Vocal Pop Music
This record is the B-Side of the Four Seasons 1962 #1 hit “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” The opening of “Connie-O” features a tack piano, courtesy of imaginative producer Bob Crewe, who co-wrote the song with his partner Bob Gaudio. Perhaps because “Connie-O” was intended to be a B-Side, the group seems less self-conscious about singing more sweetly. But who’s to know? Anyway, in a departure from rhythmic urban sounds, the Four Seasons sing “Connie-O” with complex and haunting “barbershop” harmonies. Barbershop style is one of the foundations of doo wop music, along with rhythm and blues, gospel, and some Italian bel canto singing (when it can be achieved). And “Connie-O” is just so pretty. Group members were Gaudio, Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVito, and Nick Massi.