Smoke
Best of Sugar Man (comp.) - Repertoire 1996
Tracks: 1. Sugar Man / 2. Shagalagalu / 3. My Friend Jack / 4. We Can Take It / 5. High In A Room / 6. Have Some More Tea / 7. It Could Be Wonderful / 8. Thats What I Want / 9. Gimme Good Loving/ 10. Ride Ride Ride / 11. Guy Fawkes / 12. Sydney Gill / 13. Victor Henrys Cool Book / 14. Utterly Simple / 15. Dreams Of Dreams / 16. My Lullaby / 17. Looking High / 18. I Am Only Dreaming / 19. Same Old Fat Man/ 20. Hold On To Everything Youve Got / 21. Some People / 22. Battersea Fair / 23. I Wanna Make It With You / 24. She Put The Hurt On Me / 25. Magic / 26. Like A Good Man Should / 27. My Friend Jack 1976 Version / 28. Lady
Comments:
The Smoke had a big European hit with the single "My Friend Jack" in 1967. It probably would have been a hit in Britain, if it had not been banned by the BBC, due to its controversal lyrics.
An album was also released in 1967, which sold quite well in Germany. This would be their only regular album release, so on that background it quite surprising that the group during 1965-1974 released close to 20 singles - some of them as the Shots or Chords Five.
The album "It's Smoke Time" was not bad, but appeared a bit rushed. Musically the album could be described as mod-psych - sounding a little like early Pink Floyd and in glimpses as the Iveys.
The singles released after the album were quite different ranging from pure pop over pscychedelia till glam rock. Some are quite good; most of them written by Smoke band-members. One of the strongest is a version of Dave Mason's "Utterly Simple", which for some obscure reason wasn't officially released. Also "Sidney Gill" from 1968 is very good - solid psych-rock. Later singles are most songs in glam-rock style; not unlike the Sweet. Some are decent efforts; others quite forgettable. Their most inspired years were apparently 1967-69.
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