It started in 1997 with this track…...and it isn’t going away.
Back in 2009 I observed in one of my blogs re The Four Seasons catalogue…….”To truly enjoy the music you need good masters and after over 160 plus re-issues [on CD] of the original vinyl material since 1987, it seems that the Partnership may have literally ‘lost’ their masters……to us!!
One record company executive candidly said."We didn't understand what the unexpected consequences of moving into the digital domain [CDs]would be. We thought we were doing this great thing of improving the sound and being able to make perfect copies and all that, and we just did not understand that we had crossed a line that meant we could never go backward. That's the realization that is finally dawning on the record companies --- there's no turning back. As long as we were in the analog domain, we had an advantage in the marketplace, but now we don't. As soon as we made it possible for things to be transmitted over the Internet and for copies to be pretty good or perfect, we could never go back."
So consider that maybe they have given us the masters by the multitude of releases on CD. All we have to do is identify the best mixes and you can gather them. The Four Seasons Sound Archive is perhaps how we (the fans) will take control of the music. The CD evaluations we have started will enable any of us to identify the best ‘masters’ on CD and to build our own ‘best of’ collections from past releases..
So I asked…….is there a genuine ‘master’ of the Four Seasons recordings?…
“Perhaps the best we can hope for is to see if amongst the vinyl and CD versions of the Seasons tracks we can find ‘the illusion’ that Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio tried to create.?”
In the last 2 years I and others have shown what is possible with new technology .
The centered vocals being created today with AI are as originally intended recordings [the ‘Dawn’ centered STEREO mixes from 1964] and as Bob Crewe might have done them if given the technology of today but…One commentator said back in the 1990s…...“A recording is nothing until it is decoded and what it decodes is an illusion.””. This is no illusion. PURE SEASONS……….PURE STEREO. I created this with AI and it it sounds great to me!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pJI1N1fRms
Well since the 1980s I believe I have found the best surviving masters in much of the catalogue of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons ……..from the beginning of their CD album releases and clearly now from the latest release of the Snapper Music Box Set…….But in that Box Set those 1960s tape transfers for the CD’s have not been found to be good on Dynamic Range to me and are not preserved by Snapper as they should have been [and therefore the FSP] in good clear sound. The 1990s transfers are better!!!!!
But what we have had on CD from 1967 on in the Snapper Box Set in the original 16 and 24 track Tapes [surviving as ‘Safety Copies’] is very good as I have sound reviewed all of it. And the BONUS TRACKS many of which we supplied from vinyl and cassette tape have been well salvaged.
Record Companies today know we now own the Masters given all of the CD releases of the CD era from 1987 to around 2010, [having paid for them over and over again] and today in the Snapper Box Set we have all of the hundreds of Bonus Tracks. For fans using the internet as a network there are a large number of ‘file sharing’ web sites that seem to allow for music to be seen as ‘free’ amongst ‘friends’ and many unheard and unreleased tracks have been gifted to me and others by fans who can share very easily. For me they have enabled me to build and add to the DIGITAL MASTERS ARCHIVE….thanks to today’s technology. social media and You Tube.
But most music listeners love to collect music and will still pay for a CD if the content and related support information involves top quality research re sessions and recordings and new ‘previously unreleased’ or rare recordings. And the easiest ways to collect Masters by me [or any] fans is on Solid State Discs[SSD] or CD’s and those of us who have bought the ‘massive’ Snapper Box Set know how much fun that set is with great design and great artwork/pic sleeves and memorabilia images…….and so easily stored if transferred on to SSD.
This You Tube video makes the case as to why the CD REVIVAL is inevitable. This is part of the reason. Previously never surviving in STEREO...until now.
These examples show there is a market for CDs from teens to older fans. Either second hand from the 80s and 90s or new releases. This makes it surprising that no follow up releases are being planned or considered by the FSP or Record Companies from the Snapper Box Set in this CD format but as cheaper ‘collectibles’. Not many people will buy vinyl at the ridiculous prices being charged. CD’s are so cheap to produce…...they just need the research notes and quality packaging.
Firstly ‘Social media’ provides for ‘the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.’
By focusing the interest of really dedicated Frankie Valli/Four Seasons fan collectors I believe we are creating not just a focus group but a range of collectors in all age groups…...and the key is the link to the biggest music listening service in the World – You Tube. So as someone interested in master tracks and sound quality I am focusing away from other FB fan groups of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons and staying as the Four Seasons Motown Unreleased and Rare Tracks public group. A specialist group wanting to hear and enjoy all variations of the groups work over the decades. That is what the Snapper Box Set was about…..every decade and the delving down into the Archives.
I am simply reducing the dilution of general multiple fandom sites to focus on the most knowledgeable/interested readers and collector listeners of the music, who use it every day for their personal well being through their playlists and CD players. Yes we all love many other groups and artists but in the decades of music we as fans or collectors know…..The era of LIVE concerts are gone for Frankie Valli [whilst great for the likes of Taylor Swift or Oasis!!] and it is just about what we have…...on CD or in digital collections that help hold our mental health together.
To me it is as simple as that and whatever the key songs are, for you individually, or the times in your life when ‘the music got you through’…..we are all still here….Alive and Listening…..and everything I found in the Snapper Project research is a gem that I thought YOU might love as Bob Fisher and I did…….every decade since ‘Sherry’ was important in that compilation - It was apparent to me through to Disc 37 [when Bob and Frankie arguably ‘lost their way’]…….It was the late 1990s by then and the focus was shifting and no new music and only the Dance Remixes had held any music buyers attention by 1994/5……..so they moved on and created Jersey Boys ….once again by luck and timing [as Bob Gaudio has often stated]…...and a way of tapping in to our ‘conscious and subconscious’ memories of younger days……. A reconnection through a drama laced with many fave songs…….lots of fiction and into a huge ‘money-making’ project. More than ever before for the songwriters writers and original artist [i.e.Frankie Valli]. It was so big that the FSP could largely ignore the original fan base[and the unreleased tracks being uncovered]……..until a chance came to re-vive the fading income [from future ‘Gens’] after the stage shows closed….via a ‘legacy’ Collection Box Set…..re-selling the hits……..but then the FSP had to deliver something EXTRA….it was POST Jersey Boys and we had a chance to influence that. And we did.
That was when we in the fan base got lucky and got our chance. Maybe at a steep price for the final product for the primary collectors, but it came with ‘control’. At the end of the day and despite Covid delays…...we got 830+ tracks approved and issued with over 270 rare or previously unreleased. The UK Fan Group (network) contributed 82 of these alone. The FSP may think they OWN the ‘Catalogue’ but we achieved one thing and we have it…..and a lot more. Over 250 tracks we otherwise wouldn’t have. And there are at least 80 more tracks in our OUT-TAKES Folders.
Snapper knew that the gems in the set would be quickly shared as a result of Cloud sharing sites like WeTransfer and You Tube...so a high price and a low break even became the target for Snapper Music. That is my opinion of their approach.
But in accepting a major role in supporting the project, we [the fans] got what we wanted. Whilst we can’t get any more from the FSP and Universal Motown [at the moment] we can hold and use and share what we have wanted since the 1970s…….from the days of sharing cassette tapes of little known 45s…...we have it all digitally and can share and enjoy all of it.
Today I have called for the voices of the dedicated collectors [and ‘enjoyers’ of Frankie Valli’s vocal] to focus on the one FB group . I want this group to write about their true feelings about tracks and performances that have shaped our lives and the ‘Rare and Unreleased’ we have uncovered as never before. There are still tracks to be salvaged and released in well packaged CD mini box sets. Here are some examples we want…’The Early Years RARITIES and LIVE Tracks’….’The MONO 45s 1961-1970’....’I’m Gonna Change’ – The End of the Philips Era….‘…...plus ‘The Motown Sessions 1971 to 1973’…..all in high Dynamic Range Mastering.
We are seeing bootleg releases of TV show performances appearing as CD releases at the moment.
The CD revival will come via all of the above reasons if sellers will ‘package’ the media for the interest on social media with great collectors notes and artwork, label scans, session and recording data as well as alternative takes. Robust cardboard and plastic packaging will replace the old ‘crystal’ cases and the collection will be like a ‘Book’ that you consume as you listen.
For Four Seasons fans who really love this music …and bought the Snapper BOX SET...you have it all ‘plus’ the NEW MIXES[as much as could be found in the project timescale]…if you could afford up to $440 !!!!….but for those many who cannot afford that and have had to rely on You Tube there are uploads to hear the Bonus Tracks not previously available.....the ‘Out-Takes’ have been and are coming. There is much to celebrate….and hear. But eventually a distributor will come up with a package and price that suits the fans we all are ….BUT ON CD.
Thanks to the advent of CD we are in control of the WHOLE catalogue…as I started with…....but that format is NOT OVER. Well [we need what Bob Gaudio held back from his own and the Motown Tapes]more than 85% of it is there if you could afford the Snapper Set. But there is more with Bob Gaudio. Frankie Valli and Motown Universal and essential historic research to be done both in the FSP storage and the Motown vaults.
What we need now is mixed packages that tell stories with unreleased and missed opportunities and alternative released versions. The FSP and the Record Companies know I am right and cannot make any more money out of us unless they listen and design with us what we want and need and we will pay a reasonable amount especially if designed with us and our Facebook and You Tube subscribers. Rhino and the FSP may have ‘streaming’….but those with any sense…..already have the ‘music files’. Are the earnings from streaming enough for Rhino and the FSP? But it is past “being about ‘the money’…….it is THE LEGACY”…...There may not be many of us but we can be united around what has been achieved and get someone to realise that a CD revival is possible.
Ken Charmer – Sound Engineer and Music Historian/Curator
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