How did it all begin and now - why are we still waiting for more?

It fell to Oliver Twist to say “Please, sir, I want some more.” And I have asked and asked but with no response regarding the Motown UNRELEASED tracks from Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli[The Four Seasons Partnership - FSP].

 

I have in the 4 Seasons on Saturday Podcasts told the story of the ‘path’ to the 13 Motown Unreleased Tracks[plus 8 Bonus alternative versions] in the Snapper Music Box Set of the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons Anthology. However I wanted to put on written record what Paul Nixon and I had tried to do over two decades ago, particularly now after the passing of Keith Hughes who also helped so much in gathering accurate research data to locate Motown tracks and help get as many ‘unreleased’ tracks as possible found[another ‘whistleblower’]. As of today’s date we have only achieved issue of less than half of the listed ‘unreleased’ Motown songs identified in paper records, and there are many alternative versions of released session tracks we believe could also be found and shared.

 

Since the Box Set release I have been asked lots of questions re the past and why only 13 previously unreleased tracks were ‘approved’ for release?. The answer is not one that fans generally want to hear but is a ‘reality’ of the FSP for decades. I just can’t tell you ‘why’.?

 

As a sound engineer and catalogue ‘curator’ since the start of the 21^st century I have been gifted with details from anonymous sources[former company people with one being a ‘whistleblower’ in 2000] re the internal paper records at Universal which have survived since the early 1970s re Frankie and the groups recordings. For this Tape List to exist it means someone must have listened to a tape since it’s recording or pulled together data that was recorded during the decades since as the Master 16 and 24 P [Production] track tapes and/or the T [Safety/Evaluation] Tapes in storage. So any checks of those tapes should have been thorough when ‘pulled’ from the Iron Mountain Storage. I cannot say with any confidence that this was done as information re the Snapper Music Tape review at Universal Vault Services is limited to a few e-mails when Covid had delayed the research process. Many questions remain and no-one is listening or opening up on the subject. That is the reality in 2024.

 

It was back in 2002 when Paul Nixon and I first felt that there might be enough Motown tracks that survived and were listed in a TAPE INDEX of P referenced tapes which listed the songs we knew had been released between 1972 and 1975 on albums and 45s and what hadn’t. At the time we did not know the significance of the 40+ listed tracks of which we knew nothing….they were all ‘unreleased’.[and Motown interns had confirmed over 40 were ‘probably completed’….if they still existed and the tapes could be found?] Further backtracking revealed a fan Press Release TCB Motown monthly Newsletter in January 1972. As a promotional piece on the Four Seasons at Motown it stated “The group has already finished recording an album with 15 tracks in all being cut at the Mowest studios in Los Angeles. It is thought that a single will be taken from these sessions. “ It went on to list the 15 tracks of which 50% remained unreleased by the start of the Snapper Music Project and several remain unheard still. Although Peter Bennett had maintained that such vocals by Frankie Valli were either ‘scratch’ or even ‘guide’ vocals we can see that many were not. As Wikipedia says “A scratch vocal is a vocal performance that a singer records to provide a reference track that music producers and audio engineers can use as they craft other pieces of the recorded song. Most of the time, the singer of a scratch vocal ultimately re-records the vocal performance after production is complete. A ‘guide’ vocal[or ‘working vocal] is a vocal performance that a singer records to provide a reference track for another singer or singers who will be performing or recording the song”. Only by listening to the tapes can anyone decide on the original intention.

 

I have always believed in transparency re my research and no-one fully knows what went on with any unreleased tracks between 1971 and 74 on Frankie and the group at MoWest and Motown. I am also aware this was a very long time ago. However as a researcher and a writer I have for many years collated the session information into my still relevant spreadsheet and this may be of benefit to future collectors. I feel the time is appropriate to tell my story in written form and to address questions, which will focus on what I know re the roles of Universal Music and Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli, as the Four Seasons Partnership, in the Snapper Project. I am aware that the period of these recordings was a very difficult one in the personal lives of both Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli and Bob has always said “it is sometimes difficult to revisit the past”. But as the Snapper Project was such a major product and a $700,000 potential income stream so ‘everyone’ in the ‘business’ signed up to it and the Motown Unreleased were the integral part.

 

‘Openness’ we believed was simply a part of the collaboration. Bob Fisher and I with Ian Crocket at Snapper worked that way re the FSP Storage with Bill Inglot but there was no arrangement with Universal and only Ian Crocket managed those communications. That was OK with Bob and I, we assumed, that we would be involved at some stage. We were always clear that it is Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli’s right to approve music[or not] in the set. The first problem nearly ‘killed’ the project as Bob Gaudio did not want to include the Bachelors III concert from 1974[a period when they were still at Motown Records – [although in the throes of leaving! - and provided by John Paiva on a cassette done by the soundboard mixing engineer]. Bob Gaudio eventually agreed to its importance and inclusion with some ‘edits’. But it was not a promising start.

 

Paul Nixon and I recently reviewed the path[our musical research journey?] to where we are today and below is a summary of the milestone events as I experienced them so you [the fans] know the route to the project and my role and efforts. In a world of so much conflict and disharmony it is amongst the ‘least important’ things in life, but depending on your view certainly an intriguing path.

 

• Around 2000 I received a Tape Index of around 30 tapes with track listings with over 40 tracks that appeared unreleased. What we had listed also coincided with a separate track listing via Mick Wilding of a separate Motown Yahoo e-mail group from a Motown ‘insider’. In 2002 Harry Weinger[HW] managing Vault Services at the time [following an enquiry from CD compiler/producer Paul Nixon] asked internally for a check re what existed?. Harry talked about speaking to Bob Gaudio re these tapes but we heard nothing back. However Bob Gaudio in a 2002 interview with our fan club rep Stuart Miller, spoke of a telephone conversation with Harry and at the time Bob did not seem averse to a project of unreleased tracks if completed or of adequate quality….depending on the ‘state’ of what was left. Paul noted in 2003….”I have talked to HW about this and he is now happy for us to pursue a Four Seasons at Motown anthology having spoken to Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio about it. I have a proposed tracklist but the UK branch of the 4 Seasons Appreciation Society are dead keen to make this as good as we can get it. Their suggestion is that HW pulls all the material from the vaults, transfer them to CDREF even roughly so that we could make a more informed choice of what to include. This would be the way to do all these tracks but I’m not sure that HW would either agree to it or have the time or the budget to do such a thing so we may just have to continue the old route”. But nothing transpired and by 2004 the development of the Jersey Boys stage play was becoming a reality. Such an ‘alternative’ project to that with our involvement seemed too expensive perhaps, and a distraction with the ‘Jersey Boys’ stage play priorities for all parties.

• But I never gave up and with the success of the Cellarful Of Motown ‘Unreleased’ 1960s CD releases which Paul ‘produced’, by 2007, he and I researched a potential Four Seasons Motown UK release based on the tape index and listing from the 1971 Newsletter from Motown which confirmed tracks ‘completed’. Of these tracks 50% remained unheard and by then we were sure they were on the Tapes listed as P Tapes which were the actual session tapes of all of the recordings the group did at Motown in either 16 track or 24 track. But when Peter Bennett [ FS Partnership Lawyer] heard of this he stopped it dead. Even though Paul Nixon had researched the vaults list………..Bennett scotched any hope of this quoting that there were ……”various concerns Bob and Frankie had about this reported 2-CD release, including some basic problems as to whether Motown still retains the right to the previously released masters and the basis upon which they would now assert the right to what were nothing more than demo vocal tracks by Frankie on musical tracks cut for other Motown artists for which Frankie was never paid and never approved for commercial release. Many of these "works"or "demo" tracks were not even in the proper key and they were never intended for commercial re- lease and would be embarrassing and harmful to Frankie if released at this time. I know this will not make you or other members of the fan club happy…..” And he closed by saying……”These are indeed exciting times for Frankie and Bob.[re Jersey Boys ed] They appreciate all the past support of their small but vocal and effective fan clubs and hope that support will continue. But you must trust that they have a definite business plan in mind to best promote Frankie's career, both as a concert performer and recording artist.” Harry Weinger spoke to Bob Gaudio and agreed to release the Motown ‘Anthology’ [released tracks – ie 22 of 68 listed in the tape index] and an original CD release of current recordings by Frankie Valli ‘Romancing the 60s’ in 2008. Bob Gaudio stated that NO completed tracks remained in the vaults…. and.. Harry Weinger said of the release………” As for unreleased tracks, there may be some tracks which were worked up, or tracks voiced by FV for demo purposes, but in no way were they slated for, or finished for, release. I respect that.”

Harry was correct. Motown had not ‘slated’ any of the tracks for release even though some were worthy of single release. And as for them being complete, well we now know that is stretching the truth. Misinformation? BUT in May 1974 two tapes had been compiled [P5084/5] of Final MIXED STEREO tracks for a potential album release by Motown in an attempt to keep the group. Bob Gaudio and Frankie both knew this at the time but must have ‘forgotten’. Then when the INSIDE YOU album was released after they had joined both Private Stock and Warner-Curb Bob Gaudio was rightly ‘annoyed’ that some were NOT the mixes he had completed with Bob Gaudio….but Russ Terrana’s ‘overdubbed’ versions of ‘inside You’ and ‘With My Eyes Wide Open’.

Fans had to accept in 2008 the Universal/FSP ‘playbook’ at that time although some have said since that this can now be seen as ‘disingenuous’ back then and for many years since.

• In 2010 I received a tape of 4 unreleased songs from Bob Crewe acetate ‘dubs’ that showed unreleased tracks existed. I put these on You Tube. It was total proof that they were completed recordings…..but did they still exist.? As Harry Weinger has said with Motown tapes ‘you never know with Motown Tapes, what is really there, until you play them’. But what was left behind where not incomplete tracks and demos. Some maybe, but Crewe and Gaudio were perfectionists and would not have left good work incomplete. Now we can prove this and re-examine the early and late 1973 sessions. Bob Crewe was back after an album for the late great Bobby Darin. Crewe and Gaudio started to write together in the studio after a more than 2 year break while Bob was in ‘rehab’[we are told]. But they could work together again and at the start of 1973 they did, with the superb results which are now clear in the Snapper Box Set Discs 20 to 22 .Bob Crewe was writing at his best again as 'Listen To Yesterday','Inside You' and ‘With My Eyes Wide Open’ demonstrate…….and we have found ‘alternate versions/mixes’ which show how they could produce together.[not the Russ Terrana mixed ‘Inside You’ overdubbed 1975 mixes].

 

After an album release MW788 was cancelled in August 1973, the Bob Crewe sessions of tracks for a new album in late 1973 were a re-convening of the old elements from the 60s to attempt to re-create success. Nick Massi returned to add to the vocals. Charles Calello returned to write the arrangements and Crewe went further to show Motown what he could do as he pulled sessions together in November 1973. The other new ‘Four Seasons’ group members were young and accomplished performers like Gerry Polci and Lee Shapiro. Lee then a musical novice straight from college recalls the sessions….. “Yes, I was on those fall 1973 sessions and I remember the songs. Nick Massi was our vocal coach on the sessions for Hickory and Charisma. He taught us all our vocal parts. He was an amazing vocal arranger. Bob Gaudio wasn’t there. These were ‘classic’ Crewe’s sessions. They were all completed sessions and we signed contracts, so any stories that the sessions were not completed is misinformation. I was only 20 and I was stunned at Bob Crewe’s aura. He was the most animated, in control, producer I had ever seen. And being at Media Sound, where every hit I knew had been made was overpowering. Valli’s voice was amazing and he was a unique vocal talent. I'm almost sure Charlie Calello, my mentor, was the arranger. Bob Crewe actually stood on the console during the playback, jubilantly dancing to the track.(on Hickory I think) He fostered a modus operandi that every track should sound like a hit. When he was in the room, everything did seem like it was a hit. He turned the analogue knobs up and boogie’d away. These tracks you have found are all from those sessions”

'My Eyes Adored You' would be the only track which eventually emerged and with Bob Crewe with a new writing partner from 'The 11th Hour' Kenny Nolan. There were stunning lyrics emerging [that we can now enjoy] like that and the previously unheard songs 'Hymn To Her’ and ‘Lovers’. These were on the Acetates uncovered in 2011.

• I received in 2011 Artists Cards from 52 Universal microfiche records found by Keith Hughes that perfectly aligned with all of the information in the Tape Index from 10 years earlier. It indicated the P Tapes and T Tapes listed as well with ‘Stereo Mix downs’[SMX] done at the time for evaluation and the many ‘Takes’ completed on the session tapes that could accommodate up to 90 session recordings and mixes

• I wrote extensively in blogs to inform fans these tracks [probably still existed] until in 2016 I started a Facebook group…..’The Four Seasons Motown Unreleased Campaign’ in an attempt to persuade someone to ‘be honest’ re this period and correct the misinformation of the past…..Tracks were completed and not just DEMOS or left unfinished…..

  I maintained.

• In 2018 Snapper Music of London approached Lynn Boleyn and I to join a collaborative team on a 40+ CD set of the Partnership’s album catalogue with as many ‘unreleased’ tracks as we and they could find. When asked what was essential we both stated ‘The Motown Unreleased’. I was not ‘contracted’ to work on this project financially but supplied many unreleased tracks from decades of collecting from my personal ‘fan based’ collection over the decades for inclusion.

• Bob Fisher and I were to liaise and review music for inclusion as compilers.[All would be subject to approval by Bob Gaudio.]

• Universal signed up to the project and Snapper supplied the Tape Index to Andy Skurow in Vault Services. I had supplied Snapper with a Project Review Plan re the Motown Tapes and the Artists Cards. I reached out to Andy directly and via Paul Nixon and Snapper to ask him to collaborate and that I would help him but Andy did not reply. He may not have been able to due to Universal ‘protocols’ but CEO Harry Weinger could have enabled this if he had been involved at the time.

• In January 2019 we heard via Snapper that Andy had found 19 tracks with vocals on the Tape Box data listings and a potential 11 others as a ‘work in progress’, by him during Covid closures and restrictions. Universal did not share the Tape Box scans with Bob Fisher and I which we had asked to see. [ Bob Gaudio wanted STEREO Mix-downs and was reluctant to accept 16 track Masters for review and to do the work needed in mixing.] After discussions with Snapper who paid for transfers to Bob Gaudio, [it appears] we heard no more until 13 tracks were supplied to Snapper as the set of Unreleased Tracks to be included in the Box Set. I asked Snapper to enquire as to ‘why no more?’ but they were unwilling to ‘rock the boat’ with Bob Gaudio and the project proceeded with Bob Fisher and I spending some 2000 hours of combined research into the Partnership LA storage with transfers from Bill Inglot. We got no tracks for review from Universal. Paul Nixon and I both believe that the research of the multi-track tapes may have been somewhat ‘superficial’. A read of the Tape Box may indicate a vocal was laid down as well as the instrumentation. But Tape Box records at Motown are notoriously unreliable and the work in listening to hours and hours of tape will probably have been curtailed to known titles and easy mixing. And ‘alternate’ mixes were clearly not considered by Bob Gaudio, but which existed as can be heard from the many sides we found as ‘listening’ mix-downs in the FSP storage. They had been there since 1973. Only Bob Gaudio was supplied any Motown Tracks by Universal for a discussion on inclusion. So I have been unable to explain ‘why so few?’ were found and approved when I know this is less than 50% of what still exists [in many cases ‘listed’ as completed tracks with their location known]. The quality of what was approved confirms my original research and belief these tracks would be of superb quality, and you fans out there who have heard them have confirmed this too and are now asking for ‘the rest’. Unfortunately Bob Fisher is no longer with us and so it was left to me to continue to campaign for more research and feedback. I did this since 2019 including asking ‘what was found on the tapes from ‘listening tests’.’ But who listened to what and what was found?….. was not fully shared. That remains down to Universal and Bob and Frankie.

• A list of over 820 tracks had been prepared by Bob Fisher and I in 2020 for approval by Bob Gaudio and 29 tracks supplied to Bob Gaudio for listening purposes. He approved all but 4. I found 8 completed alternative ‘takes’ of the approved Motown list in the 1973 Partnership Archive tapes and these were added to CD 22 as there was no chance Bob Gaudio could be persuaded to approve more of the identified ‘unreleased’ titles?. No action was taken and at no time did I have any e-mail contact with Bob Gaudio’s PA, Bob himself or Andy Skurow. That was controlled by Snapper, Bob Gaudio and Universal and excluded Bob Fisher and I.

• Covid delayed the start of Mastering and unfortunately Bob Fisher passed away in October 2021, by which time we were very close friends, Bob was just ‘the best’. At least he got to enjoy the 13 approved tracks.

• Snapper Music basically ‘cast me adrift’ as they pulled the project back ‘in-house’ and after several delays I was contacted for comment re final drafts. In mid 2022. I identified errors and missing Masters, and as I had not been involved in the final mastering or QA process I declined to be listed as ‘Co-producer’……..and I asked to be listed as ‘Master Track Adviser’

 

The Box Set was released a year ago last June and still contained errors and with ‘missing/incorrect’ tracks. I broke off all communications with Snapper as a result but continued to ‘campaign’ for further research and future releases of unheard tracks. I do not want to be critical of anyone involved in the Snapper Project. It remains a great ‘Compilation’ and a tribute to Bob Fisher and I in our dedication. It has been a difficult experience to recount these events but necessary to share with you as my close network after so many decades. I am too old for any form of historical suppression of information. As a former project manager in my working life I know what true collaboration means and so did Bob Fisher.

 

So in social and podcast interviews I have been sharing my experiences and disappointment that things could[and should] have been better. But at the end of the day Bob Gaudio and Frankie have the final decision on any previously unreleased music[and will have in the future]. It is to them a commercial matter and not [as we as fans see it] a ‘curation’. But I have demonstrated THE TAPES EXIST AND ARE INTACT and I have now reached the last stages of my work to salvage all that I can around the Box Set ‘research’ and have completed the LIBRARY ARCHIVE of what should be preserved [Master Digital Tracks] for the pre and post ‘Sherry’ periods of Frankie Valli’s career[excluding material still held by Universal Motown and the FSP]. A ‘next generation’ set for fans[or perhaps inheritors of the FSP Estate ] who may choose to take on this LIBRARY of DIGITAL MASTERS. However they will have ‘commit to ‘collaboration’ and release and to tackle the FSP and Universal on ownership and release with more unheard music.

 

The issue of free speech re sharing my experiences as ‘Master Track Adviser’ on the Snapper Box Set can be difficult with negative voices within the music industry. I have been experiencing criticisms of my writing and of my/our analysis of the music over the decades which remains an issue. I remain the only fan involved who can speak about the process and results as I have done above.

 

Whilst I still seek to share ‘out-takes’ and ‘re-mixes’, the publication of copyright music on You Tube to share on a ‘fair use’ basis remains a real risk re what remains in the my Archive and the risk of channel ‘close-down’ is something of concern[whilst I can clearly claim compliance with the rules of ‘fair use’ explained here]

 

So as an academic study, and re-counting the misinformation and suppression documented above …..the questions remain…….Will Bob and Frankie or their successors take on this Motown research ‘in-depth’ or review the 200+ Tapes remaining in the LA Storage? Here is just one of the example ‘development tapes’ of ‘scratch vocals’ that has survived from the session tapes. Frankie actually ‘changing key’ before the result became obvious….stay in your ‘high key’ Frankie !

 

This tape is not ‘mine’ and clearly a rehearsal for the ‘Chameleon’ album [but still very interesting] The development session tracks like this may remain on the P and T tapes at Universal as described above. Are they of interest to fans and do they have a commercial value…?…..It is not like they are ‘The Beach Boys’ demos.!!!! Are they recordings [whilst effectively…..rehearsal ‘demos’] that Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli would deem below their ‘judged’ standard and may regard them as something that could tarnish their accomplishments as performer/producer. [as the late Peter Bennett maintained back in 2007] Probably based on past experience!

 

At this stage of life though, they may not even care. And who owns the copyright re unreleased tracks? They got 70 years copyright to so much previously unreleased material via our fan network for the Box Set. Is this material [or similar] in honesty ‘damaging’ to Bob and Frankie’s career and reputation?. Will anyone want to hear more?. Under UK law, copyright will run for 70 years from the date of first release/publication, (or 50 years from the year of recording if not released during the 50 years) If only we had them and could share them with you as all of the Motown unreleased are out of copyright in the UK. So what about the rest? Answers on a postcard to…….The FSP…..c/o….????

 

Do you note a sense of ‘cynicism’? Well of course …….but not anger…...just disappointment….. And other questions remain…...Does trust exist of a solution to fans requests? Are there too few fans to make a difference? Should I maintain any level of ‘Campaign’ ?. If not me who else.?……..Well I made a decision. Whilst ‘passionate’ that such music could lift your spirits, it needs 2 men(or maybe just one) to want them released….not me so I am stepping back. It is the fans fight with the FSP.

 

The ‘fair use’ You Tube outlet remains the only way to remind anyone of ….THE CASE FOR THEIR FREEDOM that I made in 2016 and that is still valid today IMHO as we move on. There is one man to blame for the failure of the Four Seasons to have the success whilst they were at MoWest and Motown and that is originally Berry Gordy. And this article demonstrates it, as does the link within the article to our Newsletter posts ‘The Four Seasons at Motown’. But since then it is down to the ‘executives’ of Motown Universal [i.e.Harry Weinger] and the FSP[Bob and Frankie]. More soon re how to bring the music to us all. It needs to be ‘freed’ from the vaults. And there is a way…..as I will show…...but illustrates just who needs to act.

 

Ken Charmer – Sound Engineer and Music Researcher