Closeup (Frankie Valli album)

Last updated
Closeup
Closeup (Frankie Valli album).jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 1975 (1975-02)
Recorded1974
Studio
Genre
Length36:07
Label Private Stock
Producer Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio
Frankie Valli chronology
Timeless
(1968)
Closeup
(1975)
Inside You
(1975)

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 (in addition to five as lead singer of The Four Seasons). The LP reached number 51 on the U.S. Billboard albums chart.

Contents

The album contains two hit singles: "My Eyes Adored You" (US No. 1) and "Swearin' to God" (US No. 6). [1] It also contains Valli's original version of "I Can't Live a Dream," which became a hit for the Osmond Brothers in late 1976. [1]

Reception

In a retrospective review, Joe Viglione of AllMusic recalled that the album "is singer Frankie Valli again finding the magic without his Four Seasons, this time in the '70s with two big hits in two different genres", and called it "an important and forgotten catalog item that needs to be expanded and re-released with bonus tracks and liner notes that give it its proper place in music history." [2]

In his August 1975 review for Stereo Review magazine, Peter Reilly remarked that:

Frankie Valli's album and his flabby performances have a fake Fifties sound that made me think of Fabian, Annette Funicello, beach party movies, Edsels, and, eventually, the Franco-Prussian war. This last because it holds even less interest for me than the goings-on in the Eisenhower Era—I grow listless at the mere thought of even trying to find out why it happened. [3]

Track listing

Side one [4]

  1. "I Got Love for You, Ruby" (Sandy Linzer) - 3:22
  2. "Why" (Bob Gaudio, Judy Parker) - 2:44
  3. "He Sure Blessed You" (Bob Gaudio, Judy Parker) - 3:27
  4. "Waking Up to Love" (Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan) - 4:30
  5. "I Can't Live a Dream" (Arnold Capitanelli) - 3:15

Side two

  1. "My Eyes Adored You" (Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan) - 3:33
  2. "In My Eyes" (Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan) - 4:21
  3. "Swearin' to God" (Bob Crewe, Denny Randell) - 10:09

Personnel

Technical

Charts

Chart (1975)Position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [5] 70
United States (Billboard 200)51

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Four Seasons (band)</span> American rock band

The Four Seasons is an American rock and roll and doo-wop band 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Valli</span> American singer (born 1934)

Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Gaudio</span> American songwriter and musician

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 ". Though he no longer performs with the group, Gaudio and lead singer Frankie Valli remain co-owners of the Four Seasons brand.

"Candy Girl" is the title of a hit single recorded in 1963 by the Four Seasons. Written by Larry Santos, it is the first original Four Seasons single composed by neither Bob Gaudio nor Bob Crewe. The writer, Larry Santos, would become a chart artist in his own right with 1976's "We Can't Hide It Anymore". A stereo version was released in 1975, on The Four Seasons Story album.

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.

<i>Jersey Boys</i> Jukebox musical premiered in 2004

Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and breakup of the 1960s rock 'n' roll group The Four Seasons. The musical is structured as four "seasons", each narrated by a different member of the band who gives his own perspective on its history and music. Songs include "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Sherry", "December, 1963 ", "My Eyes Adored You", "Stay", "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", "Walk Like A Man", "Who Loves You", "Working My Way Back to You" and "Rag Doll".

Robert Stanley Crewe was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Seasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Girls Don't Cry (The Four Seasons song)</span> 1962 single by The Four Seasons

"Big Girls Don't Cry" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by the Four Seasons. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 17, 1962, and, like its predecessor "Sherry", spent five weeks in the top position but never ranked in the Billboard year-end charts of 1962 or 1963. The song also made it to number one, for three weeks, on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues survey. It was also the quartet's second single to make it to number one on the US R&B charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Can't Take My Eyes Off You</span> 1967 song recorded by Frankie Valli

"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is a 1967 song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded and released as a single by Frankie Valli. The song was among his biggest hits, earning a gold record and reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. Gaudio was a bandmate of Valli's in the Four Seasons. It was Valli's biggest solo hit until he hit No. 1 in 1975 with "My Eyes Adored You".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherry (song)</span> 1962 single by The Four Seasons

"Sherry" is a song written by Bob Gaudio and recorded by The Four Seasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rag Doll (The Four Seasons song)</span> 1964 single by The Four Seasons

"Rag Doll" is a popular song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded by the Four Seasons and released as a single in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Eyes Adored You</span> 1974 single by Frankie Valli

"My Eyes Adored You" is a 1974 song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It was originally recorded by The Four Seasons in early 1974. After the Motown label balked at the idea of releasing it, the recording was sold to lead singer Frankie Valli for $4000. After rejections by Capitol and Atlantic Records, Valli succeeded in getting the recording released on Private Stock Records, but the owner/founder of the label, Larry Uttal, wanted only Valli's name on the label. The single was released in the US in November 1974 and topped the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1975. "My Eyes Adored You" also went to number 2 on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1975.

Kenny Nolan is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles.

The Four Lovers was a band formed in 1956 that was the result of vocalist Frankie Valli joining The Variatones in 1954. The Four Lovers achieved minor success before a name change to The Four Seasons in 1960. During those five years, group members also included Nicolas DeVito, Hugh Garrity, Charles Calello (bass), Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio, and Philip Mongiovi (drums).

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.

This is a list of singles and some albums recorded and released by Frankie Valli and/or The Four Seasons in their various guises since 1953. This list includes only commercially released singles on which Valli or some configuration of the group was credited with performing or producing. Promotional-only releases and extended play records (EPs) are omitted from this list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Who Loves You (song)</span> 1975 single by The Four Seasons

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swearin' to God</span> 1975 single by Frankie Valli

"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" :

<i>Jersey Boys</i> (film) 2014 American film by Clint Eastwood

Jersey Boys is a 2014 American musical drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, based on the 2004 Tony Award-winning jukebox musical of the same name. The film tells the story of the musical group The Four Seasons. Original band members Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio serve as executive producers.

<i>Kenny Nolan</i> (album) 1977 studio album by Kenny Nolan

Kenny Nolan is the eponymous debut album from singer-songwriter Kenny Nolan. It featured two U.S. top 20 hits, "I Like Dreamin'" and "Love's Grown Deep". Both songs did equally well or better in Canada. Another track, "My Eyes Get Blurry", reached No. 97 in the U.S.

References

  1. 1 2 Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN   0-89820-089-X
  2. "Closeup – Frankie Valli". AllMusic . Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  3. "Hifi Stereo Review" (PDF). Americanradiohistory.com. August 1975. p. 88. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  4. "Frankie Valli – Closeup (1975, Bestway Press, Vinyl)". Discogs.com . 1975.
  5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 319. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.