The original content of the song was so unacceptable that "My Friend Jack" had to be rewritten before EMI would touch it; finally, it was released in February 1967.

In mainland Europe, however, the final version of the record sold well; the group and their song was supported after appearing on an installment of the successful German television show Beat-Club, alongside Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers.

[citation needed] According to Matthew Greenwald in AllMusic: "The song opens with a tremolo-laden slide guitar riff from Mal Luker, which creates a trippy, unsettling but wholly interesting hook.

The main melody is a bouncy, mid-tempo slice of pop-psychedelia, filled with a buoyancy that equates this to an English version of the Turtles on psychedelic drugs.

"[1] "My Friend Jack" was included in the documentary film John Peel's Record Box, made by Elaine Shepherd, released on 14 November 2005 on Channel 4 (British public-service television).

Original Smoke member Zeke Lund was by now working as a sound engineer for their album's record producer, Frank Farian.