Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons have had many CD releases since the advent of the CD in the mid 1980s. So many licensing deals have been done that 'nobody' has a comprehensive assessment of the 'Best Masters'. Between 2007 and 2010 we started a mammoth review of what is available for 'Collectors' of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on CD, publishing our findings at the time in our CD Buyers Guide
Stefan Wriedt, a professional Sound Engineer based in German and our own Music Historian Casey Chameleon began the daunting task of compiling and reviewing as many as possible and published this listing[see link above]. In it we stated....”With so many commercial releases on CD since 1986 it is a problem finding the best quality copies and those rare versions of tracks. This listing is fairly comprehensive with over 160 CD’s listed but it is not a complete list. It is also a work in progress as we review and assess each release. With so many of these CD’s now only available on E-Bay or as ‘out of print/deleted’ copies which sometimes appear on CD supplier sites, fans need a guide. CD’s are rated as :-
EC= Essential Collectors Item
CU = Collectible for it's unique/alternativetracks
NV=No value to collectors”
The intention at that time was to support 'collectors'in finding the best Masters until a fully comprehensive set of NEW Masters was available through a catalogue review by the Four Seasons Partnership. [That has never happened]. We did highlight a few Essential Collectors titles and these can be found coded 'green' on our CD Discography pages.
But we never got to collect and review everything as the list was ever growing and at the time had over 160 CD's listed. Obtaining all copies of albums releases is of course cost prohibitive and the assessment tools[and ears not easily available] It is impossible to estimate if this is as much as 90% of releases given the world popularity of the group. Whatever we were able to gather was to be assessed.
BUT then we got side tracked into 'preserving the MONO 45 Masters'when news filtered through that the Partnership 'may not have the 45 Masters' in every case.' And MONO on CD was not the CD concept of the re-issue of past albums at that time, even though during the groups hey-day all mixing was targetted to create the BEST MONO Master for vinyl. But by 2012 we decided that this MONO sound must 'rule'for this 'career' period as the production and engineering standards at the time focused on that output for Radio and records. STEREO remained a novelty and today we can see the weaknesses in the STEREO engineering.[As with many 'pop' artists of the day eg Beatles, Beach Boys etc]
Even with the sad loss and passing of our key engineer Stefan in 2014 we completed [with great help from US collectors] that MONO project by 2016 for ALL the MONO Vee-Jay and Philips 45s now preserved as reference copies for future access in the UK Fan club Archive.
With news in early 2019 that Snapper Records are in contract talks for a NEW catalogue spanning LUXURY Box Set in 2020 we have been asked what the fans would want? That was easy. ALL the 60s albums in original MONO and STEREO versions with alternative versions and all 45 non-album tracks plus the 70s through to the 00's STEREO albums plus as much unreleased as can be found. And all re-mastered tracks to recommended standards as established by our 'Sound Tests Page'and current engineering standards.
Lots of people have committed to this project already [including the Four Seasons UK Appreciation Society] and Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli have been confirmed as fully supportive. The Majors in the form of Warners and Universal [as the Motown arm of UMe] and Curb Records are also expected to collaborate. The Music Industry has finally realised that comprehensive 'catalogue' is the product for future customers to find their 'niche' artists.
So MAYBE next year fans will get the chance should they are able to......to invest in this set.
We will be asking for the best quality RE-MASTERS and are advising Snapper Records re this. We are encouraged that our request for the best 2020 Engineered Quality Masters to be delivered is currently accepted.
With this in mind and to set a minimal standard reference we are reviewing past issues on CD to advise here what CD's stand up as 'Quality' Re-masters.......focusing on 'Essential Collectors' physical Masters. Whilst much of the catalogue is available on You Tube or as 'downloads' or on 'streaming' services we are going to the CD source as only a quality wav file [ie CD] can create a good compressed[mp3 or AIFF]. No research is available re the availability of 'lossless' versions [FLAC]. We've judged the STEREO image on a clock face basis with 9 and 3 being the extremes of left and right channels with 12 centre vocal. Instrumental detail and vocal harmony background sounds best when spread between 9 and 11 left and 3 and 1 right. Beware that many CD's are far left/far right mixes [9-Left and 3-Right] and sound dreadful on headphones. We have reviewed Peak Volume, Loudness[RMS] and Dynamic Range[DR] as well as STEREO image. But for both MONO and Stereo it is the clarity and ambience that can only be assessed by the subjective 'ear'
It is fair to say that there are significant imperfections in ALL the album sets on CD for the 1962 to 1970 period. Inconsistencies in masters occur,[imbalance] with mistakes[dropouts – audible Tape hiss] and STEREO mixing issues [Channel crossover] in many tracks so any re-issue may not be able to address these as multi-tracks ARE NOT AVAILABLE. For that reason alone the issue of MONO Masters in 'pristine' sound is essential[More re this below]
Many collectors may dispute some of our review results but this is an honest assessment intended to be a guide to a better quality catalogue..IZOTOPE.COM says of best STEREO mixes......”The instrumental separation, definition of instruments within the stereo field, and sense of depth” should be sought. Re-mastered analogue transfers should be....”an engaging, lively sound that you can practically close your eyes and visualize where each instrumentalist is on the soundstage. The use of dynamic range is also exceedingly important in the sense of depth and clarity” so that it “ensures that the energy and vibrance of the performance shines.”
Fans should expect “a masterclass of effective panning and EQ for instrumental separation. Additionally, the availability of dynamic range (not over-compression) ensures that separation is maintained through the mastering stages. The dynamic range and smart EQ choices (along with effective use of reverb) can also result in an exceptional sense of depth within the mix.”
We do not believe these exacting standards have been fully achieved in past releases particularly of the groups 'classic' hits period as we'll comment below. But with the the restriction of STEREO only masters this limits STEREO as instruments and vocals cannot be spread across the sound stage – they are either left or right. So what can be done in Re-Mastering.? For today's market we would expect the STEREO catalogue of the Four Seasons to be Mastered with this definition in mind whilst accepting the restrictions of the discrepancies and flaws in the surviving STEREO Masters. “Think of mastering as the glue, varnish and polish that optimizes playback quality on all devices — from tiny iPhone speakers to massive dance club sound systems. Mastering bridges the gap between artist and consumer. The term itself comes from the idea of a master copy. All copies or duplications of the audio come from the master. These copies can be distributed on multiple formats like vinyl, CD’s or Tape, and streaming services like Spotify, iTunes and SoundCloud. Additionally, mastering allows for restoration of hisses, clicks or small mistakes missed in the final mix. Mastering also ensures uniformity and consistency of sound between multiple tracks on an album. Ultimately, what mastering does is create a clean and cohesive feeling across all your audio......A good mastering job makes an album consistent and balanced across all tracks....An ideal master is well-balanced and proportional. This means no specific frequency range is left sticking out. A balanced piece of audio will sound good on any playback system. ”
The CD's reviewed below, it can be argued, DO NOT fully achieve these exacting standards which is why we are doing this exercise and telling Snapper of our 'expectations/hopes'. We'll provide feedback to Snapper on what they propose.....if asked but will ultimately sit in judgement of a final product which we expect to be as good as is possible.....and certainly exceeding what we have had before on CD whilst enhancing what we have on 'vinyl'.
Part 1 – The Vee-Jay albums
The Masters used for all CD releases of the Vee-Jay recordings are based on the outcome of the Group's dispute with Genius Inc[who contracted their work to Vee-Jay]. A fuller explanation of the story and data re these is contained in our Masters sessionography[here].
So the CD re-issues are from the recovered tracks from the bakruptcy of Vee-Jay. The Partnership received MONO/STEREO album Masters supplied to Philips in 1964. No review of surviving Multi-tracks in the Vee-Jay Archive [now owned by Concord Music Group[should they still exist] has been attempted or appears likely given the Four Seasons Partnership Ownership rights.
All CD issues to date are, we believe, based on Analogue/Digital transfers done in 1986/87.[No evidence exists of any A/D transfers since as far as we know.] It is believed that for the Snapper project NEW A/D transfers have been done.
Early CD re-issues in the late 1980's where on compilations and although Rhino , Br music(Netherlands)[and Curb – in Japan]issued album re-masters on CD these are very rare and have been unobtainable except for Curb BVCP-2050 [Sherry & 11 Others].
This was a very wide[9-3] STEREO mix with little to commend it based on the above. As a result we did not obtain/review the rest of the Japanese releases from this early CD period.
We moved on and focused on the Curb releases Volumes 1,2 and 3 of 1995 [Curb D2-77695 to 7] and compared them with the ACE 2fer releases of the same period.
Without doubt the ACE CD's [507,615 and 596] offer the best collections and sound [in the main – for these catalogue albums].This is primarily because of the benefit of their 2fer format and
the bonus non-LP sides. Sherry/Big Girls Don't Cry[plus bonus sides]507although not stated we assume was mastered by Bill Inglot....as the subsequent CD's were. It has a good STEREO image[Left 9/11: Right 3/1] and good Loudness [Range -11db to -16] as does the Christmas Album/Born To Wander CD 615, but something slips on Ain't That A Shame/ Live On Stage [plus bonus sides]596.

The clarity and ambience is somehow lost, and comparison with Curb CD D2 – 77967[Ain't That A Shame +11 Others]shows this. This Curb CD offers an impressive STEREO image [Left 9/11 : Right 3/1] but with great clarity and ambience [Loudness -12 to -16] making it by far the best set of Vee-Jay album Masters on CD we have found.The backing vocals and instruments are still split left and right but these mixes have clear separation, depth and warmth. They hang together
around the centre vocal. They are not the TRUE STEREO we can get with multi-track tapes or with DES [Digitally Extracted STEREO] but they are the best you are going to find until another source is created. For more reading re creating a good mix try this link.

The MONO and MONO only at Vee-Jay
Three years of studio work in dubbing vinyl MONO and re-mastering for our reference set of 45s/MONO album Masters gave us a good reference set and generally all the MONO sides included on the CD's reviewed fall short of the standards defined above regarding clarity and ambience in Mastering. We can only put this down to poor transfer quality or poor re-mastering of MONO at that time. 24 bit 96 khz dubs from vinyl enabled us to get sparkling clarity and ambience capturing the original 'sound' much better than the 'dull' MONO re-masters found on many CD issues and we expect equivalent 'good' results in the Snapper Box Set. Whilst the 2 Real Gone releases from 2016 of Sherry and Big Girls Don't Cry albums appear to be re-mastered from the MONO album Masters [they say] we still believe these lack 'punch' and ambience on the vocals compared to the vinyl dubbed re-masters in our own MONO archive.This is an EQ problem.
The release and re-mastering of the MONO Master Tapes is a crucial part of this Box Sets market potential, With the inconsistencies of the STEREO Masters these will become the groups reference tracks and possibly a preferred play for future fans via all formats.
So to summarise there are currently many STEREO tracks from the Vee-Jay period in good/fair sound quality if you carefully search them out on 'out of print' CD's. But there are few MONO versions in adequate sound quality
In Part 2 we will look at the early Philips Masters in STEREO on CD and the inconsistencies and flaws that [surprisingly] became much worse at Philips when sound recording equipment and engineering was improving in most studios.
Footnote
Fans may consider a luxury BOX SET unnecessary as currently available are two Box Sets on Amazon covering 'most' of the 'Group'and 'Solo'albums but these are far from comprehensive.
These box sets have been criticised for content and quality with comments that show the lack of the Majors respect for the fans perspective...as these example quotes from reviews show...”What a lot of people fail to realize is that Rhino stopped being Rhino when it was sold to Warner Brothers in 1998, and the original Rhino guys left in 2003. The label became "Warner Strategic Marketing" and reverted back to their "special products" mentality of the 70s and early 80s - that is, that any "masters" will do, and the public will eat it up no matter what we do with it. This attitude is especially prevalent on stuff that's been placed with WEA rather than with their homegrown artists.”.....and“the Press release from Rhino/Warner stated"Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - The Classic Albums Box is an 18-disc set that includes the vast majority of the group's albums in mini jackets with original artwork”. So they acknowledged the missing ones up front. But using old Curb 1990s CD sets that are not the original albums was a big and careless mistake....also...”there are still 7 CD's missing from this package”.....”Rhino should have just reissued them like the ACE series, where you would have have had every track from the Vee-Jay, Phillips & Warner labels....maybe even had the MoWest stuff thrown in and make it a true set. It's overall shoddy work from a Label that I used to admire, it's like no one cares anymore.”… One reviewer commented “ The sound quality (on my copy) is identical to the ACE label releases which were issued in the UK and Germany between 1994 and 1996...and copies were produced in the EU. “
The 'Solo' Work set was described as....”This is NOT an anthology, best of, greatest hits, or even, as titled "Selected Solo Works". What this is, plain and simple, are eight (8) complete LPs recorded by Frankie Valli between 1967 and 1980. Each album is presented in its entirety exactly as originally released - no remastering of the original recordings.[or non-LP sides]”
We haven't obtained or 'forensically' reviewed these 2 sets for sound quality but have tracked back through album 'styled' releases [Rhino/Warner/Curb] during the 90s and some appear to be identical to CD albums released at that time and 'casually' reproduced and included in these sets. More re this in our next part. Ken Charmer June 2019
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