Chart entered : 19 April 1980
Chart peak : 34
Now begins the clear- out of seventies detritus. Bradford's finest had actually ridden the punk storm very well with a string of 11 Top 20 singles since their debut. Singer Chris Norman had enjoyed an enormous worldwide ( except here where it stalled at 41 ) hit duet with Suzi Quatro on "Stumblin In " in 1978. That same year however the success of his and drummer Pete Spencer's song "Mexican Girl" seems to have fatally persuaded them that they could dispense with the services of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The following year's "The Other Side Of The Road" LP contained none of the duo's songs and though it sold in their best markets ( Germany and Australia ) it produced no UK Hits.
This cover of the Goffin / King classic which reached number 3 ( 1 in the States ) for Bobby Vee in 1961 is competent enough but sounds thoroughly anachronistic for 1980. Alan Silson's chiming lead guitar line makes them sound like The Searchers. There's no purpose to it but to restore Smokie to the charts.
The follow up "Run To Me" in September 1980 is a slow building soft rock anthem in the vein of The Hollies' The Air That I Breathe. It's not a bad song but it lacked the bite to get heard amidst strong competition. It was the new track on a compilation LP ( their second ) which reached number 23.
RAK now seemed to have doubts about the group's viability in the UK and didn't release their next two German singles here , a cover of "Little Town Flirt " and the rock and roll "Jet Lagged" . The latter's parent album "Solid Ground" was only a hit in Norway. RAK allowed them to release one more album "Strangers In Paradise" in 1982 which bombed everywhere before cutting them adrift. Chris and Pete did have a number 2 hit that year as composers of the England World Cup Squad's "This Time ( We'll Get It Right )"
In November that year they returned to Chapman and recorded the single "Looking Daggers " which Chris co-wrote with Holly Knight and Michael Des Barres. It's something of a return to form but the world had moved on by then and they could only release it on the small independent label, Mean. The album "Midnight Delight" tanked they decided to call it a day. Almost simultaneously Chris put out a solo album "Rock Away Your Teardrops" and single "Hey Baby", neither of which made much impression.
In 1983 they acted as backing band for Agnetha Faltskog on her first post-Abba album "Wrap Your Arms Around Me " and it was during the sessions with her that they first decided to call it a day .
In December 1983 Chris put out a version of the Chapman/ Knight song "Love Is A Battlefield" abandoning his semi-acoustic sound for synthy Euro-pop. It was of course a big hit for Pat Benatar around the same time. In August 1984 he tried again with the power ballad "My Girl And Me " written by Bucks Fizz producer Andy Hill and Frank Musker. It's completely empty and vacuous.
Smokie reconvened in 1985 to play a charity concert for the Bradford City Fire disaster. They decided to continue and tour the Alpine countries and Australia. The following year though , a song Chris had recorded with Modern Talking's Dieter Bohlen " Midnight Lady " was used in a German cop drama and went to number one there for six weeks. Its success mushroomed out into the rest of Europe. It was his last UK release and was completely ignored here, unsurprisingly as its another dreary power ballad.
Other singles taken from his album "Some Hearts Are Diamonds" ( partly co-written with Pete ) were hits in Europe and Chris decided he'd have to quit Smokie to develop this solo success. Pete went with him. He suggested they replace him with Alan Barton of Black Lace ( who'd started out with the Smokie rip-off Eurovision entry Mary -Anne ) . After some hesitation due to Black Lace's reputation as a naff novelty act bassist Terry Uttley and Alan S accepted the suggestion and also recruited keyboard player Martin Bullard and drummer Steve Pinnell. Chris maintains a successful solo career in Germany and neighbouring countries , with Pete as his writing partner, to this day.
The band released their first UK single for five years in September 1987 with "Cry In The Night" written by all four original members. It sounds like John Parr with Def Leppard's electronic drum sound. The follow up in April 1988 was Barton's "My Heart Is True" a run of the mill blast of Fairlight rock. Both songs featured on the album "All Fired Up" in 1988 which went nowhere.
In 1989 they released Alan S's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" a bargain basement Springsteen impersonation but it helped get the album of the same name to number one in Norway. It was their last single in Britain for five years. Constant touring in Germany and Scandinavia allowed them to continue to sell records there over the intervening period.
Their last UK single was infamously a re-recording of 1976's "Living Next Door To Alice" in 1995. The disc jockey at a Dutch cafe called Gompie had taken to playing the single and the cafe crowd would chant "Alice who the fuck is Alice ?" at each mention of the name. A passing record company exec promptly arranged a recording under the name Gompie and had a huge hit in the Low Countries ( and eventually Britain ). Pinnell had previously been a roadie for ultra-blue comedian Roy "Chubby " Brown and suggested the band do their own version with him. It was a hit immediately and so Smokie did Top of the Pops ( suitably censored of course ) after a 15 year absence with Barton out front, which must have confused much of the older audience. It eventually reached number 3 equalling the peak of their debut hit.
The band had little time to enjoy this turnaround in their UK fortunes. While the record was still in the charts their tour bus came off the road in Germany and Barton died from injuries sustained. Alan decided he'd had enough of touring and quit the band shortly afterwards though he did later go out on the road with Mickey Finn's T-Rex . In 2007 he put out a solo CD "Solitary Bird" which sounds unsurprisingly a lot like Smokie.
Terry , now the only original member left , found replacements and persevered. The band have recorded another six albums since then and are particularly popular in Denmark. 2010's "Take A Minute " appeared to have been their last album but they have recorded four new songs for another compilation.
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