Elly Roberts reviews
Sweet: The Very Best of Sweet
Distributed by
Sony/BMG
- Released: January 2005
- Rating: 8/10
- Cat.no.: 82876668172
Fairground favourites and Glam-Rock giants get a new lease of life.
There couldn’t be a better group to take you back to the halcyon days of
Glam-Rock than Sweet. The bubblegum band made several early efforts which
flopped. It was writers-producers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman aka Chinnichap
who turned their fortunes around in 1971.
Order of the day for the quartet was a great cut and blow dry, lurex flares
and platform soles. In the UK the band were never taken seriously - an image
problem didn’t help matters. Just about everywhere else they became big stars -
including America.
Gooey anthemic pop songs (don’t ask me why I liked them) were slated by the
British music press. Behind the limp Top Of The Pops appearances,things were
very different. Mecca Ballroom circuit banned them. Belgian police arrested
them for involving "Overtly obscene sexual stage performance", only serving to
enhance their growing live reputation.
Now you can get a piece of the ‘Action’ from their prolific seven year chart
tenure, lasting a total 159 weeks. In that time they amassed 16 top 50 hits,
with only one topper – Blockbuster in January ‘73 – and five number 2’s.
It includes pure pop to heavy metal (which often cropped up on B-sides),
three chord wonders and intricate arrangements like Love Is Like Oxygen
(a world-wide hit) and Little Willy.
Unlike their Glam contemporaries, like Slade and T.Rex, they crossed ‘the pond’
with great effect,supporting Kiss, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Rainbow
between ’75 and ’80. US hits included Ballroom Blitz (which popped up
in Wayne’s World flick) and Oxygen, peaking at number 2.
Sweet charted in the UK in the '70s, '80s and '90s selling 30 million records.
Singer Brian Connolly died in 1997: drummer Mick Tucker died in 2002.
Guitarist Andy Scott, a native of my hometown Wrexham, still tours with the
name,and new band mates Jeff Brown (bass), Bruce Bisland (drums) and Steve
Grant (keys and guitar).
DVDfever Dom adds: "I saw Sweet perform at a Xmas do in 1995,
fronted by Brian Connolly. It was obvious he wasn't a well man then. As he gave
his all, I once caught his eye and I could see in an instant that for his own
good he clearly shouldn't have been there as I saw the pained expression in
his face.
On a more upbeat note, whenever I hear an ambulance racing down the main road
with its siren blaring, I can't help but play the start of 'Blockbuster' in
my head..."
The full list of tracks included are as follows (track 18-20 are rare
tracks taken from B-sides):
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
