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Next Friday, June 20, marks the highly-anticipated opening of director Clint Eastwood’s film adaptation of the smash 2005 Broadway musical Jersey Boys.  With John Lloyd Young reprising his Tony Award-winning performance as Frankie Valli opposite a cast of theatre and film veterans including Christopher Walken as Jersey mobster Gyp DeCarlo, Eastwood’s film promises to bring the gritty story of Valli and The Four Seasons (Nick Massi, Tommy DeVito and Bob Gaudio) to an even wider audience than ever.  Rhino is marking the occasion of the film’s release with four sets covering every aspect of the group’s immense legacy: an original soundtrack recording featuring new and vintage recordings alike; two career-spanning album collections for The Four Seasons and the solo Frankie Valli, respectively; and the first-ever compendium of the songs of songwriter-producer and founding Season Bob Gaudio.  The soundtrack arrives on June 24, while the remaining three collections hit stores the very next week, on July 1.

Most exciting might be The Classic Albums Box from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  This 18-CD box set includes nearly all of the group’s original albums released between 1962 and 1992:

1. Sherry & 11 Others (1962)
2. Big Girls Don’t Cry And Twelve Others (1963)
3. The 4 Seasons Sing Ain’t That A Shame And 11 Others (1963)
4. Folk-Nanny (1963)
5. On Stage With The Four Seasons (1965)
6. Dawn (Go Away) And 11 Other Great Songs (1964)
7. Born To Wander (1964)
8. Rag Doll (1964)
9. The 4 Seasons Entertain You (1965)
10. The 4 Seasons Sing Big Hits By Burt Bacharach… Hal David… Bob Dylan (1965)
11. Working My Way Back To You (1966)
12. New Gold Hits (1967)
13. The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette (1969)
14. Half & Half (1970) – one side of the Four Seasons, one side of Valli solo
15. Who Loves You (1975)
16. Helicon (1977)
17. Streetfighter (1985)
18. Hope + Glory (1992)

The Classic Albums Box is the first time the group’s catalogue has been available in one package.  It contains all of the group’s core albums with the exception of 1962’s The Four Seasons’ Greetings (also known as The Four Seasons’ Christmas Album), the 1968 compilation Edizione d’Oro (which features unique stereo mixes and alternate takes), 1972’s Motown-controlled release Chameleon and 1981’s Reunited Live.  (Of these, Edizione is still awaiting a definitive compact disc reissue.)

A complementary box is being released for the solo albums of Frankie Valli, and includes all of his studio LPs with the exception of the Motown release Inside You (1975) and his most recent LP, Romancing the Sixties (2007).  Frankie Valli’s 8-CD Selected Solo Works box set includes:

1. The 4 Seasons Present Frankie Valli Solo (1967)
2. Timeless (1968)
3. Closeup (1975)
4. Our Day Will Come (1975)
5. Valli (1976)
6. Lady Put The Light Out (1977)
7. Frankie Valli…Is The Word (1978)
8. Heaven Above Me (1980)

After the jump, we have more details including the full scoop on Bob Gaudio’s Audio with a G and pre-order links and more for all titles!

Bob Gaudio’s first brush with success actually predated The Four Seasons.  At the age of 15 in 1958, Gaudio achieved chart success as co-writer of his group The Royal Teens’ novelty hit “Short Shorts.”  Soon, he hooked up with The Four Lovers, later to become The Four Seasons.  A founding member of the Seasons, Gaudio also served as the group’s primary songwriter with producer Bob Crewe.  Though Gaudio left The Four Seasons in 1971 to concentrate on writing and producing (including for The Seasons), his partnership with Frankie Valli endures to this very day.  In 2007 he came full circle when he won a Grammy Award for the original cast recording of Jersey Boys.  Gaudio has written and/or produced songs for stage and screen as well as for a number of artists including Frank Sinatra (his stunning 1969 concept album Watertown), Diana Ross, Cher, The Temptations and Neil Diamond (with whom he had a long-standing collaboration spanning some six albums and hit records such as “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”).  A number of the artists touched by the Gaudio magic are featured on the 2-CD, 36-track anthology Audio with a G: Sounds of a Jersey Boy – The Music of Bob Gaudio.  Valli and The Four Seasons appear on the set alongside Sinatra, Cher, Nina Simone, The Tremeloes, The Walker Brothers, Nancy Wilson and many others.  And “Short Shorts,” of course, is there, too!

Last but not least, the companion CD to the Clint Eastwood film adaptation of Jersey Boys features music recorded for the film together with original recordings of The Four Seasons and tracks from the Gaudio-produced cast recording.  The track listing of Jersey Boys: Music from the Motion Picture and Broadway Musical does not provide much in the way of information as to where each track originates, and some songs indicate the presence of both John Lloyd Young and the original Four Seasons.  We might have to wait until the June 24 release date to discover the origins of these tracks, but you can peruse the track listing of this hybrid soundtrack below.

Jersey Boys: Music from the Motion Picture and Broadway Musical hits stores on June 24.  The Four Seasons’ Classic Albums box, Frankie Valli’s Selected Solo Works and Bob Gaudio’s Audio with a G all arrive from Rhino on July 1.  You can pre-order all four titles below!

Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, The Classic Albums Box (Rhino, 2014)

Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Frankie Valli, Selected Solo Works (Rhino, 2014)

Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Various Artists, Audio with a G: Sounds of a Jersey Boy –The Music of Bob Gaudio (Rhino, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. “Short Shorts” – Royal Teens
2. “Sherry” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
3. “Big Girls Don’t Cry” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
4. “Walk Like A Man” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
5. “Whatever You Want” – Jerry Butler
6. “Another Day” – Chuck Jackson
7. “Dawn (Go Away)” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
8. “Rag Doll” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
9. “Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
10. “Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)” – Bay City Rollers
11. “Silence Is Golden” – The Tremeloes
12. “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)” – The Walker Brothers
13. “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)” – Cher
14. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” – Frankie Valli
15. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” – Nancy Wilson
16. “Saturday’s Father” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
17. “Wall Street Village Day” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
18. “Elizabeth” – Frank Sinatra
19. “I Would Be In Love (Anyway)” – Frank Sinatra
20. “For A While” – Nina Simone

CD 2

1. “The Night” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
2. “I Heard A Love Song (But You Never Made A Sound)” – Diana Ross
3. “Stone Liberty” – Diana Ross
4. “Deeper Than Love” – The Temptations
5. “Who Loves You” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
6. “December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
7. “Down The Hall” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
8. “The Night” – Lene Lovich
9. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” – Boys Town Gang
10. “Beggin’” (Pilooski Re-Edit) – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
11. “When Someone Tears Your Heart In Two” – Roberta Flack
12. “This Time Around” – Ruthie Henshall
13. “Two Kinds Of Fire” – Ruthie Henshall & Tim Howar
14. “Ces Soirées-là” – Jersey Boys Original Broadway Cast
15. “Sherry” – Jersey Boys Original Broadway Cast
16. “Who Loves You” – Jersey Boys Original Broadway Cast

Cover artwork and discographical information TBD.

Jersey Boys: Music from the Motion Picture and Broadway Musical (Rhino, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

1. Prelude
2. “December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
3. “My Mother’s Eyes” – Frankie Valli
4. “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” – John Lloyd Young
5. “A Sunday Kind Of Love” – John Lloyd Young, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
6. “Moody’s Mood For Love” – John Lloyd Young
7. “Cry For Me” – Erich Bergen
8. “Sherry” – John Lloyd Young
9. “Big Girls Don’t Cry” – John Lloyd Young
10. “Walk Like A Man” – John Lloyd Young
11. “My Boyfriend’s Back” – Kimmy Gatewood
12. “My Eyes Adored You” – John Lloyd Young
13. “Dawn (Go Away)” – John Lloyd Young
14. “Big Man In Town” – John Lloyd Young
15. “Beggin” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, John Lloyd Young, Ryan Malloy
16. Medley – John Lloyd Young
    1. “Stay”
    2. “Let’s Hang On (To What We’ve Got)”
    3. “Opus 17 (Don’t You Worry ‘Bout Me)”
    4. “Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)”
17. “C’mon Marianne” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, John Lloyd Young
18. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” – John Lloyd Young
19. “Working My Way Back To You” – John Lloyd Young
20. “Fallen Angel” – Frankie Valli
21. “Who Loves You” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, John Lloyd Young
22. Closing Credits: “Sherry”/”December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)” – John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, Vincent Piazza
23. “Sherry” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
24. “Dawn (Go Away)” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
25. “Rag Doll” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons