Smokers Delight
Nightmares On Wax
1995
Album Summary
Smokers Delight is the second studio album by Nightmares on Wax. It was released in 1995 on Warp in the United Kingdom, and on Wax Trax in the United States. It peaked at number 84 on the UK Albums Chart.
WikipediaThis is really nice chill out or background music… something you would expect to hear in a trendy bar or hotel. Very nice to hang out with - I found it quite pleasant for background music while I worked. I can think of many occasions where this is the sort of music I would really want to play. This isn't the kind of album that will reach out and grab you, but instead the music sidles up and puts its arm around you. I didn't spend a lot of time distinguishing between the songs. Instead I just grooved along and let it flow around me. The album coheres very well while still having some clear individuality between the songs. The (Digital Deluxe) edition I listened to adds 4 extra tracks at the end. All four were worth hearing and didn’t detract from the flow of the original in any way I noticed. Good stuff!
I dig the mood that this album evokes, but it not likely to be one that I would pick out on the regular. It is good background music for work or a hip cocktail party (at least I imagine it might be, as I don’t frequent hip cocktail parties). I will add this to my library in the hopes that someday I am hip enough to cocktail to these beats.
Smokers Delight is an inoffensive blend of reggae, hip hop, Latin, soul, and downtempo that glides through the neural pathways unimpeded by any novel or challenging sonic concepts. It's mellow restaurant or club music. That said, it's all very skillfully done. Every sample, the way it's mixed, the sequencing, etc, is all calculated to make you relax and just groove with the music in the background. I find it depressing though that this album is on the 1001 list. I have no reason to doubt that Smoker's Delight is influential...on other artists who make inconsequential aural wallpaper. It would seem more appropriate to review an album like this in an industry magazine, like Restaurants Today. How to rate? I'll give it three stars for the obvious skill with which was made, but to me this falls in the same basic category as nu-jazz. It's music for people who don't really like music, who just want something in the background while they study or vacuum or take a dump.
Première très bonne surprise au lancement de cet album : il ne s'agit pas de musique reggae. On enchaîne les premières pistes avec enthousiasme, tout se passe à merveille, jusqu'au moment où l'on se rend compte environ une heure après avoir lancé l'écoute que la troisième piste vient à peine de commencer. Rapidement, on en a marre. On a envie que ça s'arrête. On tombe alors sur le morceau Cruise (Don't stop) qui nous explique au sein de ses parenthèses que l'on y est encore pour quelques heures. Le DJ responsable de cette mascarade est un certain Nightmares On Wax. Son style de musique chill-out aurait merité d'être appelé repetitive-out, ou même not-interesting-out, ou carrément tchoupits-out. On emmerde l'artiste ainsi que ses proches même s'ils n'ont rien demandé.
This is music your Nintendo Wii plays while it's loading the Weather Channel.
On the plus side, Smokers Delight does have a nice chilled vibe that serves well as background music. But as an album to listen to attentively it is a bit boring and repetitive. Don't get me wrong, repetition can be used to good effect. Problem is there is no organic sounds; there is no real emotion. Like a lot of modern music it's loop based, sequenced, time stretched, processed etc (even the "solos"). There's no art to it - a computer could have been programmed to make it.
7/2 Holy fire. Standout Tracks: Pipes Honour, Groove St., Bless My Soul, Rise, Gambia via Vagator Beach
Yo, so this isn't NEARLY as Carboot Soul, but it's a great album. I am very mad it took so long for me to find Nightmares on Wax.
Carboot Soul was the first NoW album I listened to, so it will always hold a special place, but this one is fantastic top to bottom. I was so glad to be reminded of it and it fit perfectly with the heads down work I needed to do that day.
"Nights Introlude", the first song on this album, is one of the greatest trip hop master pieces of all time. Overall, Nightmares on Wax's beats are very smooth, but not in a smooth jazz way, and more on the smoothness feel on the layers of his production. The early hip hop references are very well put in songs like "Dreddoverboard", just like the spy movie soundtrack vibes of "Mission Venice" are perfectly fit. "Stars", for instance, is almost a early chillwave track. It's a very creative album from start to finish.
Man oh man what an album. This takes me right back. The pure laid back sounds and grooves. I've smoked a lot to this album over the years. But 20 years late and sober as a judge still sounds awesome. You do need the bass up mind.
Such a chilled album, I love it. This is now one of my go to albums for those time when I want to unwind
really nice album hard to think of any complaints other than it being a bit simplistic and repetitive at times still, I really enjoyed it - 9/10
This is just a perfect trip-hop album, I can't believe I had not heard it before. Loved every second of it.
This was a great, mellow, listen. I was a bit surprised that this came out before Moby came along (unless there's a connection between the two). This album is going to get listened to a lot.
Great chill ambient album. Perfect background music imo. Saved tracks: Pipes Honour, Groove St., (Man) Tha Journey, Cruise(Don't Stop)
Cracking album, super chilled, laid-back trip-hop. I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I just wanted to lay back, roll up a fat one, and get stoned
Loved it. Very diverse sounds across the whole album, feels ahead of it's time. I'd love to hear modern remixes/sampling with most of the songs. I added 3 or 4 while listening and will definitely be back soon. I'd be interested to hear the live set from Freestyle '18 as well. Overall a great early entry in the field of downtempo. 8.5/10
I didn't get all the way through this on my first round of listening but was very much enjoying the music as such that when I was making dinner I put Nightmares On Wax on and very much enjoyed some of their other tracks. Faves on this release would be Groove St., and Rise. Looking forward to spending more time with these guys.
Hooked me from that sample that Passin Me By uses. Chill beats to zone in with
I was very pleasantly surlrised by this album. Looking at the cover and the name I was absolutely expecting reggae which was not the case. Instead I got cool trip hop I could chill to.
I don’t really like this style of music for a whole album, but it’s good for what it was. 8
I find this album really enjoyable and relaxing all the way through. No bad songs. I give it a 4/5, though my parents loved this album when I was growing up so some of the good review may be nostalgia for me.
Early dub and reggae instrumental that paved the way for a ton of future stoner groups.
Reminds me of theivery corporation, though I'm not sure which came first.
This genre is quite relaxing. May listen again when feeling super stressed out.
oh boy. Lovin the triangle on this first track. Great background music and enjoy the range of it
Gotta love some trip-hop. The beats and sounds on this thing are hazy and wacky, lots of cool noises that sound kind of underwater and industrial. Really creative, really interesting and really catchy
The first song is great, jazzy, sophisticated sounding. Great first impression; expecting good things. Nest song a little funkier, more soulful...very nice. A couple more songs inn super smooth, organic...Trip Hop the way Trip Hop should be. Me likey. It does get a little long...a little samey for active listening , becomes more of a background listening experience but a really really good background listening experience. Put this on at a dinner party and I think you have the perfect backdrop. 4 stars
So glad this wasn't a reggae album as I expected. Perfect example of airport music.
Great for listening to on a holiday balcony. Probably wouldn’t have scored it so high otherwise.
Kind a a theoretical 4. This is exactly the kind of stuff I was into 20 years ago, I bores me a little now and I’ve not got time for the full 70mins, but still a place in my heart for triphop.
Pretty interesting jam album. Some songs drag on a bit. But mostly nice melodies. Some people might get bored but I can get into it.
I got heavily into trip hop around the time this album came out. Problem is that I never heard this album until about a decade later so it is never going to be my go to of this genre. I do like the how its sounds are missing link between Acid Jazz and Trip Hop and beyond. This is a great album if nothing but for its legacy
Didn't have the luxury of a nice, long focused listen today but this provided a groovy ambience to my dinner-making. Nothing was particularly standing out until Bless My Soul and its delightful boings. I loved that track and the next, Cruise (Don't Stop), and Rise and its repRise. It's nice. I'll keep it.
Quite the song writer. I'm impressed. I really expected them to be a one hit wonder where everything else sucked. But these guys are good.
Absolutely lovely. I wish this were as good an album as carboot soul, but it still takes me back to the drowsy days of chillout rooms and basement flats with tea in chipped mugs and the smell of weed, tobacco and damp.
Really nice soothing sound. Great background music. Thoroughly enjoyed. B
This is as good as it gets for music to listen to while working or studying or otherwise mentally occupied.
Verrassend! Afgaand op de albumhoes en titel had ik iets ergs verwacht, maar dit vond ik verrassend prettig. En tijdloos voor een plaat uit ‘95.
Pretty cool -- like little beats and tunes with no lyrics. Pretty solid work music and I liked it
Best Trip-Hop album ever? Ok, I've only heard a few but this is tops for me. Absolutely loved the vibe and sounds of this album. This is why I love the 1001 albums list - because of gems like this that I would have never heard otherwise. The album cover really threw me off... So, I was pleasantly surprised it wasn't a cheesy Rap album. I don't think there are any songs that stand out as exceptional, the entire album seems like one seamless work of art best-enjoyed start to finish. 4/5
This is a laid back, slow burn of an album. This is actually great for getting work done to.
I like this one. It's very laid back and dreamy. It is a little long in my opinion (I get fatigued at around the 45-minute mark) but a worthy listen. There are some bassy grooves on here that remind me of dub music, and other tracks are more jazz-inspired. 3.5/5, rounded up Fave tracks: Nights Introlude, Pipes Honour, Cruise (Don't Stop)
Lofi beats to study and relax too mixed with a bit of reage, sounds wonderful. I dig it
I was not a fan of track #2, but other than that, this is excellent background music for working (depending on how much focus is required) and just vibing online. I don't know what other moods this album would fit but I know I will be adding this to my library. :)
I think this is the first album in the electronic genre apart from Kraftwerk that the list has generated so far that I actually liked. No surprise that it’s a Warp release. The tracks on this album sounded composed and organic which is rare for an album in this genre. I didn’t feel like the songwriter was just looping shit repeatedly and adjusting levels to create the track. Looking forward to checking out more of their / his stuff.
I liked this, seems like a good album to have on for a summer bbq or long bike ride, great summer chill album. Went on a bit long. Made me think of Khruangbin at times. Will definitely give a listen to Carboot Soul as that release seems to be held in high standards as well.
I’m not quite sure how this one passed me by: my era (mid 90s), links to Sheffield and Leeds, trip hop. Anyway, it’s really good, lots of genres and influences but sounds great in its own right. Hard to pick a best song as it’s a groove, man, but I’ll go for Nights Introlude.
Really good surprise with this album... Mix of genre and standing out of any other album listened.... Some hip-hop, jazz, electro things blending together and in a good shape in my opinion. Was good to hear. Not perfect ina ll aspect but glad I heard it. Decent 4/5
Probably best when the listener is in fact partaking, but a good listen regardless. A trip-hop staple that takes the ears on a woozy odyssey.
First few tracks I found kind of boring? But as it progressed I found myself grooving more and more. There are tons of ear wormy sounds that start to tickle your brain as the album progresses. I think I need to relisten under the blissful influence of an edible to fully appreciate it.