Pop Legends Live!: Gary Puckett

One of the more successful bands of the late '60s, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap churned out a number of hit singles--all ballads--between 1968-1972, such as "Lady Willpower," "Woman, Woman," "Over You," "Don't Give in to Him," "This Girl Is a Woman Now," and the jailbait classic "Young Girl" (which, in today's PC era, makes Gary sound like one sick Puck). Captured live at the Stamford Center for the Arts in Connecticut in 2004, Puckett performs 11 songs, including the aforementioned hits and covers of Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With," Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)," and Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman," among others. Three major drawbacks make this a less than optimum concert: Puckett's singing (which is an off-key ghost of its former self), his lounge-level stage patter, and his bland interview clips between each song (Puckett claims--unconvincingly--that the military-uniformed Gary Puckett and the Union Gap were not at all inspired by the earlier military-uniformed Paul Revere and the Raiders). Presented in Dolby Digital stereo, DVD extras include an unedited half-hour interview with Puckett, which is more about his growing up than his music (almost all of which was written by others anyway). Some artists on the revival circuit can still bring it (I recently saw Smokey Robinson, whose voice remains silky-smooth), while for others--such as Puckett--the sun has clearly set. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)