Gary Pucket and the Union Gap
When I was a kid, my dad worked for RCA Records before they were bought-out by Thompson. And every Christmas, he always got tons of freebie records of all the RCA artists. He only listened to the good stuff: Elvis and Dean Martin, and just gave me all the other “crap” he didn’t like such as Jefferson Airplane, John Denver, The Youngbloods, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Gary Pucket and the Union Gap.
Now for those of you who have never hear of Gary Pucket and the Union Gap (most, I suspect), they were a hug pop sensation between 1967 and 1971. They had five top-ten singles in the US and a number one single in the UK with “Young Girl,” a very controversial song at the time as the lyrics were about this creepy perv who was trying to resist his urges to get with an adolescent girl: "Young girl, get out of my mind / My love for you is way out of line."
But like Dave ad Sugar, GP&UG have a unique sound that I just can’t resist. The band’s gimmick was dressing in civil war uniforms but as musicians, they actually didn’t play much, since Pucket and his producer added lots of effects in post production. My favorite song is “Gentle Woman,” a song they never released. Check it out on iTunes, but you won’t find it on YouTube. I also love “Looking Glass” and “Lady Willpower”.
And no, the guy on the right of the picture is not John Denver.