Hawthorne, CA is a double disc of Beach Boys rarities and out-takes, as well as a cappella and alternate versions of songs familiar to most fans. And while I can listen to any rendition of “Kiss Me Baby,” “She’s Not The Little Girl I Once Knew,” or “Sail On, Sailor,” there is little compelling reason to buy this album. Marginal Beach Boys fans are only interested in the hits compilations while fanatics already have these tracks. Capitol should have included such hard-to-find Beach Boys covers of the Box Tops’ “The Letter,” Merle Haggard’s “Okie From Muskogee,” and the German-language version of “In My Room” if the company was determined to go the rare tracks route for this album.

An argument can be made that the 4 Seasons were the East Coast’s answer to the Beach Boys. Newark-born Frankie Valli could match the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, falsetto note for falsetto note. The 4 Seasons could play their instruments as well as the Beach Boys played theirs, a fact that is not very well known since it has long been widely believed that they were merely a vocal group.

It has never been very difficult to obtain the big hits of the 4 Seasons. “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Sherry,” “Rag Doll,” “Let’s Hang On,” and “Dawn” are readily available on a number of records. In fact, Rhino Records has just released yet another Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons’ collection, this one entitled In Season. What is noteworthy, however, is that Rhino simultaneously released a collection of long out-of-print 4 Seasons recordings, appropriately called Off Seasons.

Don’t look for any familiar titles here unless you are a true 4 Seasons fanatic. Listening to Off Seasons, it is obvious that Valli and his New Jersey troupe gave their all to the B-sides. The first two tracks here, “Big Man’s World” and “Seems Like Only Yesterday,” easily followed the group’s successful formula of hand claps, high-pitched Valli lead vocals, and a constant repetition of the song title in the chorus. On the other hand, “Saturday’s Father” is Valli’s attempt to co-opt a Simon & Garfunkel sound. This collection is ample testament to why the 4 Seasons deserve a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Wingspan is a 40-song compilation, a generous sampling of McCartney’s post-Beatles’ work. To his credit, McCartney, who is wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, demanded that Capitol price this collection as it would a single album.

And though McCartney has included the expected hits as “My Love,” “Jet,” “Band On The Run,” “Let “Em In,” “With A Little Luck,” and “Goodnight Tonight,” he has chosen to omit quite a bit as well. It would have been nice to hear “Give Ireland Back To The Irish,” a song that was banned by the BBC, as well as McCartney’s answer to the BBC, his hypnotically catchy “Mary Had A Little Lamb” whose lyrics were derived from the famous nursery rhyme. Both of those songs were Top 30 hits.

Also missing is Sir Paul’s lone stab at country music, “Sally G,” which was recorded in Nashville and received a good deal of airplay on New York’s old country radio home, WHN. On a happier note, the saccharine “Ebony And Ivory” is missing as well.