THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,499) The Smoke — “Utterly Simple”
Here is “a fabulous reworking of [a] Traffic song . . . produced by writer Dave Mason” (David Wells, liner notes to the CD comp Psychedelic Pstones III: House of Many Windows), a “superb cover . . . very different [from] Traffic’s version”. (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited) Yes, it replaces the sitar noodling with an Alice in Wonderland vibe courtesy of pop psych wizardry. I daresay that it is “much better than the original”. (Leather Rebel, https://www.45cat.com/record/wip6031) The song was to be released as a single on July 12, 1968, but it was not to be. (stillits, https://www.45cat.com/record/wip6031)
Richie Unterberger smokes out the Smoke:
The band hailed from York, where bassist Zeke Lund and lead guitarist Mal Luke began playing together in a band called Tony Adams & the Viceroys, whose lineup eventually came to include drummer Geoff Gill. Though the band was successful locally, enjoying a decent fan base with a solid, basic rock & roll sound . . . [they] could hear the changes going on around them in music, with the rise of Merseybeat and the blues, R&B, and soul-based music coming out of London. They eventually decided to strike out on their own, playing a more ambitious repertory. They linked up late in 1964 with singer Mick Rowley and rhythm guitarist Phil Peacock, refugees from a band called the Moonshots. The resulting band, the Shots, played a hard brand of R&B . . . . [The band] signed up with independent producer and music publisher Monty Babson, who cut four sides with the group, two of which were issued as a single under license to EMI-Columbia. It was at just about that time that events began breaking against the band — they lost Phil Peacock, who wasn’t comfortable with the more complex sounds the rest of the band were interested in generating, and they lost their financing. They gamely decided to carry on as a quartet, the single-guitar configuration lending itself to an edgier sound, and sought new backing. That was how they ended up in a bizarre management situation, when they were offered a seeming rescue by a pair of twin London-based entrepreneurs, Ron and Reg Kray . . . . among the top crime kingpins in London at the time[. A]mong their other enterprises, they had an interest in a few clubs, and thought at one point that a more direct participation in the entertainment business might prove lucrative. . . . Thus, they signed the group and became the Shots’ managers, but were never able to do anything with them in terms of bookings . . . . The band decided to abandon the contract, and when they were served with an injunction, they were left unable to perform. . . . [T]hey still had a publishing and recording contract with Babson and access to his studio, and so they took advantage of their ban on performing by writing and making records. . . . [They] change[d] their name . . . [to] the Smoke. One of the songs they came up with was “My Friend Jack,” a mod-flavored psychedelic number authored by Rowley and Gill. . . . a catchy, striking, aggressively trippy work . . . that now seems like the most delightfully subversive piece of freakbeat . . . . Its drug references were so potent that the song had to be rewritten before EMI would touch it; released in February of 1967 . . . the single only made it to number 45 before being banned by the BBC . . . . In Europe, however, the record soared . . . . riding the German pop charts to the top . . . . [and] chart[ing] high in Switzerland, France, and Austria as well[. S]uddenly there was demand for a Smoke LP in Germany. . . . It’s Smoke Time[ was] comprised of the best of the year-old tracks recorded for Babson . . . . The band actually relocated to Germany, while continuing to release records in England — their recording contract was sold to Chris Blackwell in late 1967, and he soon took over their management as well . . . . They cut some fine psychedelia . . . . The end came out of a degree of weariness . . . . [T]hey declined to obey a Blackwell summons to return to England for a recording session, and that marked the effective end of their history . . . . Luker, Gill, and Lund did finally return home and went to work for Babson’s Morgan Studios, working in various bands within Babson’s orbit, including Blue Mink, Orange Bicycle, and Fickle Pickle [see #568].
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smoke-mn0000751371#discography
Here’s an acetate:
Here is Traffic:
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