This is the first in a series of articles in ‘The Legacy Series’ which will focus on the back catalogue of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. It will examine key aspects of the ‘legacy’ we have from the first 2 decades of their success including key people and elements in their achievements.
(George Schowerer's photo of Frankie Valli in the Mirasound studio in early 1967)
In an interview recently with Andrew Threlfall (Daily Mail – Weekender) Frankie Valli describes how meeting his idol Frank Sinatra in 1961 changed his life. “Becoming friends with him was a very, very special memory that changed my whole outlook” he recalls. And although he went on to create hits as a falsetto voiced lead singer with the Four Seasons, he always wanted to be a solo artist with the reputation of his biggest musical hero.
He tried to forge a ‘solo’ identity despite his stardom as a novelty falsetto voice branded as ‘The Sound Of Frankie Valli’. How much he regretted that brand label, was perhaps revealed in the documentary on UK TV this summer – IMAGINE – ‘Just One Falsetto’ where he admitted he didn’t really want to be known for his falsetto but rather as a singer in his normal voice.
But for over a decade from 1965 to 1976 he created a body of work as a ‘solo’ performer, including many ‘hit’ records, that artists with far more of a public image would envy. Originality of performance and delivery (and some quality songs) was at the core of these performances and their appearance as a collection on CD has been largely overlooked on music re-issue projects for many years. The appearance in 1975 of Frankie Valli Gold (PVLP 1006) was the first compilation assembly of this period of ‘golden’ performances. That is not to diminish his later performances on Private Stock and WEA….which are generally very good…..but this period was an extended attempt at forging a ‘solo’ career and required a good deal of self-belief and hard work. For me therefore it is his ‘golden’ decade. His individual 1960s and 70s albums appeared on the Collectors Choice CD series in 2008 but the last collection focused solely on classic performances on A and B side 45s has not been done… since 1996 and the Curb CD Curb D2-77714. However that set only contained 10 tracks. You have to go back to 1994 and a Dutch CD on the DISKY label to find a well mastered set covering this period but even then to a limited extent.
We hoped to
ask Frankie on his summer visit to the UK if he would back a commercial project
to issue such a collection covering 1965 to 1976 in good sound quality but
unfortunately we never got the chance to discuss this with him and although ACE
Records or RHINO Products might consider such a project, they would probably simply
assemble a set of masters from old CD’s and push them through a set of sound
compressors to generate a ‘modern’ sounding , overly loud collection like the
‘Working My Way Back To You’ CD set from spring this year. These beautifully
crafted songs deserve the best mastering from analogue tapes and a preservation
of their dynamic range. That might prove to be a prohibitively expensive task
for the record company and Frankie Valli hardly has the time to organize such a
project with his busy touring schedule. But when a Spanish sound engineer
offered to review the tracks with me I thought why wait and hope, it is very
easy to do what record companies can do and with modern technology assemble the
best masters from existing CDs if you
have collected as much for as long as I have. And as I scan the CD discography
testing the existing digital masters I can do this in comparison with some mint
vinyl versions.
Frankie Valli’s ‘solo’ career really started (ignoring his pre-Four Seasons efforts) in June 1965.
Almost apologetically the session (at either Olmstead or Atlantic Studios) was Valli without the Four Seasons at a time when Nick Massi was about to leave the group. Not recording at Stea-Philips may have been because of Philips lack of interest in a ‘solo’ venture as the results would appear on the Smash label rather than the Four Seasons Philips label but getting better sound quality was we understand a driver for this first tentative venture. And it took Bob Crewe 3 months to persuade anyone to release the first solo performances of the group’s lead singer without any falsetto. ’The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine b/w This is Good-bye’ SMASH S-1995 made little impact (Billboard #128)….but the song was a sure-fire hit….but by the Walker Bros, using the same classic arrangement from Charles Calello and Bob Gaudio it became a million seller in March 1966.
Before this would happen though Valli was back in the studio recording more ‘solo’ efforts just as the group were finishing their best Philips album to date ‘Working My Way Back To You’ in November 1965.
‘(You’re Gonna) Hurt Yourself b/w Night Hawk (Instrumental – by The Valli Boys)’ would appear by the end of the year this time with the Four Seasons on backing vocals on another Charles Calleo arranged (and co-written) song which would achieve modest success once again on SMASH ( S-2015) reaching #39 (#38 in Record World)
Philips finally decided to support Valli’s solo excursions and through 1966 and into 1967 issued a number of singles until they struck big with ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ reaching #2 (#1 in Cash Box for 2 weeks in a 3 wk period). At last Valli had recognition as the ‘solo’ artist he yearned to be. According to Charlie Calello, Frankie had a clear idea of the type of song he wanted. A Stan Kenton style song and arrangement and that is what he got from Gaudio, Crewe and Artie Schroeck.
The following years saw a divergent set of songs, styles and arrangements but throughout, Valli’s immense vocal talent and delivery shine through. Charles Callello in interview commented on the difference between a great singer and a great artist. The difference he believes is that the great artist makes the song his own with a definitive performance that cannot be replicated by other artists. He commented…..”one of the problems that Frankie has with even performing the songs today is that they were so dictated and manufactured that Frankie, although he had this wonderful sound, never became known as a great singer. Not with his peers who were making music at that point. Frankie was much more talented than the records. The records restricted him to a greater degree”. This collection however demonstrates that he could develop that unique identity for the song with every track, except for the first one where the Walker Bros ‘wall of sound’ hit has left all others as lightweight.
This personal collection of Frankie Valli ‘SOLO’ GOLD for this period retrospectively focuses on the best ‘pop’ releases from these early days (with some rare ‘B’ sides) through to his hugely popular UK chart hit in 1976 ‘Fallen Angel’ (#11 in the UK) . Subjective ? Yes! ……. but do they show his true vocal talent and his producers great skills.? Undoubtedly!…… And the performances are a captured production which sound like a ‘live’ performance as producers in the 60s tried to get the studio ‘presence’ into the final sound. This collection is I believe long overdue whether a record company chooses to do it or not. But one CD will only accommodate so much and there would be many who would argue for a second CD covering the next 5 years of his 1970s career. My argument would be that his voice was at its best over this period and the quality of songs give this set a diverse but always entertaining mood.
Finding the best masters and compiling a balanced sound from such a variety of mastering sources has not been easy but has proved to be a surprisingly fun search With the help of our sound engineering advisor we targeted the full dynamic range that would have been achieved with a vinyl project based on the ‘Pleasurize Music Foundation’ recommendations. I’ll develop a more ‘in depth’ description of these tracks as ‘gold’ performances and their best mastered sources in a future blog. But for now consider the listing. The final mixes will be something to enjoy. If a record company is prepared to commercially achieve a better result, we will let you know…….. otherwise…. watch this space.
Casey Chameleon.
Frankie Valli ‘Solo’ GOLD – The 2012 Re-Masters
1 1965 The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore) #128
2 This Is Goodbye
3 (You’re Gonna) Hurt Yourself #39 (#38 in Record World)
4 1966 You’re Ready Now #112 (#93 in Cash Box) (#11 in Britain in 1970)
5 Cry For Me
6 The Proud One #68
7 Ivy
8 1967 Can’t Take My Eyes Off You #2 (#1 in Cash Box for 2 weeks in a 3 wk period)
9 The Trouble With Me
10 I Make a Fool of Myself #18
11 To Give (The Reason I Live) #29 (#17 in Cash Box)
12 Watch Where You Walk
13 1969 A Face Without A Name
14 The Girl I’ll Never Know (Angels Never Fly This Low) #52 (#23 in Record World)
15 1970 Dream Of Kings
16 1972 Love Isn’t Here (Like It Used To Be)
17 1973 Inside You
18 Listen To Yesterday
19 1974 My Eyes Adored You #1 (1 week)
20 1975 Swearin’ to God #6
21 Our Day Will Come #11
22 1976 Fallen Angel #36 (#11 in Britain)
Casey Chameleon
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