That 'Four Seasons' Sound

The Search For The BEST Masters – The Sound Test Results January 2024 - Re-issue

In a late 2023 blog I outlined how I wanted to review the sound test results with both ‘ears’ and software for the Snapper Box Set. Here is an update to that blog on how I tested all of the CD’s for Dynamic Range[DR] and Loudness[RMS or Lufs] and for clarity and separation in mixes. Well, the good news is that all CD’s from Disc 19 on are [Dynamic Range] DR10 or higher which is spot on the mark for an Archive of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. All but one Disc in these discs had ‘Full Frequency’ sound, whilst some varied based on the source quality of the ‘Masters’. Good to excellent ‘Re-Mastering’ from the ‘variable’ source tapes as we had hoped and planned for.

 

Also we found excellent re-mastering in 99% of the ‘Bonus Tracks’ throughout the compilation that have come out really well given that most were from a wide range of sources including cassette tape and not ‘full frequency’ versions. But unfortunately poorer results were found on several of the early era discs. Back in 1988 Bill Inglot had to ‘Re-Construct’ the Sherry album from the Delivery Tapes supplied by Vee-Jay in 1966 when there were liquidated and the HQ Masters were returned to Bob Crewe[Genius Inc]. The original Safety Tape was below ‘full frequency’ for CD re-issue.

 

 

The aim therefore has been to focus in on the 1960s tracks specifically Discs 1 to 18 and to try to understand any differences that have indicated a sub optimum sounding result.? This was because in several cases there are puzzling tracks with poor Dynamic Range and EQ results [i.e.DR7 to DR9].

 

Transfers from these ‘analogue’ age tapes were done in 2019 and 20 for re-mastering with modern software tools for the Snapper Box Set. Problems appear to be with ‘Safety Copies’ around 60 years old. They have only been issued previously in STEREO format on CD [apart from a handful of independent label issues of 3 albums and some hits in MONO – e.g. Real Gone Records and the Jersey Beat Box Set]. The STEREO tapes had been previously transferred in 1988 and later in the 1990s for both Curb and ACE Records album re-issues on CD, (so multiple transfers since the start of the CD era of 1988) and the original and oldest tapes may have suffered wear and deterioration. But in this box set we have for the first time transfers and inclusion of the MONO Masters from the original tapes. In some ways, it has provided a baseline digital set [like never before] of the original albums back in the 60s and we are able to hear them on CD for the first time providing a listening experience comparable with our original vinyl MONO albums. However, as a ‘first to digital’ MONO LP set of albums, it is not possible to compare the results in the Snapper Box Set of the MONO Masters with previous CD issues in a consistent or complete way. But we know that the MONO mixes from the original 4 track session tapes involved compression during mixing so whilst a DR10 is an optimum reading some mastering from the MONO tapes will inevitably only be able to achieve a DR9/8 reading on a proportion of the MONO album tracks.

 

As purchasers and listeners to the Box Set you may not notice this or perhaps just feel that the instrumentation is louder than you remember. [burying Frankie Valli’s lead somewhat?] This is a sign of compression.[i.e less distance between the loudest and quietest sound] which changes the relationship with the vinyl masters

 

In testing the Snapper Discs we used two reference digital sets:

 

• ‘Golden Hits’ of The Four Seasons – MONO album 1963 – studio digital dub [DR10]

• 25^th Anniversary Box Set – 3 CD STEREO 1988 [DR12]

 

They represent the best levels of sound [with full frequency wav files of 18/20kHz max]

 

I outlined these standards in my last blog post and have since used ‘listening tests’ to focus on clarity and separation and the output of the DR meter readings on a range of past CD album releases in STEREO to measure differences and to grade the results. The Tests rated the original album content from….

 

• ACE Records [1990s issues]

• Curb [1990s issues]

• Collector’s Choice [2000s issues]

 

….compared to the Snapper Box Set for these 18 albums. Results were graded as follows …..

 

• Best to date

• Good and Essential for Collectors

• Some tracks only OK and with minor flaws

• Problem Discs but still listenable

• Plain Badly Mastered

 

And I reviewed Snapper Music Discs in comparison, noting those with missing or wrong tracks to the approved listing. This is of partly a subjective evaluation but based on a recognized and accurate evaluation software tool as well as the listening tests.

 

Of the first 18 Discs in the Snapper Music Box Set 8 have ‘less than optimum’ mastering with 8 of the Discs at DR9 and even some tracks as bad as DR7. Only one Disc is classified as ‘bad’ and that is ‘New Gold Hits’. But we noted the Tape Box Scan indicated the MONO tape should NOT be used for Mastering!!!

 

 

However, both the MONO and STEREO versions of ‘Genuine Imitation Life Gazette’ [GILG] proved to be the ‘Best To Date’ and set a top standard. Of the remainder only 2 surpassed the ACE albums issues. It was disappointing that there was such a lack of consistency and although all but Disc 12 are listenable in acceptable sound quality this is all a big contrast to the rest of the Box Set

 

The findings of other past masters can be summarised as follows:-

 

• ACE Records - Of 16 original albums in STEREO covered during the 1990s transfers, ALL but 3 of their issues are ‘Good and Essential Collectible’ [DR10] with 2 with minor flaws and 1 with problem tracks.

• Curb – Criticised at the time for missing some tracks from original album titles we were only able to acquire 7 of the 18 Discs in the Snapper Set. Of these we found Discs 1 Sherry and Disc 4 Ain’t That A Shame to be ‘Best To Date’ and a very desirable Collectors Items.

• Collectors Choice – We tested 8 in comparison with the Snapper Discs and found that CCM provided the ‘Best To Date’ version of ‘Live On Stage’ [Disc 9]. Of the rest 4 Discs were an acceptable DR10 with 2 below optimum with minor flaws.

 

So if you have any of these ‘Past Masters’ rated as good and collectible then hold onto them as the equivalent Snapper Discs are a not so good a match. I am personally replacing the album Masters in the UK Four Seasons Appreciation Society ARCHIVE LIBRARY [which I will cover in a future blog] and in my personal Discs and ‘playlist’ with NEW STEREO and MONO Mixes based on the BEST MIXES from the ‘past masters’ CD album releases for the following album Discs in the Snapper Music Box Set – 1/2/3/4/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/15/18. A total of 15 discs with adjusted sound to achieve the best balance of STEREO sound and new MONO mixes all in full frequency sound. This is what Bob Fisher and I set out to achieve.

Work has started to replace the Masters with BEST MIXES of the listed Discs in the Snapper Music Set during 2024 and I will publish the sources and enhancements in mastering when completed. Why do I think this is necessary, you may ask. Well because Bob Fisher and I never had the chance to complete our work and I hope to pass the FULL ARCHIVE on this year to a sound storage for future fans as I said in my end of Year Report 2023.

 

Bob’s sad passing during the project meant that we had no dialogue with the Engineer regarding the tape quality issues nor of the final approach to ‘mastering’ quality. We did provide the list of Approved Masters after submission to Bob Gaudio locating the 830 plus tracks involved. If communication had been better with the Sound Engineer post the Covid period and we had known of how many tape quality issues existed we could have supplied ‘alternative’ masters from this library and corrected the somewhat disappointing results on some of the first 18 Discs in the Box Set. There are also 10 wrong Masters in the 44 CD Box Set and one ESSENTIAL track was missed by Snapper which cannot now be put right.

 

However most purchasers will be happy that 70% of the set is as good as we set out to achieve and were Bob still here he would agree that ‘we done good’. I am personally proud that we got the Motown Unreleased CD and created THE LOST DISCO ALBUM and were able to supply and include so many unreleased demos, acetates and LIVE tracks. It was a mammoth achievement and includes superb design work. As for more ‘unreleased tracks’…..well there are more alternative versions [The ‘Out-Takes’ Archive which we have] and of course the ‘still unreleased’ Motown tracks not included as ‘not approved’ by Bob Gaudio…….and the 200+ Unmarked Tapes in the FSP LA Storage. Campaigning for more track research goes on as I complete the archive as I listed it in my report.

 

The Comparator Chart of our findings is a download attachment to this post. If we get more past Masters of albums to compare we will update our chart but we believe this is the best anyone will ever find. CD re-issues are a small market now and do not justify the high cost of research as this project provided.

 

Download Snapper Disc Comparator Sound Tests Nov 2023

 

I will be continuing discussing the process and all of the major positive achievements on the catalogue in our video podcasts 4 Seasons On Saturday with our team of collector experts over the next few months as we also consider the ‘out-takes’!!! Next time will be THE BONUS TRACKS

 

Ken Charmer – Four Seasons UK Appreciation Society – Snapper Music Box Set ‘Master Track Advisor’

How We Four Seasons Fans Are Responsible For The End Of Physical Media!

So how many fans of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons have broken the law?

 

Well probably all of us and many times over in the last 50 years. From copying vinyl to cassette and sharing rare vinyl 45s and albums to ripping CD’s to mp3’s in the 1990’s and since.

 

I read the book ‘How Music Got Free!!’ and now the story of the guys who made this happen can be seen and we can see how we have reached the end of physical media [and so it is suggested is ‘collecting’ digital files of songs – whilst vinyl is a ‘fad’!!] The story of the techies behind this cultural ‘melt down, has come out in a ‘docuseries’….via Paramount.

 

The UK’s Guardian Newspaper covered this in this article a few months ago.

 

and there is a trailer…..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUKEiLGHpQ&t=89s

 

This quote partly sums up how the Four Seasons Partnership[FSP] and the 4 Seasons as a group got no recording contract and really declined by 1982 …...”Unsurprisingly, the year dual cassette decks became available, 1982, marked a low point in sales for the music industry. The subsequent creation of digitized CD technology not only gave the industry the lifeline it needed, but it soared their profits to unimaginable new heights. Two factors played into that: the companies’ ability to persuade fans to buy their entire collections again in the new format, and the sky-high prices they set for CDs, which often cost twice as much as vinyl releases or cassettes. Making the companies even richer was the profit margins on the new discs. A CD that sold for $15 cost less than $2 to manufacture. More, the companies kept raising prices on the discs through the 90s. Such extreme greed seeded a level of resentment among fans that came back to bite them big-time with the advent of file-sharing.”

 

Well this period saw the end of analogue recording and the rise of digital mixing in the early 1980s and then the invention of the CD. The FSP got Bill Inglot to digitize the library in storage as ‘safety copies’[as no-one had acquired and stored the original multi-tracks] and licensed them to Rhino, ACE and Collectors Choice[et al] in the late 80s, 90s and noughties…As is described above, subsequently, the record companies and Bob and Frankie made ‘loads of money’ by the 2000 as we bought all of the albums again in this new convenient form…...and we got CD players in our cars!!!. .. the result a distraction from recording new material and by 2000 …...‘market saturation’ and no further music…….just 2 original albums[1985 and 1992] and many ‘hit’ re-mixes in the 2 decades after the invention of the CD. It was a dire time for ‘old groups’. What a shambles for dedicated fans?.

 

Then the mp3 ruled and music became ‘free’. Napster died as Spotify rose and You Tube became another outlet that could not be controlled so a royalties/copyright deal was stuck to provide artists with income from plays via advertising revenue.

 

Some would say that without Jersey Boys, Frankie and the group would be long forgotten by music pundits. [and maybe GenZ]

 

But it is interesting how piracy has been with us as fans for most of Frankie Valli’s career with the group and by him ‘solo’, as whilst we had been buying their vinyl through the 60s and 70s, we had been copying it onto cassette to play in the car and on Walkman’s throughout these decades.[and sharing with friends] all eventually made easier with the dual cassette decks……[but who has a dual cassette deck now?]

 

Now the FSP have found like many artists that ‘streaming’ does not provide a strong income stream of your past successes and only LIVE concerts pay big money…….but even in the 60s this was the Four Seasons best income stream. So what do they today?…..lease the publishing rights to their catalogue [which is the biggest earner] as have most ‘oldie’ artists in recent years.

 

A good move it seems as collecting digital files or buying physical product has today almost died. Money streams for record companies and artists [and publishing] have shrunk as audio streaming has boomed. People who listen on the go….[.i.e. the kids and working generations] no longer collect digital files...wav, aiff or mp3. As this book and article says...’For the consumer, on the other hand, things have never been better. “For $10 a month you can have every song recorded in history,” ‘Effectively ‘renting the tracks over and over again’…... ’when will they ever learn’ [sic] as Frankie Valli sang on ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’.

 

Well not quite EVERY SONG…...as artist catalogues on streaming services are NOT COMPLETE.

 

One convicted music ‘pirate’ from those noughty days says ….“Rather than relying on the biggest industries to tell us the answers to those questions, we should be looking in the nooks and crannies of culture to discover the answers for ourselves.” 

 

Well I have found the ‘way to go’, and I realised that as the ‘Master Track Adviser’ on one of the most comprehensive[and possibly last] CD sets of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I contributed to the demise of physical media !!. Firstly with working on the Snapper Box Set….a gem for ‘pirates’…….and then with the ability of file sharing web sites, and You Tube. 

 

Music Collectors have found over the last decade and a half NEW ways to control ‘sharing’, with social media being the connection point as never before. Even Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli have not reacted to most of the ‘unreleased’ tracks in the Box Set being put on You Tube [not by me]. We had helped put an overpriced collection of ‘sometimes’ poorly re-mastered albums so as to share the ‘limited number’ of unreleased tracks with a fortunate 2500 collectors in a ‘physical form’.

 

Yes I contributed the unreleased and LIVE songs from cassette, vinyl, cd and acetate sources from a 25 year network ‘collectors club’ [which is an ever decreasing club over time as we lose our friends] Now the FSP have the copyright and rightly so. But there is no ‘quid pro quo’, with known ‘unreleased’ music still being held back by the FSP from fans.

 

But by us using music sharing practices and now with no money to be made from unreleased music by record companies we have ‘run out of road’…….and no-one is listening to our requests for more….…!! The last big ‘physical release’ money maker for the FSP has been sold…….by them selling it back to those who have bought it before….and have again ...just to get it in a nice big glossy BOX SET.? It really is a great Box Set though!!!!!

 

This new ‘docuseries’ will show the amazing talents of young people that helped us all share what we could find…...and it tempted a record company to license and re-sell the old and some of the unheard music by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons…….BUT will there be a ‘Last Encore’ of unreleased ?…...I very much doubt it….. let us just play what we have and turn the volume up.

 

As the late Peter Bennett said to me when I sent him a newly discovered copy Master of ‘One Man’ in 1997…..’this isn’t Frankie Valli’…...and of course….in 2007 he was clear that there were no completed tracks left behind at Motown.!!!!! what survived he said….. ‘were nothing more than demo vocal tracks’. Lies, lies and more lies. Now released from the archives as proof!!! Can ‘One Man’ change the world...haha…..We’ll maybe it did musically for the better for Four Seasons fans. And there is more to come.

 

In today’s world the ‘nooks and crannies’ for collectors and listeners exist and the main one is now a place called You Tube. Catch us there at…..

https://www.youtube.com/user/MowestChameleon/videos

 

More soon on the full story of ‘The Search for Frankie Valli at Motown’ and ‘Collecting Digital’.

 

Ken Charmer

 

 

 

 

 

Seasons Greetings - 2019: Part 1

It's that time again when Lynn Boleyn and I wish our fan group friends Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year. We usually hope there will be something for fans to look forward to but this year looking forward is the most exciting since the hey-day of the fan clubs in the UK and the USA of the 1970s.

The forthcoming Box Set from Snapper Records is well into it's research and development stage as we help the team evaluate the exciting content that could be possible. Bill Inglot is steadily researching the Partnership vaults and sharing the contents with the team and we have been able to identify rare session out-takes and alternative versions. This process will develop through the New Year as we identify and propose every important Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons track that has survived from 1962 to 2010 for inclusion.

The vaults and other collectors archives will we believe ensure this is a 'Completist's Set'.

The 1960s in MONO and STEREO releases are going to be there.....and 'unreleased from every decade'.....is beginning to emerge. But our Campaign and aim was to get the Motown Unreleased from 1971 to 1974 and whilst only 13 of a potential 30 plus showing in paper records have been approved for release......this constitutes a whole album of material......and it is all worthy of release as our news over the holidays will describe.

This is definitely going to be a set for 'die-hard' collectors and we are doing all we can to make it the best set ever. What we can say is that the Re-Mastering of the 60s albums so far is superb and better than any previous CD issue to date[well all of those we've been able to check]. And the tracks WILL BE the authentic released Masters plus bonus tracks wherever we can find them. We'll keep monitoring and reporting as the project develops with the Snapper Team, who are closely liaising with Bob Gaudio, Bill Inglot and Universal Motown.

Follow our Facebook group The Four Seasons Motown Unreleased Campaign for regular updates as we dig deeper into the vaults. Classic LIVE material is also surfacing and we are hoping much of this will also gain approval.

News and articles here and on FB as we continue the research in more depth than ever before into potential content through into 2020, which is why I am saying this is the most exciting time for fans since 1975!!!!........for those who arrived on the planet after that year or who discovered the group more recently.......you are in for a treat. Enjoy the ride......and for us 'oldies'.....'Let's Ride Again'.

Casey Chameleon

 

 

The Search For The Masters – 2019 update - [8 years on]

Back in 2011 I was writing blogs about a project my late friend and sound engineer Stefan Wriedt wanted to tackle as there seemed no prospect of a comprehensive review of the Four Seasons Partnesrhips vaults/archive. And rumours had been rife for years that the tape vaults are incomplete in terms of the Master Sessions Matrix Index which we've developed on our web site. Do the MONO mixes we all know still exist as since 1988 and the advent of CD the output has been largely STEREO, and often wide or poorly mastered tracks of the analogue to digital transfers.?

Our UK Fan group web site index covers all known Matrix Numbers of Masters from 1962 to 1971 and an Excel Spreadsheet of what is stored in the Motown Universal vaults, much of it still Unreleased.

https://www.seasonally.co.uk/newmasterspage.html

Here is our blog post back then and the enthusiastic response from long term fans Colin and Zane at the time. We have in the last two years achieved an amazing break through and collaboration like never before. So revisit this and then see what we are now achieving below.

https://thatfourseasonssound.typepad.com/seasonally/2011/05/the-search-for-the-masters.html

Of course at that time 'Jersey Boys' was still in full flow and the 'Jersey Beat' Box set in 2007 had been the Rhino attempt at a collectors package. It underwhelmed most of us although many of us were able to comment on our fave tracks in the Charles Alexander inspired 'mini-book'. The Motown Anthology set in 2008 was 90% based on released material but on CD for the first time 'officially'. We know the 'unreleased' is there and have proved it since.

So our project work has progressed since and although sadly we lost Stefan[and GILG web master Frank Rovello and ex UK Fan club President Stuart Miller] with the help of Paul Urbans and Ray Nichol I completed a fully re-mastered set of 45 MONO A and B sides from 1962 to 1970. It's not perfect re every 45 side[as some MONO sides are very difficult to find in prime condition.....and it did not cover the 'Valli SOLO' 45s], but it is still a good consistent 'reference set' of the MONO vinyl released versions. That reference set we said in 2015 would have to do until someone found the money and as a result time to research the Tape Archive and re-digitise the Master Tapes with todays technology.

Well today as I write........ that is happening for the first time [thanks to Snapper Records of London] with a full set of specialists at work to create the 'Ultimate' salvage from the surviving tapes. Bob, Frankie, Snapper Records and the UK fan group have committed to aim for the best set of recovered Masters of Frankie and the group ever. Bill Inglot, so much the archive researcher for Bob and Frankie over the decades has reviewed in depth what analogue tapes exist and what we are seeing we will get will be a full review and NEW Analogue/Digital transfers. Coupled with Reynolds Mastering working on new Re-Masters and with record industry renowned compiler Bob Fisher they are a full team targeting the highest quality possible. A circa 40 CD set has been proposed and contracts progressed and research and transfer have been happening through the last few months. New transfers re-mastered as the best 2020 digital Masters ever is the aim. The work will bring some amazing finds.......some we have said should be there and some completely new to us all are surfacing.

Results so far show we can at last say a MONO Master set will be possible of all album and non-album 45 tracks released in the vinyl format [ie 1962 to 1970] and the surviving STEREO mixes are revisited and tapes checked for alternate versions. But perhaps the best news is that the magnificent STEREO hits set produced by Bob Crewe from surviving Master tapes [Edizione D'Oro] has been found and will be fully presented on CD for the first time ever. And a surviving MONO Master of Genuine Imitation Life Gazette will appear as a vinyl insert. Photos/memorabilia and an historic book will complete this de-luxe set.

This is a big achievement and what fans have been asking for for years. Alternate Takes/Live tracks and previously unreleased tracks have been found and these will be reviewed and approved by Frankie and Bob where of adequate quality[re performance and sound quality]. The fan group team are assisting as and when needed. Our reference set of the MONO sides has been provided for comparison purpose. 90% of sources are pulled from the Partnership vaults and transferred and review and re-mastering is well underway.

The one thing that qualifies ANY Frankie Valli/Four Seasons collection is that nowhere in the archives are copies of 'session work or multi-tracks'[unlike the Beach Boys recordings]. The whole library consists of completed Masters.....either from album /45 or left-overs in some rare cases. All previously known tracks follow the listing of Matrix numbers found in our Masters Sessions listings on our web site as far as the Vee-Jay and Philips period goes and MONO and STEREO versions do exist of most tracks. Of course several MONO only tracks like 'Ronnie' were never mixed to STEREO after the session and 45 release.

So apart from what is there we suspect nothing else has survived .......unless fans and former record company employees out there tell us. ? Now is the time to speak up if such gems exist in hidden archives. We have discovered one or two salvaged from cassette and acetate......but whether these make it into the set we can't say at present.

This investment by Snapper is the most in-depth investigation with Bill Inglot of surviving Master analogue tapes ever. As Stefan and I concluded in 2011 it is long overdue! The result will we believe establish the most accurate and comprehensive collection of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons work in 21^st Century sound.

A real 'collectors piece'

The tape search goes on......'Unreleased' have been found at Philips and Motown and review and quality assessment continues with Bob Gaudio, who is fully supporting these research stages and the final product. More feedback when we have it. Target release August 2020. London.

Casey Chameleon

The 'Unreleased' - Status Report - Summer 2017

Pulling together my collection of the best sounding 'unreleased' tracks has been a real treat this year and to make it available to as many people as possible who collect Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons music has generated great encouragement for the research to continue. With a recording history of 55 years it remains necessary to make Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio aware of this 2017 collection as we press for research and release of those efforts left collecting dust in the Motown Universal vaults and in the Partnerships archive.

So before I move on to sleeve notes for this years UK 'Unreleased' collection, [our 'best' discoveries to date]let me sum up what we know today about Four Seasons 'related' unreleased tracks that need to be researched and released.

There is no evidence to suggest any tracks remain from the Vee-Jay days as all the masters were passed to Philips after the court settlement in 1964. All were released apart from a rumoured copy/re-recording of the Village Voices songs.

It is apparent some 'project' tracks could exist in demo/acetate form from the 1963 pre-Philips months when sessions were done with Larry Santos and the 4-Evers but whether these survived we do not know.The Four Seasons had no contract whilst in litigation but did backing work which seem to have created some Valli solo work which could have survived on 'demos'.

Philips sessions are documented and we have listed the unreleased recordings in our session masters listing on our web site where paper records have listed these. No listing has surfaced for the final sessions at Philips which we have heard have left several tracks in the Partnerships archive...some [we are told] may be incomplete.

The Motown period we now know contains the most completed but still unreleased tracks with at least 30+ tracks known to be on Motown Tapes or as completed masters [There is some evidence of partial 'digital' recovery of some]. The ownership issues around these tracks remains an issue [surfacing in 2008]with the Partnership lawyer[and allegedly Bob Gaudio] refusing to acknowledge their existence and Motown Universal not willing or able to negotiate over this. From 2021 these tracks if unpublished MAY revert to the Partnerships ownership under copyright law. Our Facebook group Campaign continues to publicise these and call for their release.

Private Stock recordings seem to be all released and we have no indication of 'lost' material but according to anecdotal evidence from the Four Seasons members at the time a full 'second' album was recorded at the 'Helicon' sessions and remains in Bob Gaudio's control.

Some evidence exists in paper records that suggests the Mercury vault has unreleased tracks from Bob Crewe's final sessions for the 'Heaven Above Me' album.

We have a track left over from the 'Streetfighter' album and we heard that before that an album was recorded in 1983 but was never picked up by a record company during a music industry recession. There are no doubt later sessions which remain unreleased and rumours abound of tracks no-one has heard throughout the 90s and up to today.[at Valli's private studio]

This all demonstrates the potential 'treasure' that exists for music detectives battling against a management that has always denied the existence of such material. Why? You may well ask. With so many artists today trawling their past for such material we continue to be amazed that we are the only researchers calling for such material to be issued. But if we keep the research going perhaps one day someone will agree this music should be made available to music historians and fans in a commercially produced series.

If anyone knows more or can add to this 'status report' then let me know and I'll keep the record of potential sources up to date.

Casey Chameleon

Newsletter 58 - February 2014

Another year and another Newsletter from George Ingram has arrived chronicling the latest and the past data for Four Seasons fans. But the one thing that has changed since Newsletter 50 is that the identity of what the Four Seasons were/are has ‘morphed’ into the Jersey Boys(in what must be the biggest ever ‘tribute band’ franchise) and  Frankie Valli and his Band impersonating both the Jersey Boys and The Four Seasons. And just to confuse matters even more we have two of the 1970s Four Seasons ‘hit group’ performing as the ‘Hit Men’.

So if this Newsletter No 58 is somewhat confusing  for fans new and old then you are forgiven as a read through brings home how much things have changed not only since 1977 but since 2007. The LP and Singles information is laid out for 1977 and so to the recent 2013 releases. With download only collections abounding now and ‘out-of-copyright’ re-issues surfacing keeping a log of these and updating the CD discography at our web site is proving to be impossible. What is there on the web-site is a reference file(compiled by Stefan Wriedt from George Ingram’s Newsletters) for what came out between 1986 and 2011 and we will leave it there.

One of the landmark articles of the 70s is included in this newsletter(although as it appears on the GILG web site we have simply linked to it rather than re-scan).This article pulls no punches on the difficulties the group had. Also  the differences in the story of the writing of ‘Sherry’ between Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio are perhaps symptomatic of their on-going ‘different perspectives’ as is  their dispute over Bob Gaudio’s credits on the long-list of hits. Bob Gaudio is painfully honest re his ‘call’ to get the group to do ‘Genuine imitation Life Gazette’ as well as the aftermath. But although Valli’s extensive recording efforts at Motown are mentioned no-one back then knew what we know now in terms of the unreleased material amazingly still in the vaults at Motown. Far less successful groups have had their tape history poured over and documented and preserved over the years yet it is still down to this group of ‘music detectives’ to unearth the real story and the list of music. As for their release….well (as usual)‘dream on’.

The final section with the listing of ‘Frankie Valli On Record ‘ shows just how far we have come. With the advent of the internet it has been possible to gather so much more detailed data on the releases of the group both before and after their first success as the Four Seasons. There are still gaps and our ‘music detectives’ continue to seek ‘the final word’. That information is down to us….not The Four Seasons Partnership. But one question remains………is there enough interest to keep the research going. Maybe the time is coming to leave the Four Seasons Story to the Jersey Boys fans?

Another great effort by George but clearly we are reaching the ‘last knockings’

Casey

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