Just One Smile

AMG Review of Just One Smile

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

Just One Smile became something of a return to form for Gene Pitney, after the digression into pop standards on Young and Warm and Wonderful. The title track had first been released on the album I Must Be Seeing Things two years before, but following Pitney's success in England with another Randy Newman-authored composition, Musicor reached back and pulled the older track out as a single (which made the British Top Ten and the American Top 100). The album that followed was a suitably melodic and mostly uptempo creation, the highlights of which included "Lonely Drifter" and "The Comedian." The American and British versions of the album differed in two songs each -- "The Rising Tide of Love" and "The Boss' Daughter" appeared in the U.S. album, while they were replaced by "Where Did the Magic Go" and "24 Sycamore" on the U.K. version. None is a lost classic and the tradeoff is about even, and the Sequel Records reissue includes all four cuts.