Smoke Time

Description

Blurt was founded in Stroud, UK, in 1979 as part of the post-punk movement by poet, saxophonist und puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of psychedelic group Quintessence, on drums and Peter Creese on guitar. After three albums Creese left the band to be replaced by Herman Martin on synthesizers who, after a year of constant touring left the band, and was replaced by Steve Eagles, former member of Satan's Rats, The Photos and Bang Bang Machine. Shortly thereafter Jake Milton left to be replaced by Nic Murcott, who was subsequently replaced by Paul Wigens. Most of Blurt's compositions feature simple, repetitive, minimalistic guitar and/or saxophone phrases, but they can also explore more abstract musical territories, often serving as an atmospheric backdrop for Ted Milton's existentialist poetry. The music has been described as Dada-Avantgarde-Jazz or Paranoid Jazz-Mutant Funk. Practically impossible to pigeonhole. In the early 1990s, Ted Milton also released a small run of self-made lyrics books. Smoke Time was originally released in 1987 on the Toeblock label and features some of the group's best known songs. The mini-album The Body came out the next year with a new version of the title song and four songs that became standards in Blurt live shows. Remastered in 2025 by Martin Bowes.