The Sweet Spot - Andy Scott's Sweet - Full Circle

 

(Andy Scott's) Sweet - Full Circle - 2024

Life is a circus, surrounded by clowns...

I can imagine that Andy Scott's life has been a rollarcoaster. You come in as a replacement guitarist to a bubblegum band in the late 60s. Reach a pinnacle of sales in the 70s. Basically provide the blueprint for "Hair Metal"'s riffs and get no credit for it. Mick Mars and the rest of Crue owes you everything but to the rest of the world you are "Ballroom Blitz" and nothing else.

Here you are in your mid-70s. You are the last remaining member of that storied band. And you still wanna rock. 

This is the last album under that moniker. "The Answer" was 1992 when it was first released. Sweetlife was 2002. It's been 22 years since any original music was put out under the name.

And it rocks with riffs, the kind of soaring glam metal songs that a band that wishes it was still 1985 would make. Paul Manzi is the vocalist. He's more snarly than Brian would ever have been. And undecipherable from Mal McNulty. In other words, totally serviceable. 

One thing is, you aren't going to get truly emotionally wistful or nostalgic stuff from these guys. It's rawk. 

I love Sweet and I love Andy so this gets a little more oomph from me. 

B+ 

ASide: Circus, Destination Hannover, Full Circle

BlindSide: Burning Like a Falling Star, Changes

Reflecting Pool - Green Day - Saviors

Instead of turning into a pure nostalgia act, Green Day, like Pearl Jam and Weezer, the standing giants of the 90s, keep pumping out record after record.

I, for one, didn't HATE Father of..., and I really can't remember a thing from Revolution Radio. 

This one got announced as I was in the fever pitch of record collecting so, it was perfect for me. As I sat in an airport in Toronto and got a notification, boom, pre order. 

It's incredibly listenable. And some of it ("Father to a Son") makes me cry.

The gang has been together since the 80s. No kidding. They started playing together in High School. 39/Smooth was released in 1990. That's crazy. Almost 40 years. Did you know that?

This one sounds like a professional band that plays what it knows how to play and it never falters. 

Grade: A

ASide: The American Dream is Killing Me, Look Man, No Brains!, Coma City, Strange days are Here to Stay, Father to a Son

BlindSide: Bobby Sox, One Eyed Bastard, Goodnight Adeline, Corvette Summer, Suzy Chapstick

DownSide: 

The Format - Boycott Heaven

The Format

Boycott Heaven

2026

The Vanity Label

After 20 years Nate Ruess got back together with Sam Means, with whom he should have stayed in the first place (although he would make the monies with fun.), and have graced us all with a new Format record.

And I love it. 

Harder and much crunchier than any Format or Fun record. And of course it is. Nate used to write songs by singing them and getting other musicians to flesh them out. So they were all melody and nuance and indifferent to conformity and structural rules.

But then he learned guitar. And that has resulted in Boycott Heaven's edge and anger.
But it's not without it's own nostalgia for those mid-aughts anxieties and forlornness. I find myself crying at times, but that's because I really really miss those days.
The days of The Format and Fun and Steel Train and The Heavenly States and The Cat Empire and The Fratellis...The age of Napster and Audiogalaxy. When the music was widely shared (to the detriment of pockebooks) but before it all felt so commodified.
But this record is angrier then Dog Problems in it's approach. Not in the emotions. But it the approach.
What is even stranger to me is that it's produced by Brendan O'Brien and not Stephen McDonald who did Dog Problems and Aim & Ignite and Steel Train but...when I listen to it, especially the song, "Depressed"...Nate Ruess and Sam Means seem to have made an excellent Redd Kross record.
Time is a flat circle.

Grade: A

ASide: Holy Roller, Shot in the Dark, Depressed, Human Nature

BlindSide: No You Don't, Right Where I Belong, 

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Zoot - Just Zoot

Zoot

Just Zoot

1970

Before he was Rick Springfield, he was Rick Springthorpe and he was the guitarist for the Australian band, Zoot in the 60s. Rick's songwriting suggests, yes, he should have a huge career ahead of him. "Flying" is a prime example. 

But he's not the only songwriter here. But, I believe he's the only member of the band that wrote any songs. Which is weird since Beeb Birtles would go on to form Little River Band. But I don't see any songs credited to him here. 

"Who's Afraid of You" couldn't be more Who influenced or maybe it's The Easybeats. But it showcases Rick's guitar proficiency. 

There's a lot of psychedelic neo-folk and that's to be expected. It's 1970. 

3.5 out of 5

ASide: One Times, Two Times, Three Times Four, Mr. Songwriter, Monty and Me

BlindSide: Flying

DownSide: Who's Afraid of You

 

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Big Hits - Greatest Hits Volume 2

 

Big Hits

Greatest Hits Volume 2

2025

Sing Records

Hits! Hits! Hits!

Or are they?

You know what this is? A great collection of songs, many of which were never put on vinyl, some didn't stream until recently. 

Stuff from Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance, an album of his I adored when it came out. And some from Venus in Overdrive, which I gave a B+ to here: https://septenary.blogspot.com/search?q=venus+in+overdrive.

And my favorite RS song, the one he did with Foo Fighters. The one I would've put Throttle Back Sparky back together for if I was invited to participate in the RS tribute record (which I wasn't), "The Man that Never Was."

And stuff from Rocket Science and Songs for the End of the World.

The unreleased singles, "Who Killed Rock and Roll?" and "Party at the Beach Bar" are both worthy additions to the RS pantheon of songs I would like to see live. 

In other words, "hits" is doing a lot of heavy lifting on this offering but, man am I glad to have this on vinyl and in my collection.

4.75 out of 5

ASide: I'll Make You Happy, What's Victoria's Secret, The Man That Never Was, Will I?, Light This Party Up, Venus in Overdrive, Automatic

BlindSide: Wide Awake, Our Ship's Sinking, Down, World Start Turning (Orchestral Version), Little Demon Live N ew Year's Eve 2019, Party At The Beach Bar

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Automatic

 

Automatic

SVR Records

2023

The man just won't stop recording. And, unlike the guy who kept getting mistaken for, Rick is operating at high energy. He won't slow down. I don't think he can. But he's not aggro. His blood just courses with adrenalin and God and sex and love. Depression will do that to you.

He's 74 here. And this is the best he's sounded, popwise, in ages. Well, since Rocket Science. Which was just a couple years past. 

It gets a bit mired in the electro-dance pop that Rick sometimes finds himself gravitating to. 

The first half is a good RS record. The second half is a bit of a drag. 

ASide: Exit Wound, She Walks With Angels, Automatic, We Are Eternal

BlindSide: Broke House, When God Forgets My Name, Heroes

DownSide: Fake It Til You Make It, Did I just Say That Out Loud?

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - The Red Locusts

2021

Lollipop Records

If The Beatles were fronted by Rick, it would sound like this. Because that's what this is. "Locusts"? "Beetles"? 

Remember that Zoot did a fantastically bizarre version of "Eleanor Rigby" in the late 60s? This is just keeping that fire burning.

Thing is...while it's deeply John and Paul flavored, it's 100% Rick. 

Where Utopia's Deface the Music was seemingly designed to say, "See? It's easy to do what they did!" The Red Locusts seems to be saying, "Man, we loved what they did. We hope we came even slightly close."

Paul Ramon was the name Paul McCartney would use as a pseudonym in his very early days with the silver beetles.

So, it makes sense that, when he would write an album in the style of The Beatles and early Power Pop, Rick Springfield would use that name as nod to the great Paul McCartney.

He teamed up with the Bissonette brothers and the three of them, along with a keyboardist and an additional guitarist to create The Red Locusts. Rick said, “We wanted to do an album that was influenced but would send us to Beatle jail”

Give a listen for a sec.

The song Miss Daisy Hawkins is based on the original name for Eleanor Rigby and could definitely get them in that jail.

As an inveterate lover of all things Rick Springfield, when I learned that this was available on vinyl, it became a grail.

It's a perfect Power Pop homage to the greats.

4.25 out of 5

ASide: Another Bad Day for Cupid, Miss Daisy Hawkins, Honestly

BlidSide: Sons and Daughters, Glow Worm

DownSide:

 

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - The Snake King

 

The Snake King

Soulfood Music

Frontiers Music

2018

Rick Springfield, Blues Man?!

Yes. 

For all the Noah Drakey/Jessie's Girlian/Mission Magic telegenic actory stuff, Rick is, above all things, a musician. He's also good friends with Tim Pierce who is all over this thing, showing why he's one of the best guitarists of the modern era. 

But it's not just Tim. It's Jorge Palacios. And so many others. AND Rick, who solos here with the best of them. Check him out on the title track.

This was one of my favorite discoveries of the past few years because it's hard to break through the Taylor Swift and Pop noise when you are a 68 year old who is only known for those TV shots and pop tunes of the 80s.

4.25 out of 5

ASide:In the Land of the Blind, The Devil That You Know, Jesus Was An Atheist, Santa Is An Anagram

BlindSide: The Snake King, The Voodoo House, Orpheus in the Underworld

DownSide:

From Zoot to Chrome - The Rick Springfield Retrospective - Jack Chrome and the Darkness Waltz by The Morris Springfield Project

Jack Chrome and the Darkness Waltz

2021

Ambition Records

Until about 2 weeks before this writing I had no idea that this project existed. 

Russell and Rick have known each other for decades. Morris sent Rick a song. Rick sent one back. Next thing you know, they are collaborating on a bluesy, folksy, dark meditation on the Dias de Los Muertos. 

It's moody and emotive. It would work in a David Lynch movie and I think I could hear Tom Waits covering this whole album. 

4 out of 5

ASide: I Am Jack Chrome, Carmelita's Dance

BlindSide: Death Drives a Cadillac, We Are the Dead, La Calavera Catrina, The Darkness Waltz

 

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet – Desolation Boulevard (Live & Demos - 50th Anniversary)

 

The Sweet – Desolation Boulevard (Live & Demos - 50th Anniversary) - 2025

It's not an RSD without some kind of Sweet release and this one might be the worst. 

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their greatest achievement Andy has pulled out some live recordings where Brian sounds as bad as he did on that reformed version of the band he put together. 

Surely there could have been an opportunity to really do up the 50th anniversary of this seminal Glam rock record but maybe no one wanted anything to do with Andy or maybe it was the rights, I don't know. 

Instead what we got was the last released by this band, and it might be the final release ever. It's half live tracks and half Andy demos and I own it and it's really not great. 

1.5 out of 5