Post Description

Sweet Smoke
Heidelberg, Germany
XX July 1973

Performance quality: A-
Recording quality: B
Source: audience tape (unknown lineage)


Disc 1 (57:41)

1. First Jam (18:06)
2. Schyler's Song (12:16)
3. People Are Hard (9:44)
4. Ocean Of Fears (17:34)


Disc 2 (53:11)

1. The Words Of Babylon Came Along (?) (32:31) dit nummer is nergens op verschenen VERY RARE

2. Final Jam (12:05)
3. Simple Swim (?) (8:34)


Comments:
Many of us have a band or two that we happen to stumble onto by a total fluke, for me it was during a ('72?) bicycle trip through Boulder, Colorado that I saw this very cool looking record by a band I had never heard of, and aside from the song "The Soft Parade" being on the record, and a psychedelic looking cover I wondered if I should buy this thing and go to the trouble of mailing it home. I wasn't biking thru the Rocky Mountains with a vinyl album in my backpack. So I did, and fell in love with this band, Sweet Smoke. They're a great German/European jazz group. Yes the Soft Parade is the same song the Doors do so well, but this band doesn't sound anything like the Doors. They have a bass, a guitar, a couple of horns, keyboards & drums, either a 5 or 6 piece group and they all know how to play great jazz. Some is smooth and mellow, some is high energy jammin. I think they have 3 albums out, one recorded live, not sure where from but it's not this concert. I have 2 of them, "Sweet Smoke Live" and "Just a Poke" which are both very good. Probably not very easy to find any more. This is the only other live Sweet Smoke show I've ever heard and when I found out about this I didn't ask what tour is it or how's the sound. If it's Sweet Smoke, I wanna hear it, this band is great and there's hardly any of their stuff out there! Lotsa luck finding their 3 releases. So I was very happy to hear the sound of this is pretty good for a 73 audience recording, close to the source tape and I think just 2 flip cuts. They do like long songs (track 6, 1st of disc 2 is 45 min.) I don't know who to compare them to, only that this is an excellent jazz group and if you like jazz of any kind at all you need to hear these guys. I don't know how many chances you will get to do that which is why this is a mandatory upload from glasnostrd19, and not just to remind you all that I do like to listen to more than just "Classic" rock and jazz bands (sometimes, anyway). To remind you that some of what is classic is also unfamiliar to many of us. This band wasn't around very long, all the more reason to enjoy when they were because they made very nice music.

Do not sell this recording.
Trade freely and losslessly.