Like many LPs of its time,
the Uniques' debut album had a bunch of songs taken from previously released singles, with several of these dozen tracks showing up on 1965-1966 45s. But even if it was pasted together to some degree, it's a surprisingly strong (given the patchy standards of the era) set of mid-'60s Southern rock, mixing garage rock, blue-eyed soul, and swamp pop. "You Ain't Tuff," the somewhat "Gloria"-derived nasty garage stomper, is certainly the most famous of these cuts, and deservedly so. But there are also some pretty good originals, usually written by lead singer Joe Stampley. Stampley proves himself an unusually versatile rock vocalist, capable of fairly nasty R&B-pop on "You Ain't Tuff" and "Strange," but also more subtle and smoother soul-pop on "Not Too Long Ago" (which is slightly reminiscent of
B.J. Thomas' early material), "Never Been in Love Before," and "Don't Be a Fool." And while this LP (again like many of its time) is padded out with covers, Stampley and the band do well on these too, especially on
Aaron Neville's "All These Things" and (more surprisingly, considering how familiar the song is) "The House of the Rising Sun," where his odd ghostly organ is also a highlight. ~ Richie Unterberger