Search - Ferrante & Teicher :: Soundproof: the Sound of Tomorrow Today

SPACE AGE SHOCK!

James L. Morris | Portland, OR | 12/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
In our age of canned computer music and copycat sounds, what is truly original? How 'bout an album (actually two of them) from about 50 years ago. This Ferrante & Teicher "Soundproof" is in reality both "Soundproof" and "Soundblast" - both of them from F&T's early recording days with the Westminster label. Right now, FORGET EVERY NOTION YOU HAVE ABOUT THESE TWO GURUS OF EASY LISTENING! Take a trip on an experimental magic carpet instead. Prepare yourself for the unanticipated delight of two prodigies testing their wings both sonically and compositionally. These guys were totally bonkers; they hammer, pluck, twang, bonk and thonk on their Steinways. Some songs will thrill; others confound; others confuse. But all will amaze; I guarantee it."

Review for this specific reissue

Moniker | United States | 02/10/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"5 star rating for the music and album itself; 1 star rating for this CD reissue. Hence, the 3 star rating above.



I wanted to write this review to inform potential customers who are looking to buy this release, because, presumably, they know and love the music of Ferrante & Teicher already (at least their music from this period of wild experimentation).



This CD was my introduction to "El Records," a label that I now know to stay away from due to the shoddy job they did in handling this re-release. For starters, the source material of the recordings on this CD are from vinyl records, complete with surface noise and thin, tinny sound. It's awful. Also, the first album on here, Soundproof, is in mono, even though it was released in stereo in 1956, which is a crime because this period of Ferrante and Teicher's music absolutely benefits from stereo. It's great to hear the separation of the two pianos/performers and how they play off of each other. You'll notice it the second the first track from the second album comes on, which is in stereo.



This sloppy reissue comes with terrible packaging. The booklet features absolutely dismal printing. The entire booklet looks as if it was printed on a home desktop printer. So cheap looking. It's really ugly and upsetting to look at for me because I really value CD packaging. I wonder if this may actually be a bootleg. Anyway, the album cover for the second album on this two-fer, Soundblast, isn't even included, and furthermore, the album title itself isn't even printed on the CD's spine. So it's as if the fact is being disregarded that this CD in actuality contains two separate albums. Sloppy.



Instead, El Records uses 5 pages of the booklet to advertise other releases from their catalog. They also felt it necessary to print the label's logo right on the cover of the album. An album that, needless to say, originally had nothing to do with El Records. I get the impression that this reissue is more about promoting El Records than it is about the two albums of amazing music, arrangements, performances, and studio techniques featured on this CD.



I'm waiting for another company to re-release these two albums using the original tapes and putting more effort and care into the packaging. I hope someone does it. These are historic pop music recordings."

Not as exciting as I had hoped.

John B Goode | Nova Scotia, Canada | 07/14/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"There are 2 albums on this cd. The first one is mono (that doesn't bother me). But both albums have a murky sound I was a little surprised with.



And the space-age image of the cover picture was misleading to me. There is only one track remotely hinting at that aspect of 50s exotica. There are a lot of the latin-fad tracks, which also were recorded about 10,000 other artists of the day.



Yes, there are great plonking and plucking effects.



But I hope if there are more Ferrante and Teicher 2fers, there will be a better variety of music on them.



"