Perhaps the most collectible vinyl album of this decade for Four Seasons fans is 'Genuine Imitation Life Gazette' [GILG] and definitely their 'cult' album being so different in style and sound at the time to anything heard from them before. And it included album artwork that was at that time totally original and unique.
It's concept for the group and Philips was a huge gamble but after the Beatles had turned album making on it's head with Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band, Bob Gaudio convinced the group and Philips they had to try something new. It has always been an anomaly to me that on 'Saturday's Father' the closing segment features the group in classic harmony as they had always shown since 1962, and yet apart from a Four Freshman style 'Idaho' later on the album the sound of the group is completely new. They could never escape the 'harmony' sound of Frankie's voice blended with the group. And they never truly did, notwithstanding the 1970s revival.[c/f 'Harmony' in 1976 on the 'WHO LOVES YOU album]
We tell the background to the inspiration, recording and release of the GILG album in the Box Set Collectors Notes but when the initial research of the FSP Tape storage revealed a MONO mix of the album, Snapper immediately decided to make this a vinyl insert and reproduce all of the album artwork and inserts.
Then the concept of two CD Discs for this album emerged and it meant that a number of tracks from MONO and STEREO sources from this period that we wanted to include could be accommodated. We have therefore picked up outstanding tracks from the mid to later 60s as BONUS Tracks.
As well as the MONO mix of the album which is previously unreleased we have included the two instrumentals from 1965, 'Sassy' and 'Night Hawk' plus 8 other MONO versions including the Wonder Who 45 versions and the 'non-album' versions of 'I've Got You Under My Skin' and 'Electric Stories' as the BONUS Tracks are focused on an all MONO Disc.
One other BONUS is the long known track recorded as a DEMO. 'Michael and Peter' was prepared for Frank Sinatra's 'Watertown' album sessions by Bob Gaudio. It features writer Jake Holmes on the intro then Frankie Valli's wonderful interpretation.
The second Disc features the STEREO album with 6 BONUS tracks of hard to find STEREO versions of single releases including the long lost 'Tell It To The Rain' which is the same TAKE as the 45 version. It was surprisingly found on the 25th Anniversary Reel for the 1988 'vinyl' release. 'Raven' is also featured in STEREO and this has only ever appeared on the Rhino 1990 Rarities CD. Four Takes in STEREO were discovered from the session tapes late in April 2021 during our final search. An alternative version will also feature on a later Disc.
Overall these are two exceptional Discs in the Box Set covering an eclectic album and superb BONUS Tracks from the mid to late sixties.
Whilst a critically acclaimed album it was not accepted by fans and was a commercial failure which was a huge blow for Bob Gaudio personally and would almost destroy the group as Philips now had lost faith in them and saw a lost fan base and also the group [particularly Bob Gaudio] saw no return was possible to the old sound. 'Raven' was their last return to that formula. How to go on in 1969 with a new sound was immense as was the debt Tommy DeVito had incurred for them.?
The remaining time at Philips was virtually unknown to many fans back then as the music industry had moved on to 'rock' and 'soul' and these sounds dominated the charts and the Four Seasons would get very little promotion and would become an 'oldies' sound.
These Discs comprise.....
DISC 16 THE GENUINE IMITATION LIFE GAZETTE – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MONO[PLUS Album tracks only VINYL INSERT]
DISC 17 THE GENUINE IMITATION LIFE GAZETTE – STEREO
Philips PHS600290 No. 85 [1/69]
The Discs include a total of 17 BONUS Tracks, one of which is 'previously unreleased' [plus the MONO mix of the album on vinyl and CD]
In our next bog we scrape the barrel of the FSP Archive for this 'end of the 60s' period finding SOME of the lost classics that Philips paper records show were completed but never released and a wonderful unheard Crewe-Gaudio song.
Ken Charmer – August 2021
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