Sweet Smoke - Just A Poke & Darkness To Light (1970 & 1973)

I've cherished Sweet Smoke's music for years - in fact, to me the music on this cd is desert island stuff. It has always amazed me that this group is so little known - little can be found in pop encyclopedias, even the older ones. And why is this? These guys produce some stunning music, an amalgam of rock, jazz, songer-songwriter stuff, and, yes, lyrics & a visual style that with some reason can be called dated.
This cd consists of their first 2 albums. "Just a poke", with its stunning cover, features 2 songs only: superb jazz-rock workouts with stunning guitar, saxophone & drum solos. "Baby night" has lyrics which seem to be based on the Doors' "Soft parade". The album "Darkness to light" offers more: well-crafted shorter songs stand alongside the jazz-rock workouts "Kundalini" and the title song, which should in itself be enough reason to buy this cd: it has several great "movements" that follow each other smoothly, in another display of craftsmanship. A pity these guys didn't record more (apart from their live album, which is not as good as the two albums featured here).
Yes, the lyrics, the album covers, the beards, the oriental overtones and the outfits all are out of date. But don't be put off by that - there's glorious music in there! (amazon)

Track listing
1. Baby night (16:24)
2. Silly Sally (16:22)
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3. Just an empty dream (4:20)
4. I'd rather burn than disappear (4:15)
5. Kundalini (13:25)
6. Believe me my friends (4:29)
7. Show me the way to the war (5:30)
8. Darkness to light (12:51)

Personnel
- Andrew Dershin / bass
- Jay Dorfman / drums, percussion
- Marvin Kaminowitz / lead guitar, vocals
- Michael Paris / tenor saxophone, alto recorder, vocals, percussion
- Steve Rosenstein / rhythm guitar, vocals
- Rochus Kuhn / violin, cello


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