The button badge is from 1976 and the hey-day of the UK fan club when we would have raved about finding 'unreleased' Frankie Valli/4 Seasons tracks but amazingly another one has turned up from an unexpected period. The song discovered this year [2017]we now think dates back to Autumn 1961 and the sessions that resulted in 'I Am All Alone/Trance' -Topix 45 6002 released in October 1961. This is before the first appearance of the group as The Four Seasons in December 1961[Bermuda/Spanish Lace- GONE 112] More re those sessions in the future.
We believe it may be from the 'between labels' period when the group were in dispute with Vee-Jay. It appears that after their mid 1962 preparations for the Copa cabaret show they didn't go into the studio again except as back-up singers until they recorded 'Dawn' at the Atlantic Studios prior to signing with Philips in late 1963. They did work on several projects with other artists including the 4-Evers on 'Be My Girl' with Al Kasha producer and it has been suggested this may be from that period/sessions. But finding another version by the Four Lovers last week was a shock. I've asked Casey to carefully restore that version too and we'll share that in due course. This is a much more refined arrangement than the 4 Lovers version and is listed under Bob Gaudio's BMI listing as 'Like You'[Composition 100].
But to find this version after so long is truly the discovery of the year. Our 'music detectives' are always searching through old cassettes and looking for demo's and acetates and when this surfaced we wondered when it was recorded. Further research hasn't confirmed definitive information or it's source. Our continued investment in technology and sound editing software[and our buddy Casey]have enabled the recovery and sharing of this nice song and performance. He told me 'We owe much of the pre-Four Seasons history on CD to Stefan Wriedt who collected and re-mastered many of the earliest Frankie Valli recordings on The Fantastic FIRST YEARS CD on Sparkletone. He taught me how to re-master old vinyl dubbed in Wavelab and as collectors we owe him so much for preserving those early recordings from 1953 to 1961. His legacy is the on-going emergence of tracks like this we are able to restore and share”
For now let's celebrate another great find....and although it is unlikely much else survives from this period we do have some interesting acetates and 'live' material coming up to share with members of our facebook group as we assemble 'More UK 'Best' Un-released and 'Live' Tracks' by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
Ken Charmer
Recent Comments