271 Hello Smokey - If You Think You Know How To Love Me

Chart  entered : 19  July  1975

Chart  peak : 3

Number  of  hits : 12

Poor  old  Smokey  ( as  they  were  for  their  first  two  singles )  have  never  had  a  good  press; in  fact  they've  become  the  poster  boys  for  the  1975  slough  in  music. They  ticked  all  the  wrong  boxes -  hailed  from  unfashionable  territory, didn't  write  their  own  singles, soft  rock  sound  and  on  RAK !  And  yet  singer  Chris  Norman  had  a  damn  fine  husky  sob  of  a  voice  and  an   ability  to  impersonate  Steve  Marriott   that  Paul  Weller  would  have  killed  for. And  the  Germans  certainly  appreciated  them.

Three  quarters  of  Smokie   Chris  ( vocals/rhythm  guitar ), Alan  Silson ( lead  guitar  )  and  Terry  Uttley  ( bass )   first  played  together  at  a  Bradford  school  in  1965   in  a  band  called  The  Yen. They  split  in  1966  and  Alan  and  Chris  joined  another  local  group  The  Black  Cats. By  the  time  Terry  joined  in  1968  they  were  called  The  Elizabethans.. After  a  couple  of  appearances  on  TV  they  were  signed  by  RCA  who  persuaded  them  to  change  their  name  to  Kindness. They  released  a  single  "Light  Of  Love"  in  April  1970  which  is  a  rather  pale  approximation  of  Tony  Christie/ Barry  Ryan  dramatic  pop  and  sold  a  derisory  amount  of  copies. RCA  dropped  them  like  a  hot  potato.  After  a  liaison  with  Steve  Rowland  and  Albert  Hammond  of  Family  Dogg  produced  no  tangible  results  and  Chris  suffered  a  throat  infection  which  left  him  with  a  raspy  tone , they  got  another  chance  with  Decca  through  the  patronage  of  Radio  One's  Dave  Eager,

Kindness  released  three  singles  in  1972  "Let  The  Good  Times  Roll"  ( which  I  haven't  heard ), the  light  bubblegum  "Oh  Julie"  and  "Make  It  Better"  which  sounds  like  the  glam  stomp  of  The  Osmonds  with  a  frantic  banjo  line  that  distracts  from  rather  than  enhances  the  song. Decca  let  them  go  but  they  had  already  got  a  new  gig  as  Peter  Noone's  backing  band. During  that  tour  they  acquired  a  new  manager  Bill  Hurley  and  soon  afterwards,  a  new  drummer  Pete  Spencer  who'd  already  played  with  seven  different  bands  in  Bradford. Hurley  knew  Mike  Chapman  and  Nicky  Chinn  and  badgered  them  into  working  with  the  band. They  were  signed  to  RAK  and  changed  their  name  to  Smokey  as  part  of  the  deal.

Their  first  release  for  the  label  was  actually  an  album  "Pass  It  Around"  which  bar  two  Chinn-Chapman  songs,  was  self-written.  It  sounds  like  a  c.v.  for  work  on  those  Top  of  the  Pops  albums  with  the  band  seeking  to  show  how  many  current  styles  they  could  mimic   from  Bread  balladry ( "My  Woman" , "Don't  Turn  Out  Your  Light" ),  through  Leo  Sayer  whimsy ( "Oh  Well  Oh  Well" ) and  Humble  Pie-lite  ( "Will  You  Love  Me" )  to  Sweet  glam ( "Goin'  Tomorrow" ). The  only  sign  of  individuality  on  the  LP  is  a  penchant  for  the  embarrassing. "It  Makes  Me  Money"  is  an  excruciating  whinge  at  music  writers  which  suggests  their  frosty  critical  reception  wouldn't  have  come  as  a  surprise. "Headspin"  is  a  song  about  brewer's  droop  with  lyrics   like  "My  most  important member  won't  do  what I  want  him  to " - I  think  Love  Will  Tear  Us  Apart   covered  this  subject  with a  little  more  grace.  The  most  arresting  track  is  Alan's  "A  Day  At  The  Mother-in-Laws"  a  Beatles/ Gilbert  O  Sullivan  pastiche  which  does  achieve  a  note  of  genuine  provincial  pathos  but  is  irrevocably  tarnished  by  a  brief  impersonation  of  an  Asian  bus  conductor, doubtless  a  common  sight  in  multicultural  Bradford  but  the  execution  is  too  Curry  and  Chips  for  comfort. Despite  a  crystalline  production  by  Chinnichap  it  tanked. The  only  single  was  "Pass  It  Around"  a  couple  of  months  later. One  of  the  duo's  two  songs  - the  other "I  Do  Declare"  sounds  suspiciously  like  a  Suzi  Quatro  leftover -  it's  something  of  a  bedsit  anthem  which  sounds  like  Steve  Marriott  fronting  The  Sweet. Unsurprisingly  it  has  a  radio-friendly  chorus  and  band  sources  have  suggested  it  was  excluded  from  the  Radio  One  playlist  from  fears  that  it  was  about  marijuana. The  band  toured the  album  as  support  act  to  temporary  sensations  Pilot  who  had  already  shot  their  bolt.

Nevertheless  Chinnichap  persevered  with  the  band  as  it  was  now  clear  that  Sweet  would  not  be  returning  to  their  fold.  The  band  curbed  their  Mike  Yarwood  tendencies  and  concentrated  on  an  acoustic-led  close  harmony  sound  described  by  Bob  Stanley  as  "like  an  Eagles  cover  band  playing  on  a  sightseeing  boat".  ( I  don't  know  if  Bob  was  aware  that  Kindness  had  actually  played  that  sort  of  venue  in  Germany ).

"If  You  Think  You  Know  How  To  Love  Me "  was  the  first  fruit  of  this  new  direction.  Mike  and  Nick  were  clearly  tuned  in  to  what  was  going  on  in  America   and  set  a  Springsteen-like  tale  of  teen  runaways  to  a  light  country  rock  backing  that,  yes,  owed  to  a  lot  to  Eagles. It's  a  little  clumsy  - "We  moved  out  of  sight  with  a  silent  sound"  must  be  Nicky  Chinn's  worst  ever  lyric  - but  the  chorus  is  an  earworm  , the  Sweet  harmonies  are  tight  and  the  sallow-faced  Chris  sold  the  song  with  real  conviction  when  they  appeared  on   Top  of  the  Pops.  It  only  made  the  barest   impression  on  the  US  charts  but  the  underlying  strength  of  the  song  is  evidenced  by  speedy  covers  from  Jim  Capaldi  and  the  young  Pat  Benatar  ( it  actually  makes  more  sense  sung  by  a  woman  so  maybe  it  too  was  originally  written  with  Suzi  Quatro  in  mind ).