A Group Called Smith – SMITH***

Let’s Get Together/I Don’t Believe/Tell Him No/Who Do You Love/Baby Its You/Last Time/I Just Wanna Make Love To You/Mojaleskey Ridge/Let’s Spend The Night Together/I’ll Hold Out My Hand

Debut album from the Los Angeles pop group Smith. A Group Called Smith includes their US No. 5 hit single Baby It’s You. The LP consists entirely of cover songs. (US:17)

“Armed with a unique look, and an amazing vocal instrument that was a cross between Dusty Springfield and Janis Joplin. Gayle McCormick made a powerful first impression.”

“The rendition of Baby Its You is one of the few pieces of music where everything comes together to achieve absolute perfection. Gayle McCormick's vocals are incredible, and this song alone is worth the price. The band plays the song slow, which intensifies its emotional impact.”

“It's mostly garage flavoured male/female vocal pop rock covers, with some use of horns. I expected this to never grace my turntable again, but it's really not bad, as long as you're not expecting a whole lot to begin with.”

“Baby It's You is pretty much the only reason to buy this album. The rest is not half bad but nothing spectacular.”

“Smith turned almost everything they touched into anonymous mid-tempo mush. As a result, we get a non-ballad-style arrangement of Get Together which manages to totally strip the song of its charm. Of the ten songs here, only two work.”

“Very ordinary hippie rock, nothing to get excited about. Even the female singer's voice, though strong, is not that interesting.”

“Turns out the band were a one-hit wonder and the top ten smash, Baby It's You is a gem for sure, but there are few other tracks on a par with it. I think my favourite might be Tell Him No, with its great organ melody and a peak McCormick vocal. There are two male singers in the group too, who handle several tracks without McCormick, and they're excellent too, powerful throaty blues rock cats. No originals here, all covers, this is definitely worth playing again. No stinkers and a few real gems.”