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Back in 2010, Cherry Red Records rescued Tracie Young’s 1984 debut Far from the Hurting Kind from obscurity. Four years later, the label has returned to the British pop singer’s discography for the first-time release of No Smoke Without Fire. Intended as the follow-up to Hurting Kind, No Smoke was slated to be issued in 1985, only to be consigned to the vaults. Cherry Red’s new edition includes ten songs from the original album plus seven rare bonus tracks from Young’s catalogue.

Tracie Young – sometimes billed just as Tracie – was discovered by “The Modfather” Paul Weller when the singer placed an advertisement seeking singers for his Respond Records label. Young’s demo stood out from the rest, and Weller made her signing a top priority. Before recording solo work for Respond, however, Weller brought the soulful young singer into the fold of The Jam. Young provided background vocals for the band’s final single, “Beat Surrender.” Released in November 1982, it became the group’s fourth Number One hit. Young appeared with Weller and co. on television to promote the single, and when Weller moved on from The Jam to The Style Council, Young was right there with him.

Tracie sang on “Speak Like a Child,” the first single from Weller’s new band, and appeared in its music video, as well. She toured alongside The Style Council, and as promised, Weller launched her as a solo artist on Respond, taking full advantage of her powerful, expressive pipes. In March 1983, Respond released her first single, Paul Barry and John Robinson’s “The House That Jack Built” (no relation to the Aretha Franklin hit). It reached the U.K. Top 10. Her next 45, “Give It Some Emotion,” reached a very respectable plateau of No. 24 in July. In between, NME proclaimed her “the girl star Paul Weller would build” in a March cover story, and Far from the Hurting Kind was issued in June.

Young reunited with The Style Council to add vocals to “Boy Who Cried Wolf” in 1985, and when Respond shuttered the following year, she signed with Polydor to record No Smoke Without Fire. A handful of the album’s tracks (among them Paul Barry’s “Italian Girl,” Paul Weller’s “(When You) Call Me,” KC and the Sunshine Band’s “I Can’t Leave You Alone”) snuck out on 45, but the album was never released until this edition from Cherry Red.

What will you find on this new release?   Hit the jump!

This premiere/expanded edition presents a recreated, 10-track album sequence of No Smoke Without Fire, filled with Young’s soulful music, potent brass, occasional strings and danceable eighties beats. Fitting right into the so-called “sophistipop” genre alongside artists like Weller, Basia, and Everything But the Girl, No Smoke presents an original artist who was able to fuse a classic ‘60s retro-soul sensibility with modern production values mainly courtesy Brian Robson. The new CD adds seven more cuts including early mixes, rare single versions, remixes and a couple of demos (the calypso-flavored “Good for You” and the lush “The Waking Hours”).

Tracie Young provides copious, candid liner notes in which she reflects on the songs that were included and makes mention of the tracks she wished to include that, for one reason or another, proved unavailable for inclusion here. (She mentions that she excluded, by choice, one track from the original planned LP sequence.) A discography of her U.K. releases is also happily provided.

No Smoke Without Fire is an intriguing coda to the recording career of this talented artist, who of late occupies herself as a radio presenter. It’s available now from Cherry Red Records at the link below!

Tracie Young, No Smoke Without Fire (CMRED 615, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Italian Girl
2. I Think You’re Lucky
3. Fingers Crossed
4. Love Without Jealousy
5. I Can’t Leave You Alone
6. Invitation
7. Me and Jimmy Stone
8. The Country Code
9. (When You) Call Me
10. No Smoke Without Fire
11. The House That Jack Built – First Mix
12. Good for You (Demo)
13. I Can’t Leave You Alone – Pick ‘n’ Mix
14. 19 – The Wickham Mix
15. Baby Come Back (7” Version)
16. The Waking Hours (Demo)
17. No Smoke Without Fire – Remix

Tracks 1-10 originally scheduled for release on Polydor, 1986