Motown… TheFinal Word…Again!“The more things change themore they remain the same!”is a saying we can oftenapply to the music of FrankieValli and the Four Seasons.Well that has certainly beenthe case since 2002 and theefforts we have made to getthe Motown Anthology oftheir work out on CD.Back then we doubted this would hap-pen and now even with the efforts ofthe highly respected compiler PaulNixon at Motown/Universal this CDremains no more than a dream. Back in 2002 we heard from HarryWeinger, the head of A&R at Motown/Universal USA about the difficulties.In

we wrote…….“In his latest edition of‘Chatbusters’ magazine RikWilliams covers the most recentand perhaps most significant out-put from the vaults and has aninterview with the man responsiblefor what is released, Harry Weinger.The release of “Let’s Get It On”Marvin Gaye – Deluxe 2 CD set isgetting rave reviews and the inter-view with Harry Weinger gives aninsight into the process. It alsohelps to explain the difficulties inproducing un-released material at atime when Harry has admitted that“the Four Seasons project willprobably never happen”. There are38 tracks listed in the database atMotown/Universal on Frankie Valliand the Four Seasons (for listingsee issue Nr. 29, September 1999).But the database is known to beunreliable, even when a trackexists it may be missing vocals.Harry reveals from his work on the27 previously unreleased MarvinGaye tracks, “Just because itexists in the database doesn’tmean it really exists. The only wayto find out was to play them all “.The work is long and complex with-out the artist’s involvement. This ofcourse wouldn’t be a problem withFrankie and Bob if they were inter-ested in their past work at thelabel. The other problem appearsto be a lack of contractual datafrom the period which casts doubton ownership.

This may only be resolved aftertheir demise. Motown, the currentowners?/holders of these tracksadmit that they could only considergoing forward with the project withFrankie and Bob’s (i.e. The FourSeasonsPartnership) approval and involve-ment. Unless Bob Gaudio’s stated“dislike for re-visiting the past”changes it is now probable thesetracks will never appear.”Nothing appears to have changedexcept for the success of ‘JerseyBoys’. Motown UK have a FourSeasons project ‘penciled in’ at pre-sent for UKONLY release. No bettertime exists to complete the story oftheir music than on the strength ofthis resurgence in their popularity.

Our hope was perhaps that Bob maynow be prepared to contribute andhelp pull together the best of thisimportant period in their history. Butthe e-groups and UK group numberonly around 500 and the Partnershipsmarketing obviously focuses on themany thousands of the general publicwho are responding to ‘Jersey Boys’.Motown in the UK usually target salesas low as 3,000 with their releasesand with a Motown/Northern SoulCollectors network of at least 3,000and possible additions due to the suc-cess of the play, a release would beviable.We know how successful Paul Nixonhas been in putting together fantasticrepresentations of an artists’ work atMotown. His most recent achieve-ments have included the work ofartists like Kim Weston, ChuckJackson and Chris Clarke. All of these are packed with previous-ly unreleased tracks in a format thattells the story of their career at theworld’s most famous label. Chuck

Jackson contributed greatly to thecompilation of his work to produce asuperb 50 track double album captur-ing his album releases and best quali-ty unreleased material. Chuck says ofthis compilation, “As you can see, allthe songs that were recorded dur-ing the time I was with the compa-ny speak for themselves……TodayI don’t think all that work was invain”In fact, Chris Clarke is to visit the UKnext month for the first time ever inthe UK to perform a concert to herNorthern Soul fans on the strength ofher Anthology. But for the dedicatedcollectors, the issues of missing con-tracts and artist involvement are onlyhalf the problem. As we have previ-ously been advised by Harry Weinger,

the listing of a track does notimply it exists. These databaserecords go back over 40 yearsand their accuracy is question-able. Also we must realize thatthere are scores of thousands oftapes in the vaults. From a pur-chasers position it seems thatthis asset should be fully digitizedand documented. But this wouldbe a mammoth task and not verycost effective. Tracks by artistsare frequently discovered bychance when researching anoth-er artist and backing or leadvocal tracks may be the onlytracks found. Take the ‘Cellar FullOf Motown’ sets which collect

such finds. We are awaiting Volume 3of these compilations with another 40tracks surfacing in this way.It would take thousands of man hoursto fully research the material and doc-ument each artist. It is possible thatunheard Seasons/Valli tracks may notbe uncovered for many years andthen only by chance. A detailedsearch by Motown is needed to findthe best of the material listed (seelater) or other tracks we know wererecorded like “I Wonder Why’, whichhas surfaced amongst collectors. Nosign of this track has yet been foundin the vaults.It is understandable that Bob andFrankie might be nervous about thisproject as, with follow up productsfrom the success of ‘Jersey Boys’ duelater in the year, a release on Motownmay not be part of the ‘business plan’.There is also lack of clarity about pay-ments with no contracts in existence.We know that they do feel there is arisk that tracks are incomplete or notup to their exacting standards. We

believe this fear is unfounded. It isalso clear from our conversations thattheir involvement would be welcomedby Motown. Paul told us…”I neveruse unsuitable or unfinished tracksin these compilations as the repu-tation of the label is paramount andthe artist involvement and satisfac-tion with the collection is highlydesirable” One thing is certain how-ever and that is that the recordedtracks from ‘Chameleon’, ‘Inside You’and the singles exist, and their compi-lation could happen. It remains to beseen if any of the listed unreleasedtracks can be found and what elsemay turn up. From our knowledge ofPaul’s work and of his clear commit-ment to this project there is a chancethat it may happen. If that ‘commit-ment’ is matched by a correspondingwillingness from the Partnership toovercome the legal issues and giveus something special to reflect thisperiod of their career, then a qualityrelease could result. We know Pauland Motown are committed to make agood job of it and we certainly want tobuy it. It seems to be upto Frankieand Bob.

The UnreleasedMotown tracks.What we know !

The list of unreleased tracksin the Motown database byFrankie Valli and the FourSeasons provides someintriguing questions. ThePartnership have alwaysmaintained that these are nomore than incomplete vocaltracks or ‘demos’, not writtenfor Frankie’s voice and oftenin the wrong key by produc-ers not used to working withhim. That may be true and wewould all agree the release ofsuch work would be damag-ing to his career. Nobodywants that, least of allMotown who have their repu-tation to protect.But with possibly between 20 and 50

tracks in the vaults there is surelysome probability that some would becomplete as was the case back in1975. So what do the titles reveal.?Many of us can all recall when

Mowest back in 1975 dipped backinto the vaults to put together 12tracks on the UK release of the“Inside You” album (Mowest7007).(Motown 852 In USA: 9 tracks)At that time with the Four Seasonshaving left the label, the Motown man-agement then clearly thought theyowned the rights to the tracks andwere able to issue unreleased titles.Maybe it was the core of the ‘InsideOut’ album (Motown 788 – August1973 ) which had been abandoned.That 1975 album confirmed what wehad heard about the group’s careerduring the latter stages of their time atMotown. Bob Gaudio was producingother artists (like Martin and Finlay orDiana Ross) and Frankie Valli wasdoing covers of Motown standardsand working with other producers inan attempt to find a hit. Hal Davis,Willie Hutch , Jerry Marcellino andMel Larson all tried with Frankie butonly ‘Just Look What You HaveDone”, the Brenda Holloway NorthernSoul classic was up to an acceptablestandard. The album did howeverinclude some classic previously unre-leased Bob Crewe penned and pro-duced efforts(‘Inside You’ and ‘WithMy Eyes Wide Open’) which mayhave been the concept for that lost1973 album as well as the singles‘Hickory’, ‘Charisma’, ‘Life andBreathe’ and ‘And I Will Love You’which had previously only been avail-able on 45. So what clues can wegain from examining the list that wasprovided by an anonymous Motownfan back in 2001?.‘Be My Lover, Be My Friend’ is a songwritten by Bob Crewe with EllieGreenwich and Steve Tudanger.Steve was a member of the 4-Eversand died recently. He produced analbum for legend Ellie Greenwich dur-ing the early 70’s Her long standingrelationship with Bob Crewe makesthis track a ‘must hear’. The nextinteresting track ‘Hymn To Her’ wouldhave been suspected as the

Ellie Greenwich with Bob Crewe. Did the Four Seasons record theircomposition with Steve Tudanger, ‘BeMy Lover, Be My Friend’ whilst atMowest? Courtesy George Showerer

Pretenders track of the same name.Highly unlikely as that track was writ-ten in 1986 by Meg Keene for their‘Get Close’ album. This song is aCrewe/Nolan composition, and isreputedly sung by the Four Seasons.Perhaps it is one of a series theywrote for Frankie and the group(which also included ‘My Eyes AdoredYou’ which the Partnership took toPrivate Stock).Bob Crewe always registered hissongs at BMI and as revealed by JimHuggard in our Newsletter 37 thereare several other songs in the listequally intriguing and clearly connect-ed to the superb Crewe producedtracks from this time. ‘After You’(Crewe/Corbetta/Marmelzat) revealsJerry’s early association with thegroup he would eventually become amember off, whilst ‘Give Us This Day’(Crewe/Shatkin) and ‘Turn It AllAround’(Crewe/Hardwick) reveal otherassociates writing with Bob. Anotherunmissable track is yet anotherCrewe/Nolan composition ‘Lovers’Other familiar compositions occurthrough this list. ’Whatever You Want’(Crewe/Gaudio) was an awesomepiece of soul Bob Crewe producedwith Jerry Butler back at Vee-Jay in1962. (see ‘Seasons’ ConnectionsVolume 1 – Newsletter 37)Presumably this great song wasplanned to be resurrected by eitherValli solo or with the group as ver-sions are listed by each.’ Stop Lookand Listen(To Your Heart)’ was a songproduced by Bob Gaudio and record-

ed with Diana Ross and a version ofthat by Frankie Valli is reputed to bein the vaults. Along with it is anothertrack from that Diana Ross album‘Include Me In Your Life’ Would any-one else have produced this withFrankie? We think there is a goodchance Bob Gaudio may have cutthese with Frankie as the demos forthat album. There are other intriguingtitles like ‘Wigs and Lashes’, or‘Minute By Minute, Day by Day’ and‘Future Years’ but no more informationcan be found about them. We aresure further research by Motownwould reveal other exciting finds(maybe even an early version of ‘MyEyes Adored You’), but with the prob-lems of finding material amongst allthose tapes even these listed gemsmay never be heard.There is certainly enough to convinceus that complete versions of someunreleased tracks do exist in theMotown Vault.If this article was enough to captureBob and Frankie’s imagination andpersuade them of the potential valueof their previous work, then it wouldhave been worth the effort . We wouldall like to think maybe they would beinspired to work with Motown andcheck what exists and its quality andcompleteness. At the moment there isno sign of this. To fans it remainsanother ‘wish list’ that is just part ofthe sadly untold musical story atMotown. Chameleon

The Songs OfRobert John

Francis!!! Who?The first time we noticedthis name was when wequeried how a song by BobGaudio turned up on theexcellent “Touch Me”1985album by the Temptations.‘Deeper Than Love’ was listed ascomposed by Bob Gaudio – JudyParker – Lenny Goldsmith. When weasked Bob about this he mentionedan album he had produced for‘Stoneground” in 1979 called ‘HeartsOf Stone’. This album we discoveredhad several tracks written by the mys-terious Robert John Francis including‘Deeper Than Love’. Confirmationindeed that this writer must be theinfamous Bob Gaudio. Many wellknown writers adopt a name whenpursuing alternative projects so wewent to the BMI site and downloadedthe list of songs as written by aRobert John Francis AKA BobGaudio. Here they are:-Every Heartache-Free Spirit ( Stoneground)-I Got A Happy Feeling In My Heart-Mother In Law-Whats A Nice Girl Like You Doing to this we can also add:

-Let It Go (Stoneground)-Deeper Than Love (Stoneground)Does anyone recognize any of thethese titles ?Maybe this will involvesome more sleuth work to locatethese songs and who they were per-formed by. Listening to ‘DeeperThan Love’ one can’t help but bereminded of a line from JerseyBoys… .”When I heard that voice (ieFrankie Valli) I knew I had to writefor it…” Whilst Stoneground’s rockgroup performance of the song isslow and OK, The Tempatationsdeliver a pacy and intense imitationof the Four Seasons with a lead byRon Tyson which reminds us thatthis is a song just made for FrankieValli. How we have never heard himperform it is a mystery…but there isstill time…. on his forthcomingalbum. Catch an excerpt of theTemps great version on our web siteand imagine Frankie’s voice doing it.If enough people tell him, maybehe’ll record it!The Music Detectives