Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - The Anthology

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John
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Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - The Anthology

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This 2CD set sells at the mazingly low price of £3.98 on Amazon, so whichever way we look at it, the value for money is very clear. It seems hardly worth making to sell at that price...

The label is One Day Music and the catalogue number is DAY2CD193.

The material covers material recorded from Frankie Valli's first Corona single of 1953 "My Mother's Eyes" up to and including tracks that appeared on the first Four Seasons album of 1962 "Sherry and 11 Others". Oddly, the later tracks are often mono whilst some earlier ones are stereo, no doubt reflecting what sources of material were available. The audio quality I have just assessed listening to all 50 tracks whilst driving, so I'll add a comment about Hi-Fi quality later when I've listened at home.

All but two tracks are as the originals and it was a slight disappointment that "I've Cried Before" and "Lost Lullabye" were the same versions as have appeared elsewhere on CD. The former is missing all the backup vocals, so probably the original master is damaged, or the remixing engineer made a horrible mistake. This leaves a harmony ballad with just Frankie's lead vocal, and a weird empty start to the recording. As it happens, it highlights very well a superb vocal performance, but it isn't what it should sound like. The latter is the "soft" version that has appeared on every CD release, rather than the "hard" version that was released pre-Four Seasons and used on the Sherry vinyl album. The backing is the same, but there are two vocal versions from Frankie Valli. Interesting but the original Sherry-album version has yet to appear on CD. Perhaps is is indeed a Lost Lullabye.

The rest of the material is fine. It varies in musical quality from rough to superb, but then this was a long time ago. Frankie's first efforts are a bit literal in his interpretation and it takes a year or two before he settles into his usual style. The Four Lovers stuff is raucous, energetic, harsh and musically pretty sharp. Pure Rock and Roll. The post-Four Lovers and pre-Four Seasons period af 1957-1961 is actually superb and there are some tracks that could easily have been used as Four Seasons recordings. Some were, such as Lost Lullabye. Apart from the Sherry album, highlights of the set for me are: Bermuda, Spanish Lace, Come Si Bella, This is Real, I Go Ape, If You Care, Please Take a Chance, It May Be Wrong, I Am All Alone, Trance.

Trance, An Angel Cried and I Go Ape have survived to this day as part of Jersey Boys, although the recording of I Go Ape is actually a great record, not the lampooned version in the stage show. This is a great set and includes a few tracks that have appeared on CD for the first time.

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Re: Frankie Vall & The Four Seasons - The Anthology

Post by John »

I've now sampled the CDs on the HiFi system and the quality is very acceptable. We have to consider how variable the original sources may be and the original 45s and albums were no better than this, with some exceptions.

The VeeJay album "Golden Hiots of the Four Seasons" is a very superior vinyl pressing, but the others are not in the same league. They are in fact very similar to these CDs.
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