Sweet Smoke - Just A Poke & Darkness To Light (2 LPs on 1 CD, Remastered Edition)
Released: 1970 & 1973
Genre: Psychedelic-, Prog-, Jazz-Rock
EMI Electrola 7243 5 22641 2 4
German reissue of two 70s rock albums ' Just a Poke' and 'Darkness to Light' together on one disc. Originally released on Harvest. Digitally remastered. Standard jewel case. 2000 release - Reissue description
Sweet Smoke was an American music group living and playing in Europe from 1970 till 1974. Originally from N.Y. the group moved to Germany where they lived as a family commune. Within a year of their arrival they recorded their first L.P. Just a Poke which almost immediately turned them into a sort of cult icon of the underground scene which was beginning to emerge as europe's response to the american hippy scene.
An extremely resourceful and creative group, they took the art of spontaneous improvising to new heights, very often involving their audiences in their music. Words like rock jazz, acid rock, raga rock, hard rock, experimental music are only some of the words used to describe their music. Looking back one can see the early roots of fusion and new age music beginning to manifest through them.
Though the basic group consisted of 5 musicians, they came to most of their concerts with their communal family (10-15 of their friends) who helped them on and off stage to create an atmosphere of a musical happening.
To Sweet Smoke music was not simply a collection of songs that the audience would sit back and listen to, but rather it was a living vehicle through which they could share with everyone their vision and joy of life.
To sweet smoke music was magic, their concerts were an interaction between them and their audiences, and their group was like a Cosmic Space Ship forever exploring the unknown regions of our musical universe. - Mike Paris
Sweet Smoke is a jazz rock band with an international line-up that came together in the mid-Sixties in Brooklyn, NYC. Only a few months after the group had been founded, the musicians were offered the chance to embark on a three month tour to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on the South-Eastern coast of America. Until then the members had worked as semi-professionals, mainly concentrating on their studies at various American music academies. With their departure for Puerto Rico they decided to focus exclusively "i.e. professionally" on their own music. However, the band did not experience their greatest triumphs in the States but in Germany and the Netherlands, to where they relocated in 1969. The German sculptor Waldemar Kuhn helped them to find a suitable abode in Emmerich near the Dutch border. Directly after their arrival, the band started to play live in the vicinity of their new base and delivered several gigs that year in cities like Amsterdam, Cologne and Bonn. Their music thrived on the individual instrumentalist's talent of improvisation, and their press info noted: "You should listen attentively to their music and allow yourself to get acquainted with it, because this is music from the mind, the heart and the soul, and it changes constantly."
JUST A POKE (1970) & DARKNESS TO LIGHT (1972)
A year after their move from New York to Germany, Sweet Smoke recorded their debut album JUST A POKE with the line-up Andrew Dershin (bass), Jay Dorfman (drums), Marvin Kaminowitz (guitar, vocals), Michael Paris (tenor sax, vocals) and Steve Rosenstein (guitar, vocals). The release caused a stir, not only due to its psychedelic sleeve designed by the Dutch artist Jan Fijnheer, but also thanks to an accomplished mix of cleverly arranged jazz and rhythmically complex rock elements. The record (engineered by the legendary Conny Plank) consisted of two long songs which filled a whole side of the album each and contained long solo improvisations by the musicians, complete with the legendary drum solo on "Silly Sally" with its highly original ping-pong sound effect. The German music magazine "Sounds" commented: "One of the best German pop productions of recent times which will hopefully go on to yield the success it deserves." The musicians then proceeded to put their band activities on ice for a year and travelled to India. In autumn 1972 Sweet Smoke recorded their second album DARKNESS TO LIGHT with friends and family, as well as some additional instruments (cello, tamboura, flute, alto saxophone). Particularly the title track and the song "Kundalini" were unmistakably influenced by their Asian trip. Again "Sounds" commented favourably on the versatile material: "Sweet Smoke's music is constructed very logically. Since all seven band members appear to be well served musically and play a very imaginative style, they have succeeded in finding a mix that will probably be responsible for quite a lot of sweet smoke." - Matthias Mineur
Die international besetzte Jazz-Rock-Band Sweet Smoke formierte sich Mitte der Sechziger in Brooklyn, New York. Schon wenige Monate nach Bandgründung bot sich den Musikern die Chance, eine dreimonatige Tournee zu den Virgin-Islands und durch Puerto Rico an der Südostküste Amerikas zu absolvieren. Bis dahin hatten die Mitglieder lediglich semi-professionell gearbeitet und ihr Hauptaugenmerk auf eine profunde Ausbildung an unterschiedlichen US-Musik-Akademien gerichtet. Mit dem Start in Richtung
gefallen, sich ausschließlich - sprich: hauptberuflich - um die eigene Musik zu kümmern. Ihre größten Erfolge hatte die Gruppe jedoch nicht in Amerika, sondern vor allem in Deutschland und den Niederlanden. Hierher verlegten die Musiker im Jahre 1969 auch ihr privates Domizil. Mit Hilfe des deutschen Bildhauers Waldemar Kuhn fand die Gruppe ein passendes Anwesen in Emmerich an der Grenze zu Holland. Die Band begann unmittelbar nach ihrem Umzug, im weiteren Umkreis ihres neuen Zuhauses Konzerte zu geben, und gastierte noch im gleichen Jahr mehrere Male u.a. in Amsterdam, Köln und Bonn. Ihre Musik lebte insbesondere von den hohen Improvisationskünsten der einzelnen Instrumentalisten. Im Presseinfo hieß es dazu: „Man sollte ihrer Musik andächtig lauschen und sich mit ihr vertraut machen, denn es ist eine Musik des Geistes, des Herzens, der Seele und sie verändert sich ständig."
JUST A POKE (1970) & DARKNESS TO LIGHT (1972)
Ein Jahr nach dem Umzug von New York nach Deutschland spielten Sweet Smoke in der Besetzung Andrew Dershin (Baß), Jay Dorfman (Schlagzeug), Marvin Kaminowitz (Gitarre, Gesang), Michael Paris (Tenor Saxophon, Gesang) und Steve Rosenstein (Gitarre, Gesang) ihr Debütalbum JUST A POKE ein. Das Werk erhielt nicht nur wegen seines psychedelisch anmutenden Coverartworks aus der Feder des holländischen Künstlers Jan Fijnheer große Aufmerksamkeit, sondern vor allem auch aufgrund der gelungenen Mixtur aus raffiniert arrangierten Jazz-Elementen und rhythmisch aufwendigen Rock-Versatzstücken.
Das Album (als Engineer fungierte der legendäre Conny Plank) bestand aus zwei langen Songs, die jeweils eine ganze Schallplattenseite füllten und in denen sich die Instrumentalisten in langen Soloimprovisationen ergingen, inklusive des legendären Schlagzeugsolos im Stück „Silly Sally" mit dem außergewöhnlichen Ping-Pong-Sound-effekt. Das deutsche Musikmagazin „Sounds" urteilte: „Eine der besten deutschen Pop-Produktionen der letzten Zeit, der man den Erfolg wünscht, den sie verdient." Anschließend legten die Musiker ihre Bandaktivitäten ein Jahr lang auf Eis und reisten nach Indien.
Im Herbst 1972 produzierten Sweet Smoke mit Freunden und Familienmitgliedern sowie zusätzlichen Instrumenten (Cello, Tenpura, Flöte, Altsaxophon) ihr zweites Album DARKNESS TO LIGHT. Insbesondere das Titelstück und der Song „Kundalini" waren textlich und musikalisch un-überhörbarvon den Erfahrungen des Asientrips beeinflußt. „Sounds" fand auch diesmal Gefallen an dem abwechslungsreichen Material: „Sweet Smokes Musik ist sehr logisch aufgebaut. Da alle sieben Mitglieder der Gruppe technisch beschlagen wirken und phantasievoll zu spielen vermögen, dürfte hier eine Mischung gefunden worden sein, die noch für so manch süßen Rauch sorgen kann." - Matthias Mineur
At the beginning of the 1970s, a bunch of Jewish guys from New York (they're Jewish because they have names like Andy Dershin, Jay Dorfman, Steve Rosenstein, and Marvin Kaminowitz) moved to Germany (you can add SWEET SMOKE with The BLUES PROJECT and the J. GEILS BAND as another all or almost-all Jewish rock band). The music they played was jazzy prog/psych, and was not like what most other American bands of the time were doing. What they played seemed to have been better received in Germany than their native America. I am also reminded of NEKTAR (except they were British), because they too had to move to Germany because they were better received there.
"Just A Poke" was released on EMI/Columbia over in Germany. This album consists of only two side length cuts with Andy Dershin on bass, Jay Dorfman on drums and percussion, Marvin Kaminowitz on vocals and guitar, Michael Paris on saxes, flute, vocals, and percussion, and Steve Rosenstein on guitar on vocals. The two cuts are "Baby Night" (side one) and "Silly Sally" (side two), although side one was really "Silly Sally" and side two was really "Baby Night". Apparently the record company had it all messed up when they printed up the LP (and that problem was apparently not fixed when it was reissued on CD). Anyways, "Silly Sally" starts off almost medieval sounding, with recorder and acoustic guitar. Once the vocals kick in (by Kaminowitz), you can tell his voice does sound quite American. Eventually the song turns to electric guitar (without fuzz) and the get to some extended jams. As the jam ends, they go in to an uncredited version of the DOORS' "Soft Parade" (I guess they did not make any mention or give them credit, since they probably didn't ask for permission, and didn't want to get in trouble). Then at the end, the go back to a variation of the beginning theme, but with a different rhythm. "Baby Night" is a more bluesy piece, more relying on groves, before they go in to an extensive drum solo that reminds me of "In-a-Gadda- da-Vida", as well as all sorts of percussion.
Often SWEET SMOKE gets lumped in the Krautrock bunch, which is a bit weird, given these guys were actually New Yorkers, and they hardly sound like CAN, FAUST, ASH RA TEMPEL, Amon Düül II, etc., and more stick in the traditional prog/psych vein. And because of lack of keyboards, it's basically the guitar and wind instruments that dominate. But strangely, another album from SWEET SMOKE wouldn't surface until 1973, and that album would be "Darkness to Light" and they were recording for Harvest Records by that time (and a lineup change). They also released a live album the following year, but since disappeared (I heard the guys from SWEET SMOKE had since returned to America, usually to some white-collar job). - Review by Ben Miler, "PROG REVIEWER"
The underrated "Darkness To Light" is SWEET SMOKE's last studio album. This one has some shorter tracks but I think it's closer to progressive rock genre than their first. The music is more diverse, complex and thoughtfully composed. However, in some parts it still ratains the jazz-rock elemnts from their first album. Their typical sudden changes in mood and rhythm are also presented. I welcome the addition of piano and string instruments. I also like the singing and occasional beatlesque choir parts. The hippie imagery in the music and on the coverart is even more prominent than before. This is also notable in the epic track "Kundalini" which begins in Indo-fusion style: a crowd singing a mantra (a few people are out of tune but I think it was intentional), ethnic percussion, instrumental improvisations, scat singing... It's slowly proceeding in more "conventional" jazz-rock. The ending is a crazy jazz counterpoint between guitar, piano, sax, bas and drums. Trully stunning! "Show Me the War" is thoughtfully arranged and spiced with some dissonance. The title track has some awesome trippy and jazzy things going on. In the end they freak out... Other tracks are nice and simple songs with folky flute and a few intelligent twists. I'm not a "flower power" follower but there is something magical about this album that makes it one of my favorites. An underrated prog gem! - Review by Matej Luketic, ProgArchives.com
Just a Poke is the Sweet Smoke's record you'll adopt the fastest way if you're discovering the band, as the song Baby Night expresses the whole genius of the players.
Baby Night is architecured in three parts, looking like an overture, a development and a conclusion that reminds the introduction. Four minutes of an instrumental phase let us discover the virtuosity of the band, chaining different rythms and tonalities.
You'll remark that the flute gives the play a magic sound, and solos played on both bridge or neck microphone of the guitar, and overdrive or clean sound will force you to buy a SG and a Stratocaster. People who already own these two guitares but not this record should see a doctor ASAP.
Silly Sally doesn't reach the same perfection degree, because based on a totaly different approach. It offers to the auditor a great wha-wha solo, followed, after a good time with the bass, by a huricane of percussions, during more than 5 minutes.
This time, you will run and buy a complete drum set at the corner shop after hearing this.
As a conclusion, we can say that with only 33 minutes of music, this record is a pure magnificent thing, and a very good introduction to Sweet Smoke. - Sweet Smoke : Just a Poke Overview
From Darkness to Light is a very rare record. EMI made a new edition on a CD with reference "Rarities Harvest" 8326802. Each copy has a unique number (I have the # II 0271). It's a very different record than Just a Poke, quite religious, with the arrival of an acoustic guitar which may be responsible of the general sound of the record.
Just an Empty Dream is dominated by an acoustic 12 strings guitar, underlined by a perfect rythm from the electric guitar. This all is accompanied by a melodious voice (take care to the the wonderfull stereo). A solo with the flute, some guitare, piano and saxo solos during rythmic changes, that all makes a "big Sweet" !
The purists will pay attention to the light tremolo on the right during the first piano solo !
I'd rather Burn than Disappear also begins with the 12 strings accoustic guitar, with flute and cymbal. Kaminovitz seems closer. Some kinds of percussions and bass give rythm to the end of the verse. The song is very harmonious. Piano and voices fill in the musical space before a change in rythm well orchestred.
This track is less mysterious than others, but represents a very melodious evolution. It also contains the first crunchy solo of the record.
Kundalini spends a few time in the state of "sounds" before becoming real "music". But the vocal introducton is very beautyfull. This song offers an exhaustive panel of the Sweet Smoke styles.
Then you hear zither, flute, chorus and (yes, yes !) violin. The song offers a more understandable music, followed by a solo of saxophone, on a background of zither and bongo. This comes to a more "jazzy" sound, with great guitar solos. At the end, you discover a dual between voice and wha-wha.
Then again, purists will remark the tremolo on the left.
This song is a prayer.
Believe me my Friends is more close to southern rock style than the usual sweetness of the Sweet (or smokness of the Smoke ?). Rythm is much faster, with less radical changes.
A slower part with acoustic guitar will directly transform you in a folk singer !
We come back the piano and violin, always in pure southern rock style.
The song shows its real value after 2 minutes from the beginning to the end.
Show me the Way to the War is very beautifull, with various rythms and tonalities, from brasses and guitar really psychedelic.
The vocal part is perfect. That's pure Sweet with a new style !
Solos of saxophone, guitar or piano are amazing.
Darkness to Light, new song, new discover, 12 minutes of happiness. Hear that song in the morning (while you're waking up) ! Everything is harmonious, vocals, solos with light stereo delay, flute, arpeggios.
You will sing the song all day long.
Good solos from every intrument. - From "Darkness to Light" Overview
|
