The Sweet – Live At Frome’s Cheese & Grain

It’s brilliant that Andy Scott is still flying the flag for the iconic Glam group, The Sweet. Although known in the Glam genre, they certainly have Punk and Alternative Rock credentials, having been covered by the likes of The Damned, The Rezillos, John Otway, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lemmy (Motörhead), and many more. This show was packed with synthesisers, hard rock, and instantly recognisable riffs, the band burst in with this synthesiser-fuelled hard rock track, Lost Angels, that features a hook to die for. Further highlights included Windy City, a follow-up that felt Deep Purple inspired, almost prog-like, with lots of keyboard segments that are played to perfection by Tom Cory, and Set Me Free, a track covered by Saxon that provided a great metal vibe with dramatic lyrics. Although close to the version on Sweet Fanny Adams, although it had additional twists with pulsing basslines and a guitar style instantly recognisable as the Andy Scott signature sound, complete with fuzzy guitars and an absolutely blinding solo that literally sent shivers down my spine.

The banned single, Turn It Down, was extremely loud and full of aggressive lyrics, surely inspired by the socio-economic struggle during the politically charged period of 1974. The not-so-subtle track, Little Willy, is full of double meanings and lewd overtones, this was a revved-up version, much better than the original teenybopper single the group put out on RCA in the early 70s. The progressive rock of Love Is Like Oxygen, this Emerson, Lake & Palmer-sounding track was The Sweet‘s last massive American hit, and it was so good. It featured that instantly recognisable riff and bittersweet lyric, beautifully put over vocally. The extended instrumental showed a sensitive side to the group and Andy Scott‘s marvellous writing style.

Fox on the Run was of course a great moment. This self-penned track by the original members was a testament to the group’s compositional combined talents, featuring all the high-pitched harmonies that have been aped by many groups, but never as good as this band. As the lights went up, the group burst into Action, the classic Glam Metal track, a rant against media messiahs in the music industry trying to push the group in the wrong direction and “satisfy their intellectual need.”. When the group delivered a punky version of Hell Raiser, the audience literally went wild. Vocalist Paul Manzi never tries to be like the original singer Brian Connolly but puts his own theatrical edge on the proceedings.

The extremely catchy but metal-orientated track Burn on the Flame was absolutely superb with its incessant and extremely catchy riff. Adam Booth pounds away on the drums in a proto-hair metal style that had to be an influence on groups such as Mötley Crüe and Twisted Sister, who have both borrowed generous portions from The Sweet catalogue over the years. The number one smash single, Blockbuster, which could well have been about Ted Bundy with all the sirens and theatrical atmosphere, had the crowd going wild. This was followed by the evergreen Ballroom Blitz, which has been covered many times, this was a great climax to an absolutely sizzling and splendid Glam Rock outing.

I saw The Sweet at Rebellion Festival, and all the Punk rockers were dancing around like no man’s business, proving once and for all that a good band is a good band and can transcend the genres if they play it right. The Sweet certainly do this, and if you ever get the chance to see them, I highly recommend you do, because I don’t think they will be playing for much longer due to the legendary Andy Scott‘s wavering health. Miss them and miss out!

Sweet Fact: The Ramones were open about their love of The Sweet. Their hit Blitzkrieg Bop was cited by Joey Ramone as a homage derived from Ballroom Blitz. The lyrics are similar including the let’s go intro and references to the man at the back/shoot shoot him in the back. The Sweet repaid the compliment with their own raucous rendition of the Ramones classic check it out below.

So many people have covered Ballroom Blitz, in the Metal and Punk arenas. Check out The Damned’s fiery version featuring Motörhead and Hawkwind legend Lemmy. It’s Punk-tastic!

Blur were also clearly influenced by The Sweet because the main riff that goes right through Parklife, even at the same tempo, is allegedly identical to The Sweet‘s Cover Girl. Do go and compare. The Sweet track as mentioned above is below just click and make up your own mind.