| Track: | Rating: | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Black Gang Chine | | | | |
| 2. Free Yourself | | | | |
| 3. Lorelei | | | | |
| 4. Every King Of Stone | | | | |
| 5. I Can Be Tender | | | | |
| 6. Prussian Blue | | | | |
| 7. Ship Of Fools | | | | |
| 8. Venus De Milo | | | | |
| 9. Many Are The Ways | | | | |
| 10. Breath Of Life | | | | |
| 11. Dreams Of The East | | | | |
| 12. You Go Up In Smoke | | | | |
Note: Although not billed as such, this album consisted of only 50% original material when released in 1989. Six tracks -- "Lorelei", "Prussian Blue", "Ship Of Fools", "Venus De Milo", "Breath Of Life" and "You Go Up In Smoke" -- had been released on The Explorers, an album with Manzanera/Mackay/Wraith had released as "The Explorers" earlier in the decade. The other tracks from the Explorers album were released on the other M+M album, making the original work entirely redundant.
After the final dissolution of Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry went on to a successful career as a solo artist without too much difficulty. Given Ferry's role as the group's frontman, few people would be overly surprised with this turn of developments. For Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay, however, the future after Roxy Music was decidedly secure in 1983. Both artists were respected within the "art rock" community, and both were known as seasoned professionals; neither, however, possessed the widespread recognition that would guarantee them further commercial success within the music industry.
This may explain their decision to hire James Wraith as their vocalist. Wraith, though possessing little original talent otherwise, has the incredible ability of mimicking Ferry's voice almost perfectly, and displays this ability quite extensively throughout the course of this album. Much of the music on this project, moreover, seems to be an extension of the sophisticated pop covered on Avalon, with possibly even more direct similarities than Ferry's subsequent solo releases would feature.
Since the songs on this project date from two different periods, it would be appropriate to judge them accordingly. The songs that were originally released on The Explorers are generally the better works on Up In Smoke, and (perhaps not surprisingly) are also the most Roxyish in character. "Lorelei" is most notable for Mackay's saxophone treatments, including an interesting solo towards the end of the work. Manzanera isn't really quite as notable; the song itself possesses the same manner of underwhelming grandeur that Avalon perfected, with Wraith doing little to distinguish himself from the musical texture of the work. It's nothing overly notable, but a fairly decent pop track.
"Prussian Blue" is one of the highlights of the work, and perhaps the most "progressive" track here. Manzanera's commences the track with a decent guitar solo, while Mackay plays a more mournful part. This mini-epic is easily the most stately of the tracks here, and Wraith's vocal role contributes to this pattern fairly heavily as well. The staid drums are a bit of a letdown in the first part of the song; the military precision of the second half is much, much better. Another decent guitar solo appears near the end.
"Ship Of Fools" (which seems to feature Levin on bass) is another good work, using various atmospheric textures to create a Roxy-esque storm of sound. Manzanera is in top form throughout this track, and Mackay's mournful tones once again provide a nice edge. Levin is quite good as well. James Wraith is actually the weakest link in this chain, but his voice still manages to create a fair counterbalance with the musical mood.
"Venus De Milo" has been cited by the Trouser Press guide as a Ferry parody track, and it's impossible to entirely discount this assessment. The lyrics sound as though they've been extracted from the earliest Roxy Music period (sample: "I read the books of Sybilline/They were just fine"), and Wraith's mannerisms are even more exaggerated than usual. That aside, however, this is perhaps the most successful "pop" track here. The opening guitar riff is extremely good, and some catchy sax works dominate the work as well.
"Breath Of Life" starts rather innocuously, with Wraith/Mackay/a drummer contributing to a standard Roxyish pattern. The track eventually reveals itself as a fairly poppy number, albeit a catchy. The lyrics concern isolation; the vocal line is actually fairly impressive. Manzanera doesn't seem to be doing much at all on this track.
"You Go Up In Smoke" is an extremely good example of the sophisticated pop with Roxy created during their later years -- another isolation-based lament with a stately piano intro and a general "mood piece" atmosphere. Mackay is the leading player of the later sections of the track, which is good because the track seems to show a few disconcerting tendencies towards banality towards the end (though not enough to seriously impact its rating).
Such are the Explorers tracks. While official explanations might suggest otherwise, the possibility that these tracks were simply included to make up for an absence of decent new material cannot be entirely discounted. Only two of the new tracks reach the level of the earlier works, and these are buried with said works so as to appear to have resulted from the same session period. The other tracks show a depressing tendency towards safe, commercial ventures, well below the potential of either of the two musicians governing the project.
The album begins with "Black Gang Chine" (the title does not refer to racial conflicts, oddly enough), a track which is both underwhelming and apparently only half thought-out. Wraith sings another lament for a lost love, Mackay contributes his usual flavourings -- ultimately, it's more akin to Manifesto than anything else (ie. decent enough, but ultimately less than entirely significant). Manzanera does not play an overly strong role.
Three of the other new tracks fall a notch below this. "Free Yourself" contains a "corporate rock" anthemic chorus, and other trapping of the commercial pop genre -- the backing musicians are in fine form (Manzanera's role in notable in a losing effort; I'm willing to guess that Levin is once again on bass), but this simply isn't enough to save the track from its own mediocrity. "Every King Of Stone" has a decent Mackay solo in the middle of the piece, but otherwise has little to recommend it -- it's proficient, but not really notable in any other way (with the possible exception of the vaguely Latin drums which begin the piece). "I Can Be Tender" has some decent saxophone and guitar hooks, but is otherwise mired too deeply in the morass of late-'80s pop from which it emerged, throwaway lyrics, banal anthemic chorus, and all.
"Many Are The Ways" and "Dreams Of The East" are better. Wraith is actually the dominant talent on the former work (!), singing a rather folky vocal line throughout the work. Mackay once again has a notable background role; if the intention of this track was to recreate "Avalon" (the song), they came close to succeeding. "Dreams Of The East" is even better - a classy pop track, once again dominated by Mackay's saxophone role and Wraith's vocals. Manzanera's guitar seems to be used to create an effect oddly similar to "How Soon Is Now?".
Up In Smoke, while not quite the "new" work that it claims to be, is thus a fairly interesting collaborative effort between Manzanera & Mackay. The Explorers tracks are generally fairly interesting; while not all of the new tracks are as successful, the decent material makes with a worthwhile purchase to the convinced fans. Now appeared in a cutout bin near you ...
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 19 August 1997)