We don't do 'tribute bands' of the “That 'Four Seasons' Sound' on our blog although many artists today do their best to emulate the 'Sound of Frankie Valli' and the harmonies of the Four Seasons.
But it is time I made and exception and we have always reviewed artists efforts in commercial releases and since the 70s and 80s one group/artist stands out as the 'best' we have ever heard and that is Adrian Baker and Gidea Park
Back in the 1990's my late friend and fellow music historian Frank Rovello contacted me and we discussed Adrian's efforts not only emulating the Four Seasons but also The Beach Boys. We agreed that the songs and medley's he did worked brilliantly and were worthy of CD release.
I had several singles [all the releases being on vinyl originally] and UK Newsletter editor George Ingram had the rest so I gathered what we had and put them on cassette for Frank and sent it off to the USA. Frank had the ability and technology at the time to digitise and re-master for CD and together we designed and he issued 'Harmony Gold'......The Best Of Adrian Baker and Gidea Park'. 23 great tracks that even today stand up as a wonderful harmony set. Only a few dozen were ever issued amongst collectors at the time.
It maintains his claim to fame as....”In the United States, he is best known for being the falsetto voice for the touring Beach Boys band from 1981–1982, 1990–1993, and 1998-2004. Baker was also a member of The Four Seasons with Frankie Valli from 1994-1995. In 2006, Baker released his sixth solo album, Runaway Tracks. “
But his success in the Eurovision Song Contest during the 1980s with a group he formed called 'Liquid Gold' [a 2ndplace!!!] led to a an album or two and he has Beach Boys type songs mainly on his releases since then. He has a large catalogue of work but this set captures a balance of up-tempo/falsetto/harmony or just great songs. His outings as 'Rudy'on 'Last Time[I'll cry over you]' and 'Sylvie' set his sound-alike style just as the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli were Chart Toppers again in 1975/6 and are great efforts. But songs like 'Why Haven't I Heard From You' [1976] and'Candy Baby'[1975] are just superb.....as is this whole CD. Frank and I knew our stuff back then.
It is surprising that Adrian hasn't captured his best work in this way in a 'commercial' CD release but maybe too few remember as much as Frank/George and I and few can appreciate these long lost track as we did/do now[or so I thought!].....but hey that was before I checked You Tube.!!!!! I was able to gather all but one track into a playlist and this is presented below for your enjoyment. Although an 'imitator' in many cases of original 'harmony' innovators he is said to have recorded all the voices on his harmony mixes and his mixes are superb examples of quality tracks from the 70s and 80s.
Ken Charmer
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