Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons - The Motown Years

2 cd set, limited edition, 27 songs from the group's 1973-1975 stay with motown.UPC602517619159 Product Description

Excellent, fills the gap in your collection.

Wow! Finally a quality CD to fill the gap in your collection of 4 Seasons music. The cover art of rare photos of Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Joe Long and Demetri Callas are absolutely great. Fans of bassist Joe Long are in for a real treat as his vocals are very dominant on a number of the cuts. Original Season Nick Massi joins Joe Long and Gerry Polci to backup Valli on a song called 'Hickory'. What more do you want? O.K., how about the fact the song was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. These are the cleanest versions of these songs I've heard. You get different edits of 'Charisma' and 'Love Isn't Here (Like It Used To Be)'. The only issue I had, although a minor one, is the lack of unreleased material. This is a must buy Seasonites. Go for it and enjoy. June 10, 2008

the long wait is over!

additional product information from the cd itself (a news/press release)

FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS: The Motown Years
a very rare, limited-edition, hard-to-find legitimate, authorized, non-bootleg CD set that will be sure to vanish as quietly as it appeared. Just like the original vinyl releases on MoWest 36 years ago ... don't miss out on some of the best work by Valli & the Seasons!

It was a dream come true: Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, who had shared and sometimes battled on the charts with Motown in their respective `60s heydays, signed with the company in 1972.

There were two albums, several singles, no hits--at least not right away--and then a mutual parting. But the prized, sophisticated recordings, long sought after by fans, and even more desired since the global success of the musical Jersey Boys, were stuck back in the vault.

Now, for the first time ever, this 2-CD set collects the great Motown albums and singles of the Four Seasons and solo Frankie Valli released from 1972 through 1975. The Motown Years, a 2-CD set compiled with the cooperation of the group, features the album Chameleon and the LP issued as a Valli solo set, Inside You, along with every U.S. and U.K. single not included on either LP. Here's a glimpse inside the set's booklet sleeve notes by noted chronicler Brian Chin:

"Chameleon, produced by [the Four Season's Bob] Gaudio, and written by him with collaborations from his then-wife Brit, Bob Crewe, and the group's newly-arrived keyboard and organ player, Al Ruzicka, plainly responds to the signals of game-changing albums like Carole King's Tapestry and the first post-Beatles solo albums. Confessional, adult-oriented relationship stories dominate the album..."

Eventually Frankie and the group looked to go back to independent production. In 1975, just as they broke away, Motown U.K. released "The Night," a popular underground club track, as a single--and it leapt into the British national Top 10. But by then the Four Seasons had bought back a track they had worked up for Motown: "My Eyes Adored You." It became a No. 1 Frankie Valli solo hit on Private Stock, while "December 1963 (Oh What Night)," written while they were at Motown, became a group No. 1 at Warner Bros. Both songs retained their Jobete Publishing copyright.

The rest of the music they left behind at Motown has endured. Rejoice, Seasons fans. The Motown Years is finally here.

Dr. Hypp

DISC 1: FRANKIE VALLI AND THE FOUR SEASONS
1. A New Beginning (Prelude)
2. Sun Country
3. You're A Song (That I Can't Sing)
4. The Night
5. A New Beginning
6. When the Morning Orders
7. Poor Fool ... Frankie Valli
8. Touch The Rainchild
9. Love Isn't Here (Like It Used To Be) ... Frankie Valli
10. Walk On, Don't Look Back
11. How Come?
12. Life And Breath
13. Hickory
14. Charisma unedited version
15. Charisma single version
16. Thank You

Disc 2: FRANKIE VALLI
1. Just Look What You've Done
2. Love Isn't Here (Like It Used To Be)
3. Baby I Need Your Loving
4. Inside You
5. Thank You
6. Hickory
7. Life And Breath
8. The Night - with the Four Seasons
9. With My Eyes Wide Open
10. 10. You've Got Your Troubles
11. Listen To Yesterday
12. The Scalawag Song (And I Will Love You)
June 9, 2008

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