ashes were scattered at sea after a short wake and funeral attended by family and friends. The family did not inform show business friends as they wanted the past to be forgotten...

Most of the information included in this post was translated by our best friend Brian (...thank you!!!) from a rare article found in the May 19, 1970 edition of "Hong Kong TV Magazine" available in this post on the great macaenese5354 blog.

I am also in debt with Joseph C. Pereira, whose books "Apache Over Singapore" and "Beyond the Tea Dance" are a constant and invaluable source of information and inspiration, thanks!!!

"Rita Chao With The Quests" includes the following tracks:

01. 隔壁的冤家 (The Boy Next Door) (2:01)
02. 薄情郎 (He's Untrue) (3:23)
03. 別纏住我 (Only Friends) (3:35)
04. 搖搖搖 (Shake Shake Shake) (1:49)
05. Hanky Panky (3:11)
06. 愛人你變了 (I Know) (3:17)
07. 去年今天 (Lonely Heart) (3:36)
08. 媽媽的勸告 (Bachelor Boy) (2:07)
09. Sixteen Candles (3:16)
10. 小姑娘 (Let True Love Begin) (3:05)
11. 往日的舊夢 (Gonna Be Alright) (2:23)
12. 我不能沒有你 (Wooly Bully) (2:07)

All tracks were remastered in March 2019 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.

Please have a look at the comments section for the download link.

Rita Chao as she appears on the front cover of the album

Preceded by four stunning 7" EPs - all available here on Stereo Candies - Rita Chao's debut album was released sometime in early/mid 1967 by Columbia / EMI in Singapore with catalogue number 33 ESX 603.

The album comes in a lovely flipback laminated sleeve with a two-colour printed matte back. The front cover uses a flipped picture of Rita Chao that earlier graced her 我不能沒有你 (The Boy Next Door) EP, while the back offers a slightly psychedelic collage of four different pictures that portrait her in three different outfits, including the one she is wearing on the front cover.

The vinyl copy in my possession is a first pressing with green labels that was manufactured in Australia, probably just weeks before EMI's Singapore pressing plant came on-line in June 1967. The second pressing has black labels similar to those that you can see in the post I dedicated to Sakura's debut album.

The colours on the front cover of my original copy are quite pale in comparison to the reconstruction that I'm offering in this post. You can catch a glimpse of the original cover in this picture available on the Stereo Candies Instagram account. I thought that somehow my copy was defective, or that maybe it had been exposed to direct sunlight for a long time but, as I was searching the Internet prior to compile this post, I discovered that other copies bear the same defect... The other record that appears in such picture is an infamous sounding bootleg that exploits this same cover, but features a different tracklisting that also includes tracks released a few years later.

As the title clearly implies, on this album Rita Chao is accompanied by The Quests, the legendary Singaporean group which was very active during the mid-late '60s, both as a backing unit - most notably for Rita herself and Sakura - and as performers in their own right with a very long series of singles and four full-lenght albums. It's about time that I also start taking care of their recordings, but that's another story, so let's move on to the usual track-by-track commentary...



Side 1 opens with "隔壁的冤家 (The Boy Next Door)", a song written by Johnny Madara and David White that was originally performed by American girl group The Secrets in 1963. The same year the song was turned into a huge hit in Singapore by The Crescendos, you can listen to their version own by clicking here.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any information about "薄情郎 (He's Untrue)", I would believe that it is an original composition, but the presence of a Mandarin + English title seems to prove the contrary... Maybe some reader of this blog can shed some light on the subject? Anyway, this track features Reggie Vergese in top form offering a great performance on acoustic guitar, including a mandolin-style solo.

"別纏住我 (Only Friends)" is a Mandarin cover of "Ton meilleur ami", a song originally performed by French singer and actress Françoise Hardy in 1962. An English version of this song was popularized in Singapore by Heather and The Diamond Four.

The very short and lively "搖搖搖" (Shake, Shake, Shake) was originally included in the 1966 movie "何日君再来" (Till the End of Time), which was a huge success in Singapore and launched the acting career of the young 胡燕妮 (Jenny Hu). The voice singing the original tune belongs to Chinese singer and dubbing artist 静婷 (Tsin Ting); you can watch the original music number here.

"Hanky Panky" is a song written in 1963 by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich for their group, The Raindrops. It was famously remade by rock group Tommy James and the Shondells, who took it to No. 1 in the United States in 1966. On this version, The Quests add their trademark guitar sound and wild drumming, turning Rita's performance in a Garage classic. Here's a link to The Raindrops' original version.

The original version of "愛人你變了" (I Know) was written by Robert Suriya of Naomi & The Boys and was included on the band's second EP released in 1965 by Philips. "快樂誕辰" (Happy Happy Birthday) was also included in the same EP, and is a cover of a 1957 Doo Wop number by The Tune Weavers (...original version is here).



Side 2 starts with "去年今天 (Lonely Heart)", a Mandarin cover of The Thunderbirds' "My Lonely Heart", one of the most popular original compositions in the history of Singapore Pop Music, which was written in 1966 by Harvey Fitzgerald - the band's lead singer - and Gerry Pasqual, their manager. The magic of the original version is reinforced by Rita's memorable performance and the evocative Mandarin lyrics would send shivers down the spine of the coldest human on Earth. This is a M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E!!!

"媽媽的勸告 (Bachelor Boy)" is a cover of a song written by Cliff Richard and Bruce Welch. Originally performed by Cliff Richard with musical accompaniment by The Shadows in 1963, it was also included on the successful movie "Summer Holiday".

"Sixteen Candles", the immortal youth anthem written by Luther Dixon and Allyson R. Khent, was originally performed by American Doo-wop group The Crests in 1958. On this release Rita sings a slightly adapted version of the original English lyrics; a version with Mandarin lyrics was also recorded and released during the same year.

While the "atmosphere" of all the other covers on the album is rather faithful to the original, this rendition "小姑娘 (Let True Love Begin)" - a 1961 number by legendary pianist and singer Nat King Cole - is clearly marked with Rock'n'Roll elements which are not present in the original. This song was written by Mark Barkan along with Sandy Baron and George Eddy. Another interesting version recorded by The Crests in the early '60s is linked here for comparison.

"往日的舊夢 (Gonna Be Alright)" is a Mandarin cover version of Gerry and The Pacemakers' hit. The song was written by Gerry Mardsen and originally performed by the group in 1964.

The album ends with "我不能沒有你 (Wooly Bully)", a cover of a popular song originally recorded by novelty Rock'n'Roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965. Wikipedia offers much more information about the song here, and you can listen to the original version courtesy of YouTube. Another clip that shows the band performing a playback on TV is also available here.

The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered album, enjoy!

More information about Rita Chao is available here:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/385494-Rita-Chao

https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%87%8C%E9%9B%B2

https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/rita_chao_and_sakura

http://madrotter-treasure-hunt.blogspot.com/search/label/rita%20chao

http://blog.roodo.com/macaenese5354/archives/25610568.html

http://blog.roodo.com/macaenese5354/archives/25707290.html

https://questing.wordpress.com/category/rita-chao-%E5%87%8C%E9%9B%B2/

https://questing.wordpress.com/category/sakura-rita-duet-%E6%AB%BB%E8%8A%B1-%E6%B7%A9%E9%9B%B2/

http://mocamborainbow.blogspot.com/2008/07/rita-chao.html

http://www.smartshanghai.com/articles/nightlife/music-tuesday-far-out-east-2

http://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2009/01/rita-chao-pop-go-go-for-william-dad.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Singapore

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157625310673913

http://www.geocities.jp/a104gs/rita.chao.html

http://www.geocities.jp/a104gs/rita.lp.html

http://www.geocities.jp/a104gs/sakura.rita.chao.html

http://women.asiaone.com/women/people/agogo-princess-rita-chao-died-6-months-ago

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/a-go-go-queen-rita-chao-dies-of-colon-cancer

If you have any other useful information about Rita Chao and "Rita Chao With The Quests", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

SCOTT WALKER, 9 January 1943 - 22 March 2019

Scott Walker has recently joined the great majority. I truly regret that the final chapter in the trilogy of posts dedicated to his lost albums could not be posted here on Stereo Candies before this mournful event... Anyway, I promise that it will happen soon.

ROBERTO BRIVIO "SALVE EROI DELLA LUNA / GLASS" (1969)

Best known as a member of I Gufi (The Owls) - an Italian musical and comedy ensamble - actor, singer, comedian and writer Roberto Brivio was born in Milan in February 1938.

Son of a man from the Brianza area and a Friulian woman, he dedicated himself to theatre after graduating with famous actress Esperia Sperani, from the Accademia dei Filodrammatici, in 1959.

At the beginning of the '60s he joined the Compagnia dei ragazzi dell'Angelicum and started producing a series of 7" singles for children and prose LPs for La Voce del Padrone and Ricordi.

Among these we'd like to remember at least his Italian adaption of Nigel Kneale's "The Quatermass Xperiment" (L'astronave del Dottor Quatermass), which will hopefully be the subject of another post here on Stereo Candies in the future.

In 1962 he opened the Teatro del Corso in Milan, which he successfully managed for a few years.

Around the same time he started writing for the Italian TV and radio, and also produced his first comedy / chanson records for the Columbia label under the alias Roberto Bi. These included some early examples of his gallows humor, which he will expand later on during his experience with I Gufi.



In 1964, the meeting with Lino Patruno and Nanni Svampa, later joined by Gianni Magni, gave rise to the aforementioned musical group. In those years, I Gufi helped to create a form of musical cabaret in Italy, often using the Milanese dialect in their productions.

Their debut album, entitled "Milano canta" (Milan Sings), was released by Columbia in February 1965, and was the first in an astounding series of twelve successful LPs which were produced by the group in just four years.

During his tenure with I Gufi, Brivio was credited for writing about 50% of the band's repertoire in collaboration with his musical partner Ario Albertarelli.

Until their disbandment in 1969, the group regularly performed in theatres throughout the country and also arrived on television, managing to pass through the tight stranglehold of censorship thanks to their use of dialect.

Shortly after, along with Augusto Mazzotti, formerly one of his classmates at the Accademia dei Filodrammatici, Brivio debuted at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan with a new play entitled "Fantascienza" (Science Fiction).

Following this effort, a selections of songs probably excerpted from the play were collected on the first Brivio solo album, the aptly entitled "13 Canzoni di Fantascienza" (13 Science Fiction Songs). The album was released by Columbia in early summer 1969 and will be a succulent subject for another post quite soon.

During the same year, a 7" single entitled "Salve eroi della Luna" (Hello Heroes of the Moon) b/w "Glass" was also released, and is covered in this post.

Roberto Brivio on stage in a recent picture

Here's the track list for this 7" single:

01. Salve eroi della Luna (3:00)
02. Glass (3:28)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in February 2019 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.

Please have a look at the comments for the download link.



"Salve eroi della Luna / Glass" was released by Columbia / EMI in Italy with cat. number SCMQ 7155 / 3C 006-17196 M sometime in 1969. The matrix numbers in the dead wax area are marked "2-10-69", so I easily guess that the single was published towards the end of the year.

The records comes in a cover that superimpose a picture of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Alden Armstrong and Michael Collins - the crew of the successful Apollo 11 mission that brought the first men on the Moon in July 1969 - on a drawing by cartoonist Ferruccio Alessandri that originally adorned the cover of "13 Canzoni di Fantascienza", the album released by Brivio a few months later. On the back we don't find much of interest, just a small coupon that can be cut out to be used inside juke-boxes.



As both the cover and title imply, "Salve eroi della Luna" (Hello Heroes of the Moon) is a ballad that solemnly celebrates the conquest of the Moon. The song was written by Brivio along with his long-time collaborator Ario Albertarelli and is a tribute to the "...fearless, brave, immortal, generous..." men who accomplished such extraordinary feat.

On Side B we find "Glass", a more hilarious track that had already appeared months earlier on Brivio's debut album. This is another Brivio-Albertarelli composition that focuses on the effects of lack of gravity during space flight, comparing them to the signs and symptoms of drunkenness. The lyrics make an elegant and effective use of all sort of onomatopoeias and Brivio's prowess as an actor clearly emerges. The last line "Non c'è serietà senza gravità." (There is no seriousness without gravity.) effectively summarises the concept expressed in the song.

The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy!

More information about Roberto Brivio and I Gufi is available here:

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Brivio

https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roberto_Brivio

http://robertobrivio.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/robertobrivio17

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1437210-Roberto-Brivio

https://www.lettera43.it/it/articoli/cultura-e-spettacolo/2015/12/25/roberto-brivio-vi-racconto-cosa-vuol-dire-essere-gufi/158495/

https://www.massaiemoderne.com/1967-linsalata-del-vampiro-roberto-brivio/

https://www.avvenire.it/agora/pagine/brivio-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQjy-0xcqbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ_ZZwMP4KA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Gufi

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Gufi

https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/I_Gufi

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1324498-I-Gufi

https://www.youtube.com/user/igufi/videos

http://verso-la-stratosfera.blogspot.com/2016/11/i-gufi.html

If you have any other useful information about Roberto Brivio and "Salve eroi della Luna / Glass", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

PANCY LAU (劉鳳屏) "快回頭望一望" (EP, 1969)

Pancy Lau (Lau Fung Ping, 劉鳳屏 or 刘鳳屏, also referred to as Liu Feng Ping) was born sometimes in the late 40s / early 50s in a family of musicians; her father Lau Bak Lok (劉伯樂) - also known as Tin Ngai (天涯) - was a well-known Cantonese Opera Star. He was her very first music teacher, and guided her through the entertainment world.

Her career started when she was around 8 or 9 years old singing Cantonese Opera. As a teenager she transitioned to singing songs she enjoyed: Pop music. During the early 60s she participated two times in the Sing Tao Daily Singing Competition in Hong Kong with no significant results.

In 1965 at last she won the Mandarin section of the 6th edition of the contest with the song "三年" (Three Years). Upon winning the competition, she became a resident singer at the prestigious Golden Crown Night Club (金冠).

Television Broadcasts Limited (電視廣播有限公司), commonly known as TVB, commenced broadcasting in Hong Kong on 19 November 1967. Pancy Lau was one of the first musical artists who participated in the popular show "歡樂今宵" (Enjoy Yourself Tonight), which was the longest running variety show in Hong Kong's television history.

In 1968 Fung Hang Records released her debut album entitled "My Heart Is Beating - 我的心蹦蹦跳". The album was the first in a long series of recordings that continued for more than fifteen years.



Following two EPs entitled "水長流" ("Water Flows Long") and "山前山後百花开" ("When the Flowers Bloom On Mount Qian Shan"), Pancy Lau's second album was finally published in late 1969. "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), contained twelve songs, including the eight tracks already released on her previous EPs.

The record was a huge success with no less than four editions published - and sometimes also bootlegged - by different labels in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. At the time, a lot of popular music was coming from being featured on television or were theme songs from television drama series. The album, however, did not need any push from the media to become an instant hit, as it contained enough fresh material to estabilish itself as a modern classic.

For a more detailed biography of Pancy Lau, please have a look at this other post of mine: "The Very Best of Pancy Lau Volume 1 [1968-70]".

Pancy Lau, circa 1969

Here's the track list for this 7" EP:

01. 快回頭望一望 (2:55)
02. 姑娘的心意 (2:01)
03. 不如不嫁了 (2:17)
04. 爲甚麽 (2:04)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in January 2019 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.

Please have a look at the comments for the download link.



As I already wrote many times, it's not easy to come up with an exact chronology of Pancy Lau's early output, but since the first owner of the EP that is on offer in this post has written a purchase date on the back cover (27-12-69), I can confirm that this particular record was released in 1969, probably towards the end of the year.

All the songs on this EP were included on Pancy's second album "快回頭望一望" ("Quickly Take a Look Behind"), and two of them were also previously included on her debut single back in 1968... Since this EP was released on Life Records (麗風) in Malaysia, it is my opinion that it was aimed at the local market to help popularize Pancy Lau outside of Hong Kong during the 'Mandarin Pop phase' of her career.

I can't tell if this is a rare release but, as a matter of fact, her singles released on Life Records (麗風) have been more difficult to obtain, at least for me, than those on Fung Hang Records Co. (風行). As a trivia, please allow me to tell you that I purchased this single from a Mexican record shop and it is probably one of the records in my collection that has travelled the most!

All music on this release is played by 太陽神樂隊 (The Apollo), an Hong Kong prolific studio band that reached a cult status in the region during the late 60s / early 70s. Their name has probably been borrowed from the Teisco / Kawai manufactured Apollo model guitar from that time period. They recorded a lot of instrumental albums, a few of them for New Wave Record Co. (新風) - which are also on offer here on Stereo Candies - and most of them for Life Records (麗風); they were also featured as a backing band on countless releases by popular singers like Teresa Teng (鄧麗君), Frances Yip (葉麗儀), Stella Chee(奚秀蘭), etc.



Oscar Young (楊道火) and Joseph Koo (顧嘉煇) are both credited as arrangers, respectively for tracks 1 and 4 (Young), and 2 and 3 (Koo).

Young was a key-figure in the Hong Kong music scene of the late 60s / early 70s; with his arrangements he also had the merit to introduce and popularise Classical music to the younger generations. He arranged for many famous bands and singers and released countless albums with his prolific and versatile projects The Apollo (太陽神樂隊) and Oscar Orchestra (奧斯卡管弦樂團).

Koo was also a famous composer and arranger, and one of the most respected authors of Cantopop songs; he is considered the Godfather of Hong Kong pop music. During his career he has created more than 1.200 original compositions and many of them have become classics, including various themes of popular TV series.

Here's what I discovered searching information about the songs included on this EP:

"快回頭望一望" (Quickly Take a Look Behind), which was also Pancy Lau's second album title track, is one of her signature songs written by 湮亭 (Yan Ting). During the years it has been covered many times and has become a karaoke classic.

"姑娘的心意" (A Maiden's Heart) is an adaptation, with lyrics by 湮亭 (Yan Ting), of a song imported from Japan. The original was popularized by 美空ひばり (Misora Hibari) and the Mandarin version was also successfully performed by 張露 (Chang Loo).

"不如不嫁了" (How About I Don't Get Married) seems to be an original composition and I wasn't able to find any other information about it, except the name of its authors: lyrics by 馮美葆 (Feng Mei Bao) and music by 曹嘈 (Cao Cao).

I guess that "為甚麽" (Why?) is probably another original composition written by 湮亭 (Yan Ting), sorry but I wasn't able to find any other relevant information about it....

The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered EP, enjoy!

More information about Pancy Lau is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Hong_Kong

http://home.ied.edu.hk/~hkpop/music/hkpophistory.html

http://www.goldenage.hk/b5/ga/ga_article.php?article_id=1079

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dk_gilbert/sets/72157608139056712/

http://paper.wenweipo.com/2007/04/21/EN0704210024.htm

http://blog.roodo.com/muzikland/archives/2578425.html

http://baike.baidu.com/view/5637119.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uAR5gOXNg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtPVPIy6v6s

http://robokon.orgfree.com/5080/5080_LauFungPing.htm

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/%E5%8A%89%E9%B3%B3%E5%B1%8F

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/entertainment/art/20130325/18206169

http://sleepless.chiba78.com/articles-1640.html

I'm currently trying to compile a Pancy Lau exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available here.

All my posts dedicated to Pancy Lau are available here.

FERRANTE & TEICHER "ADVENTURE IN CAROLS" (1956)

«What other duo-pianist can boast that they have played together since the age of six? Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher were fellow prodigies at New York’s famous Juilliard School of Music, and even while students they appeared as a team. After graduation they gave a few joint recitals, then decided to take time out to prepare a really distinctive repertoire. Together they returned to Juilliard, this time as fellow members of the faculty, and spent all their spare hours for the next year or so working over the standard pieces and cleansing them of every last hackneyed cliché. Their professional debut as a team took place quite a distance from the concert hall, for they bowed in as a popular piano duo at New York’s sophisticated penthouse night club, Spivy’s Roof. They were such a hit with the starlight crowd that they went on to more cosmopolitan boites like the Blue Angel, the Little Club and the Ritz-Carlton Terrace. Since 1947 they have been crisscrossing the country annually, winning laurels everywhere for what The New York Times called their "prodigious technical feats." Radio and television audiences know them for their guest stints on Piano Playhouse, and the Firestone, Telephone, and Carnation hours...They have also appeared with leading symphony orchestras throughout the country. Their gift for blending the classic with the modern and the "heavy" with the "light", their extraordinary sensitivity, their technical perfection — these are just a few of the reasons why one stern Manhattan critic, echoing the national consensus, called Ferrante and Teicher "the most exciting piano team of our time".»

[from "Adventure in Carols" liner notes]



Here we are again, approaching that particular time of the year when we all become good and exchange gifts... Even though I don't have a 'rule' to post a Christmas record every month of December, this time it's my pleasure to introduce a masterpiece by Ferrante & Teicher which has never been re-issued on CD, and whose digital version available on the market comes with no less than an indecent amount of clicks, crackles and even... skips!!! And what other month would suit better an album titled "Adventure in Carols"?

For this remaster I also ventured in a territory in which I'm still experimenting to find my way: the 'simulated stereo' effect. In some of the most recent posts I already offered a few pseudo-stereo tracks derived from original mono recordings, but for this post I decided to process the entire album.

Basically, I tweaked the Eq of the left and right channels and used the differences between them to assign different pan positions to certain groups of frequencies. As I said, I'm still in an early stage and I would like to know your sincere opinion, so don't be shy and let your comments flow!

Some quite rare and particular releases are going to be featured on the blog in 2019, I will try to post at least one record every month and I beg you to believe that I really can't do better than this. I also have a couple of requests to honour and I'll try my best to keep my word as usual.

If you enjoy what you read and/or listen on these pages, then please let me know about it: leave a comment or get in touch, my e-mail address is written at the bottom of each post.

Have fun and a Merry Christmas! Now let's move on to Ferrante & Teicher and their immensely creative "Adventure in Carols"!



The following biography was created comparing the most relevant information available on the pages dedicated to Ferrante & Teicher hosted on AllMusic, Amoeba Music, ferranteandteicher.info, Space Age Pop and Wikipedia.

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Arthur Ferrante (September 7, 1921, New York City - September 19, 2009, Longboat Key, Florida) and Louis Teicher (August 24, 1924, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - August 3, 2008, Highlands, North Carolina) met while attending the prestigious Juilliard School of Music; both were child prodigies, and they struck up a fast friendship, performing together as a duo even while they were still in school.

After graduating as piano majors, by 1943 they both joined the Juilliard faculty, while developing a distinctive style of their own during their spare time. In 1947, they became a full-time concert act, at first playing nightclubs, then quickly moving up to classical music with orchestral backing. A switch to popular songs and standards by the likes of Kern, Porter, Gershwin, and Rodgers made them mainstays in the pops-orchestra field.

At the same time, they began experimenting with modifications to pianos, inserting objects into the string beds, striking keys or strings with blocks, and generally striving to figure out how to get the strangest possible sounds. By adding paper, sticks, rubber, metal bars, chains, glass, mallets, and other found objects, the duo was able to produce a variety of bizarre sound effects that sometimes resembled percussion instruments, and other times produced an outworldly and dreamy, almost electronic sound well before synthesizers were commonly used in recordings. The treated piano works of John Cage influenced their early work, but they had their own unique sound.

Here's how the pair described this musical transition: «...it was while teaching that we began experimenting and creating new material for two pianos. For novelty numbers we stuffed wads of paper, sticks, rubber stops, masonite strips, cardboard wedges, and sandpaper into the pianos conjuring up weird effects (a la [John] Cage) resembling gongs, castanets, drums, xylophone, and harpsichord. Though we have gradually dropped many of these gimmicks, we feel that we have developed a musical style, and undoubtedly play in a manner that makes some former colleagues at Juilliard wince a bit.»

However innovative and exciting their work was, it was tough to translate into commercial success. Their concerts were as likely to be held in gymnasiums, churches, cafeterias, and ballparks, as in concert halls. Much of what they earned went into new motors for their delivery truck. «If our wives hadn't worked,» Teicher once said, «we never could have survived...»

Some tracks from "Adventure in Carols" were previously released on "Xmas Hi-Fivories"... (front cover)

People who associate Ferrante & Teicher only with the Easy Listening music they produced from the early '60s onwards, are often startled to hear their prepared piano works of the '50s. There is nothing quite like them in the annals of recorded sounds. In fact, throughout this period, the duo was accused of using more than just pianos to generate these sounds, and they had to produce the following affadavit to convince Columbia Records before the label released their first single:

«Divers persons upon hearing records of "Susanna's Last Stand" and "Caravan" and subsequent recordings by Ferrante and Teicher have asserted, implied or otherwise made known that such recordings were made by the use of various sundry instruments other than two pianos. Upon our solemn oath and undertaking we hereby assert, acknowledge, testify and state without equivocation or fear of contradiction that the only instruments played by Ferrante and Teicher in connection with the recordings of such compositions were two pianos. - Howard Scott and David Oppenheim, 24 Dec 1952.»

Among the twenty or so albums that the duo recorded until 1960, it is worth mentioning at least those that are entirely comprised of prepared piano pieces, here'a list: "Hi-Fireworks" (Columbia, 1953), "Xmas Hi-Fivories" (Westminster, 1954), "Soundproof" (Westminster, 1956), "Soundblast" (Westminster, 1956), "Adventure in Carols" (Westminster, 1956), "Heavenly Sounds in Hi-Fi" (ABC-Paramount, 1957), "Ferrante and Teicher With Percussion" (ABC-Paramount, 1958), "Blast Off!" (ABC-Paramount, 1958) and "Dynamic Twin Pianos" (United Artists Ultra Audio, 1960).

...a 10" album issued on Westminster back in late 1954. (back cover)

In 1959, their ABC-Paramount producer, Don Costa, moved to United Artists and got Ferrante & Teicher signed by his new label, where they quickly began to tailor their sound to a more mainstream audience. Costa was sent the scores from the United Artists movie "The Apartment" and thought that the main theme would have sounded good on twin pianos. In brief, the "Theme from 'The Apartment'" single went up to #10 on the charts.

This success was quickly followed by their biggest hit, an arrangement of Ernest Gold's epic theme from the movie "Exodus", which climbed to #2 and inspired a popular jazz version by saxophonist Eddie Harris. 1961 brought them another hit with the song "Tonight", which was originally featured on the Brodway musical "West Side Story" in 1957 and in the movie of the same name. This lead to the release of their highest-charting album, the #10 "West Side Story and Other Motion Picture & Broadway Hits".

At their next gigs they started dressing alike, donning flashy tuxedos, horn rim glasses and wigs. They added dramatic flourishes to their performances, did comedy bits in between songs and billed themselves as The Grand Twins of the Twin Grands. Their bookings increased and their salaries skyrocketed. Their United Artists contract called for at least three albums a year, but they often recorded more: a flood of Ferrante & Teicher LPs was released over the course of the '60s, with around thirty of them reaching the Pop charts up through 1972.

They maintained a heavy touring schedule, playing more than a hundred concerts a year at the height of their popularity. They also managed to release one final Top Ten single in 1969 with their cover of the theme from the movie "Midnight Cowboy", which featured the distinct 'water guitar sound' of Vinnie Bell.

Ferrante & Teicher's voluminous recording pace tailed off during the '70s, although they did continue to put out albums on a regular basis. In 1979, they left United Artists to form their own label, Avante Garde, the title perhaps an ironic nod at their early days as serious pianists. They stopped performing and retired in 1989, setting up homes near each other in Sarasota, Florida.

The Lounge / Exotica revival of the '90s helped renew interest in their experimental early recordings, and led to the first-ever issue of "Denizens of the Deep" (Varese Sarabande, 2001), a 1950 set of treated piano instrumentals meant to evoke sea creatures that constituted their first recorded work, which went unreleased at the time due to the perceived lack of commercial potential. A few simple embellishments were added to the archival recordings in order to complete their original concept for the pieces. This was their last release.

Ferrante & Teicher as they appear on the back cover of "Adventure in Carols", 1956

My remaster of "Adventure in Carols" contains the following tracks:

01. Sleigh Ride [original mono] (2:55)
02. Good King Wenceslas [original mono] (2:00)
03. What Child Is This? [original mono] (2:39)
04. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer [original mono] (2:06)
05. White Christmas [original mono] (3:33)
06. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town [original mono] (2:06)
07. Christmas Song [original mono] (3:28)
08. The First Nowell [original mono] (2:22)
09. Silent Night [original mono] (2:16)
10. Jingle Bells [original mono] (3:01)
11. Adeste Fideles [original mono] (3:03)
12. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen [original mono] (1:58)

Bonus tracks:

13. Sleigh Ride [simulated stereo] (2:55)
14. Good King Wenceslas [simulated stereo] (2:00)
15. What Child Is This? [simulated stereo] (2:39)
16. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer [simulated stereo] (2:06)
17. White Christmas [simulated stereo] (3:33)
18. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town [simulated stereo] (2:06)
19. Christmas Song [simulated stereo] (3:28)
20. The First Nowell [simulated stereo] (2:22)
21. Silent Night [simulated stereo] (2:16)
22. Jingle Bells [simulated stereo] (3:01)
23. Adeste Fideles [simulated stereo] (3:03)
24. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen [simulated stereo] (1:58)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in December 2018 and are available in FLAC lossless format along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.



"Adventure in Carols" was released by Westminster in November 1956 with catalogue number WP 6021. As per title, the album includes twelve Christmas carols which were performed by Ferrante & Teicher on two prepared / treated pianos. The LP comes housed in a playful sleeve that depicts a futuristic scene that involves Santa Claus being launched on a rocket by a team of other Santas. My copy of the album also includes a Westminster promotional leaflet advertising other Christmas and Classical Music records.

Eight of the twelve selections - namely "Sleigh Ride", "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "White Christmas", "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Silent Night", "Jingle Bells", "Adeste Fideles" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" - were already been released by Westminster two years ealier on the 10" album "Xmas Hi-Fivories" with cat. number WL 3044. You can see the original cover (front and back) a few paragraphs above.

I really have no idea if the four exclusive tracks on "Adventure in Carols" were recorded at the same time of those previously issued on "Xmas Hi-Fivories" in 1954, or if they were still 'fresh' at the time of release, so to speak...

The recording volume on the original album is quite low, and the music is rich in dynamics and contrasts. It wasn't easy to restore the beauty of the quieter parts, but I guess I found the right compromise between clicks/crackles removal and clarity. This resulted in an increasing of the background noise that I didn't attenuate to preserve the 'pureness' of the higher frequencies.

As I wrote in the introduction to this post, it is my pleasure to present "Adventure in Carols" both in the original mono version and in an all-new 'simulated stereo version'. However, don't expect anything mind-blowing: the differences are subtle and the treatment is in line with the spirit of the original recordings, it adds them a little bit of 'movement' without creating unpleasant artefacts.



The following is a slightly edited version of the liner notes that are printed on the back cover of "Adventure in Carols":

«If you are looking for something different in Christmas music - if your Christmas office parties or gatherings at home have been too much the same for the past few years, and you would like to introduce a refreshing new note into the proceedings - let pianists Ferrante & Teicher take you on an "Adventure in Carols".

The paths along which this talented team will lead you bear the old names with which you are familiar ("White Christmas", "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and others just as popular...) but the names, plus the famous melodies, are the only things about this recording which bear any resemblance to any other version of these carols you may have heard.

For this recording Ferrante & Teicher arranged the carols for two pianos - or should we say that they arranged two pianos for the carols? Actually, they did both - for, if playing conventional pianos in the conventional manner did not produce the effect the boys were after, they worked on both music and pianos until they got just what they wanted.

   

A Westminster promotional leaflet advertising other Christmas and Classical Music records

Westminster’s studios never had seen anything like the session that produced this unique recording. All over the country, of course, audiences for years have seen Arthur Ferrante or Louis Teicher rise from his bench in the middle of a performance and address himself to the innards of his Steinway - alternately muting, plucking, strumming and beating the strings.

Nor does either of them hesitate to use his elbows, forearms or knuckles to elicit a desired chordal effect - not to mention an assortment of wooden and metal gadgets designed to give the pianos a new personality altogether.

These unorthodox and sometimes gymnastic doings are not calculated to amuse. They are an integral part of the team’s very special arrangements. Their goal always is to achieve the maximum tonal contrasts and to simulate orchestral color as vividly as possible within the limitations of pianistic dynamics.

But no concert audience ever saw what Westminster’s engineers saw - or ever heard what has been captured on this recording. It’s not a single recording, to start with, but a double one - no pun intended. The boys played everything through once, then donned earphones and went over the same ground again, interpolating all manner of fancy figurations and fugal folderol.

What with a profusion of microphones stationed over the keyboard, the gadget-laden strings and the paired celestas, the results herewith are unlike any pianism, duo or otherwise, that you have ever experienced. It is as if Santa had, at last, discovered high fidelity. After so many years of hearing the same old tunes played the same old way, Old Nick undoubtedly would join everybody else in welcoming these new Christmas sounds.»

Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher, circa early '60s

The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered album, enjoy!

More information about Ferrante & Teicher and "Adventure in Carols" is available here:

http://www.ferranteandteicher.info/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrante_%26_Teicher

https://www.discogs.com/artist/179036-Ferrante-Teicher

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ferrante-teicher-mn0000170214/biography

http://www.spaceagepop.com/ferrante.htm

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/ferrante_teicher_the_forgotten_gods_of_easy_listening_music

https://www.vintagemusic.fm/artist/ferrante-teicher/

https://www.discogs.com/Ferrante-Teicher-Xmas-Hi-Fivories/release/6596942

https://www.discogs.com/Ferrante-Teicher-Adventure-In-Carols/release/3259544

http://www.ferranteandteicher.info/discography/original/Adventure-in-Carols

https://www.allmusic.com/album/adventure-in-carols-mw0001024413

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/ferrante_and_teicher/adventure_in_carols/

If you have any other useful information about Ferrante & Teicher and "Adventure in Carols", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!