Smokin’ has one of the most generic, near-redneck-looking covers this side of the Atlantic, which meant that of course it was their highest-charting LP in the States ever! Concurrently, the sound has become less diversified, and more focused in a distinct hard rock-crossed-with-R&B vein. From here on out, the Pie would be pigeonholed as “boogie rock”, but that’s BS because Marriott and crew had a serious fetish for R&B during this period and did everything in their power to make their band sound like an arena rock version of an R&B band. The execution of this goal, over time, would become more and more questionable, but boogie rock? Grand Funk Railroad – as much as I dig that band – couldn’t hold the Pie’s jockstraps. That is boogie rock to me. Anyway, getting back to this album, where it appeared Marriott was the be-all end-all more than ever before and the material suffers a slight bit. But not much. There were two hits from the album, though – “30 Days in the Hole” and “Hot ‘n’ Nasty” – both of them up there with earlier classic cuts. Everyone and their mother know “30 Days in the Hole” by now – the lyric about “Durban poison” was long an inside joke within the band – but the joyous chants and raucous guitar licks and organ lines belies the darker turns which would soon befall the band. “Hot ‘n’ Nasty” hits every check mark on the Pie’s list at this point and time – a slick, but nasty R&B groove, a great vocal hook, and it was tailor-made for the dance floor. Great track. Another song in this category, surprisingly, is the “Road Runner/Road Runner’s ‘G’ Jam”, which clearly was the group just toying around in the studio covering “Road Runner”, but then it evolved into something more entertaining than a simple jam session. Too bad it feels a little short-circuited. “You’re So Good for Me” might as well be the reason a band like the Black Crowes exists, even though it is far from my favorite track here. Meanwhile, just to give people a different mood – because they were required to do things like this back in these days – “Old Time Feelin” is one of two spots featuring Ridley on vocals. The other one is “Sweet Peace and Time”, which in my mind is a lovely way to end this otherwise rough-and-tumble record. My guess is Marriott was not quite ready to completely ascribe to the notion that he was the absolute star of the show, but then again, who else could have carried “I Wonder”, a searing, towering, bluesy tour-de-force? I will not deny that cracks are starting to show in the foundation now. “The Fixer” and “C’mon Everybody” are the two tracks here which exemplify what is wrong with the new approach. These are out-and-out bruising rockers, seemingly all wah-wah force, but somewhere in the maelstrom you begin to wonder if Marriott himself was going to be able to hold up against the waves of unnecessary sound. The other issue was Clempson, who was a very good guitarist, and fit the band to a tee attitude-wise, but as stated before, the extra bit of class, taste, and contrast as provided by Frampton was now sorely missing. Still, Smokin’ – IMHO – generally lived up to the title. Worse stuff lies in wait.
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