Frankie Valli - Romancing the 60's
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.35 You Save: $4.59 (33%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.49 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Romancing the 60's
Free Music Review: The Missing Falsetto
Hit: 4 Stars
Prior to buying this CD, I saw a television interview with Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio promoting it. Gaudio observed that Valli's falsetto is better than his normal singing voice. I listened to every piece on the CD, waiting for the classic falsetto of the the 1960s to appear, and it never did. Perhaps the songs selected were just not suitable for that aspect of Valli's remarkable ability. It's a good collection of music, one I'll play now and then. But I was a bit disappointed.Free Music Review: Give it a chance.
Hit: 4 Stars
Frankie Valli covering some great songs. Involvement by bandmate Bob Gaudio. Arranged by members of the Seasons stock company, Charlie Calello and Artie Schreck. Past Seasons members Robbie Robinson and Warren Hamm perform on some cuts. Jersey Boy cast members sing backup on a cut. Sounds like winner. You know what? It is. It just may take a few listens to get used to it. It is so mellow. I was expecting some falsetto, of course. Still a great CD. Well worth the purchase.Free Music Review: franki valli CD
Hit: 4 Stars
Good CD of Franki Valli, not as good as the "Jersey Boys" but good for Valli fans.Free Music Review: zzzzzzzz Frankie 's new cd needs a musical difribulator
Hit: 3 Stars
I purchased "Romancing the 60's" on release day expecting an album with a little more "umph". Instead, I spent my hard earned money on an uninspired Frankie Valli plodding through his songs as if someone twisted his arm to do it. At times so so spineless the disc becomes little more than high end Muzak. Frankie, or at least his producer should have had the sense to use livelier tempos, better delivery and maybe some more bottom end, percussion and strings. A song like "Call Me", (likeable at best in its original incarnation by Chris Montes), could have become a great song..instead, we get a medium tempo "death-on two-legs" reading that can't help evoke boredom. I even noticed Frakie looks rather sullen in the one photo contained on the cd package.You might guess that for me the package reinforces what I hear in the music.....boredom. I was notactually expecting "Rag Doll" or the fireworks of "Let's Hang On", but my goodness the songs are top notch pop classics and as such deserved more thoughtful treatment in the production process.
Overall, this album sounds "incomplete", and I can picture a disinterested Frankie rolling his eyes as he vocalizes though these Really, to hear the man near what I can only describe as comatose on some of these tracks is depressing, and it all starts with track 1, the lothargic (not romantic), version of "Take Good Care Of My Baby". Why would a seasoned (excuse the pun),producer or performer use this train wreck version of a great song as an album opener???
The good news is the recording sound quality is is excellent. Noting will change my opinion that this was a well-intentioned and misguided effort. It's a aquandered effort that was robbed of its potential to leave Barry Manilow's recent cover efforts in the dust (Barry sounds bored too). This cd will please die hards who have forgotten what Frankie is really capable of...Listen to the new cover cd by Donny Osmond. It has the pulse lacking in this disc.
A legend like Frankie Valli can do much better.
Free Music Review: Greetings from Mt Pleasant Avenue, West Orange, NJ
Hit: 3 Stars
Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli have created a pleasant album of sixties period pieces. Bob Gaudio's production and arrangements place Frankie in a more somber setting than I'd like. Nothing really jumps out at you. If you are buying this album, I hope you are buying it for Frankie's voice. Like the arrangements, though, his singing sounds subdued. The album doesn't jump out at you the way previous projects by Messers. Gaudio and Valli have done (go and get a copy of Frankie's solo album 'Close up'). I can't really call the song selection in to question as it does pretty much stick to the concept of romance (except for the final track "On Broadway" - a nod to the very successful Broadway Production 'Jersey Boys', but not a song I would say has a romantic theme). Frankie has recorded two of the titles before - namely, "Sunny" (on his 'Timeless' solo album of the late sixties) and "Any Day Now" (as part of a medley with "Oh Happy Day" by The 4 Seasons on the 'Half & Half' album in 1970). If you are looking for Frankie Valli at the height of his fame, do yourself a favor and get the recent Rhino box set 'Jersey Beat'. If you have been collecting his work over the years, this is a pleasant addition, but not the triumph one would like to hear.
POSTSCRIPT: Up above in my review I state "Bob Gaudio's production and arrangements". Though Mr. Gaudio may have had a hand in the arrangements, it is not fair to the credited arrangers who are Charles Calello (a person well known to 4 Seasons fans) and Artie Schroeck (also, a great producer with his own list of credits).
UPDATE: Collector's Choice Music has announced that on April 22, 2008 they will be reissuing eight (8) Frankie Valli solo albums on compact disc. The titles will be released as two albums on one CD. The titles are 'Solo'/'Timeless', 'Close Up'/'Valli', 'Our Day Will Come'/'Lady Put The Light Out', 'Frankie Valli...Is The Word'/'Heaven Above Me'. Most of these titles have never been released on compact disc.