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

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

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - Give Us A Wink (Alternative Mixes And Demos)

 

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

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 - Isolation Boulevard

 

Sweet - Isolation Boulevard - 2021

"Still Got the Rock" is a deep cut. Dabbling in funk-tinged metal, it was the final track on a 2015 compilation CD collection and it's a Scott/Pete Lincoln song. So, it's very not Sweet. That one is 40 tracks and it's one too many. 

Why do this? Why re-record songs that you have already re-recorded in some fashion and do it in isolation during a pandemic and then release it to fans? Oh...right. Pete Lincoln is out as vocalist and Paul Manzi is in. 

This is a Sweet cover band, sanctioned only that the lead guitarist was in the original band and has the rights to the name. I like the songs. But this is only for completists. 

How did Blockbuster not use that song for a commercial?? I have to got a lot of props for the New York Groove in to Empire State of Mind mashup. 

Oh, and my version of Hell Raiser is light years better than this one.

4 out of 5

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 Teenage Rampage

 

Sweet - Teenage Rampage - 1991

Some live recordings from 1972-1975 on Side One. Side Two is all The Rainbow in 1973. 

With how clean these sound for the era, I would wonder if there are some Kiss Alive overdubbing happening. Except that this is a bootleg. And I don't know if these tracks were ever officially released. 

A curio is the song Be With You Soon, which is only available as far as I know on the original Funny How Sweet Co Co Can Be CD. It's not on the original vinyl. And I can't find another version of it.

Many, they recorded a lot. A LOT.

4.5 out of 5

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - Sweetlife

 

Sweet - Sweetlife - 2002

From a review on AOTY: "But I still didn't dislike it. It's an album I could leave in the background, so it wouldn't be too bad. Not much to add there. It's an album and it exists."

Yep. That sums it up. It's on the turntable. I can do other stuff while it's playing. It sounds like what it is: Rock music written by 50-somethings for themselves and using a name they are allowed to use to sell as many copies as they can. 

I can relate. 

Only Andy and drummer Bruce Bisland are still around from The Answer. This time it's Jeff Brown on vocals mostly. He has a very generic hard frock vocals style, indiscriminate and song serving, anonymous while carrying the load. But I feel the same way about Brian Connelly. 

I enjoy the chukka chukka stadium ready stuff like "Do It All Over Again". When it's on. Not sure I would add it to any playlists but I wouldn't be sad if it was on and I couldn't reach the fast forward button.

3.75 out of 5

ASide: Sweetlife

BlindSide: Do It All Over Again

DownSide:

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 - Sweet - NYC (New York Connection)

Andy Scott's Sweet - NYC (New York Connection) 2012 - Rereleased 2025

Released on CD in 2012 and JUST put out on vinyl in 2025.

This is a covers album. Andy Scott, using the name Sweet that he split with Steve Priest, put together a new band, released some originals and then started quite a regurgitation campaign. 

The album is named after the early Sweet composition of the same name which showed up on that Hershey Bar record from 1973. 

For me, the New York Groove/Empire State of Mind mashup is worth the price of admission. But there are other New York-centric treats here. Like Andy Scott's Glam Metal version of "Gold on the Ceiling" and my fave, "You Spin me Round"/ It's a covers record by a bunch of fogey Boomers doing what they love to do. I'm a Sweet fan, so this is right up my alley. Also, Electric Frankenstein is a band I would not have known were it not for this comp.

Honestly, this is one of the best sets of covers I've heard. They make Sweet Jane into an epic and You Spin Me Round is bonkers great. 

4.5 out of 5

ASide: New York Groove/Empire State of Mind, All Moving Faster, 

BlindSide: You Spin Me Round, Sweet Jane
 

The Sweet Spot - Andy Scott's Sweet - The Answer

 

Andy Scott's Sweet - The Answer - 1995

Sweet might have been over after it's Identity Crisis but nothing is gonna keep Andy Scott down. And why should he stop? 46 years old, can still play and he has the rights to the name. 

It's the mid-90s. The makeup and the glitter is gone but the riffs are still rocking.

Andy Scott says that Nikki Sixx reached out to him to produce Crue back in the day when they were first starting out. He didn't think the bass player and the drummer were in sync. Ok. But therein lies the true DNA of Glam/Hair Metal.
Crue was an updating of Sweet. After Glam basically left the consciousness with Bay City Rollers' "Saturday Night", it came roaring back, with more makeup and hairspray and tighter spandex. And better production.
And, on this release, Scott takes a little shot with the inclusion of "Crudely Mott". A bite on a Crue riff, which is a bite on Sweet riffs that Scott made famous.
Time is a flat circle.
This is 90s version of a hard rock band that calls itself Sweet and I happen to think it's just fine, thankyouverymuch.

Mal McNulty is the lead singer here and he's not Brian Connelly but you know what he does sound like? Baz from Massive Wagons. Decidedly British and growly. Not so much a singer but a presence. 

Like most records from the mid-90s...it's way too long, with a lot of filler. And most of it is pretty generic. It almost never ever sounds like Sweet. And at times it sounds like an AC/DC cover band. I'm looking at you, Marshall Stack

The Sweet is one of my favorite bands.

Andy Scott's Sweet is no one's favorite bands. 

3.5 out of 5

ASide: Do As I Say, X-Ray Specs, Crudely Mott

BlindSide: Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again (The Angels cover), Red Tape

DownSide: Nouveau Rock Star

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 - Identity Crisis

 

Sweet - Identity Crisis - 1982

Wow, that title. 

Once the preeminent glam rock band with a bunch of top 10 hits, barely 10 years later and these guys don’t know who they are or what they want to be. 

Hence the title, which is the most ordinary, rote chukka-chukka I’ve heard in a while. 

I mean, 10 years. That’s nothing, right? Apparently, it’s an eon in music. 

I don't know if they are chasing trends but that's what it sounds like. Songs like "Two Into One" could be Oingo Boingo or The Cars. And not just melodically, but also copying Ric Ocasek’s vocal style. It hurts.

The riffs are replaced with driving staccato Power Pop 16th notes. Which one might think I would love but...I just don't. 

Ultimately, songs like "Falling In Love" sound like 3rd rate Ozzy knock offs. But, "Strange Girl" is the closes to the late 70s ELO inspired Sweet that we have come to know. 

3 out of 5

ASide: Falling In Love

BlindSide: Love Is the Cure

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - VI

 

Sweet - VI - 1980

I guess the reason the guys opened with “Sixties Man”, a proggy-smelling Styx rip off written by outside authors is that they must have been searching for a hit/relevance. In doing so they completely abandon everything I liked abut them. That lunacy that bedazzled “Ballroom Blitz” and “Hellraiser” is shorn and instead they are targeting the middle of the road audience that, I guess they believe has…grown up? 

You can hear traces of it on “Own Up” but that has to sit side by side with their penchant for trying to ape ELO. 

“Getting in the Mood for Love” is the moment that you realize that they could have been Crue but they ran away from it. Damned shame. 

In retrospect, Water's Edge is a vastly underrated record. It's not great but it doesn't deserve the hate. 

3.75 out of 5

ASide: Sixties Man, Getting In the Mood for Love, At Midnight

BlindSide: Own Up, Tell The Truth, Give the Lady Some Respect

The Sweet Spot - Sweet - Cut Above the Rest

 

Sweet - Cut Above the Rest - 1979

This album gets derided a lot and I get it. It is the full transformation into classic rock project, a little soft rock, some heavy riffs, some ballads. Here's the thing. In two years this sound would be injected with a lot of hair spray and it would turn Motley Crue into international super stars. "Big Apple Waltz" is practice for "Home Sweet Home". 

Sweet doesn't get their due. 

They are stellar musicians who wrote some good songs and influenced everything from "hair metal" to theatrical rock. 

Cut is not as bad as you might have heard but not as good as you would hope. Although I could do without the Disco hate, especially considering that I could make a good case that Disco comes directly from the four on the floor stomp of Glam. 

3.5 out of 5

ASide: Call Me

BlindSide: Big Apple Waltz, Dorian Gray, Mother Earth, Stay With Me

DownSide: Discophony