Boogie Friday

Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons were massive in the 1960s with a string of hits like "Sherry" and "Walk Like A Man" and though they didn't do as well in the 70s I think they made some of their best records then like "The Night" "Silver Star" and this solo beauty from Valli. Taken from his his 1975 album "Closeup" "Swearin' To God" is a gorgeous piece of uptown disco music with sweeping strings and big helpings of waka-waka guitar. It's even greater in this 10-minute album version which was released at the time on one of the very first 12" singles (some think the white label promo was the first 12" ever). Valli may be an unlikely disco singer but his shiny falsetto voice fits in nicely with the glittery surroundings, the backing vocals by Pattie Austin and Clydie King make it sound extra sweet. This was produced and written by Bob Crewe who had also been behind most of the Four Seasons 60s hits and (take note, trivia fans) co-wrote Labelle's "Lady Marmalade".

Sadly this long version isn't available anywhere at the moment, copies of the 12" go for rather large sums of money and "Closeup" isn't in print anymore, though old copies of that can be found without too much bother.

[Download]
Swearin' To God - Frankie Valli