The Never-Ending Seasons

A BOUNTIFUL BOXED SET BRINGS RARE MOTOWN TO LIGHT

Motown made more money out of the Four Seasons after they had left the company than when they were there.

The irony came to mind earlier this month, when the Madfish imprint of Britain’s Snapper Music released its remarkable account of the Seasons’ decades-long recording history, Working Our Way Back To You: The Ultimate Collection. This 44-CD set (a mere £350, or $400) includes three discs which document the group’s 1971-74 tenure at Motown, with a significant number of previously unissued tracks.

The Seasons made no chart impact during their recording contract with Berry Gordy’s business – unless you count “Hickory,” the single which reached No. 90 on the Cash Box Top 100 in June 1974. But Motown subsequently reaped rewards when Frankie Valli’s “My Eyes Adored You” became a major success at home and abroad, and when a U.K. reissue of “The Night” scored soon afterwards.

“My Eyes Adored You” was cut for Motown. When Valli and the group wanted out in 1974, they tried to buy back all the unreleased material. The company’s price was considered too high, and so only “My Eyes…” was retrieved, for $4,000. But Motown’s Jobete Music retained a percentage of the song’s publishing rights, and thus when Valli’s recording was a worldwide hit via Private Stock Records, income flowed Gordy’s way.

Moreover, Jobete had (and continues to have) a piece of the Seasons’ two post-Motown smashes, “Who Loves You” and “December, 1963 (Oh What A Night).” As for “The Night,” it paid off by gaining popularity on Britain’s Northern Soul circuit, and then charted Top 10 upon reissue there in 1975.

“That whole time with Motown didn’t work for us,” the Four Seasons’ Bob Gaudio told Paul Sexton, author of the 144-page hardback book about their career which is included in the Madfish bundle. “The only reason I went there as a producer/writer was that Berry was a big fan, and we had many discussions about that creatively. I really thought it was a good place to be. But I don’t know if it was him or his promotion department that just didn’t get us.”

Gaudio continued, “At some point I started really losing my patience and I didn’t do any more work. Frankie did some more work with other producers there. I produced a few other people, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and did some work with Michael [Jackson], but that was it. I got to a point where I started losing my enthusiasm, and I wound up buying my way out.”

MORE THAN ‘CHAMELEON’

Motown fans and archivists will be gratified, at the very least, to know of the thoroughness of Working Our Way Back To You. In addition to Sexton’s commanding overview, Ken Charmer of the Four Seasons Appreciation Society in the U.K. has written a comprehensive analysis, disc by disc, of all the boxed set’s material. There, he notes that it was Motown executive Ewart Abner who helped to bring the Seasons to the company, the result of friendships previously made at VeeJay Records, where the group scored their first Number One hits in 1962.

Disc 20 features Valli and the Seasons’ nine-track Chameleon album – recorded for Motown towards the end of 1971 and released on MoWest in May 1972 – plus five bonus tracks. The latter originally appeared on The Motown Years, a Hip-O-Select/Motown compact disc from 2008; three were produced by longtime Seasons associate Bob Crewe, and one apiece by The Corporation and Hal Davis.

***The Madfish extravaganza: hook, line, and sinker***

Disc 21 offers Valli’s album, Inside You, which was compiled and released by Motown in October 1975 after the group’s exit and their lead singer’s “My Eyes Adored You” success. It includes his versions of the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Loving,” produced by Jerry Marcellino and Mel Larson; Brenda Holloway’s “Just Look What You’ve Done,” produced by Hal Davis; and “Thank You,” written and produced by Willie Hutch. The bonus tracks on this CD include a rehearsal of the above-mentioned “Hickory.”

Disc 22 features a bounty of previously-unavailable – and sometimes even existence-denied – Valli tracks from 1971-73, among them, “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart).” This was the first Motown recording of the Stylistics’ 1971 hit, with the same Hal Davis-produced, Gene Page-arranged track later used for the Diana Ross/Marvin Gaye rendering. Another remake is Smokey Robinson’s “What Love Has Joined Together,” this one produced by Al Cleveland and the Four Tops’ Lawrence Payton.

Messrs. Marcellino and Larsen were also responsible for writing and producing “My Heart Cries Out To You,” while Valli himself co-produced “After You,” subsequently cut by Ross with slightly different lyrics. One more highlight is the Gaudio/Crewe-produced “Star,” while “Future Years” was written by Tony Martin Jr. and Guy Finley, whose 1974 album, Dazzle ’Em With Footwork, was produced by Gaudio during his Motown affiliation.

HATCHING THE CONCEPT

More than five years in the making, Working Our Way Back To You has involved, among others, the Four Seasons Partnership, steered by Gaudio and Valli; Snapper’s Ian Crockett; and Four Seasons aficionados Charmer and the late Bob Fisher. “This was a concept I hatched with Bob,” says Crockett. “It’s a real travesty that he died [in October 2021] before he could see the finished work. He was my inspiration.” During the 1970s at EMI Records, Fisher worked for Motown, and was knowledgeable about the Seasons’ time there, as well as the group’s entire output. The first record he ever bought? “Sherry.”

The repertoire in the Madfish release has been licensed from a variety of sources, including Warner Music and Motown’s owner, Universal Music. Crockett recalls that it was Snapper’s 2016 boxed set by prog-rock guitarist Steve Hillage (22 discs, no less) which particularly impressed Gaudio. “He loved it. ‘We want these guys to do our legacy,’ he said.” The final package features more than 800 tracks from a career of 195 singles and 31 studio albums. With the 44 compact discs is a vinyl reproduction of the Seasons’ 1969 album, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette, in addition to the writings of Sexton and Charmer, and a portfolio chronicling single and EP sleeves from around the world.

***Beginning to turn your head around…***

A number of unissued Motown tracks cut by Valli and/or the Seasons, identified last November by Charmer, are not included in the set. These include remakes of Marvin Gaye’s “Chained” and “Save The Children,” and another Marcellino/Larson production, “I Will Love You Like A Man,” which “was approved by Bob Gaudio,” wrote Charmer, “and then withdrawn from the Snapper box set release for reasons we are not aware of.”

Still another is “I Can Get Away From You (But Can’t Get Over You),” written by Michael Masser and Pam Sawyer, and first released by Tony and Carolyn (Rinaldi) on V.I.P. in 1971. Yet one more: “Torn Between Two Lovers,” better-known as a 1977 chart-topper for Mary MacGregor. “Indications from the Tape Box show that this was ‘assigned to G.C. Cameron,’ ” observed Charmer in 2022, “but a listening test may confirm the database record as correct and [that] a version by Frankie Valli exists.”

Given its depth, price and limited-edition availability, Working Our Way Back To You is clearly aimed at Seasons devotees. But the light it shines on the quartet's Motown years is welcome, especially given that they were signed at a time of such transition for the record company. “We were doing music at Motown,” Valli told Paul Sexton, “that, if Berry Gordy wasn’t involved in doing Lady Sings The Blues, he might have understood. But I don’t think the rest of the company really [got] where we were coming from.”

Nevertheless, the royalties continue to work their way back, to this day.

West Grand Blog is taking a short break. Enjoy your Independence Day. See you on the other side, with luck.

Working notes: Frankie Valli, who recently turned 89 and just married his fourth wife, shows no evidence of retirement. Tomorrow night (July 1), he (with the “Four Seasons”) performs in his home state of New Jersey, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. Thereafter, the combo is booked to play gigs – not least in Michigan – through the rest of the year, and into 2024. Meanwhile, Bob Gaudio, 80, can be heard on a recently-produced podcast by Eli Marcus, with details here and a Spotify link here. He makes no mention of Motown, but sings the opening line of “Short Shorts.”