Track Listing

1. Sherry
2. Big Girls Don't Cry
3. Walk Like A Man
4. Candy Girl
5. Marlena
6. Dawn (Go Away)
7. Stay
8. Ronnie
9. Rag Doll
10. Silence Is Golden
11. Save It For Me
12. Big Man In Town
13. Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)
14. Girl Come Running
15. Let's Hang On!
16. Don't Think Twice - The Wonder Who
17. Working My Way Back To You
18. Opus 17 (Don't Worry 'Bout Me)
19. I've Got You Under My Skin
20. Tell It To The Rain
21. Beggin'
22. Can't Take My Eye's Off You - Frankie Valli
23. C'Mon Marianne
24. Will You Love Me Tomorrow
25. Who Loves You
26. December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100144 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Big girls don't cry and big boys don't sing like that ... except in the romantic musical world of doo-wop. And the Four Seasons were the grandest culmination of that genre, producing hit singles that were often epic teen mini-operas. Producer Bob Crewe borrowed liberally from Phil Spector (definitive proof: the drum intro to "Rag Doll" is damn near sampled from "Be My Baby"), and even Brian Wilson has called them "the East Coast Beach Boys." A condensation of Rhino's three-disc 25th-anniversary collection, Anthology neglects "The Proud One," probably their final classic moment--but 24 of the 26 tracks here cover the group's '62-'68 golden era, pausing only momentarily for the misguided late-'70s "disco" comeback. Truly great stuff. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

My second musical love
For just a bit under a year, during the time I was thirteen to fourteen years old, I was absolutely crazy about The Four Seasons, although not yet being mature enough for albums at that age, I was perfectly content to get my listening bliss from listening to things like this greatest hits compilation. And this collection pulls out just about all of the stops, complete with some very good liner notes detailing the group's history, what made these songs such big hits, and what made the group itself so very popular. What makes this group's success story so amazing is that they were making these soulful rock records at a time when American young people were supposedly stuck listening to greasy-haired squeaky-clean teen hearthrobs named Bobby. The Four Seasons were one of a number of Italian-American groups popular at the time, and in addition were older guys when they finally caught on, in their late twenties and into their thirties, something that could very well have been a serious impediment in the youth-obsessed culture of the times. The other amazing aspect of their success story is that they stayed incredibly popular all during the British Invasion, one of very few American groups to retain their popularity. It also didn't hurt that they had a very unique sound, the talented songwriter Bob Gaudio, and the able producer Bob Crewe.

The collection presents 26 of their songs, some of them the obviously well-known hits such as "Sherry," "Rag Doll" (the story behind this song haunts me to this day), "Let's Hang On!," "Candy Girl," and "Who Loves You," and a bunch of lesser-known/lower-charting songs such as "Beggin,'" "Tell It to the Rain," "I've Got You Under My Skin" (a surprisingly beautiful rendition of the Cole Porter song), "Big Man in Town" (this song always made me cry in my early days of being acquainted with it), and "Don't Think Twice" (recorded under the pseudonym The Wonder Who, on a folk rock album they did in 1965). Now that I've evolved past preferring catchy pop songs, I find that my favorites on this collection are the lesser-known ones such as "Silence Is Golden" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." It spans the years 1962-68, going from their dramatic burst onto the musical scene and following them as their popularity finally began to wane as they were replaced by bands with radically different sounds, and finally presents the two huge hits they had during their comeback in the mid-Seventies. One might say that it should have included some more obscure B-sides and album cuts, or some of Frankie's solo hits (particularly his two #1s "My Eyes Adored You" and "Grease"), but as it stands it does a pretty fine job of balancing out the big hits with the lesser-known material. And this is after all just a greatest hits collection, meant for the new or casual fan, not for the die-hard completist who's far beyond needing a greatest hits collection to get interested in the group.

A TRUE HALL OF FAME GROUP BY ANY STANDARD
this album shows the creativity and talent of the four seasons.after seeing the show jersey boys, you realize that each of the four season played a vital role in the success and creation of the group. Nick Massi who some say was a musical genius as he heard harmony in his head before it happened, was a superb arranger as evidenced by the remakes of "peanuts" and "alone". the harmony in these two songs is magical. Bob Gordio who wrote the songs is also in the songwriters' hall of fame. they were the first group to have four number one hits in a row:
Sherry
Big Girls Dont Cry
Walk Like A Man and
Dont think twice by the wonder who(actually the four seasons)

Bob Gordio also helped Brian Wilson of the beach boys write the songs for the their hit album "smile"
this collection is a must have for any four season fan or anyone who is just a fan of old rock harmony.

Don't cry.
This is an excellent collection of the 4 Seasons' biggest hits. All the best know hits are here, plus some excellent lesser known songs. Every single song here is great. This is by no means all the great songs that the 4 Seasons recorded, but it is the best single disc collection available, and will satisfy the casual 4 Seasons fan.