Sweet

Four decades after first blitzing ballrooms and raising hell, national treasure the Sweet are still kicking up a mighty glam-infested rampage. Back in 2013, guitarist and original member Andy Scott set about to produce and record the best ever Sweet hits package to date. Whad’ya know, with HITS he may have achieved just that!

During their long and prolific career, Sweet scored no less than 26 hits, including several Number One singles in various countries including the United Kingdom. Although the band (original line-up: Brian Connolly on vox, Steve Priest on bass, Andy Scott on guitars, and Mick Tucker on drums) had always favoured a harder sound (and indeed changed their musical direction with the 1974 release of ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’), ironically it was their earlier, bubble gum inspired glam-rock that scored their biggest hits.

Since the mid-80s, Scott, Connolly and Priest had each played with their own versions of Sweet at different times. However, when Connolly died in 1997, followed by Tucker’s untimely death in 2002, it was Andy Scott who proved to be the driving force when it came to keeping the Sweet bandwagon well oiled and running. After on/off periods that saw him busy as a solo artist, Scott reformed the Sweet by baptising the new formation Andy Scott’s Sweet. The outfit still goes strong to this day, and playing the sound as favoured from day one: namely the harder versions of their much-loved hits.

This studio album, however, offers re-recordings of Sweet material as we know it, thus taking us back to the band’s sound of yesteryear. Of course, the line-up has changed and is as follows: Pete Lincoln on lead vox and bass, Andy Scott on guitar and backing vox, Tony O’Hara on guitar, keys and backing vox, and Bruce Bisland on drums and backing vox. Golly, who can possibly keep up with all that constant change in personnel?!

On the album you will find exactly what Sweet fans can expect to find – from ‘Blockbuster’ to the obligatory ‘Ballroom Blitz’, from ‘Little Willy’ to ‘Wig Wam Bam’ to ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’ and ‘Hell Raiser’… hell, I don’t need to list every single track here for you guys.
But ok, also included are the fabulously upbeat ‘Peppermint Twist’ from the ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’ album, and we even get a medley (Co Co/Funny Funny/Poppa Joe) on the bonus track.
Pete Lincoln does a great job on lead vocals, and it all comes over as fresh as a daisy. Just as importantly, the compilation evokes fond memories of those bygone and golden glam years. All together now: “It’s it’s a ballroom blitz! Yeah, it’s a ballroom blitz…!”