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| Frankie Valli...Is the Word | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1978 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 36:47 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Gibb-Galuten-Richardson (track 1), Bob Gaudio (other tracks) | |||
| Frankie Valli chronology | ||||
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Frankie Valli...Is the Word is an album by Frankie Valli, released in 1978 on the Warner Bros. Records label. [1]
The Four Seasons, the band Valli had fronted since 1960, had broken up in 1977 to pursue other projects, and though Valli had released Lady Put the Light Out that year, he was left without a record label when Private Stock Records ceased operations in early 1978. [2] Shortly thereafter, while recovering from surgery to restore his hearing, he received an offer from RSO Records to participate in the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. He was given the choice of either the theme song or "Beauty School Dropout" and, believing that the theme would be the bigger hit (despite the fact that he would not be able to act or appear on-screen in the film, a longstanding wish of his), chose the theme song. [3] [4] The single went to number one and was certified platinum.
Valli was unwilling to sign with RSO due to Robert Stigwood's control over his clients' careers (Valli and Bob Gaudio had a policy of retaining and licensing the rights to their music) [4] and instead approached Warner Bros. Records, which had released the two previous Four Seasons albums. This album was released as a follow-up of the success of this song, its title echoing the chorus of the hit, "Grease is the word". The "Grease" theme, which had been on the Grease soundtrack, was also included as the lead-off track on this album. [5]
In a retrospective review, William Ruhlmann of AllMusic recalled that the album's release "served to demonstrate that 'Grease' was more of a phenomenon related to the movie and the Bee Gees than to Valli himself." [5] In his November 1978 review for Stereo Review magazine, Peter Reilly remarked that:
Even though he's beginning to look a lot like the late Katina Paxinou (a shade less rugged, perhaps), the current Frankie Valli still sounds deadeningly like the early Frankie Valli. The film Grease breathed some new life into his career, but his latest album demonstrates that Frankie firmly intends to prolong his adolescence, Fifties style, into recording eternity. No matter what he sings here [...] he still comes on like that same old grossly unrequited teenage lover nervously baying outside the corner candy store. I'm sure that there are middle-aged matrons around who still get the hiccups when Frankie starts up, just as I'm sure also that he'll still be the rage among certain citizens of Sun Cities in the 1990s. But by that time I hope to be quite deaf. [6]
The Four Seasons is an American rock and roll and doo-wop 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 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 that recorded hits throughout the 1960s, and a 1970s quintet consisting of Valli, Lee Shapiro, Gerry Polci, Don Ciccone and John Paiva, with Gaudio and Long providing studio support.
Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, best known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice.
Robert Colin Stigwood was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar, and film productions including the successful Grease and Saturday Night Fever. On his death, one obituary judged that he had been for a time the most powerful tycoon in the entertainment industry: "Stigwood owned the record label that issued his artists’ albums and film soundtracks, and he also controlled publishing rights – not since Hollywood's golden days had so much power and wealth been concentrated in the hands of one mogul."
Robert John Gaudio is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote and produced the vast majority of the band's music, including hits like "Sherry" and "December, 1963 ", as well as "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" for Valli. Though he no longer performs with the group, Gaudio and lead singer Frankie Valli remain co-owners of the Four Seasons brand.
Denny Randell is an American songwriter and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Sandy Linzer and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including "A Lover's Concerto", "Let's Hang On!", "Working My Way Back to You", and "Native New Yorker", and was nominated with Linzer for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) in 2012.
"December, 1963 " is a song originally performed by the Four Seasons, written by original Four Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker, produced by Gaudio, and included on the group's album Who Loves You (1975).
Watertown is a studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in March 1970 through Reprise Records. It is a concept album centered on a man from Watertown, New York. In a series of soliloquies, the nameless narrator tells his heartbreaking story of personal loss: his wife has left him and their two boys for the lure of the big city. Watertown was produced and co-written by Bob Gaudio, one of four members of the rock band the Four Seasons, with Jake Holmes also co-writing the songs. It is the only album where Sinatra ever voiced over pre-recorded orchestral tracks. The album was released to mixed critical reviews and poor sales, with it being Sinatra's only major album release not to chart in the top 100 of the Billboard 200. It has since been reevaluated and many consider it to be among his finest albums.
Who Loves You is an album by The Four Seasons. It was released in 1975 on Warner/Curb Records.
Robert Stanley Crewe was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons.
Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture is the original motion picture soundtrack for the 1978 film Grease. It was originally released by RSO Records and subsequently re-issued by Polydor Records between 1984 and 1991. It has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, also ranking amongst the biggest selling soundtrack albums of all time. The song "You're the One That I Want" was a U.S. and UK No. 1 for stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
The Wonder Who? was a nom de disque of The Four Seasons for four single records released from 1965 to 1967. It was one of a handful of names used by the group at that time, including Frankie Valli and The Valli Boys. Wonder Who? recordings generally feature the falsetto singing by Valli, but with a softer falsetto than on "typical" Four Seasons recordings.
"Grease" is a song written by Barry Gibb and recorded by Frankie Valli : it was released as a single in May 1978. It is the title song for the musical motion picture Grease of that year, which was in turn based on the 1971 stage play Grease. The song celebrates the greaser lifestyle, and it sold over seven million copies worldwide and appeared twice on the film's soundtrack, first as the opening track and again as the closing track. "Grease" is one of four songs written specifically for the film that had not been in the stage production.
"Dawn (Go Away)" is a song written by Bob Gaudio and Sandy Linzer and recorded by the Four Seasons in November 1963. The song hit No. 3 in the early part of 1964. According to Billboard, it was the 25th biggest hit single of the year, placing behind "Rag Doll", another Four Seasons hit, which was No. 24.
"Who Loves You" is the title song of a 1975 album by The Four Seasons. It was composed by Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker and produced by Gaudio. It reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1975.
Chameleon is a 1972 album by The Four Seasons notable for being their only album recorded for Motown. The album met with limited success in the US; no single was even issued from the album in America. "The Night", however, met with success in the UK and peaked at No. 7 in 1975, becoming a Northern Soul mainstay.
Valli is the sixth solo LP album by Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons, released by Private Stock under catalog number PS-2017 as a stereo recording in 1976. It was reissued on compact disc in 2008, paired with his first solo effort from Private Stock, Closeup, by Collector's Choice.
"Swearin' to God" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Denny Randell. It was recorded by Frankie Valli and released in May 1975 as a single from his album Closeup. It is a love song whose lyrical hook is a more literal use of the expression "I swear to God" :
"Save Me, Save Me" is a song written by Barry Gibb and Albhy Galuten in 1977. It was recorded by the group Network from New York City. The flipside was "Not Love at All". This song is the first track credited to Gibb and Galuten. George Bitzer was hired to play synthesizers and keyboards and he later worked with Barry and Andy Gibb. It was recorded in Criteria Studios, Miami around April 1977, same session as Samantha Sang recorded her well-known hit "Emotion". The song was issued in Netherlands and the B-side was "Holly". John Vinci on vocals Richie Cerniglia as "Richie C" on guitar Mike Maniscalco as "Mike Coxton" on keyboardHowie Blume as "Howard Davidson" on bass Butch Poveromo as "Jean Paul Gaspar" on percussion, Mike Ricciardella — drums and George Bitzer on keyboard, synthesizer.
Closeup is an album by Frankie Valli, released in February 1975 on the Private Stock label. It had been seven years since his prior album, and afforded Valli his first of two number-one solo hits in the US. The LP reached number 51 on the U.S. Billboard albums chart.
"Spend the Night in Love" is a 1980 song by The Four Seasons. It was composed by Lenny Goldsmith, Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker and produced by Gaudio and longtime Seasons collaborator Charles Calello. The song was the lone single from their album Reunited. The single version is a studio cut; the version on the album, like the remainder of the album, was recorded live on tour.
He folded Private Stock in 1978, moved to London and entered the film business.
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