Bob Crewe, RIP

[EasyAce]

Dead at 82 . . . hitmaker with the Rays ("Silhouettes" in 1957) . . . producer of the Four Seasons and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels . . . co-author (with Bob Gaudio) of most Four Seasons hits, including the one in which he a) helped write the music for Gaudio's charming little lyric (Crewe usually helped write lyrics); and, b) beat Phil Spector at his own game with as stripped-down a Wall of Sound as you could get from one drummer, one bass, one guitar, one glockenspiel, and one tubular bell:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJY83Ehuq1Y]The Four Seasons, "Rag Doll"[/ame]

He even turned out this charming 1966 instrumental hit . . .

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZWdGWFmbOQ]The Bob Crewe Generation, "Music to Watch Girls By"[/ame]

. . . and co-wrote:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF2otwl4ros]LaBelle, "Lady Marmalade"[/ame]

RIP.

 

[MUSTANGCAT]

RIP Mr. Crewe. I really like the Four Seasons a great deal. I love the story about how they got the song, "Rag Doll."

 

[MUSTANGCAT]

I really dig the fuzz guitar on "Music to watch girls by."

 

[EasyAce]

That fuzz guitar part was great. Crewe had quite a knack for putting unexpected pieces into the right unexpected places.