If you're determined to track down some non-hit
Gene Pitney from his '60s prime, this LP is one of the better deals around. Most of the material was penned by first-rate songwriters of the era, such as
Bacharach-
David,
Pomus-
Shuman, and
Pitney himself. The album also contains early compositions by emerging talents
Al Kooper and
Randy Newman (whose "Just One Smile" gave
Pitney a British hit). Like
Pitney's other LPs, though, most of it's not on the level of his most celebrated hits. One intriguing item is the
Pitney-penned "Marianne"; could this possibly be a song for
Marianne Faithfull, with whom
Gene had a brief fling in the mid-'60s?