Sweet Smoke- Just a Poke

Although Sweet Smoke ended up as exiles in Germany, this band hailed from Brooklyn, and therefore is best considered an American Band. They started up as one of the 1967 slew of summer of love bands, and never really left the genre in their 7 years of existence. However, they did have a nice bit of Prog-Rock in their mix. With a lineup of Andrew Dershin (bass, percussion), Jay Dorfman (drums, percussion), Marvin Kaminowitz (lead guitar, vocals, percussion), and Michael Paris (saxophone, flute, alto recorder, vocals, percussion,) this group put out a nice slice of proto prog with their first of two albums, Just a Poke, in 1970.

This is one of those albums that just has two side long tracks, both 16:34 in length. Depending on whether you have the German Vinyl/CD or the USA/UK/French Vinyl, they are swapped in order. This review is for the former.

Side A's piece is called "Baby Night", which starts with a flute intro and typical psych-pop vocal. This track's defining feature is it's nice bass groove, as well as the extreme amounts of flute that is used. This creates a mood that's actually a bit reminiscent of Native American music, which is a rare move for prog, but a pleasant one. Later on there's some typical late 60's guitar jamming. Not the most complex of songs, this one meanders a bit, but it's got lots of good influences mixing together. A nice piece.

The other side of the record has "Silly Sally", which uses saxophone instead of flute. On here, they go for an ambitious combo of psych rock, prog rock, and jazz rock. The vocals are very much the latter, with a near scat like tone. The guitar plays the same riff over and over for a long part of this song, but it changes in volume. There's many drum solos, some with Latin percussion. Additionally, "Silly Sally" uses keyboards while "Baby Night" does not.

Overall, this album is unique yet somewhat mediocre. Prog Rock was new in 1970, and it's clear they don't really understand the genre and end up falling back on tried and true but somewhat stale psychedelic rock and jazz rock patterns. The saving graces here are the heavy use of woodwinds and the Native American feel on "Baby Night", which prove this album did have some serious creative drive. Still, I feel their other album, Darkness to Light, is the better package.

While it's not going to wow you, this is a great album to see the transition between the Psychedelic late 60's and Progressive early 70's at work. Grade: B-