Four Seasons

The Four Seasons, featuring the remarkable and unmistakeable voice of Frankie Valli, were one of the most popular and successful groups of the 1960s on both sides of the Atlantic, and one of the few American groups to withstand the onslaught of the British Invasion to carry their chart career through into the 1970s. When they had their first big hit as The Four Seasons in 1961 with “Sherry”, they were by no means new to the pop scene and both Frankie Valli and the group had paid their dues for the best part of a decade, honing their skills in a variety of guises on an equally bewildering array of record labels. This great-value 58-track 2-CD set features most of Frankie Valli’s early recordings, both solo and with various groups before they became The Four Seasons in 1960, and then presents their early successes under that name. It comprises selected A & B sides as Frankie Valley, Frankie Valley & The Travellers, The Four Lovers, Frankie Valli & The Romans, The Village Voices, Billy Dixon & The Topics, Johnny Halo, Hal Miller and The Rays, and The Four Seasons for the Corona, Mercury RCA, Epic, Okeh, Cindy, Decca, Topix, Gone and Vee-Jay labels. It also features the tracks from The Four Lovers album “Joyride” and the Four Seasons album “Sherry &11 Others”. Quite apart from setting the scene for the rest of their career as the Four Seasons, this collection of doowop and rock ‘n’ roll from the era when Frankie and his colleagues were exploring the potential of their talent, is hugely entertaining and offers a real insight into what lay behind The Four Seasons’ success.

This is a compilation of Franki Valli & The 4 Seasons' hits, including "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Sherry", and "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)". Although they were one of the very biggest rock & roll groups of the 1960s, the Four Seasons – unlike, say, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, or the Byrds – don't excite virtually automatic respect from listeners and critics. A big factor is their most distinguishing trademark, the high falsetto vocals of their lead singer, Frankie Valli. Many also found their material – romantic tunes with tightly arranged group harmonies that updated doo wop ethos into the '60s – a little too clean-cut. Whatever your feelings about the group, though, there's no denying their considerable importance.

In the wake of the success of Jersey Boys, the theatrical production based on the Four Seasons' lives, Rhino issued this impressive three-CD, 76-track box set, which also includes a DVD of a dozen film clips from 1962-1975. It's never been hard to find a Four Seasons best-of that includes all their big hits (which are all here as well), but for those who want a bigger collection of the group's material, this fills the bill well. The usual intelligence Rhino brings to such large career retrospectives is in force here, the songs including numerous low-charting singles that usually don't make the cut for best-of anthologies; various LP-only tracks, and B-sides; Frankie Valli solo efforts; singles they released under the pseudonym of the Wonder Who?; and much more material from their post-1967 era than is found on most compilations. In fact, most of the really popular stuff is on disc one and the first half of disc two, though the box runs all the way through their comeback hits in the mid-'70s and a few stray releases from subsequent decades.

In the wake of the success of Jersey Boys, the theatrical production based on the Four Seasons' lives, Rhino issued this impressive three-CD, 76-track box set, which also includes a DVD of a dozen film clips from 1962-1975. It's never been hard to find a Four Seasons best-of that includes all their big hits (which are all here as well), but for those who want a bigger collection of the group's material, this fills the bill well. The usual intelligence Rhino brings to such large career retrospectives is in force here, the songs including numerous low-charting singles that usually don't make the cut for best-of anthologies; various LP-only tracks, and B-sides; Frankie Valli solo efforts; singles they released under the pseudonym of the Wonder Who?; and much more material from their post-1967 era than is found on most compilations. In fact, most of the really popular stuff is on disc one and the first half of disc two, though the box runs all the way through their comeback hits in the mid-'70s and a few stray releases from subsequent decades.

The Four Seasons is an American vocal quartet formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey. Since 1970, they have also been known at times as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.The Four Seasons are one of the best-selling musical groups of all time, having sold an estimated 175 million records worldwide.The band evolved out of a previous band called The Four Lovers, with Frankie Valli as the lead singer, Bob Gaudio on keyboards and tenor vocals, Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals, and Nick Massi on bass guitar and bass vocals. On nearly all of their 1960s hits, they were credited as The 4 Seasons. The band had two distinct lineups that achieved widespread success: the original featuring Valli, Gaudio, DeVito, and Massi (with that success continuing after Joe Long succeeded Massi in 1965) that recorded hits throughout the 1960s, and a 1970s quintet (sometimes billed as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) consisting of Valli, Lee Shapiro, Gerry Polci, Don Ciccone, and John Paiva, with Gaudio and Long providing studio support.

The Four Seasons is an American vocal quartet formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey. Since 1970, they have also been known at times as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.The Four Seasons are one of the best-selling musical groups of all time, having sold an estimated 175 million records worldwide.The band evolved out of a previous band called The Four Lovers, with Frankie Valli as the lead singer, Bob Gaudio on keyboards and tenor vocals, Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals, and Nick Massi on bass guitar and bass vocals. On nearly all of their 1960s hits, they were credited as The 4 Seasons. The band had two distinct lineups that achieved widespread success: the original featuring Valli, Gaudio, DeVito, and Massi (with that success continuing after Joe Long succeeded Massi in 1965) that recorded hits throughout the 1960s, and a 1970s quintet (sometimes billed as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) consisting of Valli, Lee Shapiro, Gerry Polci, Don Ciccone, and John Paiva, with Gaudio and Long providing studio support.

Drawing from two sides of the musical spectrum–Tango and Baroque–comes Lara St. John's newest recording, featuring the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Eduardo Marturet. The disc features Antonio Vivaldi's seminal work, The Four Seasons, which is the top-selling classical work of all time, paired with The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, Astor Piazzola's tribute to Vivaldi. There is tremendous interest in this orchestra, and this is the first time it has recorded with the Ancalagon label following successful recordings with the Deutsche Grammophon label.

Drawing from two sides of the musical spectrum–Tango and Baroque–comes Lara St. John's newest recording, featuring the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Eduardo Marturet. The disc features Antonio Vivaldi's seminal work, The Four Seasons, which is the top-selling classical work of all time, paired with The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, Astor Piazzola's tribute to Vivaldi. There is tremendous interest in this orchestra, and this is the first time it has recorded with the Ancalagon label following successful recordings with the Deutsche Grammophon label.

Over twenty-five years ago, Nigel Kennedy made his breakthrough with his recording of Vivaldi s The Four Seasons. The 1989 recording earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling classical work of all time and has sold in excess of two million copies. Now, he returns with a new and fresh interpretation, Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons. Mixed by Damon Reece (Massive Attack, Goldfrapp), who also did the electronic drum programming, Kennedy deconstructs this classic piece in a daring, modern way.