...or, it ain't Vivaldi, baby.
This is the precursor to the current "Criminally Ignored Sides.." produced by the folks at Rhino. Part 1 of The Rarities CD had some interesting commercial spots for Cousin Brucey's pop show and bowling along with Frankie's twisting of the classics "Good Ship Lollipop" and "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" into Wonder Who numbers. ("You're Nobody.." is actually pretty good..)
Here, in Rarities Part 2, we find the transitioning Seasons. Albeit, criminally ignored still as they put out some fantastic sounds in the late 60s early 70s. Original producers and arrangers--Crewe, Gaudio, Callelo, et al--were getting more bold and experimental in the likes of jazzy pop piece, "September Rain" to the neo-Soul of "The Singles Game" to the country twinged "Raindrops and Heartaches"...to serious Seasons psychedelica (Where in the heck is "Electric Stories"?) We are treated to some poetic lyrics like in "Raven"--"Oh canyon of cold grey concrete, this town is a one way back street.." and "in the darkness of my night she gives me light" in "She Gives Me Light".
The Seasons have made a career out of the star-crossed lover theme, playing on the 60s' Rebel Without a Cause/Spendor in The Grass/West Side Story kinda teenage angst. And here we see, as Valli was developing his solo work, a change in personnel, a change in labels (from Philips to MoWest to Warner/Curb), a change of attitude. So by the time we get to "Rhapsody" the singer will do "a lot a living, drink a little wine" and will be--"into rock and roll nearly all the time.." and in "Down the Hall" the singer comtemplates affairs with the next door neighbor. So much for "Dawn--Go Away, I'm no good for you..."
Valli and the Boys here are in good voice. You can't help but sing backgound with them dudes. That's another reason why they are a class act...find this and enjoy!
This is the second volume of 4 Seasons "rarities", released in conjunction with the 4 Seasons 25th Anniversary Collection. The Rarities discs include songs that weren't popular enough to be included in the three disc
. This particular CD covers the years 1967 to 1977. Most of the songs are from hard-to-find singles or albums. While none of these songs came anywhere near hit status, most of them are still quite good. The group adopted a more "mature" style at this point, which didn't get over that well with the public, although they did have a few hits during this time period. If you want to hear a lesser known, but still good, side of the 4 Seasons, you should get this CD.
This is a lesser known side of the 4 Seasons. I think Frankie's version of "Emily" is fantastic. I love the Seasons version of "We Can Work It Out"
Both volumes of the "Rarities" CDs have been out of print for a long time. I've had the first volume (which covered their early years) in my music library for many years & was ecstatic to find the second set available on Amazon, An eclectic set of material spanning the latter part of their career. Highly recommended.
