The Smiley Smile Message Board

What do you guys think of this group? I think they are pretty good and the last great Doo-Wop group in the 1950s tradition. But I also think Frankie's great falsetto is still a notch bellow Brian's otherworldly Falsetto.

Yes of course Frankie's falsetto is inferior, but outside of that, they are a fantastic band.  Their studio tracks were great too, I don't know who played drums for the 4 seasons but he was great.  There's a ton of great songs, with great moments in them.  I like for instance how the guitar just scorches "Let's Hang On".  Whoever the studio guy that day was, he must have wanted a tip or something.  Some of Frankie's lines like "Don'tttt cool off, while I'm Burnin!!!" are just great.  He was a great singer, and they had a fantastic sound. 

I even like some of their sleezy 70's stuff like "Who loves you" or whatever it's called.  Great song. 

Honestly though I'm most struck by their drums.  I'm serious.  Check out the drums on their songs. 

Will check out the sleazy 70s stuff, I like Frankie's lower voice a lot as well.

I always refer to it as 'sleazy' because they moved from their more innocent sound of the 60's into songs that were more about sex and had that disco/porno sound, lol.  I love it, though, to be honest with you.  I'm sure you've heard "Grease" although I guess that's just Frankie, then there's "Who Loves You" which is great, and also of course "Oh What a Night" or whatever it's called.  Great song, nice falsetto work.

I really dig the drums too! The whole production they had going through the sixties was really crisp and tight...you can see where Jan Berry must've been influenced by it. Frankie's falsetto isn't that great, but his lead voice is cool and the 'good guy' style backing vocals are wild! This is one of my favorites...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLmeF8XvkqE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLmeF8XvkqE)
the video images blow, but the music rocks!

That's a great song, yup.  Great drums too, lol.

I like "Don't worry About Me" (Opus 17) , but the song has a fatal flaw, it keeps building and building but has nowhere to go, so at the end it all just gets bad.  It starts off, though, and you think it's going to be the greatest song ever recorded.  Frankie kills the vocal.  Check out the background vocals.  I always loved how they sing along with the Sax in the solo. 

Great drums again, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5wg6zjnfo8


Another favorite would be "Bye Bye Baby", again Frankie murders the lead vocal.  Good. Drums. Again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJrhqR8TDZA&feature=related

The 4 Seasons backup Vox were always much more simple than the Beach Boys... the Boys and Brian used the backup vocals like instruments, with everything playing in harmony and he'd have 3 or 4 lines going, all the time.  The Four Seasons sang it much more conventionally, with the backup guys all singing the same thing.  So I'm not even sure if you would consider that 3 part harmony or whatever, they don't work the melodies like the Beach Boys did.  Still great to listen to, though.

Also my 2 favorite 4 Seasons songs. Their background vocals sound more doo-wop than anything else. Still, very nice blend. Nick had great bass vocals, as well. Drums were always terrific on their records. I'll try to find who he is/was.

Apparently, session drummer David "Panama" Francis played on the group's earliest hits. He was followed by another session man, Buddy Saltzman. (Source: http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Music/Four-Seasons-The-19831.html (http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Music/Four-Seasons-The-19831.html)

For the later "permanent" drummers check through this list: http://www.angelfire.com/music/SeasonologyInstitute/history.html (http://www.angelfire.com/music/SeasonologyInstitute/history.html)

Love their early stuff. Later on it gets a bit smooth and predictable for my liking.

I really like their album Genuine Imitation Life Gazette.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08mif1TO_Xs

I like The Four Seasons a lot. I don't think Frankie Valli has the best of voices, but his voice fits with their sound. They made a few missteps, sure, but they're very underrated.

Surfers rule!

Did T4S (what a trendy acronym) ever respond to that lame call-out? I hope they did, haha.

Something I heard about a while ago (maybe on this board?).

Franki Valli and another member of the group have been good friends since they were kids; They started the group, and either bought out the other two guys, or never game them a full cut.  When Frankie and his buddy were kids, they made a gentleman's agreement that they'd split any money they made, so if either one of them ever got rich, the other one would to. 

Soooooo.  Frankie and his friend (can't remember the guy's name, but he produced a lot of 4 seasons music) set up a bank acccount, in the early 60's, in both of their names.  Any money Frankie makes, or his friend makes, gets deposited into the bank account, and then they both get a check for half of it.

So, Frankie made a fortune off of solo concerts, and "Grease".  He lived up to his word and gave his buddy half....

which really paid off, when his buddy produced Neil Diamond's "The Jazz Singer", which apparently was HUGE and made the guy a friekin' mint.... all of which he split with Frankie Valli.

So according to Frankie, his buddy has made about as much money as he has, and they've split every penny of it. Still to this day. 

They did, in a way. :=)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xRmb3wtbNA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xRmb3wtbNA)

One of my all-time favorite songs by The Four Seasons is The Puppet Song.  It's not the easiest to find, but if you can track it down, give it a listen.  Not the greatest lyrics ever written, but the song floors me each time I hear it.

Edit: Here is a 30 second clip.  I doubt it gets to the chorus and therefore won't do the song justice, but give it a listen anyway: http://www.amazon.com/New-Gold-Hits-Four-Seasons/dp/B000000DAA

mps

That song sounds promising so far...

The drum intro to Walk Like a Man gets me pumped up every time I hear it. It would be even better if each bar/measure/section/bah-duh-duh-dum (???) was alternately panned to each channel. Hearing drums panned hard right and nothing at all in the left bugs the hell out of me. And their cover of Stay is IMO superior to the original by Maurice Williams.

Their original version of "Silence is Golden" is really good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe4qk7Mijlo

I like the Tremelos version too, but there's something about how Frankie sings the chorus that's pretty cool. 

Their version of "I've got you under my Skin" is easily my favorite, too.  Dreamy as hell.  This is the kind of song that Frankie's voice is perfectly suited for. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH9CzRSYqxg

IGYUMS is on their "2nd Vault of Golden Hits", which gets a lot of playing time on my turntable.

They had a really good way, exemplified on that song, of having the seasons sing everything straight, while Frankie switched the melody up.  That awesome part where they're going "I'd sacrifice anything, come what might" and Frankie's going "SAAAAACRIFFFICEEE ANYYYYTHINNNNNNGGG" lol.  Great stuff. 

Agree with Aegir, Genuine Imitation Life Gazette is a great, very under rated album.   Also check out Frank Sinatra's Watertown written and produced by Bob Gaudio and Jake Holmes. Similar vibe to GILG.

Working My way back to you is another strong 4 seasons album.

I love The Four Seasons, and their music deserves to be better treated than it is these days. We need a comprehensive Boxed Set similar to Good Vibrations for their music. I was gratified that their Broadway show did so well.

Agreed.  To me they're up there among the best of 60's music.  The Gaudio/Crewe productions are up there with Spector and Holland Dozier Holland.
They've never had that mojo magazine cool factor for some reason and always get overlooked.
BW may have a purer falsetto but Frankie Valli's voice is an amazing instrument. Try singing along to some of those tracks, the man is from out of space!

Been listeing to XM radio a lot lately, and I heard Cousin Brucie on earlier today.  I'm sure all the big time Four Seasons fans know this, but for those who haven't heard all their stuff, in the 60's they recorded Cousin Brucie's theme song as a present.  They wrote, then recorded it, and brought it to him as a gift. 

Here's the song, really, really, REALLY catchy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oErlmuPY0hk