The history of Pop music fairly overflows with perplexities. Bands that should have made it, didn't. Bands that had no reason to exist became wildly popular. Bands with infinite promise that, for whatever reason, never made it out of the starting gate. Bands that just got lost in the shuffle.

It's not clear why a band like The Smoke never managed to secure a licensing deal with a U.S. label, but were relegated to cult status for almost their entire existence. True, their first single, My Friend Jack, became something of an underground legend, based on the fact that it was banned from the start because of it's alleged drug reference. And there were also several other bands calling themselves The Smoke, including a one-off band put together by West Coast wunderkind Michael Lloyd. But those didn't seem like good enough reasons to just ignore the band altogether.

But like I said, the history of Pop Music is no stranger to whims and perplexities.

Tonight's track, It Could Be Wonderful, issued in 1968, was one of a handful of singles that made their way into the hands of collectors and fans throughout the UK and Europe, where they enjoyed a modicum of popularity.

Luckily, because of their cult status, The Smoke have been enjoying a new-found popularity the past several years, due in large part to reissues of their completely rare singles and sessions.

Pop Music may be vague and perplexing, but fortunately it doesn't forget.

(The Smoke - Banned at the starting gate)

I doubt The Smoke are a band anyone on this side of the Atlantic has ever heard of, unless you are a die hard collector of psychedelia or knew someone who actually was familiar with this band at the time.

The Smoke was a short-lived outfit famous (or infamous) for their very first hit single "My Friend Jack" - an innocent sounding title, but the rest of the line goes " . . eats sugar lumps". Sugar lumps being something of a code word for the thing LSD was laced with. Right off the bat, it was banned from any airplay in England. So naturally, when anything is banned it races up the charts just on sheer rumor alone. There have been several bands with the name The Smoke, including one that did get released in the States on Tower, but they have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Sadly though, The Smoke were a one hit wonder. And after several tries, of which this particular single "Have Some More Tea" was one, they gave up and went their separate ways. But not before recording an albums worth of material and making an indelible impression on any record collector who came their way. In later years, "My Friend Jack" has become something of an underground classic, being covered by Boney M (which has a connection to The Smoke) and Wondermints. I actually never heard this band the first time around, but discovered them on the recommendation of a guy named Yves who ran Vinyl Solution in London in 1979.

It's all his fault - thank God.