Comments on: Time for a Four Seasons’ Trivia Question!

By: Ted Hammond

Ted Hammond — Tue, 03 May 2011 22:12:12 +0000

The Four Seasons made a “remake” of “Ain’t That A Shame” which was a unique arrangement very different from both the Fats Domino AND the Pat Boone versions.

By: stubbleyou

stubbleyou — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:44:09 +0000

As long as we’ve come this far afield, let me toss out another interesting view regarding “covers” and “remakes.” Don McLean is adamant, vociferous even, that “cover” specifically refers to remakes by white artists of songs of the late ’50′s or so which were originally done by black artists whose recordings were not considered “appropriate” for white audiences. The Crewcuts’ cover of the Chords’ Sh-boom comes to mind, as do several Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson (yes, I said Ricky with a “y”) recordings of Fats Domino and Little Richard songs. (I originally read this on McLean’s website but I can no longer find it; however, a wiki article on covers discusses McLean’s view and even mentions he thought covers were “a racist tool.”)

Just another spin on things…

By: Susie

Susie — Mon, 02 May 2011 02:32:30 +0000

Fascinating discussions above! Just found this on a blog–a video of American Idol contestant James Durbin’s rendition of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”…Here’s what the blogger stated about the performance, “At times he seemed to be channeling Frankie Valli, who, with the Four Seasons, made the high notes feel like the top of a roller coaster, and had a hit with this song in 1968.”

By: David Cace

David Cace — Sun, 01 May 2011 22:45:20 +0000

Good point Ted about the distinction between a “cover” and a “remake” – wouldn’t call the Four Seasons version of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” a cover of Frank Sinatra’s.

While speaking of Neal Sedaka, the Four Seasons did a “remake” of “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” on the “Dawn” album – one of my favorite Four Seasons’ album cuts.

By: Ted Hammond

Ted Hammond — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:55:29 +0000

What’s amazing to me is that so many of you here on the blog, people officially associated with Jersey Boys, and people like Paul Shaffer, actually had the early LPs of the Four Seasons from the get go. My recollection is that before the Beatles, few people bought LPs, and even then, not much before Sgt. Pepper, in 1967, revolutionized record sales by selling an LP without single releases. And then there’s the misconception that the Four Seasons were not an album group, when in fact, my Whitburn Top Pop Albums edition, though from 1992, shows them as the #75 Top Album Artist of all time at that time. They outdid scores of artists, that one thinks of as album artists, that followed them. While it’s true that the Four Seasons did a a lot of song covers in their early LPs, so did the Beatles, Beach Boys, and every other group early in their careers.

I think that the difference between a “cover song” and a “remake” would be where groups like the Four Seasons made a song their own, with a new arrangement and unique style, as opposed to just going through the motions of recording the songs if others, which many have done, even Frank Sinatra.