Four Seasons – Working My Way Back to You

A veritable hit machine in the mid-’60s, the Four Seasons began to change with the changing times. The earlier of these two LPs (from 1966) was ostensibly in keeping with the formula, the title also being its biggest hit. Looking closer, though, reveals that producer and primary writer Bob Crewe was lacing social issues into the lyrics flowing forth from Frankie Valli’s soaring falsetto, as “Beggar’s Parade” chastises the era’s hippie layabouts. Three years later, writer Jake Holmes was brought on board to help fashion the band’s own Sgt. Pepper. The Beatles had thrown down the gauntlet, and established acts scrambled to deepen their relevance, lumbering into forests of orchestral songsmithing, baroque filigree and ponderous suites. The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette fared better than some, with fully realized and smartly articulated arrangements, but there’s an element of overreaching that renders this a somewhat quaint pop artifact.