Machiavelli and the Four Seasons is a 1995 album by the Australian rock group TISM (This Is Serious Mum). It is TISM's most famous release and the one with which they received the most critical success and fame. The album was certified Gold by the ARIA Awards and won the ARIA Award for Best Independent Release. The award was accepted in person by Les Murray, the subject of the song "What Nationality is Les Murray?"', who read a seemingly insulting acceptance speech in his native Hungarian. Three of its songs reached Triple J's Hottest 100, two of them in the top 10. This was also TISM's highest charting album, reaching number 8 in the Aria Charts.

The album featured TISM's switch from Alternative rock to synth-driven techno and dance music, which still retained the loud guitars and vocal melodies of their earlier music. The two singles Greg! The Stop Sign!! and (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River are two of TISM's best known tracks.

The cover of the album is a picture of The Hollywood Argyles. The title is a composite phrase of doo wop group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and thinker Niccolò Machiavelli.

The unusual title stems from a conceit found throughout the cover, although not in the tracks themselves, that this is actually an album by a group called "Machiavelli and the Four Seasons". The liner notes include an essay on the band's music, written with gushing praise. Track titles are also given, entirely revolving around the words "I", "Love", "You" and "Baby". A hidden track at the end of the actual album, entitled "Phillip Glass's Arse", is a melodic, a cappella harmonised song that gives a representation of what Machiavelli and the Four Seasons might actually sound like. TISM used the name "Machiavelli and the Four Seasons", among others, to book secret concerts in 1994.

...
Wikipedia