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AZTEC RECORDS continues to bring you the best of Aussie reissues. For a sweet trip down
memory lane, when jug bands could sing "That cat is high, look at them two stoned eyes"
('That Cat is High') look no further than this superb reissue of Smoke Dreams by Captain
Matchbox Whoopee Band. Originally issued on vinyl back in 1973, Smoke Dreams was where
the band made the transition from underground heroes to major attraction.
As one of the most unusual aggregations ever assembled in Australia, Captain Matchbox
Whoopee Band played jug band blues, folk-jazz and gypsy swing enlivened with sideshow
entertainment and vaudeville lunacy. Even in the 1970s it was music of a by-gone era (the
1930s) yet in the hands of lead singer / washboard player Mic Conway and his eccentric crew
it was vibrant and addictive, outrageously entertaining, left-field and breathtakingly brilliant.
At a time when other bands were obsessed with the blues and prog rock, Captain Matchbox
took their inspiration from Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton and the Memphis Jug Band. The
group's irreverent, counter-cultural style was almost unclassifiable in some ways because
they traversed the folk, jazz and rock scenes without having to be loyal to any particular one.
They appeared at rock venues (the notorious TF Much Ballroom and the Reefer Cabaret),
outdoor festivals (Sunbury), jazz clubs and folk nights with the response always positive.
Recorded at Armstrong's Studios with venerable engineer Ernie Rose at the helm, Smoke
Dreams announced to the wider Australian public that the band's music was just a barrelful of
kooky fun. The laconic and playful hit single 'My Canary has Circles Under His Eyes' made
them certified radio stars. Smoke Dreams retains a quirky, appealing freshness to this day, full
of jug band blues, ragtime jazz, vaudeville, parody and swing, with novelty W. C. Fields
megaphone vocals, acoustic guitar, kazoo, washboard, banjo, honky tonk piano, all manner of
silly noises and found sounds.
? Highlights include the hit single 'My Canary has Circles Under His Eyes', the live
favourite 'Who Walks in When I Walk Out', 'That Cat is High', 'I Can't Dance (I Got Ants
in My Pants)', 'Nagasaki' ("Where the fellas chew tabaccy and the women wicky-wacky-
woo!")
? Mic Conway is still active to this day
? With superb remastered audio (courtesy of the ever-reliable Gil Matthews), detailed
notes, rare bonus tracks and listen out for a surprise hidden track ("You can't roll your
Jaffas down the aisle anymore but you can still have a rattling good time!")