Frankie Valli - The Night (1 Viewer)

[7 - No tomorrow]

an appreciation

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[7 - No tomorrow]

Bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom - bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom bon bom...

Twenty Two installments that form the coolest fucking bassline of all time, and the intro to what might just be the perfect pop song.
Need to think about it? No point, it simply is.

Those Twenty Two jumpy fat fender funkers, complete with the obligatory tape hiss only a solitary instrumental intro can provide lay the landing lights for the Hammond organ which introduces the four main chords of the tune now accompanied by a tambourine that swings effortlessly from left to right almost lazily, recycled only by a palmed accent on the 2nd and 4th beats. What an intro, that's the song right there, you could lose the rest and loop those 4 bars eternally!
Heads look up, conversations stop; 'The Night begins to turn your head around'; "what's this song? I know it, if I don't know it I should, it sounds too fucking cool not to know! Who is it? I gotta ask the DJ!".
But wait there's more. The Hammond organ conjures up images of a church, but is it a wedding or a funeral? It's gotta be a funeral, those damned chords are far too minor and foreboding, whatever's coming isn't gonna be good news. CRACK! That dead snare brings in the chants, the warnings, hushed, forcing you to listen; 'beware of his promise, beware what I say, before I go forever, believe in what I say...'. The rhythm is given extra incentive just as the vocals crank up, a pitch perfect Memphis telecaster drops in, on 16ths! its in a hurry to get you somewhere, and it delivers the song straight to the plateau as the classic 6T's Motown formula of doubled up snare beats takes off and Frankie starts telling you what's gonna happen if you don't listen to him.

Riding on a string successive 5T's doo wop style falsetto hits, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons made rock n roll history in 1971 by becoming the first ever white act to sign to black hit-factory label Motown. The change in their style couldn't have been more dramatic, the impact more enduring. The Night was destined to become a floor-filler in the burgeoning northern soul venues all across working class England, where future pop stars like Kevin Rowland, Mark Almond & Paul Weller lost buckets of sweat practicing pirouettes and accentuating that poisonously infections bassline with handclaps. Back in the states it scored a number……...well sadly it didn't. The brains and genius behind Motown's distribution in the early in 1970's sagely deemed it unfit for release as a single.

So it sat in a vault, occasionally appearing on the odd Motown best of 7T's compilations. You know the ones? You avoid them like the plague, because lets face it, fucking 'Love Machine' is probably on it, and if you're really lucky, you'll end up taking home a dodgy syreeta hit to boot!
These days It's never far however from the kit bag of any Soul DJ worth his salt, and occasionally makes the cross over into the odd club venue where you might hear it and say...'what's this song?, I know it, if I don't know it I should, it sounds too fucking cool not to know!, who is it? I gotta ask the DJ!'....

On he went, Frankie, to tell us all that his eyes adored her, although he never laid a hand on her they adored her, and then he faded into musical obscurity.

The Night does most certainly begin to turn your head around, but not the metaphor Frankie was using to warn the lass in question that flowers and dreams and ivory towers wouldn't cut it in the long run, just the song itself;
That collection of guitars, tambourines, drums, sweet vocals, Hammond organs, bongos, and tubas, magically organised into 3 minutes and 21 seconds of perfect peerless pop.
He would never do anything approaching this good again.
Then again, almost no one else did either.

 

[travispickle]

He's great in the Sopranos.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Northern Soul enthusiasts tend to be the least fun people in the world

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Northern Soul enthusiasts tend to be the least fun people in the world

Vinyl collectors can be Vogons, no doubt.

I'm just a music enthusiast, J

I know a brilliant track when I hear it though.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Fuck it.

Bump

 

[kevin gallen]

Sher-er-rry, Sherry baby Sher-er-rry, Sherry baby She-e-e-e-e-e-e-ry ba-a-by... You-oo-ooh better ask your ma-a-ma ..

 

[mamul]

was just lookin at this YouTube - Madcon "Beggin" (official video) - Stress.no
think i prefer the pilooski edit tho
YouTube - Beggin' - Frankie Valli video re-mix