LOST TREASURES

THE SMOKE

“The Smoke“

By Peter Marston

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First things first: this is not the UK Smoke whose “My Friend Jack” is one of the great psych-pop singles of the ’60s. This Smoke is a California psych-pop band—and even band might be a misnomer. The album is a one-off studio project by West Coast pop Art Experimental Band wunderkind Michael Lloyd. Released in 1968 on Sidewalk Records, the album is truly a lost classic, sitting right between the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, and while it doesn’t reach the heights of those two masterpieces, it gets significantly closer than many much better known albums of the time.

Of course, the story of the Smoke begins with Michael Lloyd. Lloyd was a very gifted pop songwriter/producer/arranged who closest analogue might be Curt Boettcher of the Millennium and Sagittarius. Raised in Los Angeles, Lloyd had already played in a number of bands when he met up with brothers Shaun and Danny Harris at the Hollywood Professional School. The three (along with drummer and future First National Band member John Ware) began writing and recording songs in Lloyd’s home studio. Some of these recordings were released as singles under the name the Laughing Wind. Hanger-on and financier Bob Markley renamed the band the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and shortly thereafter, the band was signed to Reprise and released Part One in 1967. And shortly after that, Lloyd left the band, met up with producer and record exec Mike Curb, landing a job as a staff producer for various Capitol subsidiaries. During this time, Lloyd began to write and record with Stan Ayeroff and, out of this collaboration, the Smoke was born (Three Dog Night drummer Jimmy Witherspoon appears in the band photos on the LP, but did not play on the album).

The opening track, “Cowboys and Indians” was inspired by a visit Lloyd made to one of the Beach Boys recording sessions for “Good Vibrations.” It has an amazing pop arrangement, combining a driving “Summer in the City” beat with a Zombies-esque organ solo and lush vocals. “Looking Through the Mirror” is a loping waltz that recalls ’50s vocal groups like the Fleetwoods and the Browns, but is psychedelicized by the addition of a subtle Theremin part. “Self-Analysis” continues in the same vein, but featuring a bass part clearly channeling Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson. “Gold is the Colour of Thought” is one of the album’s highlights, tacking back and forth between plodding verses and uptempo choruses that are reminiscent of the Action, and ending with a psychedelic, kitchen-sink tag. It is at once unique, unforgettable and extremely catchy. Again, the bass is both prominent and exceptional. “The Hobbit Symphony” is a period instrumental sounding like the incidental music for a ’60s teen exploitation film (not unlike the soundtrack for Roddy McDowall’s Lord Love a Duck). “Fogbound” is another highlight and perhaps the most immediately accessible track on the album: an AM hit-that-never-was. The fade features brief—and barely noticeable—quotes from “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” “Philosophy” is a baroque-pop curio that foreshadows Linus of Hollywood fairly closely. “Out in the Country” is a lush harpsichord-driven number that sounds a little like the Left Banke on sedatives. The closer, “Odyssey” is a remarkable track, built from a number of disparate musical ideas and themes—all of which are striking. Perhaps inspired again by the “Good Vibrations” sessions, it is very similar to the contemporaneous work of the Beach Boys and even includes a fairly direct lift from “California Girls.”

The Smoke did not chart and no singles were released from the album. After its release, Lloyd returned to the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and Ayeroff went on to work with Karen Dalton.

The Smoke was reissued on CD by Kismet in 2010 and is readily available through all the usual outlets, both as a physical CD and as digital downloads. Fans of the Beatles, Beach Boys, and ’60s psych-pop should not miss this one!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON.   They will have a track on the upcoming “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation due in March, 2015.

You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smoke_(English_band)

All Music Guide: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-smoke-mn0000751371/biography

Good Overview with links:  http://www.makingtime.co.uk/smoke.html

VIDEO:

COWBOYS AND INDIANS:

SELF ANALYSIS:

Gold Is the Colour of Thought: