304 Goodbye The Four Seasons - Down The Hall

Chart  entered : 20  August  1977

Chart  peak : 34

The  cover  tells  you  straight  away  that  changes  have  been  afoot  since  we  last  discussed  them  just  before  the  Beatles. Nick  Massi  quit  the  group  abruptly in  1965  just  before  their  chart  fortunes  started  to  dip  and  was  replaced  by  Joe  Long.  After "Tell  It  To  The  Rain"  was  a  minor  hit  in  January  1967  they  disappeared  from  the  charts  for  a  full  eight  years. In  1971  Tommy  De Vito  left  selling  his  rights  to  Frankie  Valli  and  Bob  Gaudio  to  pay  off  huge  gambling  debts; he  was  replaced  on  tour  by  a  bloke  called  Bob  Grimm . Shortly  afterwards  they  signed  for  Motown  where  the  seeds  of  a  remarkable  comeback  were  sewn  although  their  commercial  fortunes  did  not  automatically  improve.

Things  get  a  bit  complicated  here. Bob , always  rather  stage-shy  wanted  to  quit  performing  and  Frankie  was  beginning  to  suffer  from  a  serious  hearing  complaint  so  they  began  to  reconstruct  the  band  with  a  view  to  neither  playing  a  full  part  in  it. First  came  keyboardist  Lee  Shapiro   and   guitarist  John  Paiva  then  Joe  was  pushed  out  and  bassist  Don  Ciccone  and  singing  drummer  Gerry  Polci   arrived. By  1974  it  was  clear  that  Motown  didn't  want  to  release  a  second  album  and  Frankie  tried  to  buy  their  recordings. Gordy's  price  was  prohibited  so  he  settled  for  just  one  song  "My  Eyes  Adored  You". He  took  it  to  Private  Stock  who  persuaded  him  to  release  it  as  a  solo  single  and  it  was  a  worldwide  hit  at  the  beginning  of  1975.

This  gave  Frankie  and  Bob  the  leverage  to  get  a  good  deal  for  the  group  with  Warner  Brothers   where  they  immediately  started  having  big  hits , largely  written  by  Bob  and  his  fiance  Judy  Parker, that  were  the  equal  if  not  better  than  their  sixties  classics  but  on  which  Frankie  only  played  a  peripheral  part. He's  not  on  1976's  "Silver  Star"  at  all. And  yet  he  was  having  solo  hits  at  the  same  time  despite  his  supposed  debility.

"Down  The  Hall"  was  the  second  single  from  the  album  "Helicon"  and  I'm  not  sure  Frankie's  on  this  one  either. I don't  remember  it  at  all.  It's  a  tale  of  apartment  romance  that  on  the  verses  sounds  very  like  fellow  East  Coaster  Billy  Joel  ( yet  to  have  a  hit  at  this  point )  with   Lee's  lyrical  piano  lines. Gerry's  plaintive  Everyman  vocals  hit  the  same  note  of  pathos  as  his  forlorn  daydreamer  on  "Silver  Star" , underscored  by  a  querulous  synth  line  that  makes  me  think  of  The  Buggles.  Where  this  is  a  bit  weaker  is  that  the  ecstatic  chorus  isn't  immediate  enough. The  harmonies  are  terrific  and  I  like  it  more  each  time  I  hear  it  but  I  can  see  why  it  perhaps  didn't  cut  through  on  radio. It barely  registered  on  the  US  charts.

"Helicon"'s  sales  were  very  disappointing  and  Frankie  and  Bob  seem  to  have  decided  to  call  time  on  the  Four  Seasons  as  a  recording  group. John  departed  at  this  point. With  his  hearing  restored  by  surgery  Frankie  wanted  to  concentrate  on  solo  and  live  work. The  following  year  he  had  his  last  big  hit  as  a  solo  hit  with  the  theme  to  "Grease".

The  next  record  to  bear  the  Four  Seasons  name  was  in  1981 when  the  live  double  LP  "Frankie  Valli  & the  Four  Seasons  Reunited  Live"  came  out. By  this  time  Lee was  out  and  he  and  John  had  been  replaced  by  Jerry  Corbetta  and  Larry  Lingle. It  included  two  new  studio  recordings  with  Frankie  restored  as  lead  vocalist. Both  were  released  as  singles  . "Spend  The  Night  In  Love"  is  a  dull  as  ditchwater  smoocher  ; "Heaven  Must  Have  Sent  You"  is  a  sprightlier  rock  disco  number  but  nothing  to  write  home  about.  Don  left  the  band  the  following  year .  Two  years  later  came  their  awful  collaboration  with  the  Beach  Boys  "East  Meets  West"  where  the  combined  vocal  talent  on  show can't  rescue  a  hideous , over-produced  dance  rock  abortion.

It  didn't  sell  but  that  didn't  stop  Frankie  and  Bob  forging  ahead  with  a  full   album in  this  vein  "Streetfighter" with  Frankie  struggling  to  be  heard  over  the  crescendos  of  Fairlights  and Linn  drums. Gerry  seems  to  have  still  been  involved  but  he  wasn't  the  drummer  when  they  performed  the  title  track  ( the  first  single ) on  TV.  The  second  single  , a  version  of  the  Monotones'  "Book  of  Love"  isn't  quite  as  ugly  but  sounds  like  an  average  Bucks  Fizz  single. In  1988  they  had  a  last  minor  UK  hit  with  a  remix  of  "December  1963"

In  1990  Gerry  quit  so the  Four  Seasons  were  effectively  just  Frankie  and  Bob  on  their  final  album "Hope + Glory" , another  attempt  to  update  their  sound. The  title  track  sounds  like  Phil  Collins   and  "Just  The  Way  You  Make  Love"  includes  a   rap  section  ( not  by  Frankie ).

Neither  of  these  last  two  albums  made  an  impression  and  this   seems  to  have  convinced  the  pair  that  no  one  wanted  to  hear  any  new  material  from  them.  Frankie  rounded  up  some  anonymous  new  guys  to  be  "The  Four  Seasons"  live  and  went  on  the  nostalgia  circuit  later  branching  out  into  acting  with  a  regular  part  in  the  last  two  seasons  of  The  Sopranos. 

In  2005  the  musical  The  Jersey  Boys  based  on  their  early  career  took  off   in  a  big  way  prompting  Frankie  to  release  a  covers  LP  "Remembering  The  Sixties"  in  2007  but  no  one  noticed. He  continues  touring , now  aged  80 , with  occasional  cameos  on  other  peoples'  records  and  the  odd  acting  job.

Nick  stayed  in  touch  with  Tommy  and  did  some  production  work  for  other  artists  at  the  latter's  studio. He  died  of  cancer  in  2000, his  back  story  in  The  Jersey  Boys  was  reconstructed  from  interviews  with  the  other  band  members.

Joe  went  on  to  form  a  rock  group  LaBracio  and  a  jazz  group  Jersey  Bounce  but  neither  seem  to  have  recorded  anything, He  went  back  to  college  to  study  computer  science  and  ended  up  a  programmer  for  credit  checking  firm  Dun  and  Bradstreet  to  support  his  family. He  too  kept  in  touch  with  Tommy  and  occasionally  played  gigs  with  him.

Tommy  had  his  own  studio  in  California  and  produced  records  for  Darcus, Platinum  Ice  and  The  Caps  ( no, me  neither ! )   in  the  eighties. He's  now  86.

Bob  remains  Frankie's  business  partner  but  has  worked  with  many  other  artists   most  notably  Neil Diamond  as  the  producer  of  The  Jazz  Singer  and  five  other  albums. He's  also  been  successful  in  musical  theatre  writing  the  music  for  Peggy  Sue  Got  Married  and  helping  to  launch  The  Jersey  Boys .

Gerry  went  to  university  and  became  a  music  lecturer. In  the  2000s  he  joined  a  part  time  band  The  Hitmen  with  Don  and  Lee  that  of  course  contained  more  genuine  Four  Seasons   than  Frankie's  outfit.

John  became  a  guitarist  for  hire  and  in  1979  met  his  German  wife  Margie  on  a  European  tour  with  Fats  Domino . In  1981  he  settled  in  Munich  and  has  worked  mainly  as  a  jazz  player  since  then.