Saturday, May 14, 2016

The Smoke - Selftitled (1968)


The Smoke - Selftitled

A compilation album of songs recorded in the late 60s.



Album information:

01-Cowboys And Indians
02-Looking Thru The Mirror
03-Self-Analysis
04-Gold Is The Colour Of Thought
05-Hobbit Symphony
06-Daisy Intermission
07-Fogbound
08-Song Thru Perception
09-Philosophy
10-Umbrella
11-Ritual Gypsy Music Opus 1
12-October Country
13-Odyssey

Band information:

The Smoke was an English pop group from York. They consisted of Mick Rowley (lead vocals) (born Michael Rowley, 29 June 1946, Scarborough, Yorkshire), Mal Luker (lead guitar) (born Malcom Luker, 3 March 1946, New Delhi, India), John "Zeke" Lund (bass) (born John Raine Lund, 13 November 1945, York, Yorkshire) and Geoff Gill (drums and compositor) (born Geoffrey Robert Gill, 15 May 1949, York).

The band originally performed around Yorkshire as "The Moonshots", changing their name to "The Shots" when they moved to London. There were two bands playing R & B and other cover versions, one was called Tony Adams and the Viceroys, who included John 'Zeke' Lund on bass; Mal Luker on guitar and Geoff gill on drums. The other band was The Moonshots, who included Mick Rowley on lead vocals and Phil Peacock on guitar. The band then came together as The Shots and made a single for Columbia - 'Keep A Hold Of What You've Got' which flopped. At some point Peacock left the band, who then changed their name to The Smoke.

The Smoke's biggest hit was "My Friend Jack" (German Charts: #2, UK charts: #45); the BBC banned airplay of the song over its alleged drug references. Guitarist Lund later became a sound engineer for Boney M., who recorded a cover version of "My Friend Jack".
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4 comments:

  1. Actually there are three different groups called The Smoke operating in the late 60s that managed to get an LP (or 2) together.

    1. The 1st US group

    The SMOKE
    ---------
    Personnel:
    STAN AYEROFF gtr A
    STEVE BAIM drms, perc A
    MICHAEL LLOYD bs, keyb'ds A


    ALBUM:
    1(A) THE SMOKE (Sidewalk 5912) 1968

    NB: (1) also released as Tower ST-5912.

    This West Coast band's excellent Sidewalk album was co-produced by Michael Lloyd, who wrote most of the songs, and Kim Fowley. An album of mild psychedelia it contains a fair degree of orchestration and was probably influenced by The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper LP, released the previous Summer. Some tracks, like Fogbound and Umbrella, had considerable commercial potential, others, like Song Thru' Perception are notable for their crispy, clear vocals and October Country for some beautiful string arrangements.

    The Smoke formed when Michael Lloyd met Steve and Stan through some mutual friends. They played with a few other guys as The Laughing Wind, Max Frost and The Troopers, and worked together on Michael's project as Rubber Band. Michael Lloyd had previously been working - scoring some motion pictures and producing records - with a young business executive named Mike Curb. They had met four years previously when Michael was looking for some songs for a group he was recording. Michael started to work for Mike's company (Sidewalk Productions) about 1967. Mike liked the concept and songs for The Smoke album and agreed to sign the group and release the album on his Sidewalk label.

    Towards the end of the project, Michael Lloyd's old friend Jimmy Greenspoon became interested in joining the band. They had been playing together for many years in outfits such as The New Dimensions. Jimmy didn't participate in the recording, but he did appear in the pictures and album cover art! While waiting for The Smoke to be released, Jimmy had and took a wonderful opportunity to become a founding member of Three Dog Night.

    After recording The Smoke album (and briefly travelling on the road with The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band), Stan studied composition at the California Institute of the Arts and classical guitar at California State University Northridge. He played with Delbert and Glen (legendary R&B pioneer Delbert McClinton, who taught John Lennon how to play harmonica). In 1971, he was a founding member of Oingo Boingo, at the time, a surrealistic musical theatre group. He's gone on to write books on pioneer guitarists Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian as well as clarinetist Benny Goodman for the Jazz Master series. He's also written six solo guitar books for Warner Brothers Publications. In the late seventies he toured with Vicki Carr and Dory Previn as guitarist and arranger. Recently, he was orchestral supervisor for Rod Stewart's 1993-94 World Tour and the Page/Plant 1994-95 World Tour. In 1966 he was musical supervisor and conductor for Heart's concert video "The Road Home".

    Drummer Steve Braim continued to write music and poetry, and was a performance artist in 1970-71 at Fresno State College. He's currently an upscale architect and builder in Los Angeles and plays accordion and writes poetry.

    In the fall of 1969 Mike Curb became President of MGM Records and Michael Lloyd (then 20 years old) Vice-President of A&R. Over the years he produced records and wrote for many television shows and motion pictures. His credits include Lou Rawls, The Osmonds, The Burrito Brothers, Shaun Cassidy, Belinda Carlisle, The New Seekers, Eric Carmen, Stryper, kids songs on TV and video, the music from "Dirty Dancing", The Bellamy Brothers, Debby Boone, the late George Burns, Barry Manilow etc. and he became one of the most successful American record producers. His recordings have earnt over 100 gold abd platinum awards, several Grammys, Academy Awards, Dove Awards, Golden Globes and American Music Awards.

    (Vernon Joynson/Jan Lester Martin)

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  2. 2. The 2nd US Group

    The Smoke
    ---------
    Personnel:
    EDDIE BEYER keyb'ds A
    RICHARD FLOYD bs, gtr, vcls A
    EARL FINN bs, keyb'ds, gtr A
    JOHNNY ORVIS vcls, gtr, banjo A
    PHIL PARKER drms A


    ALBUMS:
    1(A) CARRY ON YOUR IDEA (UNI 73052) 1969
    2(A) AT GEORGE'S COFFEE SHOP (UNI 73065) 1969


    45s:
    1 Mainstream/Church House Blues (Orbit 1126) Aug. 1968
    2 Choose It (Part 1)/Choose It (Part 2) (UNI 55154) Aug. 1969


    Originally known as The Nomads and based in Houston, Texas, this band issued two 45s under that name. They became known as Smoke in mid-1968. They later moved on to San Francisco where they gigged mainly at biker venues.

    Lead by John Orvis, who composed all their material, their music can best be described as "psychedelic boogie", with the nineteen minute M.C. Boogie on the first album and nine minute Greased Lightnin on the second. Loads of energy, jiving vocals, good guitar solos and powerful organ parts. The second album was produced by Jimmie Haskell, one of the best producers/arrangers operating in the Californian studios in the '60s. Beyer remained in California to play for Smith and Canned Heat and then in fellow Texan Gary Myrick's band. Phil Parker went on to play with the bluesman Shakey Jake Harris.

    Compilation coverage has so far included: Choose It (Part 1) on Sounds Of The Sixties San Francisco, Vol. 1 (LP); Church House Blues on Thirteen O'Clock Flight To Psychedelphia (CD); Mainstream on Three O'Clock Merrian Webster Time (LP), which also contains their recordings as The Nomads; Mainstream on Acid Visions - The Complete Collection Vol. 3 (3-CD), Gathering Of The Tribe (CD) and The History Of Texas Garage Bands, Vol. 2 (CD).

    (Max Waller/Stephane Rebeschini)

    ReplyDelete
  3. 3. the UK group

    The Smoke
    ---------
    Personnel:
    GEOFF GILL drms A
    MAL LUKER ld gtr A
    ZEKE LUND bs A
    MICK ROWLEY vcls A


    ALBUM:
    1(A) IT'S SMOKE TIME (German only) (Metronome ) 1966 R4
    NB: (1) reissued as My Friend Jack (Gull 25114) in the late seventies and on CD by Repertoire (REP 4348-WZ) 1993 with 14 bonus tracks.

    45s:
    1 My Friend Jack/We Can Take It (Columbia DB 8115) 1967 45
    2 If The Weather's Sunny/I Would If I Could, But I Can't (Columbia DB 8252) 1967 -
    3 It Could Be Wonderful/Have Some More Tea (Island WIP 6023) 1967 -
    4 Utterly Simple/Sydney Gill (Island WIP 6031) 1968 -
    5 Dreams Of Dreams/My Birth (Revolution Pop REVP 1002) 1970 -
    6 Ride Ride Ride/Guy Fawks (Pageant SAM 101) 1971 -
    7 Sugar Man/That's What I Want (Regal Zonophone RZ 3071) 1972 -
    8 Shagalagalu/Gimme Good Loving (Decca FR 13484) 1974 -
    9 My Lullaby/Looking High (Decca FR 13514) 1974 -
    NB: (4) unreleased.

    Setting out as an R&B outfit The Shots this Yorkshire band were later known as The Smoke. They are best remembered for their 1967 single My Friend Jack (eats sugar lumps) which was inevitably banned by the BBC because of its acid connotations, but nonethless reached No 45. The flip side, We Can Take It, was a great power pop number. The Smoke was another band which attained greater popularity on the Continent in this era, and the It's Smoke Time album was issued only in Germany. Apart from the title track, You Can't Catch Me is notable for its fine psychedelic intro, High In A Room, was well-suited to the druggy days of 1967, while Waterfall, If The Weather's Sunny, and Wake Up Changling captured the group in a more laid-back mood. Their follow-up single, If The Weather's Sunny, was less successful.

    The Smoke then recorded two singles for Island, It Could Be Wonderful and Utterly Simple, which was written by Dave Mason and produced by him and Jeff Beck. However, the second was never actually released, but it can now be heard in all its glory on Psychedelia, Vol. 3 (LP) and Hen's Teeth, Vol. 3 (CD). It's one of their most interesting and mature recordings they produced and is very different to the version Traffic recorded on their Dear Mr. Fantasy album.

    From their psychedelic era, My Friend Jack can also be heard on Best And The Rest Of British Psychedelia (CD), Beat It (3-CD), Morgan Blue Town (LP), a Bam-Caruso Psych-Out flexidisc, Electric Sugarcube Flashbacks, Vol. 3 (LP) and Electric Sugar Cube Flashbacks (CD). The latter two featuring a German demo version of the song, with different (and better) guitar work at the end, and some different lyrics. My Friend Jack and Girl In The Park on Made In England, Vol. 1 (CD); Have Some More Tea, one of their best 'B' sides, on Chocolate Soup For Diabetics, Vol. 3 (LP); the previously unreleased and superb Sydney Gill on Perfumed Garden, Vol. 1 (LP & CD); Dreams Of Dreams, the 'A' side of their one-off 45 on the Revolution label, on Circus Days Vol. 1 & 2 (CD) and Circus Days, Vol. 2 (LP); Dream Of Dreams and My Birth on Psychdelic Voyage, Vol. 2 (LP) and Psychedelic Voyage (CD); That's What I Want on We Can Fly (CD); High In A Room on Perfumed Garden Vol. 2 (CD).

    They carried on recording into the mid-seventies with numerous personnel changes. Geoff Gill later became a producer and songwriter for Boney M.

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  4. Hope that helps.

    Your LP is the first group. Your text describes the third group

    ReplyDelete