h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Smokie - the band - A717013
Author: Archangel Galaxy Babe [Smokie were ACE] - U128652

I just saw them live in concert and they're
This is their 4th decade in the music business and I thought they deserved an entry in the Edited Guide...

Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

Well I certainly enjoyed reading this AGB

I'll leave it to others to pick up any problems, though, as I really don't know their work that much.

*Exits singing 'Alice' and trying very hard not to add the rude bit...*

shazz

Well done, GB!

This is a fine piece of work. I am just a little surprised at the heavy emphasis on their later career, since obviously the 'Smokie mark 1' era was the period when they had the highest profile. Perhaps that section should be expanded. Having consulted my 'Guinness Book of British Hit Singles', I can tell you that they had 12 UK Top 40 hits in the 1975-8 era, of which the following six made the Top 10: 'If You Think You Know How To Love Me', 'Don't Play Your Rock'n'Roll To Me', 'Living Next Door To Alice', 'It's Your Life', 'Needles And Pins' and 'Oh Carol'. ('Needles And Pins' was a cover of the old Searchers hit, but 'Oh Carol' was a new song, not the Neil Sedaka number!)

One bit of early-days trivia: Chinn & Chapman originally named the band Smokey, and that was how the name was spelled on their first two hit singles. It was then announced that they were changing the spelling to avoid confusion with Smokey Robinson - though how four blokes from Bradford could have been confused with one soul singer from Detroit beats me!

It might be worth mentioning that Smokie were seen as Chinn & Chapman's bid for respectability. They'd previously been known for writing teeny-pop hits for the likes of Mud, Sweet and Suzi Quatro. The material they wrote for Smokie was a bit more sophisticated!

The story of how the X-certificate version of 'Living Next Door To Alice' came about is might be worth a mention too. The idea of the 'amended' version of the song first came from a Dutch band called Gompie, and their version became a hit in Europe. It also made the UK top 20 - but Smokie covered Gompie's cover of their song with the aid of Roy 'Chubby' Brown, and had the biggest British hit!

Thanks.

Added to....

Good entry I'm afraid my knowledge of Smokie only runs to the 'Chubby Brown' version of 'Alice' Anyway, I've added a link to the entry from the Musician's Guild and look forward to seeing it in the edited Guide

Danny B.

Thanks!
I'll have to remind you to change the link when it gets edited, as the A number will be different.

Thanks for the additions, the writing credit and the link to my beloved Bradford City FC's official site!

Speaking of links - you could end with a link to the official Smokie fan club site: http://www.smokie.co.uk . There's a handy history of the band on there too!

Re-reading this, it still looks good!

One question: wasn't their first record, 'Pass It Around', a single? If so, then the title should just be in quotes and not in italics, otherwise it looks like it was an album. (A very minor point, I know, but let's aim for perfection. )

Meant to update this entry this week but my son's been ill, and it's his birthday tomorrow, so I'll aim for Monday.

Updated.