Smokie's final album, 1982's
Strangers in Paradise was the ideal follow-up to the now three-year-old
Other Side of the Road -- musically and lyrically, it's as strong as
Smokie ever were, with the title track and "Two Strangers Falling" surely ranking up there with the best of the band's output. But the production was distinctly old-fashioned, as though the entire album had been recorded four or five years earlier, then left in a box 'till the time was right. Or, in this case, wrong. Add a record label that really didn't raise a finger to promote the band, and a musical climate that had long since moved away from the standards that
Smokie held so dear, and the band weren't simply out of time, they were out of place as well.