Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

"December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night!)" holds a place in pop history for having been an American Top 20 hit twice, with 18 years separating its two chart peaks (at #1 in 1976 and a remixed version at #14 in 1994), as well as a pair of two widely spaced entries on the U.K. charts (at #1 in 1976 and #49 in 1988). Speaking of chart success, between 1962 and 1967, the Four Seasons hit the Billboard Top 10 in the States a grand total of 13 times, but here in Blighty, most of us remember the frontman for his 1978 title track from Grease. Beatlemania did nothing to dull the Seasons' lustre, as you'll discover in Next Steps.

In 1964, with the tide of British bands at its most powerful in the U.S., the Four Seasons managed to hold their own against the Beatles on home turf — "Dawn" was buffeted out of the Top 5 by the Fab Four, but Valli and his chums cracked on regardless with a run of high charters that concluded with December's "Big Man In Town". As the mid-'60s rolled on, so did the hits: 1966's "Tell It To the Rain" was followed the next year by "Beggin'" and "C'mon Marianne". Some Seasons are rarer than others — look to the left of the smashes, in Deep Cuts.

The Off-Seasons collection, from which several of these Deep Cuts come, generally showcases the band after they'd hit their commercial — but not artistic — peak. Because these were album cuts in a singles era, and because the band was so prolific, inevitably some great music got lost in the shuffle. Check out the immaculate production, arrangement, and sheer ambition on "I'm Gonna Change" and the earthquake of drum 'n' brass behind "Marcie".

"Walk like a man . . . sing like a girl!" was how school-kids summarized the Four Seasons, via the amended lyrics to one of their biggest hits. Frankie Valli's distinctive falsetto led the group that bridged doo-wop and the beat bands, and though the foursome was a hit-making machine in the mid-'60s, they never quite seemed to garner the critical acclaim they plainly deserved. With the mid-'00s Broadway hit Jersey Boys, though, the outfit's key members — those active 1960-65, all of them Hall of Famers — seem to be finally getting their due as pop legends.