Closeup (Frankie Valli album)

Closeup is an album by Frankie Valli, released in February 1975 on the Private Stock label. It had been seven years since his prior album, and afforded Valli his first of two number-one solo hits in the US (in addition to five as lead singer of The Four Seasons). The LP reached number 51 on the U.S. Billboard albums chart.

Closeup
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 1975 (1975-02)
Recorded1974
Studio
Genre
Length36:07
LabelPrivate Stock
ProducerBob Crewe, Bob Gaudio
Frankie Valli chronology
Timeless
(1968)
Closeup
(1975)
Inside You
(1975)

The album contains two hit singles: "My Eyes Adored You" (US No. 1) and "Swearin' to God" (US No. 6).[1] It also contains Valli's original version of "I Can't Live a Dream," which became a hit for the Osmond Brothers in late 1976.[1]

Reception

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In a retrospective review, Joe Viglione of AllMusic recalled that the album "is singer Frankie Valli again finding the magic without his Four Seasons, this time in the '70s with two big hits in two different genres", and called it "an important and forgotten catalog item that needs to be expanded and re-released with bonus tracks and liner notes that give it its proper place in music history."[2]

In his August 1975 review for Stereo Review magazine, Peter Reilly remarked that:

Frankie Valli's album and his flabby performances have a fake Fifties sound that made me think of Fabian, Annette Funicello, beach party movies, Edsels, and, eventually, the Franco-Prussian war. This last because it holds even less interest for me than the goings-on in the Eisenhower Era—I grow listless at the mere thought of even trying to find out why it happened.[3]

Track listing

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Side one [4]

  1. "I Got Love for You, Ruby" (Sandy Linzer) - 3:22
  2. "Why" (Bob Gaudio, Judy Parker) - 2:44
  3. "He Sure Blessed You" (Bob Gaudio, Judy Parker) - 3:27
  4. "Waking Up to Love" (Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan) - 4:30
  5. "I Can't Live a Dream" (Arnold Capitanelli) - 3:15

Side two

  1. "My Eyes Adored You" (Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan) - 3:33
  2. "In My Eyes" (Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan) - 4:21
  3. "Swearin' to God" (Bob Crewe, Denny Randell) - 10:09

Personnel

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On "My Eyes Adored You":

Technical

Charts

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Chart (1975) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 70
United States (Billboard 200) 51

References

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  1. ^ a b Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  2. ^ "Closeup – Frankie Valli". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Hifi Stereo Review" (PDF). Americanradiohistory.com. August 1975. p. 88. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Frankie Valli – Closeup (1975, Bestway Press, Vinyl)". Discogs.com. 1975.
  5. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 319. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.