Here at Last: The First Bob Gaudio Collection
July 4th, 2014
Audio With A G: Sounds of A Jersey Boy, The Music of Bob Gaudio (2CD)
By Charles Alexander
Frankie Valli was always the front man and most famous of the Four Seasons. Then there was Bob Gaudio. Fans knew that the original Seasons keyboard player wrote most of the group’s music, but not until JERSEY BOYS did the general public begin to recognize the name Gaudio. Now he’s a character on the big screen, winningly portrayed by Erich Bergen, and it’s time for people to know what a big deal Bob has always been. The truth is, the JERSEY BOYS play and movie barely scratch the surface of Bob’s career. He wrote and produced for several stars besides the Seasons, including Frank Sinatra and Diana Ross, and his classic compositions have been covered by countless other artists for decades. That’s why I decided to produce the first compilation of Gaudio’s songs, as performed by everyone from the Royal Teens to the Temptations. Released on July 1 by Rhino Entertainment, it’s a 2-CD set called Audio With a G: Sounds of a Jersey Boy – The Music of Bob Gaudio.
It took me only seven years to get this done. Seriously. I first proposed the concept to Bob in 2007. He liked the idea and even gave it the name Audio With a G. So I spent a year or so collecting mp3s, making demo discs and writing notes for each song. I sent the demos to Bob, and he and his wife Judy (his lyricist for many of his classics) listened to them on a car trip. While Bob didn’t exactly tell me to “come back when you’re black,” he wasn’t very encouraging either. He liked my album, but thought it would be impossible to pull off because the master recordings I needed were controlled by so many different record companies. Undeterred, I kept on refining my discs and, in May of 2010, I finally flew from my home in New York City to Los Angeles to present my demos in person to Kevin Gore, head of Rhino.
He said he wanted to help me produce the album, but theoretical support and actually putting something on the agenda are two different things. I exchanged e-mails with various Rhino execs for more than a year. I also visited Universal Motown’s office in New York and traded several e-mails with Ace Records in the UK. But I seemed to be spinning my wheels, and I eventually gave up in early 2012. This just wasn’t going to happen. I had to get on with my life.
Fast forward to February 10, 2014. I picked up the phone that afternoon, and it was Rhino’s Mark Pinkus. He said that Rhino wanted to put out Audio With a G, in exactly the form I proposed to the company nearly four years earlier. Rhino’s licensing department would immediately start contacting other companies to obtain the rights to the songs Rhino did not already control. It turned out that my Gaudio collection would be part of Rhino’s four-barrelled barrage of Seasons-related products released at about the same time as the JERSEY BOYS movie. (We originally wanted to release them just before the movie but couldn’t quite get it done in time.) Besides Audio With a G, there was a monumental box set of 18 Four Seasons albums, a box set of 8 Frankie Valli solo albums, and, most important of all, the fantastic movie/musical soundtrack produced by Bob Gaudio himself.
I would like to thank Mr. Clint Eastwood for not only making a terrific movie, but also bringing my pet project back from the dead. And a big shout-out to Danielle Gaudio-Lalehzar for providing a wonderful picture of her father that I had never seen. If you choose to explore Audio With a G, you will discover many things you never heard in JERSEY BOYS:
1. Not only many of the greatest hits of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, but also recordings by Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Cher, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone and many others.
2. Two tracks from The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette, the most ambitious and audacious Four Seasons album Gaudio ever wrote. The album wasn’t a hit only because it was way ahead of its time. You can’t know how good Bob was on the piano until you listen to “Wall Street Village Day.”
3. No less than three versions of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”: the original by Frankie Valli, a gorgeous jazz version by Nancy Wilson, and the disco treatment by Boys Town Gang. What do you mean you never of those Boys? They took this track to No. 4 in the UK.
4. The biggest Four Seasons hit that many people have never heard. “The Night” was a huge hit in Europe but was inexplicably never released as a single in the U.S. Audio With a G contains both the original of “The Night” and an edgy cover by New Wave rocker Lene Lovich.
5. Two songs from the London musical based on the movie Peggy Sue Got Married. Three years before the La Jolla premiere of JERSEY BOYS, Gaudio made his theatrical debut as the composer of Peggy Sue. One of these songs, “Two Kinds of Fire,” has never been commercially released before now.
Rhino was able to license most of what I wanted for this treasure chest. While some of you experts may be able to guess a few things that I wanted but couldn’t get, I’m not telling what they are. Maybe I’ll get a chance to try again, if enough people buy Audio With a G. Plenty of great stuff is left over for a Volume Two. As my good friend Crez Capece pointed out recently, the G in front of this audio stands for genius.
To purchase on Amazon, click HERE.
Charles, I am beyond impressed. I’m thrilled your labor of love finally came to fruition and I hope it’s a huge hit. Hats off to you!
Comment by Gary — July 4, 2014 @ 5:33 pm
Geniuses are often self deprecating and shy. That is one of the reasons I also feel that Bob Gaudio is a true genius. Maybe it’s a good thing that they “fixed Bob up”, as in the play and the movie, guaranteeing progeny who, in the words of TV’s The Big Bang Theory “genius” Leonard Hofstadter, are “smart AND beautiful” and not, in the words of Sheldon Cooper, “imaginary”.
Comment by Ted — July 4, 2014 @ 7:14 pm
Charles, I just placed my order with Amazon, and look so forward to this. I probably go back further than you do with the Gaudio family, having met Bob’s cousin, Maureen Gaudio, when I was in high school. (Bob was already famous and I only met her once briefly. Maureen, if you’re reading this, our mutual friend is Mark O’Connell.)
You and I have seen “Jersey Boys” together many times (including the touring group twice and on Broadway even more than that), and have had dinner several times and you’ve been somewhat low-key about this project, perhaps doubting it would ever come to fruition.
I look so forward to hearing so much of Bob’s other works, which will indeed reinforce his genius. And you too, Charles, are to be commended for writing the introduction to the 4S Rhino compilation back in 2007 and your wonderful writings about Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons.
It’s all our pleasure to know you, Charles, and I’m sure everyone joins me in congratulating you in accomplishing this Herculean effort. I echo my friend Gary’s comment above in wishing “Audio with a G” (clever wordplay here too) to be a huge hit!!
Comment by Howard — July 4, 2014 @ 7:24 pm
I prefer The Four Seasons version of “Silence Is Golden” because it is in Stereo and has better audio quality, but I also always liked The Tremeloes version. People sometimes have asked why The Four Seasons didn’t release it themselves as an A side single. But The Four Seasons had so much good material, it was hard to know what to release. The Four Seasons version was about 15 seconds too long for many AM stations and their Program Directors at the time in 1964. The Tremeloes cut off about this amount of time by speeding it up slightly (as I recall, it’s about a musical half step higher, which could have been done by changing the key, but also may have been speeded up about 6%, for you recording and “musical geniuses”), and by truncating the end of the song from a slow fade to a faster, more abrupt ending. The Hollies (which ironically included Graham Nash, later of CSN(Y)), also considered recording “Silence Is Golden” but The Tremeloes beat them to it. Imagine, a later member of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, doing a remake recording a Four Seasons record written by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe!
Comment by Ted — July 4, 2014 @ 9:28 pm
Talk about shy and self deprecating geniuses. That would be you Charles with a C! So happy for and proud of you! Can’t wait to hear this!
Comment by Pamela — July 4, 2014 @ 10:04 pm
This is so exciting. Congratulations for all your hard work and perseverance to this project. It is definitely a labor of love. I love the name, it’s really clever. I just ordered a copy and can’t wait to get it.
Comment by Linda/Tiggerbelle — July 5, 2014 @ 1:14 am
When I played drums on my first gig with Bobby back in 1955 he gave me his printed business card that said “Bob Gaudio, Music for all occasions”………….That card said it all. I can,t think of one occasion in any of our lifetimes when songs composed by Bobby were not being played as were celebrating something. And now thanks to Charles efforts we can all get a chance to enjoy listening to what the words on Bobby’s business card really meant. “MUSIC FOR ALL OCCASIONS”
Congratulations boys.
Comment by Tom Austin — July 5, 2014 @ 6:18 am
Here’s another project for you, Charles. The Musical Works of Charles Calello. Many of the songs on Calello’s Billboard Hot 100 at the following link would be included, as well as “Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache” and “Let’s Hang On” by The Bandwagon, “Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby” by The Four Seasons and The Toys (can’t figure out how to get Smash Mouth in there, but the licensing might be prohibitive anyway), and “The Barnabas Theme From Dark Shadows” by The First Theremin Era.
Charles Calello’s Billboard Hot 100
http://www.charlescalello.com/Hit_Records.htm
Comment by Ted — July 5, 2014 @ 7:02 am
Ted, I agree 100% with your suggestion. I keep hoping that American Idol will offer Calello the chance to mentor the contestants one week, and have them perform songs he has produced. There is a treasure-chest full of material they (or Charles) could draw from. Follow the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-OBLzTmv1U
Comment by George O'Brien — July 5, 2014 @ 9:41 am
I appreciate all the comments and compliments. And I’m glad you people have my future career planned out for me! Thanks, Charles
Comment by Charles Alexander — July 5, 2014 @ 10:20 pm
great job charles , from a true 4 seasons fan to another
Comment by jim petrecca — July 5, 2014 @ 11:40 pm
Brilliant concept, Charles. Can’t wait for my copy to arrive! I must find a way to have you autograph it!
(Regarding Ted’s comment: though the Hollies/Graham Nash/CSN(Y) may not have recorded a Gaudio/Crewe song, I have always enjoyed their cover version of “Stay,” the title song of their first British album,”Stay with the Hollies,” largely a collection of “somebody else’s hits.”
)
Comment by stubbleyou — July 6, 2014 @ 9:10 am
Just heard the CD’s Charles….wow!! So many treasures here…loved “Saturday’s Father”, Cher’s “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”, both versions ot “The Night”, and the two great songs from “Peggy Sue Got Married”, among others that I hadn’t heard or heard once or twice before. 36 wonderful songs…congratulations. This is an enormous achievement. Bravo, Charles!
Comment by Howard — July 6, 2014 @ 11:56 am
I liked the Hollies, and Graham Nash is my favorite of CSN(Y), but Nash’s cover story for leaving the Hollies was that they were not socially relevant in the late 1960s, but it may really have been that he, in Bob Dylan’s paraphrased words, wanted to be on the side that’s winning. The Four Seasons may have given The Hollies a heads up that they were releasing “C’mon Marianne” before The Hollies released “Carrie Anne”, a more British sounding given name, even though the “Carrie Anne” song was supposedly about MARIANNE Faithfull. But notice the similarity in styles between The Four Seasons and “Carrie Anne”.
Comment by Ted — July 6, 2014 @ 1:01 pm
Thanks, Jim. With your shop and your radio producing, you do an enormous amount to keep the legacy of the 4 Seasons alive.
Comment by Charles Alexander — July 6, 2014 @ 3:47 pm
Thanks, Howard. Your praise is a very big deal to me. I value your friendship and your support more than I can adequately express.
Comment by Charles Alexander — July 6, 2014 @ 3:49 pm
Steve, I appreciate your being one of my most active social media supporters even before you even hear the album. Sorry that I haven’t responded individually to every single message. To have Bob Gaudio’s first writing partner, without whom none of this would have happened, comment on a post of mine is enough honor for a lifetime. Thank you, Tom. And my Upper East Side Angel, whom I’ll see this Thursday, knows how much I love her. Thanks to all.
Comment by Charles Alexander — July 6, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
This wonderful collection has sent me into one of my occasional Genuine Imitation Life Gazette/Watertown listening frenzies.
Were I a producer, I wouldn’t wait another minute to begin to mount a show which would present these brother works in a theatrical setting. Granted, though equally majestic, they’re VERY different works, still…I can dream, can’t I?? (Are you listening, Bobby Turner??)
Comment by Crez — July 6, 2014 @ 5:15 pm
Crez, I’ve often pondered how Watertown (Gaudio’s Sinatra story album) could be done. Someone made a movie of it, which hasn’t been released. Once I get some time I might try to track it down and see what, if anything, could be done with it. Regards, your fellow dreamer
Comment by Charles Alexander — July 6, 2014 @ 8:55 pm
WOW!!! Charles, “WHO KNEW?”… we had a celebrity amongst us. I just read your article, so I come a bit late. What more can I say than to echo the wonderful sentiments that your above supporters have so eloquently posted. I will say that we are so very happy for you that your hard work and determination paid off. Some things just come to you when you least expect it. Thank you for sharing and we can’t wait to hear the CD.
Congratulations!!!!
PS Can we get your autograph?
Comment by Norene & John — July 8, 2014 @ 9:51 am
Thanks, John and Norene! I will gladly sign the CD if you want to send me your copy or arrange to meet up sometime. That goes for anybody else too. Friend me on Facebook, if we haven’t already done so, and we can exchange private messages. I so much appreciate the interest I’m getting from Jersey Boys fans.
Comment by Charles Alexander — July 8, 2014 @ 11:25 pm