Jim Gold
's voice and songs steer this 12-song album from his group,
Gallery
, who amazingly launched three Top 40 hits in 1972 and 1973. None of the material stands up to the simple beauty of the title track, the Top Five
"Nice to Be With You,"
though there are a couple of decent tunes mixed in with the filler here. Released on a
Buddah Records
subsidiary,
Sussex Records
, the Detroit-based group was a post-
bubblegum
lightweight
pop
effort.
Motown
guitarist
Dennis Coffey
(who had a couple of hits himself on
Sussex
at this point in time) co-produced and arranged this effort with
Mike Theodore
. In the era of
Looking Glass
and
Helen Reddy
,
's voice sounds like a watered-down
Dennis Yost
, when he's not emulating
David Gates
of
Bread
. There's very little personality here, so covering
Jerry Butler
's 1960 hit
"He Will Break Your Heart"
and an obscure
Neil Diamond
title like
"Sunday & Me"
works better than some of
Gold
's other originals, though the island feel to
"Lover's Hideaway"
has charm. They followed up the success of
"Nice to Be With You"
with the
Mac Davis
chestnut
"I Believe in Music,"
coming off like a prototype for
Davis
' 1974
hit
"Keep on Singing."
That
and their producers got it into the Top 25 and followed that success with yet another Top 25 hit,
"Big City Miss Ruth Ann,"
is what's really the stunner. The cover photo could have been put on an album by
Flaming Ember
or any number of Detroit-based bands and no one would have known the difference. Interesting that they couldn't come back with more chart hits, but maybe the world was waiting for the coming of
Blue Swede
. Still,
is as poppy as it gets with a simplicity that probably subconsciously influenced
Nick Lowe
's
"Cruel to Be Kind."
~ Joe Viglione