The Sweet Spot - Sweet - Platinum Rare

 

Sweet - Platinum Rare - 2021

This was originally put out on CD in the mid 90s, while Andy Scott was recording as "Andy Scott's Sweet". 

I hate thinking of musicians I like as cash grabbers but then again...if you can make some money from stuff you did in your past, why not go for it? At this point, Andy is in his 70s and still playing out with some incarnation of the band and he seems to have everything the band ever recorded. Sadly, this was a lost opportunity to give a history or backstory about each track. Since he doesn't and wants to let the music just speak for itself you have to be very very familiar with the songs to notice any differences. 

That said, there's enough curios for fans like myself to indulge in.

Like "Log One (That Girl)" which I think was previously unreleased and the demo for "Cover Girl" which was the B-Side to Love is Like Oxygen. And "Where Do We Go From Here" and "Maggie". I just wish we had more info on songs like those and what happened to them, what album were they recorded for?

For a long time this was really hard to find, it was an RSD release that would go for about $100 on Discogs. It was just rereleased and you can get it on Experience Vinyl and other places. 

4.25 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - Give Us a Wink

Sweet - Give Us a Wink - 1976

Sweet was always seen by many as ventriloquist band. Puppets of Phil Wainman and the writing team of Chinn and Chapman. 

But they would always insist that the B-Sides of their singles should be written by them and, for the most part, that's what happened. 

And then, after Desolation Boulevard, they took their success and peeled away and wrote and produced this album all on their own. 

It does get a bit indulgent. "Healer" dives deep into that quasi funk, prog sound...for 7 minutes.

"Cockroach" sounds like they have been listening to a LOT of Priest and Sabbath and want to go in that direction. Sure. Why not. They aren't as good as those guys but they try. 

Here's your trivia:

The first side of this record was engineered by Mack. Mack, who, four years later, would produced the megahit album The Game for Freddie, Brian, Roger and John. 

Honestly, I think this is the best work Mack did. 

This is heavy rock made for the radio of the 70s. 

Sadly, this record is all over the place and can't really find a place to land. Sweet demanded that they be taken seriously and they wound up sounding very confused.

Or maybe this is who they really always were.

3.5 out of 5

A Side: Action, The Lies In Your Eyes

BlindSide: Yesterday's Rain, Keep It In

 

The Sweet Spot - Sweet– Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited (Recorded Live In 2012)

 

(Andy Scott's) Sweet – Sweet Fanny Adams Revisited (Recorded Live In 2012) - released on vinyl 2025

Recorded in 2012 this collection is Andy and Bruce Bisland and the band put together for the NYC Connection covers record performing Sweet's breakthrough record Sweet Fanny Adams. Live.

The track order is not the same as the album and I don't know why they did that since it's obviously not one solid concert but live tracks placed in an order...I don't know. 

I really don't get these guys sometimes.

3.5 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - Fox on the Run Rare Studio Tracks

 

Sweet - Fox on the Run Rare Studio Tracks - 2013

Andy Scott kept everything. 

From the notes: "The tracks are drawn from guitarist Andy Scott's personal archive. They instead serve up an alternative view of Sweet, captured across each of the arenas that they bestrode like glitter-soaked colossuses. A couple of cuts are live, from a performance taped at the very height of their hit making powers. We hear Sweet on television, blasting away the cobwebs that once draped TV performances like a shroud; and we hear them in the studio, via alternate takes and early mixes of songs that would soon be proclaimed as anthems".

I am not entirely sure what the alts are until the outro guitar solo of "Ballroom Blitz" happens and then you realize that it was...a different take. 

The thing about Sweet is that they have repackaged everything they have over and over and over and I can't blame Andy Scott. His band is relegated to the "Bubblegum" footnote status and yet, I can make the case that they are almost single handedly responsible for the Glam Metal revival of the 80s. Nikki Sixx contact Andy to produce them when they were first starting. Andy kept EVERYTHING from every session he could and that's why there are SO many alternate takes of just about every track. I love Sweet so I am totally fine with that.

4.75 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet - Collection

 

The Sweet - Collection - 1989

After so many compilations that were Chinn and Chapman heavy we get this release that is 20 terrific Sweet tracks but only FIVE from C&C, one cover (Peppermint Twist) and 14 songs written by the actual guys. It's like a Best Of Deep Cuts. And it's a lot. But it's also a sweet (he he) respite from the bubblegum. This is a harder collection and it makes for a great playlist. 

4.25 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet - Blockbusters

 

The Sweet - Blockbusters - 1989

For my money, up to this point, this is best compilation. It starts out hard, instead of burying the lead, it opens with "Ballroom Blitz", smashes into "Hell Raiser" returning to an old nugget, "New York Connection", reminding you why you came, with "Little Willy" and just keeps going from there. 

It's on Side Two that you get the flimsier, treacle like "Poppa Joe" and "Funny Funny".

Blockbusters is the playlist that defines how Sweet were the Glam Rock band that invented Hair Metal and influenced Theatrical Rock.

Until this compilation there was no way to get the studio version of "Rock and Roll Disgrace" except as the B-Side to "Ballroom Blitz" in 1973. And that hit wasn't even included on a full length album until the US version of Desolation Boulevard. 

But that's the Sweet Way. Hold one or two songs off so that if you are a kookoo completist you can only get your ears on it if you bought the collection it came on. 

The other first time studio version song here is "Burning" which was live on Strung Up but not on any comps. This was the B-Side to "Hell Raiser".

Are you confused? 

Good. So am I.

5 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet - Starke Zeiten

 

The Sweet - Starke Zeiten - 1988

Sweet was popular...in Germany.

8 singles went to number 1. "Action hit #2. "Poppa Joe", number 3. The only track here that didn't crack the Deutschland Top Ten was the early "Alexander Graham Bell" which stalled at #24.

So, it would make sense that there would be a compilation of their top 16 hits put out in that country.

There are no suprises, it's another all killer-no filler collection.

5 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - Billy Connelly & The Sweet - Greatest Hits

 

The Sweet - Greatest Hits - 1986

Brian Connolly was the lead singer of Sweet and his story is...incredibly sad.

Brian was abandoned as an infant by his teenage mother and adopted by his foster family, the McManuses. His half brother would go on to have a successful acting career, but when Brian discovered his actual lineage, he changed his name to his mother's surname.

Replacing Ian Gillan in Wainwright's Gentlemen, Brian would become the lead singer of the Sweetshop with fellow Gentleman, Mick Tucker, eventually changing the name to The Sweet.

There's an anecdote that Brian was badly beaten at a pub just before they were supposed to go out on tour supporting The Who. So, that didn't happen. 

There's a lot more to Brian's story after that. Solo work, other bands, a New Sweet, a reunion and decaying health. 

In 1981, bloated and having had a bunch of heart attacks, he became paralized on one side and developed some mental disorders. 

More heart attacks, liver failure, kidney failure all built to the point where Brian lost his life at 51 in 1997.

At some point he put a New Sweet together and rerecorded a bunch of the songs that had brought him fame. 

This album, on Success records, might be the worst album in my collection. Brian sounds terrible. The band has no life. Might as well be karaoke. 

0.5 out of 5

DownSide: The whole thing. 

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet - Sweet 16: It's It's....Sweet's Hits

 

The Sweet -Sweet 16: It's It's...Sweet's Hits

Why does this exist? I don't know. Who put it out? I don't know, let's check...Anagram.

Who is Anagram?

Anagram is a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records in the UK. 

Why is it Sweet 16? Well, first off, Sweet basically kicked off in 1968 and this is 16 years later. And there are 16 tracks on this. 

And, you know what?

This is all killer, no filler. Honestly, if you want the best of The Sweet, from the early "Alexander Graham Bell" all the way to "Love is Like Oxygen", this is the collection. 

It runs in chronological order tracing the band's evolution of Bubbleglammers to Prog-rock specialists. 

But we have to quote the back liners:

"Alexander Graham Bell" let The sweet Sixteens on a Teenage Rampage. His abandoned Sweetheart who sighed "Your Love is like oxygen" but I can see The Lies in Your Eyes. Felt like a Fox on the Run until she met Wig Wam Bam and his pal Little Willy. "You're a Rebel Rouser Alexander!" Exclaimed Wigwam Bam as the Action was turned into a Ballroom Blitz. Then the locale Hell Raiser, Poppa Joe, arrived with the Lost Angeles and sadly they all climbed the Stairway to the Stars. Surely this could be turned into a Blockbuster for all Sweet 16 year olds.

That was written by James Horrocks, who compiled this collection and Cathy Smith. I don't know who she is. 

16...they got 'em all in there. 

Might be my favorite liner notes of all time. 

5 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - Desolation Boulevard

 

Sweet - Desolation Boulevard - 1974

This thing explodes the way those great records of 1975 do. A Night at the Opera. Destroyer. Desolation Boulevard.

Side One is all Chinn and Chapman but not bubblegum. It's Rocky Horror style metal. "Let's be in it together"??? LOL

Side Two is all Sweet and it contains one of the signature songs of the 70s. A song that proved that what they learned from C&C, they were able to integrate into their own more proggy, metal sensibilities. Of course, that song is "Fox On the Run".

For the kind of record this is, it's a 5 star record. There are no ballads, no experimental guitar noodling. Okay, maybe a little on Sweet F.A. (and that song is problematic, lyrically, but...it's 1975. Springsteen was problematic).

If you never listen to another Sweet record, listen to this one. 

But not the European version. You want to US version. That's the one with Ballroom Blitz on it. 

5 out of 5

ASide: Ballroom Blitz, The 6-Teens, No You Don't, AC/DC, I Wanna Be Committed, Sweet F.A., Fox On the Run, Set Me Free

BlindSide: Into the Night, Solid Gold Brass

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet - Sweet Fanny Adams

 

(The) Sweet - Sweet Fanny Adams - 1974

Sweet's proper 2nd album, which really was the first proper album since the others were comprised of singles is Sweet Fanny Adams. An album that features about 2/3s of songs written by the band or band members. And half of the album is going to appear later on ANOTHER record. 

The album went Gold in the UK but was but a blip anywhere outside of Europe. 

It opens with the explosive classic rocker by Andy Scott, "Set Me Free" and that sets the tone that this is a different Sweet than the bubblegum guys. "Heartbreak Today" bites hard on Brian May style Queen but Sweet was always doing vocal harmonies. None more Queen-esque than here, though. 

And "Rebel Rouser" sees the guys trying to write like Chinn and Chapman. And it's not terrible. They get the formula. 

Four tracks, Heartbreak Today, Rebel Rouser, Peppermint Twist (a pretty good Glam take) , Restless, do not show up on that next record. 

A Side: Set Me Free, No You Don't, Sweet F.A., AC/DC

BlindSide: Heartbreak Today, Rebel Rouser 

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet - The Sweet Featuring "Little Willy" & "Blockbuster"

 

The Sweet Featuring "Little Willy" & Blockbuster - 1973

So, Sweet had a hit across the pond. "Little Willy" reached #4 on the US Singles charts, #1 in Canada, #3 US Billboard Hot 100 and was #18 for the year in the US.  It was inevitable that that song, along with many other singles would get repackaged for sale.

This is that record. 

Bell put it out and it does contain seven tracks that are on the previous albums we covered. 

However, there are three that make this collection essential. "Need a Lot of Lovin', a Sweet penned track and two brilliant Chinn and Chapmans: First is the precursor to "Ballroom Blitz", the enormous "Blockbuster" and my favorite Sweet song, one of my favorite songs of all time, "Hell Raiser".

A couple things about Hell Raiser: First off, it was released in 1973. The same year as Rocky Horror Show. I don't know if O'Brien was listening to Sweet or if Chinn and Chapman heard the original songs from the stage show but Hell Raiser came out just before Rocky and they share the same DNA. 

Here's the other thing. When my band played our version of Hell Raiser in concert, people would come up to us and ask us what that Motley Crue song was that we did. It was then that I realized the direct relationship between the original glam bands, with makeup and spandex and the 80s glam metal bands, who also wore spandex, makeup but added more hair spray. There's a direct line from Sweet and Rocky Horror to Crue and all the Glam Metal bands of the 80s.

And if you wanna hear our version, it's on  our album. Which you can buy here: https://throttlebacksparky.bandcamp.com/

4.5 out of 5

A Side: Little Willy, Wig Wam Bam, Hell Raiser, Blockbuster

BlindSide: New York Connection, Done Me Wrong All Right, You're Not Wrong for Loving Me

The Sweet Spot - The Sweet - The Sweet's Biggest Hits

 My band covered a Sweet song. 

I have a long love for the bubbleglam tunes by this group. 

Then I went to a record store and they had inherited someone's Sweet collection. He was an inveterate fan. Clippings. Hand written lyrics. 17 unopened copies of Off The Record (I only needed one).

I decided to pick up where he left off. 

Let's look at the more than 30 Sweet records I have. 

The Sweet - The Sweet's Biggest Hits - 1972

I was really little. Like, teeny. And I was on the back of my aunt's bicycle. She had a transistor radio and she listened to top 40 radio. And one of the biggest hits of the day was by The Sweet. 

It was "Little Willy".

"Little Willy" might as well have been "Funny Funny" or "Co Co" with a heavier T. Rex stomp and a touch of modulation. Where "Bang a Gong" was brilliant but a little laconic, "Willy" had just a bit more edge. 

Still unreleased outside of Europe, this collection overlaps with Funny How Sweet on a few tracks but includes 7 singles and b-sides like "Poppa Joe" which modulates 5 times and really seems to be an excuse to practice that kind of escalating weirdness and "Alexander Graham Bell.

But, what I think is most exciting and telling is track 3, ""Done Me Wrong All Right". That one is written not by Chinn and Chapman but Brian Connolly, Steve Priest, Andy Scott and Mick Tucker. Not their first releaase as Sweet but a definite departure from the Bubblegum Pop. It's heavier and almost prog rock.

If you asked Andy to talk about this he would tell you, the real Sweet was on the B-Side. 

And this collection ends with three more of those, which, when you get to, make you think you're actually listening to a different band. 

3.75 out 5

A Side: Wig Wam Bam, Little Willy, Poppa Joe, Funny Funny, Alexander Graham Bell

BlindSide: Done Me Wrong All Right, You're Not Wrong for Loving Me

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - 10 Years On Top (Funny How Sweet Co Co Can Be)

 My band covered a Sweet song. 

I have a long love for the bubbleglam tunes by this group. 

Then I went to a record store and they had inherited someone's Sweet collection. He was an inveterate fan. Clippings. Hand written lyrics. 17 unopened copies of Off The Record (I only needed one).

I decided to pick up where he left off. 

Let's look at the more than 30 Sweet records I have. 

Sweet - 10 Years On Top - 1978

I recently gave a lecture about Glam Rock, tracing it's modern roots from the Beatles, through The Monkees, The Archies, T. Rex, Bowie, Elton, Queen into Sweet and culminating with Motley Crue.

And the throughline was advertising because once The Beatles hit, finding a way to capitalize on their success was a priority, which is how we got The Monkees.

The Archies made a song about Sugar and got a Saturday Morning cartoon show. Or it was the other way around. 

One of the best at writing that sort of sugary bubblegum confection was the team of Mike Chapman and Nikki Chinn and in the late 60s, they teamed up with producer Phil Wainman and an up and coming band called The Sweetshop. Incidentally, 10 years later, Wainman would produce the New Wave classic "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats.

Sweet's origin story goes back to a National contest highlighted on BBC1 and featured Ian Gillan on vocals. 

But, once they put the actual lineup we would come to know together and start working with Chinn and Chapman, they started releasing a bunch of bubblegum singles. 

Their first album, Funy How Sweet CoCo Can Be, was not released in the US, which is why we are starting here, 10 years after their formation. 10 Years on Top is essentially Funny How Sweet, minus 2 tracks and adding one.

And that's something Sweet would do a lot: Put out compilations that were missing a track or two. So completists like myself would have to buy more and more and more.

Let's listen to the origins of The Sweet, which is the name they would go by until they dropped the definite article "the".

This is The Sweet Spot. A reflection on the original Bubblegum Glam band. 

So, Funny How Sweet Coco Can Be is basically a collection of singles that the band put out when they connected with upcoming songwriters Chinn and Chapman. Funny Funny is basically their version of Sugar Sugar. And it was hit. 

Peppered in among the pre-fab hits were some songs written by the band themselves, like Honeysuckle Love. And some misfires, like their cover of Reflections. 

But, when you listen to Santa Monica Sunshine, it's obvious, this is the sound of the 70s. It's influenced by the Southern California aesthetic, hence the title. That was the nexus of rock music and hollywood and Sweet, led by Chinn and Chapman were basically writing the songs that would influence just about every TV show from dramas to cop shows to kids programming for the next few years. 

I don't think you get any memorable Sid and Marty Krofft shows without these songs (and tracks like them).

While this album contains a couple later "hits" like, "Wig Wam Bam" and "Man from Mecca" and is missing the b side "Jeanie", this is the place to start with Sweet if you can't get a copy of Funny How Sweet, which is really difficult to find outside of Europe. 

3.75 out of 5

A Side: Co-Co, Funny Funny

Blind Side: Santa Monica Sunshine, Tom Tom Turnaround

DownSide: Reflections