The Smoke, “That’s What I Want” (1973)
Or: why more fuzzed-out mid ’60s mod-psych bands should’ve stuck it out ‘til at least the early ’70s. (Though apparently it isn’t even the original lineup that recorded “My Friend Jack”, so huh.)
Also! (via allmusic):
[The band] ended up in a bizarre management situation, when they were offered a seeming rescue by a pair of twin London-based entrepreneurs, Ron and Reg Kray. Renowned today the world over as notorious gangsters, the Kray brothers have been immortalized in books, including Profession of Violence and Reg’s own autobiography Born Fighter, and one feature film (The Krays), and were even memorably satirized in one Monty Python sketch (“The Piranha Brothers”). They were among the top crime kingpins in London at the time, and among their other enterprises, they had an interest in a few clubs, and thought at one point that a more direct participation in the entertainment business might prove lucrative. (And yes, it sounds funny to read it, or even to write it, but that is exactly how Morris Levy, an American gangster and club owner, came to go into the record and publishing business in New York, and ended up founding Roulette Records). Thus, they signed the group and became the Shots’ managers, but were never able to do anything with them in terms of bookings — strong-arming clubs for “protection” money was more their specialty than lining up engagements. The band decided to abandon the contract, and when they were served with an injunction, they were left unable to perform.
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