CIGARETTES - Gimme Cigarettes

Long rumored to be a Sparks side project, Cigarettes were not Sparks but an obscure Los Angeles art punk band featuring Pipe, Lonny Carlysle, Marc Question, and Bat Lucky. Behind those nom de musique were one John Clancy, keeper of the Cigarettes flame, and Philo Cramer, who left the band to join something called Fear. For years, Sparks fans thought the Cigarettes were their art/glam heroes but they were wrong. Not wrong to think so, as if you imagined what Sparks would sound like if they had gone punk, this might be it. And I write that with all due respect to the Cigarettes, for what these guys did was not only let Sparks influence their sound, but their attitude. Thus they take things a few steps beyond the influence and create something unique. That something are two songs that both attack and make you laugh. I found my first copy of their single at a store for a buck. It was beat up but played fine and upon dropping needle on Gimme Cigarettes, I felt pure glee. A wave of silly excitement poured over me. I played it on my radio show a few times and got an email from John Clancy saying, Hey, you played my old band on the radio!" He sent me a nice copy of the record and I convinced him to let me reissue it. So for the first time, here is a legitimate reissue of the Cigarettes fantastic 1978 Carlysle/Moxie single, with the unfortunately neglected Oh! Oh! Oh! and liner notes on the bands history. S-S fans will enjoy this one. 500 pressed and-Ç moving fast. Some of Gimme Cigarette. A bit of Oh! Oh! Oh! -Ç " - S-S.