The Holy Smokes - Never Give It Up

I missed the Holy Smokes in their original incarnation in the mid-00's, but loved Luke (bass/vocals) and Jeffrey (harp/vocals) in their follow up combo, the Lucky Cheats (now also, sadly, defunct). The HS are planning on doing some reunion shows after wowing at a party a couple of weeks ago. Original guitarist Joel is back in the fold as well as new drummer Turbo replacing Jesus, who has moved on outta town. Luke was kind enough to dig up a couple of CD's for me since I missed 'em the first time around.

The band is definitely blues-based (as were the Cheats as well as Luke's current combo, Shanda and the Howlers) but with some more garage elements, some punk'n'roll and even a bit of pop (the good stuff) here'n'there.

This 2007 release opens with Luke's peppy and slightly poppy garage/blues, "Sydney", then Jeffrey steps in for his high-energy, rockin' blues, "Never Give It Up", with its great harp playin' and an off-time chorus, which makes it stick in your head (I specifically remember this one from the party). There's a stompin', soul/rock groove to "Gonna Take a Ride", with some cool dynamics and fine drummin' reminiscent of the Dictators! This blasts right into the fast'n'lewd "She's the Most" - powerful'n'rockin' but with some truly goofy lyrics - followed by "Walk Away", a cool groover with catchy guitar'n'harp interplay and call'n'answer vocals.

"Best I Ever Had" is a frantic, harp-driven, J.Geils-styled blues raver, "Something Pretty" is a chunky chord garage/blues with some hip guitar work and cool "heys!", then back into another high-paced blues rocker in "Ugly Lil Baby", Joel twists around a 60's garage riff to power another poundin' garager, "Wake Up In Love", and the whole shee-bang closes out with a old-school jump-jive number, "No One Can Do It".

This is a party record, to be sure! Great playing all around - always love Jeffrey's Magic Dick-like harp wailin' and Luke's walkin' bass while Joel pulls out some sweet sounds from his Tele and Jesus propels them all - along with fun tunes and no pretension - just good time rock'n'roll with a blues bent. Dig it and dig 'em when they return for some live shows!