CD Review: Frankie Valli "Frankie Valli is the Word / Heaven Above Me" (Collectors’ Choice)
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Me" (Collectors' Choice)
After several hit singles and four commercially unsuccessful albums on
Private Stock (paired on Collectors Choice reissues "Closeup / Valli"
and "Our Day Will Come / Lady Put the Light Out"), Valli moved to MCA.
More importantly, his earlier introduction to Barry Gibb (via a bit
part in the film version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
resulted in one of the biggest hits of his solo career, the title
theme to "Grease." The #1 single keyed the sound of the resulting
album, "Frankie Valli is the Word," returning to the disco-tinged vibe
he'd explored on the 1976 "Our Day Will Come" LP. Unlike the earlier
dance tunes, however, a sophisticated Bee Gees-styled vibe replaced
the mindless disco clichés. In addition to the album's hit, Gibb
provides the horn-and-drum laced "Save Me, Save Me," and several tunes
(including Valli's original "Needing You") offer a slicker version of
the urban pop-soul that was rendered so perfectly on Boz Scaggs' "Silk
Degrees."
Despite the fetching addition of Hubert Laws on flute for "A Tear Can
Tell" and "No Love at All," much of "Frankie Valli is the Word" is
unmemorable. While Valli could still sing himself past the disco-era
monotony, the songs here aren't strong enough to keep the listener's
attention. The most successful tracks are the hook-filled "Grease,"
and slower, sparer ballads like "Without Your Love" and "You Better
Go." Once the disco drums and strings get going, Valli hasn't the
material to overcome. The same can be said for Valli's 1980 follow-up,
"Heaven Above Me," which features several fine ballads, including the
bottom-of-the-chart-scraping Chris Forde duet, "Where Did We Go
Wrong." Once again, though, the production team couldn't shake
themselves free of disco's affectations, even as the music's
commercial fortunes waned. The 6:45 "Let It Be Whatever It Is" sounds
like it was recorded four years earlier, with a driving dance beat,
horns (including a sax solo from Tom Scott), female background singers
and a throwaway lyric of Studio 54-like sexuality. Forde returns for a
duet on the 10:29 medley of "Soul" and "Heaven Above Me," but the
mechanical rhythm is better suited for the disco than the home stereo.
The closing "Eat Your Heart Out" offers a hooky pop melody, albeit
with a standard disco beat and lyric.
As with Valli's final LP for Private Stock, his pair of albums for MCA
found him unable to locate a profitable way to spend his considerable
vocal talent amid the sounds of the late '70s. Valli's disco hangover
was rendered somewhat inert by the presence of the Bee Gees connection
on "Word," but without the inspiration of a Barry Gibb hit single, the
follow-up album returns to the uninspired ground he's visited a couple
of years before. As on most of Valli's solo albums, the ballads,
despite their canonical arrangements, provide the requisite scenery to
chew, and the occasional upbeat hit allows him to fly past disco
convention. Neither of these albums are Valli's best work of the '70s
(that honor goes to "Closeup" and "Valli"), and other than "Grease"
and a few fetching ballads, these are more for completists than fans.
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