Bob Crewe - The Complete Elektra Recordings (2015)

Two CD set containing a pair of albums plus bonus tracks from the music industry legend. A songwriter, producer, singer, entrepreneur, artist and candidate for the title of Fifth Season, Crewe was one of music's true renaissance men. With Bob Gaudio, he co-wrote and produced most of the Four Seasons greatest hits, and he also guided the careers of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Oliver, and many others. Yet one period of his extraordinary career has been long overlooked... until now. During 1976 and 1977, Crewe was signed to Elektra Records, where he released two remarkably diverse albums. 1976's Street Talk resurrected The Bob Crewe Generation, best-known for the swinging bachelor pad classic Music to Watch Girls By, for the disco age. As a disco-rock ballet concept album aimed at Broadway, Street Talk reflected the exuberant, uninhibited and provocative spirit of the era with it's lush, orchestral disco style. The following year, Crewe emerged as a singer/songwriter with the solo Motivation. Helmed by legendary rock producer Jerry Wexler and famed Muscle Shoals musician Barry Beckett, Motivation was inspired by Carole King's Tapestry and remains a passionate, spiritual and raw pop statement from an artist who had plenty to say.