Sweet
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Sweet
As an avid buyer of records in the Glam period, I bought LPs by most of the usual suspects - T Rex, Bowie, Slade, Gary Glitter etc - but despite loving Sweet, and buying ALL their singles from Blockbuster onwards, I never owned one of their albums*
With this new complete box set out now, it occurs to me why that was.
They didn't release one during their annus mirabilii of 1972 and 1973.
Funny How Sweet Co-co Can Be - snappy title, boys - came out in Nov 71 and Sweet Fanny Adams didn't get released till April 74, by which time their star had not exactly faded but lets just say it burned a little less brightly as other bands had moved in on their territory - Mud for starters, in the Chinnichap stable.
Anyone know WHY they didn't capitalise on their pop success?
I know they put out a Greatest Hits in late 72, but that still leaves the whole of 73 - the year of Blockbuster, Hell Raiser, Ballroom Blitz and Teenage Rampage - unrepresented in the album department;
* aside from that weird one on MFP that was half Sweet and half The Pipkins
With this new complete box set out now, it occurs to me why that was.
They didn't release one during their annus mirabilii of 1972 and 1973.
Funny How Sweet Co-co Can Be - snappy title, boys - came out in Nov 71 and Sweet Fanny Adams didn't get released till April 74, by which time their star had not exactly faded but lets just say it burned a little less brightly as other bands had moved in on their territory - Mud for starters, in the Chinnichap stable.
Anyone know WHY they didn't capitalise on their pop success?
I know they put out a Greatest Hits in late 72, but that still leaves the whole of 73 - the year of Blockbuster, Hell Raiser, Ballroom Blitz and Teenage Rampage - unrepresented in the album department;
* aside from that weird one on MFP that was half Sweet and half The Pipkins
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Re: Sweet
Wikipedia mentions that their albums never reached the same heights as their singles did- was it perhaps a Chinn/Chapman-decision to focus on releasing singles and tour their ass off promoting them?
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Re: Sweet
But the point is that they didn't *release* one at the height of their popularity.
Maybe if they had, and packed it with those hits, they would have had a smash.
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Maybe if they had, and packed it with those hits, they would have had a smash.
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- The Modernist
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Re: Sweet
Who's got the Reynolds book on glam? I know he devotes quite lot of attention to Sweet, so he probably provides some kind of answer?
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Re: Sweet
The only albums of theirs I remember being in the record store racks over here was Level Headed, but that was '78, and I used to see Desolation Blvd. in the used racks.
They had their hits over here, Ballroom Blitz, Fox on the Run, Little Willy, and Love is Like Oxygen, but that was it.
This is a great single record comp.
They had their hits over here, Ballroom Blitz, Fox on the Run, Little Willy, and Love is Like Oxygen, but that was it.
This is a great single record comp.
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Re: Sweet
This pic just made the rounds on Facebook this werekend - Sweet fans protesting the removal of the Runaways from a concert bill, supposedly because Sweet didn't want to play with a bunch of girls!
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Re: Sweet
The Slider wrote:Anyone know WHY they didn't capitalise on their pop success?
I don't know but I think I can vaguely recall there being a contractual thing between the US & UK that prevented a release - on top of touring etc. Or maybe it was a disagreement with Chinn & Chapman over what should be included..... something along those lines.
If that isn't it, I'd like to know why too
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Re: Sweet
My first Sweet album. It was certainly presented in the US as if it were their new album - I didn't actually know it was a comp until reading this thread!
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Re: Sweet
never/ever wrote:Wikipedia mentions that their albums never reached the same heights as their singles did- was it perhaps a Chinn/Chapman-decision to focus on releasing singles and tour their ass off promoting them?
Which is probably why they never broke the US. Because of FM radio, rock became a very album oriented format over here.
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Re: Sweet
Sneelock wrote:yeah, I knew "Little Willy" and I knew it was Sweet but "Desolation Boulevard" was a BIG hairy deal in my teenaged album oriented FM rock world.
For me the stretch of albums from '74 to '77, highlighted by 'Desolation Boulevard' was their true musical peak.
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Re: Sweet
The Modernist wrote:Who's got the Reynolds book on glam? I know he devotes quite lot of attention to Sweet, so he probably provides some kind of answer?
Reynolds book on Glam is the very last place I would go for anything resembling fact
It is an utter shambles, full of historical inaccuracies.
It is a mildly diverting read, but he wasn't there and his research is very much wanting.
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Re: Sweet
I am suspecting that the answer is to do with contracts, as DD suggests.
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Re: Sweet
pcqgod wrote:Sneelock wrote:yeah, I knew "Little Willy" and I knew it was Sweet but "Desolation Boulevard" was a BIG hairy deal in my teenaged album oriented FM rock world.
For me the stretch of albums from '74 to '77, highlighted by 'Desolation Boulevard' was their true musical peak.
The Desolation Boulevard we knew in this country was another hodgepodge.
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Re: Sweet
Charlie O. wrote:pcqgod wrote:Sneelock wrote:yeah, I knew "Little Willy" and I knew it was Sweet but "Desolation Boulevard" was a BIG hairy deal in my teenaged album oriented FM rock world.
For me the stretch of albums from '74 to '77, highlighted by 'Desolation Boulevard' was their true musical peak.
The Desolation Boulevard we knew in this country was another hodgepodge.
Yep. The U.S. version was the one I knew for years. I collected the entire set of remastered albums several years ago and was surprised by how consistent the stretch between Sweet Fanny Adams and Off the Record were. I love those early bubblegummy singles, too, but I prefer Sweet in their more arena rock mode, which still retains plenty of their pop in the mix.
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Re: Sweet
That stuff is fine
It kind of reminds me of a hybrid of Sparks, Queen and Styx.
There's no substitute for a Chinn/Chapman writing credit though
Fox on the Run and Action are the only two songs they ever wrote that lived up to The Ballroom Blitz and Hell Raiser
It kind of reminds me of a hybrid of Sparks, Queen and Styx.
There's no substitute for a Chinn/Chapman writing credit though
Fox on the Run and Action are the only two songs they ever wrote that lived up to The Ballroom Blitz and Hell Raiser
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Re: Sweet
I used to hang out at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco (neither wearing platforms nor scoring with 14-year-old girls) and the music - to me - seemed to be virtually onstop early Sweet and Suzi Quatro (there was a lot of Bowie, but it didn't register with me). But I lost interest in Sweet after Ballroom Blitz, which I still regard as a monumental single.
And Mike Chapman was/is one of my favorite producers.
At one point, I owned two versions of "Blitz," one significantly longer than the other. Anybody know where that figured into things? (I think mine was on a German comp).
And Mike Chapman was/is one of my favorite producers.
At one point, I owned two versions of "Blitz," one significantly longer than the other. Anybody know where that figured into things? (I think mine was on a German comp).
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Re: Sweet
I take it these are their later albums? Saw them today for 19 €.
Was never a big fan though.
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