Sweet - Give Us A Wink (Alternative Mixes And Demos) - 2022
Andy Scott's archives are deep. The man kept everything.
This was the first time Andy was in the producer's chair, along with the rest of the band, with Mack engineering. Andy explains at the top in an interview that Mack added all the intro stuff to "Action" without permission and that he wanted to be the producer but Andy wasn't going to give up his chance.
Had he not remixed it, it would've been a much heavier record and I think that is reflected here.
I think this is the record the band is most proud of. It's Sweet. The theatrics are gone. The Bubblegum is in the past. They are free from all the glitter and show. "Cockroach" and "White Mice" are as heavy as anything the band has done, heavier, in fact.
I think this is better than the original in many ways. The addition of "Fox on the Run" is the selling point, I guess, but this is a beefier record than the 1976 record and I think that's what it should've been from the start.
Side Two is all the unfinished demos of "Yesterday's Rain" and "4th of July" and "Cockroach" and others which sound like Andy laid everything down and then presented it to the rest of the band. I don't know, there's no liner notes. There are unfinished songs here like, "Cold Light", "Give Me Your Love" and "Go Back Home" and "Second Try". They don't make you pine for finished versions but they help complete the Sweet story.
4.25 out of 5
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