Incredible

The third album from Gary Puckett & the Union Gap features two Top Ten "gold" hits, "Lady Willpower," which just missed hitting number one in the summer of 1968, and the sublime "Over You," which opened the autumn of that year. "Over You" is arguably this band's finest moment and of their half-dozen hits, the only one which doesn't reference gender in its title. Not to be confused with the Lou Reed composition which appeared on the Velvet Underground's 1969 album, "Over You" has a tender vocal from Puckett without his trademark Pavarotti-meets-Johnny Mathis style of holding the notes, a sound which permeates diverse tunes like the quasi-psychedelic "I'm Just a Man," written by bassist Kerry Chater and keyboardist Gary "Mutha" Withem, or "The Common Cold" from Puckett and producer Jerry Fuller. Lyrical clichés are employed on this interesting pop platter from a group who -- for Columbia Records -- was the bridge between the Buckinghams and Chicago, their hits falling right in between the time period after the Buckinghams and before Chicago reigned on the charts. Just as Moulty of the Barbarians readily admits his ensemble didn't realize how much they needed Doug Morris, the Union Gap found success when Jerry Fuller's genius met Gary Puckett's voice. "Reverend Posey" follows "Lady Willpower," but that co-write by the bassist and keyboardist is typical of the songs that don't have the producer's magic songwriting touch. Even having Al Capps co-arrange it with them adds little. The highly sexual "Give In" brings the album back to life, and it is pure Fuller (not to be confused with the G. Usher title "Don't Give in to Him," which would be a hit for the group a few months later; perhaps it is a prequel). In any case, "Take Your Pleasure" by Chater and Withem follows, and the energy again evaporates. It is like night and day when the band material goes up against what producer Jerry Fuller was writing, and this group should have known where its bread was buttered. Or perhaps Gary Puckett and Jerry Fuller should have hired session men right after this. "Over You" stands as a pop classic from a time when the hit single was most important. They look like another Columbia act, Paul Revere & the Raiders, in the blue suits against the blue-sky cover of Incredible. It's an album that helps you appreciate greatest-hits packages. Why they didn't seek out Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil or songwriters of that caliber to add to their success is the mystery.