The Four Seasons Album: “Anthology: Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons”

All the great original hits are right here in the order Frankie Valli and the gang rolled their top ten hits off the assembly line. You can almost follow the singing and the music gaining dimension as you move through those glorious, ringing harmonies. I remember the anticipation I had awaiting each new release, wondering if they could possibly beat their last great song. This album chronicles that obvious answer. Yes, the British invasion led by the Beatles and Rolling Stones would soon dethrone our local heroes and change the face of rock and roll. But I challenge you today to sit quietly and not sing when you're rolling down the highway with Sherry, Dawn, C'Mon Marianne and Bye Bye Baby reverberating on your radio or this CD.

It's not true that every Italian in Jersey is related to Frankie Valli, although the extended family of the entire group might come close.

Their beginnings as a Fifties hangover with "Sherry," a shrieky but beloved song that sounded like a one-hit-wonder, didn't predict the Seasons' subsequent, enduring success. But the group's arrangements & choice of material so improved with each release that they powered themselves like a classic Cadillac convertible right into the Beatles era, scoring their biggest New York radio hit, "Let's Hang On," at the height of the Fab Four's reign.

This collection is superior to the boxed set, unless Frankie's & the group's later hits are meaningful to you. Personally, I hated "My Eyes Adored You," but I miss Valli's funky early solo single, "(You're Gonna) Hurt Yourself," in this set. That & "The Proud One" aside, all the classics are here including "Marlena" & "Candy Girl" & "Girl Come Running" & others that are special favorites for fans of the Seasons. The hits from the mid-Sixties are pushed along by terrific Charles Calello arrangements & songs that owe something to Motown's Holland-Dozier-Holland team.

When it became clear that the Seasons couldn't let their hair grow & make nice with Flower Power, the Rascals were there with a more appropriate bouquet, but one gathered from the same garden that gave us the Four Seasons.

Bob Rixon, WFMU

This is THE collection of music by The Four (4) Seasons. If the Beach Boys were the "comedy" singing group pre-Invasion, The Four Seaons were the "tragedy" group. Bob Gaudio's great lyrics were almost always about unrequited love, driven home by Frankie Valli's falsetto and a driving beat. As with many groups, the orchestrations only got better with time. This album is particularly good because it includes many of their songs that DIDN'T make the top ten (Opus 17, Marlena, Big Man in Town, etc.) that are nevertheless outstanding.

But this one tops them all. All of the songs on this CD are excellent and will hold a special and dear place for you in your heart. All of the songs you've heard as a child, in films, on the oldies station, are here. It will bring back so many memories... Rag doll, dawn, walk like a man, big girls don't cry. This album will make you want to dance and sing along to the songs. You all should go out and get it!

If there is a better singing group than The Four Seasons, I haven't heard them. I have given numerous copies of this CD as gifts to teens too young to remember The Four Seasons, and they love it. Although this CD doesn't have all their hit songs, there isn't a bad song on it. If you have only one CD of The Four Seasons, this is the one to get. Run, don't walk, to your nearest music store and buy it. You can thank me later. Turn up the volume and have a blast.