She's Just My Style

The title track on this, Gary Lewis & the Playboys' fourth album, is so fine a piece of pop/rock that it would automatically elevate the value of any LP on which it appeared. Leon Russell's guitar solo by itself on that track is almost worth the price of admission on its own terms, and, in this case, the title track heralded a new sound for the group, as is evident throughout this, their best original LP. This time out, Lewis, producer Snuff Garrett, and all concerned evidently decided that they were going to do an album that people enjoyed hearing more than once, and they delivered it. She's Just My Style is much more of a rocking album than its predecessor, with a leaner sound and more upfront presence on the guitars and bass, and a pretty fair choice of covers (including a pair of Lennon and McCartney songs), all of them solid as rock & roll numbers. Playboys guitarist Tommy Triplehorn even turned up his amp to capture the raunchy side of Jeff Beck's fuzz-tone part on "Heart Full of Soul" and gets a cool, "dirty" sound on Lewis' cover of the Beatles' "Run for Your Life." The group gives "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" an even more lyrical reading (with more bells, too) than the Lovin' Spoonful's original. What's more, even Lewis' one co-authored original here, "I Won't Make That Mistake Again," is more than adequate to fill a slot on this first-rate pop/rock album, the high point of the group's LP output.