chameleon

How Did Susan De Passe Lose A Four Seasons Master?

Stories make music sound better…It’s a fact!

That’s why Jersey Boys is such a great show….and sometimes they give us a song which might never have been heard. So it is with the Four Seasons.

At last years International Four Seasons Convention for the fans, special guests Joe Long and Demitri Callas ….former Four Seasons during the mid 70s…..told the story of how a song that the group believed in and recorded was lost by the Executives at Motown.

Read the full story here ….

Added notes......In our rush to produce the demo 45 image we made a grave error and omitted one of the key writers and arrangers - Joe Long aka LaBracio. As Demitri said ..."It would be appropriate to see Joe LaBracio's name under the title of the song; without his superb bass playing, singing and vocal
arranging, this song would be lifeless and devoid of the true Seasons'flair.  If Joe had not recorded the unmixed playback as we were leaving the studio, the recording would be lost forever.  LaBracio to the
rescue! "

And the ever modest Joe ...."That song brings back many happy memories. And, the YouTube video is terrific. Thank you very much. As I recall, Demetri and Lee did the bulk of the writing. There was added input from the rest of us. I had the most studio experience, so I handled that end. It was a fun session."

So now we are correct and you can hear the ‘almost lost’ song below….

More Salvaged Four Seasons

It is not very often that Four Seasons fans get to hear anything new. After all the best of the groups work arguably happened before 1980….but we avidly sought out their 80s and 90s efforts in the hope that something new would capture the quality of the old group sound and to be fair some of the 80s/90s original songs and the dance re-mixes have been pretty good.

But unreleased material and the lack of properly re-mastered versions of the released material is still the main complaint that we continue to level at the Four Seasons Partnership.

So when we got a new ‘bootleg’ release of a ‘Live’ concert from 1974 we were in seventh heaven. Particularly as the sound quality is pretty good and it contains 8 songs never recorded by the group in the studio. Frankie even tells us this in the song introductions..

Another reminder of what we have missed and how badly served we have been since their 70s revival. Two original albums in the 80s and 90s amid the hundred plus re-issues as seen in our CD Discography…(click the image below to visit the web pages)

In an interview last week on an American Radio Show (WABC Saturday Night Oldies Show #179: May 23, 2009, 6:00 to 10:00 PM ET) Frankie Valli said that as he sees it that his fans are loyal and they come to concerts because they want to see him do the 'hits'. …..they wouldn't come if he did new material or covers....he maintains.

Well maybe in 2009 that is the case…..but Bachelors III shows that back in the 70s he did quite a few 'alternative' tracks and for me that is what I want to hear.....not the boring re-modeling of the hits. So today when most fans are happy that he is still performing…..this concert reminds us of …..’The Way We Were’…which features in the concert.

To read the full report on this CD release and the reasons for its importance click on my link here for the full article which will appear in our late summer Newsletter. And watch this blog for more re-visits to the 70s revival over the next month.

Chameleon

The Four Seasons UK Appreciation Society - Newsletter 52

 

Picking up the best of our articles from the last six months and featuring articles and releases from the early 70s our newsletter 52 is assembled and available for download. Chameleon

Click here to access our front page

We've also upgraded our past issues download page here.

What Goes Around, Comes Around...

It was 1978 and after an exciting 3 year period that had seen the UK Appreciation Society blossom, we were left in limbo as the Four Seasons Partnership suddenly and unexpectedly announced the disbanding of the group. To this day no real explanation has been given for this decision and bearing in mind the hard work that had gone into constructing the group in 1973 and 74 it always seemed to me a disaster. Funny how things come around and as I was researching the story of the groups ‘Rise and Fall’ during this period I discovered I had asked the questions back then….and in Newsletter Volume 3 Number 12 – July 1979…..under the title……..

“How To Get it Right Then Blow It – Or Another Look At Missed Chances” by Ken Charmer.”

As part of our latest research we are re-visiting the 70s and stories from this period will be featured in ‘Timepieces’. Here is an another excerpt…….

“Listening today to ‘Helicon’ it is clear that the direction Bob and the Seasons took was not right …either for the long term fans or the ones that had ‘tuned in’ to ‘Who Loves You’. The fact that the group liked the ‘Helicon’ material but Warner-Curb didn’t was a problem. Then when the company execs couldn’t ‘hear a single’ and forced Bob Gaudio to write a song targeted at the fans the breakdown was happening…..’Down The Hall’ failed to re-capture the magic of ‘December 63’ (even though it did reasonably in the UK charts at No 34)

Why did we lose the best ever set of musicians to ever be in the Four Seasons.? They remain respected performers today. Just visit their web sites via our fan web site to see.

What a fantastic group they were will become evident as the year unfolds and our research is published.

But read Ken’s original article in the first of our reviews in Timepieces 6-1….”What Goes Around Comes Around…” by guest writer Ken Charmer by clicking this link.

Casey Chameleon

And with this cartoon by Lee Shapiro of the soon to be launched group in 1977 you can see the 'Charisma'....well can't you?...or is that a steadily expanding John Paiva?

The Four Seasons 'DS' Remixes

A real candidate for a "Write A Caption" competition. Bob Crewe is clearly unhappy with the playback....Frankie Valli is trying to re-assure him and George Schowerer is staying out of this argument! Photo courtesy of George 1966

When Bob Crewe and the Four Seasons where in the studio in the sixties their only aim was to get a good single that would be a hit record. Mono ruled!  Recording technology was based on generally 4 track tape machines (up to 1964) and stereo sound was a luxury and usually an afterthought for the record company to focus on with the sound engineer. In the forty plus years since we’ve seen the rise of the audiophile and the emergence of  Dolby and Surround Sound. The sound quality of movies has been revolutionized with multiple channels..

Descriptions of stereophonic sound tend to stress the ability to localize the position of each instrument in space, but in reality many people listen on playback systems that do a poor job of re-creating a stereo "image". Many listeners assume that "stereo" sound is "richer" or "fuller-sounding" than monophonic sound. This is inaccurate — stereo and mono can have equally detailed abilities to play recorded notes. The spatial illusion is what sets stereo recordings apart from mono recordings.

So what is wrong with simulated stereo?

 

Audiophiles and music purists often deride this method of playback because the audio doesn’t sound how the composer or producer intended. Or they maintain the result sounds artificial. But even sound engineers have been fooled by this technique….and these arguments just don’t hold up.

 

In our network of world-wide contacts we found a sound engineer who is actively experimenting with the Four Seasons catalogue and the latest technology to manipulate sound in this way. We asked Enrique from Valencia in Spain for his view on this subject…..

‘That can be a problem” , said Enrique when we asked him. “Some processing of mono to "duophonic or artificial stereo" is so close to "real stereo" it is not detectable on electronic equipment or meters. For me, stereo is: clear separation of different instruments/voices on the left/right/middle. What is on one channel should be only occurring again as an echo (room hall) on the other side or not at all. When something from the middle is on both sides, too, it's mixed (or probably meant) that way.

What you get with the comb filter channeling is "ambience" on the channels and a better (wider) stereo picture with clearer location of the separate instruments at the front. There's no way to re-produce "depth" with a pseudo stereo recording unless you use complicated mathematical models.

Some people say that several Four Seasons tracks 
which appear on vinyl in stereo no longer exist in 
the Partnership’s archive of ‘stereo masters’. 
But only Bob, Frankie or perhaps Bill Inglot would 
be able to confirm that.”

“What about the rest of the Four Seasons catalogue” I asked him?

“It is important to continually examine the catalogues of important artists like the Four Seasons within our constantly evolving technological era. It is possible to give ‘volume’ and ‘shape’ to a monophonic record using pseudo-stereo techniques.

 One vinyl album that contains stereo and alternative ‘takes’ that really needs to be salvaged from vinyl and restored on CD as a set of masters is ‘Edizione D’Oro’

The original Edizione D'Oro LP in 1968 contained some first time stereo remixes: "Rag Doll", "Girl Come Running" , "Dawn" (without intro), "Let's Hang On" (without intro, ACE coupled it with the mono intro) and an alternate mix of "Save It For Me".  "Ronnie" was the only mono song not remixed to stereo, maybe there was too much overdubbing involved. Obviously the multi-tracks still existed in 1968. Actually, in the case of "Girl Come Running" the stereo version has the background vocals on the intro, whereas the mono 45 version does not. It is not clear how many of these are genuine stereo tracks or ‘electronically enhanced mono.

And on many tracks in the Four Seasons catalogue the stereo imaging is awful. The Philips albums in 1965 and 1966 are an example. I found this when transferring tracks to an archive for future mixing to DSD.

 With a sampling frequency of CD, 44,100 times per second it’s very difficult to reproduce a good ‘sound stage’ which is why you may find that the sound of a CD often ‘sticks to the speakers’: you’ll hear it coming from the left speaker and from the right speaker but there’s nothing in between – the proverbial ‘hole in the middle’. This is an area in which DSD excels.” This article indicates it may be the future for sound recording.

But ‘how do fans make their own assessment of what is a good stereo mix?’, we asked him.

“Stereo images are best assessed on headphones. You have to listen. Wide is 120 to 180 degrees, anything between 60 and 30 degrees is small, 60 to 120 is normal (90 degrees as usual). I haven't found any meter / display that can show this.

With my fellow sound engineers we have done a set of mixes to show what can be brought out of these recordings and this demonstrates just a little of what may be possible in the future. What would Bob Crewe have produced for our ears if he had been using the tools available today we have asked ourselves. Maybe ‘Edizione D’Oro’ is an indicator.

We used a plug-in tool in ‘Wavelab’ software to create stereo versions of the ‘mono only’ mixes. A comb filter created the left and right channels from the sound spectrum and a delay between these channels created the stereo effect. ( a tutorial on this technique can be found here). It was simply a case of setting a width that represented the preferred sound stage and we chose to visualize the group performing live with a tight centre.

But the remixing of the ‘mono only’ mixes in the Seasons catalogue in to stereo is only a first step. The wide stereo mixes that don’t do their performances justice also need to be ‘fixed’. The Four Seasons Partnership probably won’t invest the time of a sound engineer in re-mastering the catalogue with the help of the creators of the production for several reasons. Cost compared to Return, the age of the participants (Frankie’s lifelong hearing problems may prevent him from appreciating the new mixes fully) and their commitment to other things.(e.g. touring and Jersey Boys productions). But in the long-term someone will see the value of ‘Re-Mastering’ as a good financial investment”

Mixing engineers should mix tracks with a live sound stage/concert stage perspective in mind . We found a blogspot that defines this.

 

“Panning is how the instruments are arranged within the stereo image. By properly using this mixing feature you can create a very realisticsound.

Vocals are always in the center because the band lead singer is the star of the show. At the back of the vocals is the bass player. Typically at the back of the bass player is the drummer. The band's two guitarists are on the left and the right. Although, different panning arrangement are possible for additional instruments (such a band with piano or others), this concept illustrates the basic things on how to do panning in audio mixing to create a very realistic stereo image.

Live sound monitors for vocals and bass are placed up front facing the audience, so that fans can get a great feel of the vocals and the bass groove. On the left and right loud sound monitors are the guitars.

In the best commercial audio production and using  software, panning can be controlled between -100 to +100. Where mostly -100 is the leftmost part of the stage and +100 is the rightmost part of the stage.”

 

Enrique agreed…..”In the case of the Four Seasons recordings that we have……….. listen to any track on headphones and see how much these principles are adhered to. Many of the early stereo recordings fall short of this standard (with instruments and vocals panned far left and far right with acres of space between occupied by ‘nothing’).

With the ‘Mono only’ versions of songs it is not possible with present technology to create the sort of mix that multi-track recordings can provide. But it is possible to give them ambience and a degree of separation that gives them a soundstage not apparent in Mono. It is a compromise. But it is perhaps not as good as listening to DSD Mono which unfortunately is not really commercially available yet. There is a ‘feel’ to the DSD mono transfers that makes mono listening a really new experience. For most fans this is still a few years away. The technology is coming.”

It is clear Enrique really loves the Four Seasons music…..”. The fun is when you are re-mastering and you are trying different settings. Sometimes you suddenly find the groups sound just works better. That is such a ‘buzz’. ..a real adrenalin rush. With our ‘Digital Stereo’ mixes we have tried to put some of the ‘feeling’ back into the mixes that Bob Crewe and the group aimed for at the time of recording. We think we’ve done this. They are certainly interesting to listen to and a worthy item for collectors and fans”

Well it may be a compromise but we think they really bring the songs back to life and allow the listener to get into their arrangements like never before. This CD is not available commercially but Lynn Boleyn has a copy in our Four Seasons Archive library so contact her if you are interested.

CaseyChameleon

Four Seasons 'Best' Mixes

Bob Crewe and Sound Engineer George Schowerer recording the Four Seasons in the Mirasound studios in 1966.

The recordings of the Four Seasons have been collected by fans for nearly 50 years on vinyl and CD. In that time there have been thousands of releases but in terms of a properly mastered set there remains great concerns amongst fans. Unlike the Beach Boys catalogue the ‘Seasons’ tracks are not re-mastered to DVD-Audio or SACD standard and available to fans

 

So what do we mean by a ‘Best’ mix?

 

We agreed recently that Steve Hoffmans assessment of tracks applied to our favourite group when he said….

 

“It’s all in the mastering. Digital is a great medium. Any CD can sound good….. It takes a good mastering engineer! : Stereo is better but it’s not about stereo vs. mono, it’s about which classic song has the best mix. If the stereo mix “nails it” it’s the mix to listen to. If the mono mix “nails it”, it’s the mix to listen to.”

 

Steve Hall is chief mastering engineer at Future Disc in Hollywood, California recently mastered the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds DVD-A for surround release and has done albums for a long list of top-name artists, including Al Jarreau, Alanis Morissette, George Harrison, and Madonna, along with many film-soundtrack albums, such as The Matrix. He said….”Basically, mastering is balancing, equalizing, compressing, and just trying to get the most out of a musical performance,” says Hall. “It's smoothing out all the rough edges to make a polished, finished performance.” The idea, he explains, “is to make it as musical and exciting to listen to as possible.

 

In the course of their work, mastering engineers have to do all kinds of sonic doctoring, including matching levels from song to song; adding shimmer to the top and punch to the bottom; adjusting the levels of individual instruments by using precise EQ (remember, they're working with a mixed master); goosing up the overall loudness; and much more.”

 

Defining a good mix is ‘subjective’?......well perhaps but we think 80% of it……..is a mixture of technical…..and ‘feel’…….that instinctive knowledge that the group’s performance is as good a soundstage as you can get. The rest is down to personal preference.

 

Firstly the characteristics that make it sound great……

 

1. Clarity – that sharp clear shape to each element in the sound
2. Content – the sound stage and it’s constituent parts
3. Separation – the difference or space within the sound between the elements
4. Depth – the position of the sounds in terms of the distance they appear from the listener and each other.

 

We believe the definitive versions need to be stored in the best digital form for future generations of collectors. As mastering improves and the technology to process the sound, we will be able enjoy the Four Seasons as never before. Their collection is too important to be neglected

 

OK so you have some questions?

 

Why is there a need for the archiving of the Four Seasons catalogue?

 

Well the problem is that the Four Seasons Partnership doesn’t have a comprehensive set of masters nor have they re-mastered these to an adequate standard.(eg The Jersey Beat Box Set) The multi-track recordings have been lost according to quotes from Bob Crewe’s former sound engineer George Schowerer and Mastering Engineer Bill Inglot.

 

Also, there is no comprehensive session log which would track the recordings and masters (including alternate versions).

 

Some versions of their songs only exist on vinyl and copies are increasingly hard to find in mint or good condition. Well many of them have been around for over 40 years. The 70s and 80s tracks are not so much a problem as management and storage has been OK and the alternate takes are not so many ( said before a full evaluation of the Collectors choice recent releases)…..but this was not their hey-dey. It is 1961 to 1967 that requires the most research and archiving.

 

When we recently started the archive at 1961 we found there are 11 important issues of ‘Comma Si  Bella’ and we have been able to identify the ‘best’ mono and stereo versions. It is proving to be a real detective job to find the material and document the quality. But we hope it will be worth the effort.

 

Let me give an example of what we’ve been trying to do in our project to identify the ‘best mixes’ of Four Seasons songs. “Goodnight My Love’ first appeared on the ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry & 12 Others’ album (Vee Jay LP 1056 ) 1963, and but has always been  in mono on CD releases as far as we knew. Subsequent CD releases like the ACE twofer  CHD 507 retained this mono mix….so when we discovered a stereo copy on the ‘Looking Back’ vinyl album on Philips  PHS600-222   1966…. we wondered if we had found a lost stereo master. Examination of a digital dubbed version indicates possibly a 25 millisecond delay to the right channel. Perhaps the Philips Engineers where not averse to using the ‘creative’ license afforded by the mastering desk and their ability to create a pseudo-stereo version.? But listening to it, it is hard to tell whether it is genuine stereo or not. It’s impossible for most of us.

 

We asked a sound engineer to do an analysis of the releases for us.

He told us…..“I’ve checked all the vinyl and CD that I can
 find and the only missing piece in the jigsaw is the LP of 
Big Girls - Vee Jay in STEREO, which I would need for 
a final word on this. There is a rare album on 
Candlelight that should also be checked.

There are two stereo mixes I believe, both real 
(genuine) stereo and both different.

Here is my “VERDICT”:

 The CD’s are all mono….at least the Curb CD - mono 
3:06 and the Ace CD - mono 3:05 are (both similar, but 
not the same) RMS -13db peak -17db average I haven’t 
checked the 45 rpm vinyl yet, but most likely that is mono
(Update note added25thMarch - "even the CCM CD of 
"Folk-Nanny" has the mono version on it")

So, on the rest of the vinyl versions….

Folk-Nanny=Stay VJ LP - stereo 3:09 (drop out in 
volume on right channel between 9 and 10 secs): 
RMS -8db peak -13db average

Lookin’ Back PH LP - stereo 3:11 (different mix to Stay 
VJ LP, no drop in volume on right channel between 9 and 
10 secs): RMS -9db peak – 16db average

Greatest Hits set = Longines Symphonette Society 4 
LP set - LP #4 - stereo 3:06 (same mix as Stay VJ LP, 
but NO drop in volume on right channel between 9 and 
10 secs): RMS -10db peak -16 db average

Candlelite LP (SING MEMORIES OF SOUVENIRS IN 
GOLD Candlelite CU 151B) 

I haven’t been able to find this album yet.”

So there are versions to be salvaged and restored in the 
‘Four Seasons Archive’ of Goodnight My Love which we 
believe the Four Seasons Partnership don’t have.

We would like to see a full session log of the tracks from 
1961 and although some exist, assembled from the ACE 
CD’s back in the 1990s, they are not comprehensive or 
verified. Our research will seek to use this information to 
verify the ‘best mixes’ of each recording since 1961. A big 
task we know.

With our on-going up-dates on the CD Discography and 
track research for the ‘Best Mixes’ Sound Archive we will 
try to work through the early 60s tracks up to 1967. And 
we’ll keep fans informed via this blog.

Casey Chameleon

 

The Four Seasons 'Sound Archive'

Every time that I listen to a past or present Four Seasons CD it becomes more apparent that we are so much in need of this archive. Since 1986 and the advent of their music being presented in a digital format we have seen the best and the worst of mastering in what was supposed to be the ultimate listening experience.

With over 100 CD releases on the group in that period we have moved from the world of  hi-fi to the world of the I-pod, and it seems we have lost our ears or is it the sound engineers and the record companies who have lost theirs.

It has been publicized in the ‘Loudness wars’ and every day sees another re-mastering project being condemned for its almost mindless compression.

To understand this here is a quote from Wikipaedia…

The concept of making CDs "hotter" began to appeal to people within the industry, due in part to how noticeably louder CDs had become and also in part to the notion that customers preferred louder CDs.  Engineers, musicians and labels each developed their own ideas of how CDs could be made louder. In 1994, the digital brickwall limiter with look-ahead (to pull down peak levels before they happened) was first mass-produced. While the increase in CD loudness was gradual throughout the 1990s, some opted to push the format to the limit, such as on Oasis' widely popular album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, which averaged -8 dBFS on many of its tracks^[15]—a rare occurrence, especially in the year it was released (1995). In 1997, Iggy Pop assisted in the remix and remaster of the 1973 album Raw Power by his former band The Stooges, creating an album which, to this day, is arguably the loudest rock CD ever recorded. It has an average of -4 dBFS in places^[15], which is rare even by today's standards^{[citation needed]}, though getting more and more common.

The standards of loudness would reach their limit in the 2000s. -10 dB had been the standard for the past several years, but this was often pushed to -9 dB. However, -6 to -5 dBFS is common in rock, pop and rap music. Quieter exceptions to today's standards are rare. The latest releases as of 2008 have reached average levels as high as -3 dBFS

Everybody wants their disc to sound great, but it seems that nowadays a lot of people equate “best” with “loudest.” That puts a lot of pressure on mastering engineers to compress their masters heavily so that they can achieve as hot a level as possible. “It's a losing battle for musicality,” Bob Ludwig laments. “To me, it's a fact that highly compressed music is tiring to the ear and doesn't make you want to listen to something over and over again. Could this be one of the reasons for the record industry's demise? The problem is that many artists, producers, and A&R people are very short-sighted,” he continues. “If you take a new recording and compare eight bars of a piece that's been mastered by four different engineers, often the loudest one sounds immediately the most impressive to the listener. Hardly anyone listens to 40 or 50 minutes of the whole recording todecide how the total musical experience was for them”.

In terms of recent Four Seasons releases you might ask how their releases compare?

Well it requires a lot of listening time to be definitive and every CD released (which is impossible for any one collector) but the pattern is clear. Releases since 2000 show levels moving closer to a -0db peak. Whilst max levels of -10 db could be found before then the latest CD’s are showing max loudness as high as -4 db on some tracks. This is unacceptable re-mastering.

So looking back what makes a best mix and how do you recognize it.?

Well we hope to help fans with this in our ‘long-term’ project to define and preserve the ‘best mixes’. In the ‘Sound Archive’ pages we are compiling the Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons ‘CD Discography and Buying Guide’ which will review and evaluate every CD master of the groups work we can find. Many have in the past been reviewed by George Ingram in past UK Newsletters…….But we are delving into the ‘sound quality’ that you get. And we would like to develop the ‘Best Mixes’ page to list the best master tracks and where to find them (Vinyl and CD/Mono and Stereo). .During 2009 we will publish pages as we progressively build up the ‘Sound Archive’

As Charles Alexander says in the ‘Jersey Beat’ booklet…….”Millions of people from all walks of life have bought 4 Seasons recordings and attended concerts for decades- as loyal a group of followers as any artist could ever hope to have”. They deserve to know ‘what are the ‘best mixes’ and where to find them. Maybe some day the whole catalogue will be re-mixed to the very best sound standards.

Click here to access the first sections…and if you have one of the CD’s and can add to the reviews e-mail me. Casey Chameleon.

…and if you are into audio…check out ‘The Ten Biggest Lies In Audio’

 

New York’s ‘Priceless Possession’

Stepping out onto Lexington 64^th Street at from the warm, fun filled atmosphere of Alice’s Tea Cup, the award winning tea house, to be met by a wall of yellow cabs heading downtown captured for me the essence of New York. The sights and sounds of the New York street had broken the mood of our the nostalgic conversations of making music during the sixties. It was time for my wife and I to wish our hostess for the afternoon, Jean Thomas-Fox farewell after a great lunch and our reflections on our research of the last two years and our plans to update the web site. Surrounded by Lewis Carroll memorabilia, cake stands and cute pastel coloured tea pots it seemed a far cry from her days as a session singer and lead singer with the ‘Rag Dolls’.

In the last year, with the help of Martin Roberts and other ‘Spectropop’ collectors we have been able to re-acquaint Jean with nearly 200 tracks that she wrote or worked on and hadn’t heard in over 40 years. She is very happy to hear tracks she had completely forgotten but thanks to her log books and Spectropop’s music detectives she has re-discovered lots of her past work.

“Two things struck me as I listened to Volumes 7 and 8 of your ‘Lost and Found’ CD compilations”, she said. “Firstly how much really strong work Ellie (Greenwich), Mikie (Harris) and I did between 1964 and 1967 and, secondly, that the sound we had, I feel, shines through on so many of the recordings.  You don’t realize many of these things while they’re happening, only in retrospect.”                              

I told Jean about the recent ACE release release “Do-Wah-Diddy: Words & Music by Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry”  which features this trio’s backing vocals on theTony Pass recording of ‘True, True Love’ (recorded 10^th October 1964) which we featured in our ‘Out of the Closet – Part 1’ blog post.

“Ellie was such a talent. Alongside Carol King she is arguably one of the most important female writers, producers, performers in New York during the 60s….I can remember when she had nine Top Ten hits on the Hot 100 charts in one year.” I suggested that maybe ACE should pull together the best of the backing work they did together in the future…if not well we will.

“The other thing that surprised me was how many tracks I sang lead on without getting credit.  Many times I knew this was happening and agreed to it, but, I find, that other times I didn’t know this was happening.” What our research has shown is that Jean’s vocals were featured on recordings using the name of another artist or as a fictitious group.

We recently re-acquainted Jean with ‘Priceless Possession’ (United Artists UA 649 by Janie Grant) a song she and brother Don wrote back in 1963. “This recording of ‘Priceless Possession’ sounds more like me than Janie Grant.’ Jean told me.  “I really like the song and think it's one of the best that Don and I wrote.  I can't remember whether they recorded over my demo and added some orchestra or if I did the actual master session with her, but they sure left my voice up front.  At first I thought it was all me and then I saw her name on the label.  But it wasn’t until I listened to her other recordings that I realized she has a very different voice. The record company chose to feature my vocal.  I take that as a compliment”

 

Another release in 1966 by a group called The Cheese Cakes is another example of Jean recording with a fictitious group by producers trying to find a hit. Laurie 3336 – Heading For a Heartbreak b/w Bye Bye Little Boy, was recorded for Napam Music on 21st and 27th January 1966 according to Jean’s log as a master session. Jean cannot recall who the other group members might be. Another ‘lost gem’ re-discovered. “I can’t remember this session or these songs but’ yes’ that is me singing ‘lead’  "

But perhaps the most obvious example of this approach was the attempt to promote a trio of Broadway models as pop stars by Kama Sutra  on Roulette R7003 . Jean recalls…… “There was one occasion when I was asked to help a group of models get a hit record. The group was ‘The Loved Ones’ and comprised 3 models from the Stewart Models Agency. We recorded ‘I Love How You Love Me b/w Do You Know What I Think’” This was on 22^nd and 29^th September 1967….but when you listen Jean is on lead and the models and others are on backing vocals. “I found I still had the press release and photo from that time. They mixed my voice in with the lead singer……and left more of me than her.” 

 

“The 60s was an amazing time to be in the music industry.  There were new sounds coming from everywhere and many new, small record companies popping up to give almost everyone who had something to record an opportunity to do just that.  You didn’t have to have a big orchestra behind you or record in a studio with 16 or 32 tracks.  Many of the hits of the day were made in 2- track or 4-track studios for under $1,000.00.  And it was fun!!!!!!!  We all did a lot of singing (solo lead vocals or group lead vocals) we never got credit for, but it didn’t matter.  We loved it!!!!  And we would all do it over again today, if given the opportunity.”

Wonderful stories of the music industry in NYC during the 60s. But unfortunately my meeting with Jean had to end and it was time to hail a yellow cab to head back to our hotel.

 

We’ve featured some of the sides mentioned above in a player so you can hear for yourselves below. Maybe we’ll find more examples of our songstress in another disguise as we continue to document her sessions from 1966 to 1968.

Every step of the way reveals surprises and great finds. And Jean would go on to become the voice of so many commercials on TV and radio in the second part of the decade. Just another example of how this often ‘hidden gem’ became New York’s ‘Priceless Possession.’

 

More posts to come as we add more session logs and bios to the web site during the year. www.jeanthomas.info

Ken Charmer

Powered by eSnips.com

'Looking Back' to the future

A visit to New York for most people is about the city and its sights, sounds, shopping etc. OK it is a big brash noisy place that towers over you and runs at a pace that never seems to ease up. This post-Christmas visit by me to the ‘city that never sleeps’ was about enjoying ‘hidden gems’ …..from our ‘bijou’ hotel in the shadow of the Empire State Building and the nearby Macy’s department store, to Times Square in it’s New Year celebrations. These were however all secondary because the visit was really about meeting the friends that Frankie Valli has inadvertently created for me over the last 40 years. These friends mean such visits are always cherished and a reason to always want to go back.

As well as meeting Karen, my ‘Four Seasons’ pen pal since 1976 and 60s pop heroine Jean Thomas (lead singer of the ‘Rag Dolls’- more re this in my next blog post) there was the chance to meet up with top fans……Charles Alexander, Frank Rovello and George Juba. With the guys I enjoyed lunch and whiled away an afternoon reflecting on the Four Seasons releases of the last year and the research achievements of the UK fan group. What can we achieve by looking back I was asked?

Putting the past in its true context helps create the future I believe. And for the next generation of fans we owe them the history as accurate as we know it.

‘Looking Back’ was a 1964 Philips album by the Four Seasons that looked back at their releases whilst at Vee-Jay and their re-makes of classic 50s hits. But looking back is not something Bob Gaudio likes to do and he is not the only one.

"If you look backward in this business, you will be crushed. You have to look forward." These are the words of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs when asked about celebrating the Mac's 25th anniversary this week. "It has to do with Steve's values," said Andy Hertzfeld, a key member of the original Macintosh development team during the 1980's. "Apple is a reflection of Steve and he doesn't want to celebrate the past. He always said the important work is that which you do today and tomorrow, not the work you did yesterday."

Bob Gaudio has almost said the same thing himself and whilst we understand this perspective, the fans today have nowhere else to look. In business there are always lessons to be learnt from the past whilst the future can be what you make it. Apart from the prospect of the announcement of a film deal for ‘Jersey Boys…..there perhaps seems little to look forward to for Four Seasons fans. Now that (almost) the full Four Seasons catalogue is available on CD and with little prospect of any ‘previously unreleased’ material surfacing from the Motown or Philips vaults it is perhaps easy to assume there is nothing left to research. Well not for us.

As music historians we have always focused on the past successes and the story of how the music was created. The other key objective for fans has been to have the music re-mastered on CD to the highest quality. But that was never an objective of Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio as a recent article in Mix the on-line magazine demonstrates.

Mix is the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry. ‘Rag Doll’s creation is described by Crewe and Gaudio in a fascinating article. "The overtones of the tom and hair drum were very pronounced," says Gaudio. "And the damn echo was slapping everything around. But it's interesting that we noticed it mainly in retrospect. The media of the time - like AM radio - simply couldn't reproduce it, so you didn't hear it over the radio. The same with the monitors of the time, especially in a demo studio. You play the CD now and you think, that's not what I heard back then." "There was a lot of generational loss on that record, because it was 4-track and we had to bounce," Gaudio notes. "But again, radio forgave a lot of that. And while we were sensitive to that, and often relied on mastering to fix it, ultimately we were always into the feel of the record. That always came first."

Like many recordings from that era and before, CD versions and FM radio reveal all sorts of anomalies on the tracks. You can hear the bangles of the tambourine being moved away from the microphone in between verse and chorus, and there's one spot where the tine sound is slightly out of time and sounds like it was accidentally hit. Recordings like "Rag Doll" were never intended for this kind of microscopic scrutiny, but Gaudio says it wasn't an issue then or now. "It really became part of the sound," he says. "It created a sound that was fresh and worked on radio."

Just the sort of analysis fans want to hear and although the suggestion that because the mix was rushed and intended for radio, we shouldn’t want to scrutinize the arrangements ………… well we don’t accept that. If Holland , Dozier and Holland can take their mixes apart and describe and illustrate the ‘feel’ in every track on the multi-tracks as they do in Free Detroit Press videos to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Motown…then why won’t Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio even if the multi-tracks don’t exist any more.? The Stereo masters still reveal a lot. And careful re-mastering today can correct and bring the best out of the studio work. That is the whole point of mastering.

In Europe, there are special young fans whose interest in the recordings and the music’s creation is strong and working with them we will help identify the ‘best mixes’ of all Four Seasons songs from 1961 to 1967 over the next year or so. And finding the best versions of the catalogue on CD is becoming a problem. With compression ruining the dynamic range on CD’s today ( e.g. Jersey Beat Box Set), the CD’s of the 80s and 90’s contain the best digital masters of their songs available….We'll ask the question to evaluate if today’s releases are  compressed for I-pod use and not of a sufficiently high audio quality. We’ll review all CD releases since 1986 and advise the ‘essential’ and ‘collectable’ ones. Unlike the Beach Boys we have no DVD-Audio re-masters…..but with advances in sound mastering it will soon be possible for enthusiasts to create these. It will be a case of re-creating a feel that maybe could be heard in the studio whilst recording the session….but was lost in the mono mix for radio. Only by re-mastering from masters can the ‘feel’ be re-created. Just listen to Holland-Dozier-Holland and you can see how..

In ten years time it is forecast all our domestic collections will be on home based servers transmitting via wi-fi to players that will create the best audio mixes that we could want. So preserving the best digital masters from CD and vinyl will enable fans to have the best sound.

And whilst nothing more is forthcoming about the creation of the music from the Partnership, we are researching how Bob Gaudio set-out to create a new sound for the Four Seasons in 1965 that would lead to the creation of a ‘NEW’ Four Seasons in 1976 that would storm back to the top of the charts with ‘Who Loves You’ and ‘December 63’. Based on interviews and articles we are able to trace the moves, decisions and recordings that led to this in ‘The Rise and Fall Of The NEW Four Seasons’. Our first chapters in this epic story will appear this year. An alternative story to the Jersey Boys distortion of the truth.

Finally we hear rumours of a salvaged ‘live’ recording of the group from the 70s which we hope will appear on CD sometime this year.

We’ll go on building on the network of friendships created, and strengthened by re-unions and the International Convention, and keep generating interesting and challenging commentary on the Four Seasons and their history.

So that is the point of ‘Looking Back’ to the future.

Ken Charmer

 

A Time For Giving Thanks

 

So what is amusing Frankie Valli in the studio in 1967? See at the end of this blog post.

As our American friends are approaching their biggest annual celebration ‘Thanksgiving’ it seemed appropriate for us in the UK to reflect on what has been a momentous year for fans of the Four Seasons with links to many special moments.

Lots of great things have happened like the issue of all of the Frankie Valli solo and Four Seasons albums on twofer CD’s at Collectors Choice and after so many requests from us fans, The Motown Anthology appeared. Then we had the Jersey Boys Book and the ‘Jersey Beat’ Box set complete with DVD of great live performances

But aside from getting access to all the music for the first time on CD in such a comprehensive way, it has been a year of ‘togetherness’ with a re-union in the UK and an International Convention in the USA. We also had the Opening Night Celebrations of the West End Launch of Jersey Boys which Lynn, Ray and Tina attended to meet Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio as well as Charles Alexander. Broadway.com captured the night.

Lynn Boleyn’s recollections of the USA event in Raleigh on 25^th October have just become available here and Frank Rovello has done a superb job at the GILG website capturing the event in photos and audio at a dedicated web page. Enjoy all the atmosphere of the event at these links as fans and Four Seasons members reflected on the history of the group and their collective enjoyment of the groups work over the years.

But perhaps for us in the UK the biggest thrill is how the cast of the UK version of Jersey Boys have done such a good job. This video on YouTube perhaps captures just how good these guys are and the interview done with Three’s A Crowd is a nice reflection by the guys on their achievement and it also captures our enjoyment of the show. Whether the music or the story is the key is irrelevant. It is just the experience that is so good.  The excellent Bob Gaudio interview at QTV Toronto  is a good review of his thoughts on the show.

So what a year and although our Newsletter hard copy has been slightly delayed many of the articles are available at our Preview on this blog .We hope to complete News 52 soon.

And check out some related links below……

• The fullundie blog has a reputation for providing free mp3 downloads of many artists and albums and they recently came up independently with a ‘Seasons Connections’ set which features many tracks that appeared in our 8 CD fan club series. The quality of tracks is not to our liking but check out the download here.

• We’ve been helping former Rag Dolls lead singer Jean Thomas compile her first YouTube video of her very first single from 1962 ‘Moon River’.. We hope to feature videos based on mixes of her Rag Dolls hits ‘Society Girl’ and ‘Dusty’ next year. We recently asked Sandy Linzer who co-wrote a number of songs for her,  the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli of his recollections of the Rag Dolls sessions back in 1964 and he told us…”time has erased much of the Rag Doll sessions memories……but the one thing that remains is the high regard and affection that I hold for Jean Thomas……she was not only an amazing singer but also always a joy to work with. There was nothing she couldn't do vocally - who else could have been a female counterpart to Frankie Valli!”

• Harmony heroes like the Four Seasons always set and maintained a standard for ‘harmony’ in the sixties but also in the 70s with songs like ‘Harmony, Perfect Harmony’ and it is good to see that harmony is making a comeback with a phenomenal accapella group from Indiana……’Straight No Chaser’ combine harmony and comedy brilliantly with their ‘12 Days’ but catch their take on the Tokens ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ for expert harmony. If these guys did a tribute to the Four Seasons it would be really something.

It has certainly been a great year for all and we extend best wishes to every Four Season, their fans everywhere and the Jersey Boys cast members as we enter the holiday season.

Ken Charmer

PS The only thing I want to know is where can I get one of those ‘totally cool’ Four Seasons T-shirts featuring the ‘Chameleon’ group photo?

...and back in 1967 it's the hot pants that were obviously necessary to get the right 'sound'...but is this Tommy or Joe that is the 'cross-dresser'?

Photos courtesy of George Schowerer - Sound Engineer