Comments on: Music Urban Legends Revealed #27 http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2009/10/14/music-legends-revealed-27/ For unbelievable true stories about movies, TV and films (and more!) and believable false ones! Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:22:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Christopher Stansfield http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2009/10/14/music-legends-revealed-27/comment-page-1/#comment-3810 Christopher Stansfield Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:03:34 +0000 http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/?p=2065#comment-3810 Mary, Two reasons why Valli's hearing loss might not have affected his solo recordings so much: The Four Seasons' trademark (aside from Valli's falsetto) was tight harmony. When singling harmonies, it's important to be able to hear what people are doing around you if you want to make sure you aren't pitching flat or sharp. However, as a soloist, it's not quite as important since you only need to "hear" yourself- and Valli has talked about how he largely "sang from memory" during the '70s. The second reason is simpler- he had surgery and regained most of his hearing in the late seventies. As for "Even a Fool..." it was never released commercially because, as Brian points out, nobody wanted to release it when Bowie was an unknown. For whatever reasons, Bowie (or whomever actually owns the recording- possibly EMI) has never seen fit to release it, (and would have to pay royalties to Anka, who owns the American rights to the music, if he did.) There is a small excerpt of the song that appeared on a BBC TV special many years ago, and there are bootleg videotapes with that snippet- however, according to the leading Bowie bootleg and discography sites, no full version has ever made it into the hands of bootleggers. Mary,
Two reasons why Valli’s hearing loss might not have affected his solo recordings so much: The Four Seasons’ trademark (aside from Valli’s falsetto) was tight harmony. When singling harmonies, it’s important to be able to hear what people are doing around you if you want to make sure you aren’t pitching flat or sharp. However, as a soloist, it’s not quite as important since you only need to “hear” yourself- and Valli has talked about how he largely “sang from memory” during the ’70s. The second reason is simpler- he had surgery and regained most of his hearing in the late seventies.

As for “Even a Fool…” it was never released commercially because, as Brian points out, nobody wanted to release it when Bowie was an unknown. For whatever reasons, Bowie (or whomever actually owns the recording- possibly EMI) has never seen fit to release it, (and would have to pay royalties to Anka, who owns the American rights to the music, if he did.) There is a small excerpt of the song that appeared on a BBC TV special many years ago, and there are bootleg videotapes with that snippet- however, according to the leading Bowie bootleg and discography sites, no full version has ever made it into the hands of bootleggers.

]]> By: Mary Warner http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2009/10/14/music-legends-revealed-27/comment-page-1/#comment-3698 Mary Warner Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:37:52 +0000 http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/?p=2065#comment-3698 So if Frankie Valli had a hearing problem that prevented him from singing much for the Four Seasons, why was he still able to record all the solo hits he had around that time? I once heard that the date December 1963 was chosen because that was just before the Beatles hit the charts in the US, and thus it was the last moment when the Four Seasons were at the top of the field in Rock and Roll. (Although they did have several more hits afterward.) Has Bowie's 'Even A Fool Learns To Love' ever appeared on any album? (Maybe as a bonus track on later releases?) I don't recognise the title, and I know it wasn't on his first album (which I think is his best, but I know I'm alone in that). It's been a very long time since I heard the second album (the one with 'Space Oddity'), and I only remember a couple of songs, so I suppose it could've been on there, but I don't remember anything that sounded like the tune of 'My Way'. So if Frankie Valli had a hearing problem that prevented him from singing much for the Four Seasons, why was he still able to record all the solo hits he had around that time?
I once heard that the date December 1963 was chosen because that was just before the Beatles hit the charts in the US, and thus it was the last moment when the Four Seasons were at the top of the field in Rock and Roll. (Although they did have several more hits afterward.)

Has Bowie’s ‘Even A Fool Learns To Love’ ever appeared on any album? (Maybe as a bonus track on later releases?) I don’t recognise the title, and I know it wasn’t on his first album (which I think is his best, but I know I’m alone in that). It’s been a very long time since I heard the second album (the one with ‘Space Oddity’), and I only remember a couple of songs, so I suppose it could’ve been on there, but I don’t remember anything that sounded like the tune of ‘My Way’.

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