In the late fifties and early sixties Big Al was on of the local, (Latrobe, PA), musicians that had the privilege of playing with some of the greats of Rock and Roll His guitar showed up on the local stages with the likes of the Everly Brothers, Fabian, Bo Didley and Lou Christy. Big Al got his first Silvertone guitar when he was in high school It didn't take long for him to excel. He went from playing on the street corner by the Sun Drugs in the afternoon to his first group playing trie local seen in a matter of months.
Within a year he was backing up some of the top names in the business Piano was Big Al's first instrument but the guitar won his heart. He also plays flute, percussion and trumpet. Big Al was the mam influence on who Tangerine was in the 60's and 70's. Crash |oined the group in the late 60's and even though he was raised with the 50's rock and roll he brought with him a taste of the English sound, the sound of his era. Crash also brought a new type of vocal harmony to the group With the use of minors and falsetto the new vocal sound was created.
Crash shared lead vocals with Al for live performances Crash's first intro into music was also the piano but went rapidly toward the woodwinds Clarinet, alto, tenor and baritone sax, bassoon and oboe were all instruments Crash played in high school. But because of his big brother AL, he learned to play the guitar Congas came later after the group had formed. His first professional gig was with the "Fireflies" an East Coast group. Crash has since become an outstanding bassest, his current instrument with the Ferraro Brothers.
Tangerine has evolved into the "Ferraro Brothers" band. They're new CD, "Run that by me again", was recorded back in 1997 in Fullerton CA. They are working on a new release that will be out hopefully in the summer of 2000 When the two are not playing Big Al has an accounting Office in Latrobe, PA And brother Crash is an operational consultant and travels across the USA. Both hope to finish out the decade by tounng and playing rock and roll They have both moved back to their roots in Pennsylvania several years ago, leaving Los Angeles behind.
The new sound is a blend of 50's 60' and 70's music It consists of more vocal harmonies and a milder blend of instrumentation.
by Lynn "Crash" Ferraro, Latrobe, PA. June 1999Tangerine - ''The Peeling of Tangerine'' CD Reissue of their ultra-rare and very hard rock psychedelic LP from 1971, recorded at the famous WRS Recording Studios in Pittsburgh, PA. Great guitar work throughout, plus a 13 minute long track which shows off the great talent this band possessed. Very much in the vein of early Iron Butterfly!!!
Led by the multi-instrumentalist Ferraro brothers Al and Crash (they mainly played guitar), Tangerine started playing together in the late '60s, but the group's sole album was released in 1971. In many ways, The Peeling of Tangerine is a stellar, accomplished album. More than anyone, the band recalls a slightly heavier Santana; the music is full of Latin chord progressions, salsafied and tribal drumming and percussion, and Al Ferraro's beautiful guitar work, as well as some of the dynamics of early '70s psychedelia and soul.
The band doesn't stake out their own musical ground and the songs are not altogether distinctive enough; more often than not, they sound like structureless (but not formless) jams passing for songs. In the other hand, those jams are often scintillating, with a slight mysterious lurch -- had they been honed in and further fleshed out, they had the makings of blazing tunes. Underused lead vocalist Al Ferraro is a blue-eyed soul shouter along the lines of Steve Winwood, and the band is capable of cooking.
The first side of the album recalls the Allman Brothers, but stripped down to a guitar trio. The sound could benefit from a larger palette of colors, and even the guitar isn’t amped up, maintaining a mid 60s surf tone throughout are mixed in their only album, psychedelic, hardcore, jazz - a bit of everything. The album opens very brief psycho-blues 'Come And See Me', where the guitar line in the chorus is remarkably similar to Love Potion # 9, most of the known performance in The Searchers. Next - jazz-rock 'The Hutch' with blues guitar line and 'Chain Gang', where too much obvious influence of jazz, rhythm and kept it to "float" bass riff, then Ches guitar, and bass, in turn, plays a solo. Heavy blues 'AJF' is an unjustly forgotten Latin-soul gem,built on a meditative guitar riff Feedback completes the first side of the plate.
The other side does plug in, and is made up primarily of a heavy jam in the Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer mold The epic 13-minute final cut, "My Main Woman," perhaps summarizes both Tangerine's abilities and excesses best. The song contains gorgeous passages of snaking guitar lines, hyper drumming, and rumbling bass as well as joyous percussive parts, but those parts can go on far longer than taste would merit, thus losing the momentum and drive of the song for short spells before regaining its footing which was reminiscent of Iron Butterfly, where all the members are demonstrating their art of using tools (including solos on bongos).
by Adamus67
1. Come And See Me (Al Ferraro) - 2:44
2. The Hutch' (Al Ferraro) - 3:26
3. Chain Gang (Al Ferraro, Dennis Kostley) - 5:42
4. A.J.F. (Al Ferraro, Dennis Defelice, Crash) - 5:32
5. My Main Woman (Al Ferraro, Dennis Defelice) - 13:11
'The Hutch was written during a live performance at "The
Hutch" in Vienaa, West Virginia, Feb. 28 1971
Tangerine
*Al Ferharo - Lead Guitar, Vocals
*Lynn (Crash) Ferraro - Congas, Guitar, Vocal
*Dennis Defelice - Bass
*Dennis Kostley - Drums
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