Sunday 2 September 2012

Polly Brown - Up In A Puff Of Smoke



Some pop artists have most of their success in their home market; others may make it big abroad whilst having little success at home. And some have a huge, one-off hit in foreign climes which barely registers at home despite previous hits there.

Polly Brown(e) is a good example of the latter. Born in Birmingham, she first hit the UK charts in 1970 as part of Pickettywitch, with 'That Same Old Feeling', an innocuous, if rather MOR pop ditty.



Leaving the group in 1972, she charted in the UK in 1974 with the group Sweet Dreams, with a cover of the ABBA album track 'Honey Honey'. Notoriously, she performed under this guise in blackface, although not for her appearance on Top of the Pops due to obections from Robin Nash, the producer.



Sweet Dreams continued on until 1977, but during this period, Browne recorded a solo LP, Special Delivery, and a single from it was released in August 1974 - Up In A Puff Of Smoke.



In the UK, the single did not reach the top 40, peaking at No. 43, despite a TOTP appearance. However, across the Atlantic it hit No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and went as high as No. 3 on the U.S Disco Chart.



It's appeal is obvious, and it's a remarkable piece, rather more pounding and insistent than the more Philadelphia based sound that was prevalent in U.S disco at the time - the influence of glam rock (which went almost unnoticed stateside) might account for this, but the classy piano and brass (with touches of strings and synth) driven exuberance of the track is in a class of its own, and insanely catchy, whilst the drum riffs turned up again a few years later on Amii Stewart's disco reworking of 'Knock On Wood'.


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