27th
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Electric Stories: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (1968)
Everyone and everything eventually becomes irrelevant. Somewhere, someone has a drawer filled with S&H Green Stamps. Or skee ball-tickets from an arcade long since closed. A thin strip of paper printed with lucky numbers from a fortune cookie consumed eight years ago. We protect our valuables under lock and key. We must! And even when, one day, it is brought to our attention that our prized possessions have become worthless, well, it’s just impossible to throw anything away. No, not worthless, you’ll tell yourself, just irrelevant. There are worse things to be.
One could argue that in 1969 The Monkees were occupying the space that was previously filled by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Check the fine print and you’ll likely find the same circle of session players on both group’s records (L.A.’s The Wrecking Crew). The Four Seasons’ sound had become irrelevant. (There are worse things to be.) “Electric Stories” is an unsuccessful, albeit charming, attempt to reinvent, to revive, to rescue Frankie Valli. It seems like it should have worked. Kooky!
I’ll keep this one in a drawer with my Smurf-Berry Crunch box tops. You know, just in case.
