I've seen Jersey Boys on Broadway. It's a fantastic show.

The Vocal Group Hall Of Fame called The Four Seasons the most significant vocal group (band) pre-Beatles. The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons were undeniably the most popular pre-Beatles groups. Those two did a project...East Meets West (I believe is the title) featuring Frankie on all The Four Seasons leads and all The Beach Boys (including Brian) on The Beach Boys leads. The double album is considered a valuable collectors item.

No I don't believe it. No black harmony group would be caught dead sounding like that.



Stu, can we get the facts straight instead of just talking off the top of your head?

"Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" is from 1967 and is on the same label that the Four Seasons were on from 1964 through the end of the 60s - Philips. It had nothing whatsoever to do with Motown.

I like the record, but it's hardly rock and roll. Of the 200 or so versions of the song most are by people like Barry manilow, The Lettermen, Julio Iglesias and Andy Williams. It's a pop standard.

"My Eyes Adored You" happened like you said, Motown (Mowest) did not want to release it and sold the master to valli for $4000. It's horrible MOR dogshit if you ask me, I despised that record then and I still do.

They may be back popular again thanks to "Jersey Boys," but here's the difference between them and their closest competitor at the time they were both current.

In the 1970s each act released a Greatest Hits double album.

Beach Boys - Endless Summer - #1 - 155 weeks on the chart
The Four Seasons Story - #51 - 17 weeks on the chart

The Beach Boys album was so huge that they released a second double album of other hits.

Spirit Of America - #8 - 43 weeks.

Throughout the decades that followed each group's prime, the Beach Boys became all time legends and the Four Seasons became an "oldies" group whose records sounded really dated.

I assume you're referring to the nearly 200 million records sold by The Four Seasons which still grace the airwaves today on oldies and satellite stations across the country.

Laughable.

The Mills Brothers, Temptations, Drifters, Ink Spots, etc...destroy the Four Seasons as vocal groups.

If the "band" part was included that's different. Most vocal groups do not play instruments.

I'm still waiting for you to tell us which artists were influenced by the Four Seasons.

NOBODY bought it, but it's hardly a collector's item. The album price guide lists it at $10-$15. The Four Seasons stuff is not very collectable. The only things that are valuable are the records Valli and/or the group made before "Sherry." They had a bunch of singles that flopped in the late 50s and early 60s, under various names.

In 1984, a long-awaited collaboration between the Four Seasons and the Beach Boys, "East Meets West" was released on FBI Records, owned by the Four Seasons Partnership. The record did not sell well. It only appeared to feature Valli from The Four Seasons group, but most of the surviving Beach Boys, including even Brian Wilson, took a solo vocal part.

Dozens of artists have hailed Frankie and The Four Seasons as major influences including Barry Gibb who said that the group set the standard, Billy Joel was a huge fan, and Brian Wilson who stated that The Four Seasons were his FAVORITE vocal group of the 60's. As I previously stated...Frankies falsetto influenced several R&B falsetto leads in the 60's and 70's.

True on CTMEOY, which was released just prior to the Motown signing.

Anyways, I was just wondering why They got so little respect on this particular thread and site.

As for The "pre" Four Seasons lack of success in the 50's...so what? Does the fact that Smokey Robinson couldn't even get a record deal with The Matadors in the 50's diminish what The Miracles accomplished. The Temptations were known as Motowns "no hit" group for several years, and The Four Tops toiled throughout the 50's with no significant success. Most groups from that era paid their dues before achieving major success. It wasn't until the 70's when record companies would put enough cash into production and promotion and enough cocaine into the noses of radio program directors that many artists and groups found it easy to become "overnight" successes.

Please cite a source for this claim.



The single is from 1967. They went to Mowest in 1971. Do you consider FOUR YEARS to be "just prior?"



I think it's because people see their music as extremely dated and played out, and not influential at all. They were doing a corny white doo wop sound vocally mixed some some good songs and arrangements that were somewhat retrograde at the time, and are REALLY dated now.

Hardly acclaimed at all by critics, with no credibility as LP artists, they are the McGuire Sisters of the 60s, an act that was top ten of the decade on the singles charts but just not musically relevant anymore.

The Phillips stuff had played out by the late 60's and the Motown deal was in the works. They were released on Mowest in 71, but had started cutting tracks before that...Can't Take My Eyes Off You being the last (Frankie solo) big hit prior to Motown.

Who says Frankie influenced several black falsettos? I DO. Frankie and Smokey go way back and have even performed together recently, which they should do more of.

Disagree with what you call "dated", any more than The Platters, The Drifters, or many others are "dated". Just because you prefer certain acts doesn't make anytbhing "dated" except perhaps in your mind. Jersey Boys would not have become the huge success it has become if the material were "dated".

No, the follow up "I Make A Fool Of Myself" was a top 20 hit, and besides, WWI was the last US war before WW2, that does not make WWI "just prior" to WW2.



Other way around if anything. Smokey was singing falsetto before Frankie, and having hits that way before Frankie. Evereybody knows that Smokey's falsetto influence was Nolan Strong. Valli had ZERO influence on falsetto singing soul groups. That came from Smokey and from earlier doo wop groups. Valli falsetto blows. He has about as much soul as milk.



Sure it would. People look at is as a long ago time when their parents were young. Unless you think that some modern acts are going to start doing remakes of cornball shit like "Sherry" and "Candy Girl?"

"Ain't Misbehavin" was a huge Broadway hit. Do yoiu not think that Fats Waller's music is dated now?

There seems to be a lack of commincation here, Stu. I did not say that the Four Seasons early flops meant anything. I only brought them up because you mentioned "collecor's items." As someone who sells collectable records for a living, I'm telling you that the ONLY Four Seasons records that are valuable among collectors are their early 45s that were bombs, like these shown below:

1. Elton John
2. Bill Haley and His Comets
3. David Bowie
4. Queen
5. Neil Young
6. The Platters
7. Jackie Wilson
8. The Byrds
9. The Kinks
10. The Impressions

Anyways Bruce...you're entitled to your opinion and I'll stick with mine regarding The Four Seasons.