That 'Four Seasons' Sound

New CD Release Will Please Four Seasons Collectors

I’ve been thinking for a long time how the collecting hobby of Four Seasons sounds was pretty exhausted and that with the passing of older fans that interest in their music and sound will ‘fall of the cliff’ as no-one younger seems to coming forward with interest and technical skill to carry on the research that we have been doing for the last 40 plus years. Keeping the sounds of harmony alive today and into future. How refreshing it was therefore to get the chance to speak with Kyler Schwartz in Philadelphia.

 

Kyler  is a 23 year old avid 60s vinyl collector who is part of the Teensville Records team ‘bringing 60s rarities to the world’. I was sent for review one of their latest project releases on CD…… ‘A Sound For All (Four) Seasons –A selection of Jersey Harmony Sound-Alikes 1963 – 1967’. It’s a 32 track collection of Four Seasons imitators and contains many sides not heard before by even the most avid of Four Seasons collectors.

 

And the sound quality is excellent with tracks scoring generally DR10/11 on the Dynamic Range meter with RMS at or around -11 db loudness making it the best sounding set of such tracks since the ACE Laurie Sixties Vocal Groups CDCHD 346. The re-masters of even the well known tracks is an essential listen for any collector

 

The interview runs 25 mins and features clips from some of the tracks discussed and some of the rarer sounds. I can’t speak too highly of this set , if you  like Four Seasons sounds and harmony groups generally. It’s a truly great set of rarities.

 

 You can hear our interview  here.

 

Contact Teensville Records here

 

Ken Charmer

Two Historic Performances

After the disapointment of Jersey Boys – The movie and Casey's review of the (mainly) UK press I found a big lift and reminder what being a Four Seasons fan is all about. My long-time friend from New Jersey(we became pen pals in 1976 when I joined the UK/US fan clubs) sent me this video featuring two of my favourite members of the group. It reminded me what a great 'LIVE' group they were and getting the chance to hear Gerry sing the lead on 'December 63' once again was magic.

 And then along came the 4^th of July and Frankie Valli's performance in Washington to celebrate with the nation. It is interesting to see 2 such different Four Seasons bands present the music that they have entertained us with over the years. 

Back in 1976 if someone had suggested these two alternate venue's to them or us we would probably have dismissed it as impossible.....but they remain top entertainers.

Ken Charmer

Harmony, Perfect Harmony?

Beach Boys and Four Seasons die-hard fans have one thing in common. They are distrustful of re-launches, farewell tours and new albums

We all remember Frankie Valli’s hugely disappointing (at least to this writer) ‘Romancing The 60s’ CD – his last album in 2007 – and Beach Boys Fans will remember the drum machine laced ‘Summer In Paradise’(1992) - A critical and commercial failure, the album's release reportedly caused independent distributor Navarre to become bankrupt. Both these albums relied heavily on computer aided production

So anyone can be forgiven for looking at the the Beach Boys 50^th Anniversary and Frankie Valli’s forthcoming UK Tour (celebrating 50 years since ‘Sherry’ was released) with a degree of cynicism.

Are these a last piece of money-grabbing before retirement and ‘passing’(the Beach Boys Tour is set to bring in around $45m) or a creative gesture to equally ageing and loyal fans, to say….”Thank You” – whilst being a final celebration of the 60s harmony group sound.

 

As The Guardian’s review of the Beach Boys latest studio album ‘That’s Why God Made The Radio’ says……. “It's easy to be sceptical about the Beach Boys' reunion. Indeed, if you look at the messageboards, diehard fans seem the most distrustful of the lot, which figures: for all the warmth and open-heartedness of the band's best music, if there's one thing being a Beach Boys fan teaches you, it's scepticism. There are only so many times you can be told Brian Wilson has been restored to full physical and mental health, the better to make himself and a lot of other people a great deal of money, before you develop what the Clash called a "bullshit detector", and Beach Boys fans have been told that on a regular basis – and with a great deal of evidence to the contrary – for the last 36 years”

Now why does it seem the same for Four Seasons fans? And how should we react to both these major 2012 events? After all as John Carucci says in his review, “There's a fine line between recreating your timeless signature sound and becoming a nostalgia act for your own music”

But listening to the sounds once again created like in the mid 60s it appears that the Beach Boys have a clear message with their album offering fond recollections of those halcyon days (with it seems some good reviews)

How Brian Wilson found the creativity that almost re-connects today’s production with the awesome ‘Pet Sounds’ is amazing. We hear the familiar cascading harmonies flow like the surf their vocals relate us too in a tribute that shows their creativity , experience and the quality of today’s sound  production team. The highlight is clear as the LA Times notes….” The conclusion of a theme teased at the album's start with a Wilson-penned instrumental, “Think About the Days,” the final nine minutes of “Radio,” divided into the songs “From There to Back Again,” “Pacific Coast Highway” and “Summer's Gone,” are as exquisitely rendered as anything in the group's catalog. That they also feel like a perfect career-ending benediction certainly adds to the album's weight, but even had the recordings been created at the band's 1966 prime, they would be a vital piece of the Beach Boys' legacy. “

So as we welcome Frankie Valli we will (we hope) be able to rely on his production team (led by Robbie Robinson) to allow us to celebrate his age and reflect(not sadly I must stress) on past times and sounds.

One thing diehard 60s group fans share is a compulsive identity with the groups sound – then: not now – and whether we love The Platters, The Drifters or The Tokens, we have all sought to freeze it – bottle it – and have it carry on: which is of course impossible.

Maybe what this Beach Boys album offers is the best we can expect. Somehow – almost chillingly – it captures the spiritual hook that we all have for the warm sounds of the 60s. As one reviewer says…” They may not have played their own instruments on their latest album as originally promised (except for some inspired riffage from David Marks), but they still feel like a true band. And while That’s Why God Made The Radio may not be in the same league as SMiLE or Pet Sounds, it’s an immensely satisfying and interesting outing from a group long thought to have transformed into a living jukebox”

Of course Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio can’t match this. We wouldn’t want them to try…..’Hope and Glory’ (1992) is a reminder of what can happen with too much technology. BUT they could pay respect to the harmony sound they helped pioneer in two ways.

• Review all of their and Universal Motown’s unreleased archive to recover and promote a celebration package of their past catalogue(as Wilson and the remaining Beach Boys did so brilliantly with the ‘SMILE’ sessions re-issue)
• Find young artists to promote and perform the harmony sound they ‘borrowed’ from doo-wop. This would give new life to the sounds around when they formed The Four Seasons.

Harmony shouldn’t die when we and the creators of those 60s gems pass away. This new Beach Boys album may dwell on ageing but it is about celebrating the ‘sound’ and it shows the time is right to fight to preserve it.

If Valli and Gaudio cared as passionately about the music as we do – and , it would now appear, do the Beach Boys – then they know how to convince us. After all we have had 35 years of false promises since they said they would be launching The NEW Four Seasons back in 1978. Still we do have The Hit Men . Now they do care about music and the fans.

Ken Charmer

Hear five songs from the new Beach Boys album here