Best of the Four Freshmen-Liberty Years

Four Freshmen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 7, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collector's Choice
• ASIN: B0000631PI
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,980 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. It's Not Unusual

2. A Man and a Woman

3. Everyday People

4. I Will Wait for You

5. Walk on By

6. Fools Rush In

7. Byrd Avenue

8. Michelle

9. California My Way

10. Shadow of Your Smile

11. When the Feeling Hits You

12. The Wonderful World of Color

13. Love Is a Happy Thing

14. Daydream

15. Medley: Cherish/Windy

16. Medley: Come Fly With Me/Up-Up and Away

17. Medley: It's a Blue World/By the Time I Get to Phoenix

18. Misty Roses

19. My Special Angel

20. Old Friends

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

The 24-song Best of the Four Freshman: The Liberty Years collection comes from what is, for most people, a relatively obscure period in the history of the Four Freshmen, their 1968-1969 tenure on Liberty Records, which encompassed three LPs, including a wonderfully sung and incredibly rare live album done in Tokyo. The British invasion having wiped out their recognition as a cutting-edge ensemble, they sought to keep abreast of the change in public taste by moving their repertory into the 1960s and away from the 1940s and '50s standards around which they'd original built their sound. The results were mixed -- they sounded too much like an "easy listening" group, and their name and look were still too dated ever to let them compete on the pop charts or Top 40 radio, but their harmonies were just as beguiling as ever on renditions of "A Man and a Woman," "Walk On By," "Michelle," "Cherish/Windy Medley," and even "Everyday People" -- and they come within inches of sounding like a fully competitive, contemporary act on "Love Is a Happy Thing." The quartet was no longer quite as self-contained an outfit as it had been in the 1950s, but the group's singing was still impeccable, and the presence of an electric guitar in the mix on songs like that and "I Will Wait for You" gave the music at least a foothold in the decade. One can hear their acknowledgements of acts that had successfully absorbed and reconstituted their sound, including Spanky & Our Gang ("Bird Avenue"), illustrating precisely how wired up they were musically to the pop charts of the day -- though they never charted with the material here, the mix of voices and the surprising wrinkles given most of the material makes this best-of a most worthwhile investment. The sound is excellent, and the annotation by original member Ross Barbour provides some perspective on the decisions about recording. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Very pleased with some of it, June 29, 2011

By 

wiser consumer (Medford, OR) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Best of the Four Freshmen-Liberty Years (Audio CD)

I graduated from a large Detroit high school that had three classes of students -- the Ivy League set, the hoods (just like The Fonze) and those somewhere in between. I was one of the in-betweeners but always aspired to be an Ivy Leaguer. And to me, The Four Freshmen always represented the epitome of that group. Don't ask me to explain that association but the fact that I found their sound special is borne out by their continued popularity.
As for this disc, the sound quality is good but many of their newer selections don't seem to have the carefully worked-out harmonies of much of their older material. My favorites here are Misty Roses, Girl Talk and A Beautiful Friendship.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST OF THE FOUR FRESHMEN, November 9, 2006

By 

Joyce Ciolino - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Best of the Four Freshmen-Liberty Years (Audio CD)

THIS CD WAS PRICEY CONSIDERING THERE WERE ONLY 2 SONGS THAT I LIKED.
TO HAVE THESE SONGS, WAS WELL WORTH THE PRICE. THE SONGS I LIKED WERE
"GIRL TALK" AND THE MEDLEY "BLUE WORLD/BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX"