''Pass It Around'' is the debut studio album by British rock band Smokey (later renamed Smokie), released in 1975. The album features eleven original group songs and two

Nicky Chinn Nicholas Barry Chinn (born 16 May 1945) is an English-American songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the US and UK in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international record c ...

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi Quatro ...

compositions. The Chinn / Chapman written

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

was chosen to be Smokie's debut single. "Pass It Around" / "Couldn't Live" was released on 21 March 1975 but failed to make the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

playlist. The problem was playlist controllers who thought that the ambiguous lyrics might be seen as a reference to smoking marijuana. As a result, the single failed to reach the UK Top 50. To promote ''Pass It Around'', Smokie extensively tour Britain starting on 24 April 1975 as support act to

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, who scored a UK No. 1 hit with "

January January is the first month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the No ...

". Despite all the promotion activity, neither album nor single managed to chart in the UK.

Track listing

2016 bonus tracks

* 14. Couldn't Live – 2:23 * 15. I Gotta Be Free hris Norman – Demo Recording– 1:30 * 16. You Ring My Bell indness– 2:58

Charts

The album peaked at number 94 for one week in June 1979 in Australia.

Credits

Smokie

Chris Norman Christopher Ward Norman (born 25 October 1950) is an English soft rock singer. Norman was the original lead singer of the English rock band Smokie (band), Smokie (1964–1986), which found success in Europe in the 1970s. "Stumblin' In", a 1978 ...

– lead vocals and guitar *Terry Uttley – bass and backing vocals *Pete Spencer – drums and vocals *Alan Silson – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocal on "A Day at the Mother-in-Law's"

Technical personnel

*Produced by

in association with

for Chinnichap *Engineer – Pete Coleman *Recorded at Audio International Studios in London *Tape operators – Pete Silver and Phil Colman *Mastered by Chris Blair at

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although '' Let It Be'' (1970) was the last album completed before th ...

*Cover photography –

Gered Mankowitz Gered W. Mankowitz (born 3 August 1946) is an English photographer who focused his career in the music industry. He has worked with a range of artists from the Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix, and in other divisions of the photography industry, ...

;Remastering *Tim Turan at Turan Audio – 2007 remastering *MM Sound Digital Mastering Studios – 2016 remastering

References

External links

Smokie discography 1975–1982
{{Authority control 1975 debut albums Rak Records albums Smokie (band) albums Albums produced by Mike Chapman