NEW Four Seasons CD v Unreleased? - No Contest!

Another Frankie Valli CD and lots of excitement, as we wait with expectancy for its release and the prospect of something ‘new’.

Alas no!... as Rhino sub-let this current release to PID and the public get a strange mix of ‘safety first’ hits, some classic album tracks and some below par forgettable performances. But with this mix of tracks, will this tempt anyone to buy these 2 CD’s even at 8.99 pounds incl delivery.

We know Charles Alexander and Bill Inglot put a lot of effort into getting a ‘Love Songs’ CD set out which was a much more balanced and interesting track list but it was hi-jacked for this questionable selection.

 Most efforts by licensing record companies to sell old material these days needs to excite the public and there are two essentials for such compilations

1. Good quality re-masters from the original multi-tracks (or great stereo re-masters)
2. Previously unreleased ...at least some tracks previously unavailable on CD and usually some previously unheard.

When this set eventually comes out we will measure it against these criteria before we add it to the 200 plus CD discography at The UK Appreciation Society ‘Four Seasons CD Discography. And it seems we will probably criticise it. (based on the assumption that the stereo won’t be rebalanced on the old Philips tracks....or any serious re-mastering done - if ‘Jersey Beat’ is anything to go by)

Let’s be realistic. With the CD market declining so much it takes work (and money) to create a marketing ‘hook’ for fans. And your fan base needs to be big enough. The Four Seasons ‘serious’ fan base numbers around 600 (based on statistics from web and blog sites) By comparison The Beach Boys fan base far exceeds this and their high quality latest compilations show that interest and a good marketing philosophy. Carefully re-mixed stereo versions….some for the first time appeared on….The Beach Boys 2007 ‘Warmth of the Sun’ Re-masters and even The latest Greatest Hits which contains the digital re-masters completed between 1996 and 2001 offers stunning retrospectives. It seems unlikely Rhino, The Four Seasons Partnership, or PID would make such an investment. Even though the sets would sell steadily for years and become the de facto masters to own and play or stream on your system. They have Jersey Boys and in a declining CD market why employ and pay top sound engineers for a marginal short-term return but a long steady one and a higher musical reputation. A short sighted approach given that such masters create new fans and new generations create steady long-term music sales even if from downloads. The key is the catalogue and developing future libraries accessible via the www. We’ll feature future formats in another blog.

So will we be getting fresh sounding re-masters in this set…probably not….and of course the mono versions of Dawn, No Surfing Today, and Ronnie will obviously be rolled out again. At least the collectors version of amateur productions The ‘DS’ Re-mixes goes beyond that.

You have to ask what is the point of this set?: and surely this release will get enough bad reviews to sink it from a sales perspective? By comparison Tammy Terrell’s Hip-O-Select release sets the standard for capturing an audience. And meets the above criteria….but then the material is superb and collectible.

Some maintain any CD release by the group is good whilst some never like the tracks selected but in reality the CD market is dying and it is smart companies with access to high quality back catalogues that can and will survive into the ‘post CD download’ age. Hence the interest in the Motown Universal and ACE relationship. ACE like the Jazz labels across Europe will survive because of the niche markets they farm so well.

And the crazy thing about a release such as this is that we know the Four Seasons Partnership have access to a large library of unreleased tracks. The question is how good is the quality?

We’ve already highlighted the 50 or so tracks in the Motown vaults with examples that show the potential for a very marketable project. Either ACE or another licensee may find this a potential project.

We also know they have the 10 or so Philips tracks (which include ‘One Man’ and ‘Give a Damn’) that fans are just crying out for. An ‘End of The Philips Era’ would be an eminently sellable CD set if well mastered and this is one Bill Inglot has proposed. A match for the Beach Boys or Hip-O-Select CD’s perhaps?

And there is lots more like the long rumoured jazz album from 2004. But let’s be cautious with this later material. Reputedly ‘Jeepers Creepers’ was the working title. Rumours are that it was recorded in Valli’s own studio and it was halted because of the poor quality synthesized music and drum machine. Maybe there are some things we don’t want to hear. But we are told a copy may exist.

Then there is a Valli solo album Charlie Calello recalls doing in 1986 for Warner-Curb and as reported in The Rise and fall Of The NEW Four Seasons they have an album from 1982 (You're Never Too Old To Rock and Roll etc).but again this is of questionable quality.

But news just in and confirmed by Lee Shapiro reveals that around 16 tracks where completed for the Helicon album with half kept in reserve for a follow up album if that release had been a success. So no chance we’ll get to hear that soon then!!

Well maybe I am too cynical about Bob Gaudio’s intransigence…

But we are left with the existing catalogue masters…….well if they found a stereo Dawn (complete with intro) or Ronnie I’d buy it like a shot…and so to would the few hundred dedicated fans……...but as we have said before, there are not enough of us and we don’t believe these exist in stereo.

A more enjoyable project for us retired music collectors with our low cost base will be to go back to search back through our collections for the best masters (vinyl and CD) ever released by the group, and gather these as it is clear Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli never will……. but for now we will have to be content with finds by our You Tube friends. Now who could be singing on this superb Watertown demo? As I said New CD v Unreleased….No Contest!

Photos in video courtesy of George Schowerer

Comments

[Ken Charmer]

A bit of info that I didn’t know from a fan re the cover to the ‘Working My Way Back To You ‘ album……….”that cover photo with the guys all falling in the air was originally the pic to be used for the single ‘Lets Hang On’. Time was running out and they needed to get the album out quickly before Philips changed their mind about releasing another Seasons tune so soon…...they had no time for another photo session so they used that one for the album....”
Great back-story

[Ken Charmer]

Just in...Gregory wrote "Good article! That's Jake Holmes singing on the Watertown YouTube video, no question! He's got a very distinctive (and weak) voice."

[Greg]

The vocalist is Jake Holmes.

[Ray Ricci]

Sounds like Jake on the first verse but to me it's clearly Frankie after. Very strange.