Excellent At Times
K. Brown | Walnut, Ca USA | 01/11/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I did enjoy this album, but I wanted to really love it! When Smoke turns out a good song like "My Friend Jack" or "High In a Room," I found myself wanting to hear more hot lyrics and psychedelic music.While the music is good quality throughout the album, the lyrics are often awkward and uninspired. The album opens with "My Friend Jack," and after hearing such sharp, surreal prose, the remaning lyrics on "It's Smoke Time" are a let down.I get the notion that this group had good ideas for songs, but did not go the extra yards to really polish the lyrics, especially after hearing the alternate, previously unpublished rendition of "My Friend Jack" on one of the bonus tracks. While the popular version has some of the most creative imagery of "eating sugar lumps" and "dusty tracks into eternity," the alternate version lacks vision, and just denegrates into a simplistic song with vague and one-dimensional descriptions of Jack's journey through the doors of Perception.I recommend this album for a few really good songs, but I would not make too lengthy a trek to score "It's Smoke Time.""
The Smoke...THE BEST 60's GROUP
Psychedelic Guy | Illinois | 11/18/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Smoke in my mind are the most talented and best sounding groups of the Psych. world. I love EVERY track they made in the 60's (however they fell off big time in the 70's). I have no idea why no one doesn't like "If The Weather's Sunny" It was one of the tracks that made me a big fan of The Smoke. They definatly had alot more talent than they were givin credit for, and have alot more good tracks along with "My Friend Jack""
Interesante y olvidado Freakbeat
jaimeurrutia | MIAMI, FLORIDA United States | 08/17/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Smoke grabó su único álbum en 1967 (presentado acá en las primeras 12 canciones) pero pocos en Inglaterra se enteraron, ya que curiosamente se editó sólo en Alemania, donde My Friend Jack fue un tremendo suceso. It's Smoke Time es un disco que vale la pena conocer y no sólo por su categoría de rareza, en especial para fanáticos del mod y en general del pop sesentero. Próximos pero no exactamente en la línea de Small Faces (primera etapa) o Creation, Smoke no tiene la potencia de estos grupos, su propuesta es más melódica y pop, aunque de tanto en tanto las guitarras se desdibujan y entran en terrenos más avanzados.My Friend Jack es un clásico de la época, musical y liricamente acorde al Londres de 1967, con una entrada de guitarra electrizante y un coro pegajoso, sin olvidar las referencias lisérgicas. En el mismo tono se encuentran You Can't Catch Me (otra vez espléndida guitarra), I Wanna Make It With You (a medias entre Pretty Things y Small Faces) y la sicodélica High in a Room. Menos preocupados por los violentos acordes y más cercano al pop están las logradas We Can't Take It e It's Just Your Way Of Lovin' mientras la solitaria balada Waterfall aquieta las aguas. Entre los temas extra hay algunas joyas como Have Some More Tea (Muy en el estilo Who), las sicodélicas Sydney Gill e It Could Be Wonderful y el pop irresistible de Victor's Henry Cool Book. El resto incluye 2 temas pre Smoke agradables pero nada más y otros ya en una corriente más dura, que no están al nivel de los anteriores, sorprendentes ejemplos del inagotable baúl del Underground Inglés que merece ser redescubierto."
Track Listings (26) - Disc #1