What was Al Kooper's first hit single as a songwriter is a great trivia question, and that Snuff Garrett produced these Leon Russell arrangements says much about mega-talents working with the offspring of famous movie stars. Jerry Lewis might not have been part of the Rat Pack, but his son, Gary Lewis, is much like Frank Sinatra's daughter, Nancy Sinatra, a showbiz kid personality who got onto the charts despite his vocal limitations. The hit single is everything a hit should be, and most anyone on the planet could have sang it with just as much success; the frosting of the production here is the cake, but for camp and cool no one could rain on the Gary Lewis parade which launched with this classic. And don't deny Leon Russell's brilliant arrangement its moment in the sun -- the dark keyboards absolutely bring these blues home in their pop setting. You've heard that Gary Lewis can't sing, and he can't. "Go to Him" is a stretch for the novice, and he adds nothing to Bobby Vee's "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" other than maybe giving Vee some credibility. But it is all so charming until you get to his version of "All Day and All of the Night"; worse than the fact that it won't stand as a classic interpretation, he's lucky Ray Davies didn't sue for intense infliction of emotional distress. Were the producers out to lunch while the band was jamming? It's hideous on its own, more hideous when played next to the brilliance of the hit single. Having ten covers to go along with the originals was the best route for the label to take -- or for the teenyboppers to absorb -- but the Kinks were sacred ground in the mid-'60s, and to go there without proper respect was to risk all credibility. "The Best Man" ends the album, a sequel to "This Diamond Ring" where the singer is "just" the best man, a familiar wedding theme recurring as the guitar hook in the mediocre song. "Dream Lover" perhaps proves why Ricky Nelson didn't pair up with the Playboys on record. That Bobby Darin song would've been just perfect for Nelson, who did prove to be able to branch out on his own. "Needles and Pins" has the best chance to go beyond the high-school-hop feel of the rest of the disc, but fails, and it's all so much filler around the fantastic hit. "Needles & Pins" co-songwriter Jack Nitzsche would eventually produce Gary Lewis two years after this, and their work on a Jackie DeShannon tune at least showed some kind of artistic growth on the New Directions LP, but if only the attention given to the big hit was paid to some of or the rest of the album -- then you'd have a pop album masterpiece on your hands that would go beyond the two minutes and five seconds that make up "This Diamond Ring." Al Kooper's name is misspelled on the original vinyl pressings.
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