Probably the Most Amazing Vaults Find EVER!!!

Researching work for the Snapper Music Box Set began in 2018, but that was following 18+ years of deep research re the recording of the Four Seasons music by me…….and as I said in my last post it was as a result of Snapper [or really Ian Crocket one of the project consultants- talking with the now late Bob Fisher] about my research into the Motown Archive of the group’s work from 1971 to 1974. They convinced Snapper that a 44 CD Box Set of the whole Four Seasons and Frankie Valli music as a ‘Legacy’ collection would sell at £350 to ‘long-term’ collector fans world wide. A trawl of the released albums tapes plus a search for unreleased and rare LIVE recordings. The UK Fan Group still active since the 1970s agreed to support it and help as much as we could. Bob Fisher and I agreed to review all the tracks found or could access[including fan sourced material] and recommend the inclusions.

The process was based on a commitment to open up the Four Seasons Partnership’s [FSP]own Archive as well as accessing the Motown Vaults to recover the tapes in the Masters Tape Index I have been researching since 2000. But more re that ‘promise’ again in another blog.

The main sources to be used were to be the ‘original’ Album Master Tapes[in both MONO and STEREO] and Bill inglot was to do the research……..but jumping to the end…..the persistent request from Bob Fisher and I was to find other tapes with potential Unreleased Tracks. During that final push Bill Inglot uncovered several previously unreleased songs, some of which we knew about. This in Snapper’s view with just 13 tracks from the 30 Unreleased in the Motown vaults was enough to sell the set to fans.

The process was based on a commitment to open up the Four Seasons Partnership’s [FSP]own Archive as well as accessing the Motown Vaults to recover the tapes in the Masters Tape Index I have been researching since 2000. But more re that ‘promise’ again in another blog.

The main sources to be used were to be the ‘original’ Album Master Tapes[in both MONO and STEREO] and Bill inglot was to do the research……..but jumping to the end…..the persistent request from Bob Fisher and I was to find other tapes with potential Unreleased Tracks. During that final push Bill Inglot uncovered several previously unreleased songs some of which we knew about. This in Snapper’s view with just 13 tracks from the 30 Unreleased in the Motown vaults was enough to sell the set to fans.

I will work through the finds that mattered most in future blogs …...BUT this song shone out like a ‘beacon’. It is nothing more than a DEMO and the tape box was found as a result of Bill ‘pulling’ any Tape Box with ‘notes’ indicating a Four Seasons connection...or song. Obviously ‘Beggin’ was the song we knew and turned out to be the great DEMO version by Peggy Farina…...and then on the same tape Frankie Valli taking an unknown and unpublished song and blowing everyone [who hears it] away with sheer intensity and vocal skill. 

From November 1966 it is just an outstanding quality vocal. It deserved to be in the Box Set. However it also revealed possibility!!!!!

What we didn’t find out till after we had to concluded the research was that there are also 200+ other tapes in the storage unit ….’unmarked’…..so none of them were listened to!!!!!!. We suddenly realised that the chance of other such unfound gems really existed even after our two years of intense transfer from tape to digital by Bill. The probability was clear…….but the FSP were not prepared to invest in further research and to pay an engineer like Bill to listen to the unmarked tapes. Snapper had paid Bill for all of his work. The FSP contributed only to the ‘final approval process’….via listening tests...as I will cover in a later blog. The ‘financial return’ was not there and neither Bob or Frankie were prepared to embark on such a project.

So if there was any track that made such investment essential in tracking your ‘legacy’…..this was it. The campaign for such research continues here and on Facebook. Soak in this excellent if ‘brief’ gem. Only those of us with a ‘passion’ to search further and to find such ‘lost music’ CARE…..that was apparent at the time and since.

Next Time: If proof were needed I will present another unheard and unreleased track discovered by fans and probably amongst the 200 Tapes.