The Sweet - Then And Now

[Iris]

Once upon a time there was a band called the Sweet and I liked them. Liked seeing them on Top of the Pops. Liked my badge proclaiming Love Is Like Oxygen. Re-read a great piece the other day in which several of the participants talked about how they made Blockbuster. Prompted by this, I ordered a double cd containing everything I remembered. There's a comprehensive box set of their material also available called Sensational Sweet - pricey but tempting. And two versions of this band still tour. The Sweet, as they were then, as they are now- any thoughts?

[Crawford Glissadevil]

The Sweet were one of my few guilty pleasures. Always thought their drummer was underrated.

[SteveSly]

Big fan here. I own most of their albums on Vinyl, but just have a 2 disc collection on CD. I have never seen them live, but the Steve Priest version of the band released a live album a few years ago "Sweet Live In The USA" that is actually quite good.

[AdventAlan]

Greetings,

Sweet's Desolation Boulevard was one of the pivotal albums that marked my transition into rock music and I enjoyed a lot of the band's music from there up through Cut Above the Rest (with "Discophony" being sort of an anthem for my senior year in high school). Was fortunate to see the 1970s lineup live once and they put on a decent show as I recall. There was a bit of inconsistency in each album, IMO, but I thought they had a great sound and a lot of character.

Cheers,


Alan

[Iris]

Looks like the two versions of the Sweet that tour today have their own different territories - the Andy Scott iteration concentrating on Europe and the Stevie Priest iteration playing to audiences in North America. It would only be a diehard fan therefore that had seen both versions. Wonder how they compare.

[rcarlberg]

The Sweet -- Then and Now

[Jerjo]

The bubble-gum glam singles are definitely in the guilty pleasure category, they make Slade lyrics look profound. But Desolation Boulevard and Give Us a Wink were pretty great.

[Socrates]

Never got any of the albums, but had all the singles up to somewhere around Ballroom Blitz (even the Alexander Graham Bell one, which flopped but I quite liked at the time). I followed them from pop to rock and liked the B-side which they wrote themselves (unlike the A-sides, which were hit-factory products), which tended to have hints of prog. Not something I would listen to now, to be honest, but they were definitely part of the journey towards more interesting music.

[noni]

This was my No 1 band in pop during the 70s... Shame about Brian Connolly though!!..

[per anporth]

I saw them, post-Connolly, at the Marquee in London - one of the loudest, most ferocious performances I have ever witnessed.

[arturs]

The Sweet -- Then and Now

The bottom pic is still the original band isn't it? So that must be mid-90s or so?

[rcarlberg]

Not the original band. Website says: "Sweet at 2012 Concert at the Kings: left to right – Bruce Bisland, Andy Scott, Pete Lincoln, Tony O’Hora"

Top picture: "The Sweet in the mid-1970s. Clockwise from top left: Steve Priest, Brian Connolly, Mick Tucker, Andy Scott."

[arturs]

^^^ thanks. I could've sworn #2 from left was Connolly. But when you look closely it is Scott.

[JJ88]

Brian Connolly has been dead for 20 years. Drummer Mick Tucker has also been gone a long time now. There was a spectacularly grim UK documentary about Connolly which aired mere months before his death. In the 80s/90s Connolly had his own version of the band.

There was still interest in the 'classic' 70s line-up over that period with some strong selling compilations, at one point they'd got together with Mike Chapman again to record new material but that faltered largely due to Connolly.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...trange-history

Talking of B-sides, 'Burning' is another track which again sounds like 80s bands like Motley Crue, some 10 years before the fact. And the album track '4th Of July' is thunderously heavy, Mick Tucker's drumming in particular is terrific.

[Steve983]

Love Is Like Oxygen is an awesome track, miles ahead of their glam rock tracks which were a bit daft imho.

[Zeuhlmate]

This is the band you are praising on the 'main board' ?

[Iris]

I think the Sweet might have been the stepping stone for quite a few people between listening to pop and moving on to prog. Certainly for me they were the band I was listening to when I discovered ELP & Yes.

As for Blockbuster, here's a few quotes from the article that appeared in Uncut Feb. 2018:

'The vocals were difficult. It was like a war between Mike (Chapman) and Brian. Doing it again and again until Brian was blue in the face' (Stevie Priest)

' The vocals didn't come about quickly. You had to nurture Brian in those days. It was a line at a time to get a performance. It was piecemeal' (Phil Wainman, producer).

'I remember the week of Bowie's release being in RCA records and the guy said, "Oh do you want to hear Bowie's new single? It's called Jean Genie.We sat there with horrified looks on our faces. The guy asked what was wrong and we said "That's the same fucking guitar riff as Blockbuster ... A few weeks later we were at No 1 and Bowie was at No 2' (Andy Scott)

Great piece, well worth reading in its entirety.

[JJ88]

Yeah they both 'borrowed' the 'I'm A Man' riff.

Their singles have very little to do with the album tracks/B sides...for one thing Sweet never wrote any of the RCA hits until 'Fox On The Run'. The latter had actually been an album track but the story goes that RCA wanted something rush-released after a single (I think 'Turn It Down') had flopped. They felt 'Fox...' was the one but wanted it re-recorded for the single. Indeed the single version is far superior IMHO.

[Trane]

Sweet's Desolation Boulevard was one of the pivotal albums that marked my transition into rock music and I enjoyed a lot of the band's music from there up through Cut Above the Rest (with "Discophony" being sort of an anthem for my senior year in high school). Was fortunate to see the 1970s lineup live once and they put on a decent show as I recall. There was a bit of inconsistency in each album, IMO, but I thought they had a great sound and a lot of character.

I did kind of like their sound from 74 onwards.

I had tried the two trilogies:
SFA, Blvd and Wink and I kinda liked some tracks, but none came close to Ballroom Biltz, but I find those albums way over-rated by hard rockers.
Record, Level and Cut (the three had recording technology artworks), but I can't say that their proggier attempts really convinced me. Way over-rated by progheads, IMHO

I had done a full 90-mins cassette compilation (one side per trilogy) before returning the loaned albums, but it got destroyed by the car deck >> It wasn't a Maxell XL-IIS, but a Memorex.

Maybe I'll reassess them one day before I die, but I'm in no hurry.

The bubble-gum glam singles are definitely in the guilty pleasure category, they make Slade lyrics look profound. But Desolation Boulevard and Give Us a Wink were pretty great.

Tried Slade, but even less success. Sweet's better moments dug Slade deep into the ground.

Love Is Like Oxygen is an awesome track, miles ahead of their glam rock tracks which were a bit daft imho.

Awesome and Sweet (or Slade FTM) are oxymores, IMHO, but Oxygen is one of their better later tracks.

I think the Sweet might have been the stepping stone for quite a few people between listening to pop and moving on to prog. Certainly for me they were the band I was listening to when I discovered ELP & Yes.

I've read a few here (or on PA), but it's not likely it was a tendency... the "proggier albums" (77 - 79) came too late to make most 70's kids turn onto prog.

[hFx]

As barely in two-digit age, I heard the earlier stuff - kind of "kids approved" (Chapman productions were mostly bubble gum approved) and then I transitioned to hard rock with them, with "Set Me Free". After that, other bands took over...

[Mythos]

Ready Steve?

One of my fav prog bands...

[noni]

The Sweet -- Then and Now

The original member is only Steve in this pic!...

[noni]

Brian Connely got into a fight and lost his voice for some time. He got depressed and boozed himself up. Sad really, loved his voice and singing.

[noni]

I think the Sweet might have been the stepping stone for quite a few people between listening to pop and moving on to prog. Certainly for me they were the band I was listening to when I discovered ELP & Yes.

As for Blockbuster, here's a few quotes from the article that appeared in Uncut Feb. 2018:

'The vocals were difficult. It was like a war between Mike (Chapman) and Brian. Doing it again and again until Brian was blue in the face' (Stevie Priest)

' The vocals didn't come about quickly. You had to nurture Brian in those days. It was a line at a time to get a performance. It was piecemeal' (Phil Wainman, producer).

'I remember the week of Bowie's release being in RCA records and the guy said, "Oh do you want to hear Bowie's new single? It's called Jean Genie.We sat there with horrified looks on our faces. The guy asked what was wrong and we said "That's the same fucking guitar riff as Blockbuster ... A few weeks later we were at No 1 and Bowie was at No 2' (Andy Scott)

Great piece, well worth reading in its entirety.

It's kinda weird really. The same happened to me. This was a stepping stone moving over to Prog. The bands I loved were Sweet and Supertramp. Then while I was sick in bed with flu as a kid, listened to my brothers album Selling England By The Pound. At this point my brother loved watching the Old Grey Whistle Test on TV. I then discovered the band Camel after that. I then moved to bands such as ELP, Yes and Genesis.

[Iris]

It's kinda weird really. The same happened to me. This was a stepping stone moving over to Prog. The bands I loved were Sweet and Supertramp. Then while I was sick in bed with flu as a kid, listened to my brothers album Selling England By The Pound. At this point my brother loved watching the Old Grey Whistle Test on TV. I then discovered the band Camel after that. I then moved to bands such as ELP, Yes and Genesis.

I was telling people at school how good I thought Sweet were and it was explained to me this was commercial music and that, at the age of fifteen, I should be investigating something they called progressive rock. The first opportunity for that came when, after the run down of the charts on a Sunday evening finished at 7 pm, Radio 1 for a short time broadcast a 30 minute programme devoted entirely to one band. Must have been 1974. When one Sunday evening I heard that the programme was about ELP, I knew I had to listen. 30 minutes later, including sitting through Benny The Bouncer, I knew I'd have to try harder: I still preferred Sweet.

Then a few months later someone lent me Close To The Edge and this time I was ready. I loved that album. I still love that album. But I've still got a liking for Sweet all these years later.