Smoking No Smoking

" Avec ce miracle de beauté, de force et de simplicité, Jean-Claude Grumberg nous offre un classique instantané. " - Le Canard enchaîné
"Il était une fois, dans un grand bois, une pauvre bûcheronne et un pauvre bûcheron.
Non non non non, rassurez-vous, ce n'est pas Le Petit Poucet ! Pas du tout. Moi-même, tout comme vous, je déteste cette histoire ridicule. …

Smoking Popes - At Metro (2006) {CD + DVD5 NTSC, Victory Records VR295}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 466 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
DVD5 -> 4.08 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch | ~ 79 min | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 48 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Victory Records | VR295
Rock / Pop Punk / Alternative Rock / Indie

After a seven year hiatus, the Smoking Popes have at last resurfaced. The band initially reunited near the end of 2005 for a one-off show as part of the Chicago music festival, Flower15, put on by Flower Booking to raise money for local charities. Miss the concert? For fans overcome with frustration at not being able to get to Chicago, or who couldn't secure a ticket to the show, the nice folks at Victory Records have documented the night on the CD/DVD At Metro to appease the pain somewhat . (The Popes have since embarked on a reunion headlining tour, but alas, no one knew this in November).

The answer to this CD's title is the musicians. The heated bebop-oriented session finds Paquito D'Rivera joined by trumpeter Claudio Roditi, flügelhornist Mark Morganelli, Danilo Perez or Pedrito Lopez on piano, bassist Harvie Swartz, and drummer Al Foster. An extra treat is that veteran tenorman James Moody guests on three of the nine selections, inspiring D'Rivera to be particularly heated. Highlights include exciting versions of "Giant Steps" and "I Mean You," a clarinet-bass duet on "Out of Nowhere," Perez's "You Got It, Diz," and the blazing title cut. Highly recommended.

Lambchop hails from Nashville and claims to play a "refined, and redefined" style of country music, but the songs the band creates on its second album, How I Quit Smoking, have more in common with Brit crooners the Tindersticks than Chet Atkins and Billy Sherrill (whom the Lambchop members claim as heroes). Boasting 13 players on this album, Lambchop feels more like an art collective on a mission of enlightenment than a country band bent on AM airplay. Still, with subtlely threads of clarinet, sax, organ, and even a full string section integrated into the mix alongside a double-necked lap steel and an impressive lineup of vintage guitars, the music is so lush, lovely, and thoroughly hypnotic you can see their point. The country element lies buried in the subtle rhythms and melodies, surfacing in the quiet moan of the lap steel or the melancholic flutter of the strings. Spooky as often as it is soothing, Lambchop's music may not be the fireside countrypolitan of Atkins or Sherrill – I don't think either would put up with the babbling rhymes of "Smuckers," the sinister guitars that mark "The Militant," or the existential undercurrents of "The Scary Caroler".

Smoking Popes - It's Been A Long Day (2010) {Asian Man Records AM-192}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 380 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 120 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 73 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Smoking Popes / Asian Man Records | AM-192
Rock / Pop Punk / Alternative Rock / Indie

The Smoking Popes have been banging out their peculiar brand of poppy punk (distinct from the official, claustrophobically codified pop-punk designation) since the start of the ‘90s, with some time off in the first half of the 2000s. They've become something of a punk institution over the years, and It's Been a Long Day offers a look back at their beginnings, with a track list consisting mostly of songs from their early-‘90s EPs, which were cranked out before their first full-length took them one step closer to cult hero status. Admittedly, it shares many tunes in common with the earlier Popes anthology, 1991-1998, but where that collection spent much of its time on tracks from the debut album, this one concentrates on pre-album material.

Smoking Popes - The Party's Over (1998) {Double Zero Records DZ0012 rel 2003}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 199 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 77 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 37 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1998, 2003 Double Zero Records / Suburban Home Records | DZ0012 / SHM 8005
Rock / Pop Punk / Alternative Rock / Indie

Recorded and submitted to Capitol Records in 1998, this finale from the Smoking Popes wasn't released until 2003 on Double Zero Records. At the time of its recording, the band was in disarray, primarily due to frontman Josh Caterer's exhaustion and newfound Christian devotion. Looking for a way out of their Capitol contract, they offered this collection of ten cover tunes. Their plan worked, as Capitol promptly rejected the album and allowed them to pack their bags. So the big question is if the fans' five-year wait for The Party's Over was worth it.