The ONLY OFFICIAL Smile album on CD
Michael Allred | Niles, Michigan United States | 11/23/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Smile were; Tim Staffell (lead vocals / bass), Brian May (lead guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums)Originally released years ago, this collection of pre-Queen material was released (officially) onto C.D.Not much here unless you are a major Queen fan and want to hear the "Queen sound" at it's inception.I never cared much for Staffell's voice...sounds far too close to Robert Smith of The Cure for my liking.The late 60's sci-fi themed "Earth" was Smile's only single but it failed to chart. My favorite is "April Lady" with it's immediately catchy chorus "Goodbye April Lady, it's been good to have you around."Several very cool anecdotes to share...this little known band opened for Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Yes and the original Genesis. In fact, at the Genesis gig, Peter Gabriel had offered Roger to join his band as the new drummer. Imagine life without Phil Collins! Oh well, we can dream can't we?"The Man From Manhattan" are not Smile songs but instead were recorded by (then and still) unknown Eddie Howell. He had asked Freddie to produce the song but ended up with not only that but backing vocals from Mercury and lead guitar from Brian May! I always felt it was a sequel to Queen's hit "Killer Queen".A good buy for Queen fans."
Life before Queen
John Sposato | Syracuse, NY, USA | 12/21/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Smile were the forerunners of Queen. "Man from Manhattan" also appears on the 10 CD/2 DVD box set "Freddie Mercury Solo Collection". Five of the Smile tracks also appearon the Italian bootleg, "Queen In Nuce". "Doing All Right" was redone for the debut, "Queen". It wasn't on the other bootleg, but it sounds almost the same."
Old soldiers never die!
Paul Faessen | Haarlem, Noord-Holland Netherlands | 12/20/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"'Ghost of a smile' contains recordings from the year 1969 by the group Smile. Smile can be seen as Queen's predecessor, because the group members were, besides vocalist and bass player Tim Staffell the Queen-members to be Brian May and Roger Taylor. The six songs show much of the later Queen-style. One of the songs f.i. is 'Doing all right', a song which can also be heard on the Queen-album 'Queen'. In 'Blag' we already hear some parts of the later guitar solo from 'Brighton rock'. It is clear that many songs lack the refinement of the Queen-music, udoubtedly due to the fact that the influence of Freddie Mercury was, of course, not available here. Furthermore you find on this album two versions of the song 'The man from Manhattan' by Eddie Howell, which was recorded in 1976 with the help of Freddie Mercury (as producer and backing vocalist) and Brian May (for the guitar solo). Of course this album is a must for every Queen-fan. In this context I'd also like te recommend the mini album 'Queen in nuce', which was released in Italy. It contains next to five of the above mentioned six songs the two tracks from the 'Larry Lurex'-single from 1973. Worth searching for!"
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1