| 12/11/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Coming off the success of 1990's metallic Fly Me Courageous, which included two FM and MTV hits, Drivin' 'n' Cryin' returned in 1993 with Smoke, another collection of heavy, riff-oriented songs. Although both records were produced and engineered by Geoff Workman, Smoke had a less-polished, raw feel that should have fit right in to the new post-grunge world. But, as they'd done on many prior albums, they (or the label) made a horrible choice for the first single, the uninspired "Turn It Up Or Turn It Off," and the album never took off.Which is a shame. While not as lyrically strong as prior albums, Smoke still contains some great songs; meaty riffs on insanely heavy opener "Back Against The Wall," the driving title track, the soulful "Whiskey Soul Woman" and Zep-homage "All Around The World."And while the album is pretty heavy as a whole, fans of the band's lighter (crying) side will find some nice stuff here as well: the haunting dirge "When You Come Back," the wistful feedback of "What's The Difference?" and the slowly building Civil War epic "Patron Lady Beautiful."Lead singer and songwriter Kevn Kinney has dismissed Smoke as too riff happy, and says he wrote the words to fit the riffs instead of the other way around, but it's still a classic album from one of rock's most underrated bands. Light it up."