The Sweet Live in Denmark 1976

I have a Sweet live show on vinyl somewhere, and I'm not sure what show it is from, but this is a different one, though certainly from about the same time period. In the brief liner notes for this CD, Steve Priest says that this was taken from a cassette given to him and forgotten about for decades. Here the Sweet are at their height, having put out Give 'em a Wink and Desolation Boulevard and hitting big with "Ballroom Blitz" (the opener here). While they were initially promoted as a teen-pop band, by this time they had evolved into a prima-hard-rock outfit - albeit one that had amazing harmonies!

The sound here is actually pretty darn good, especially considering it was recorded on a 70's cassette tape. The vocals and guitars are front and center (though I don't find that to be a bad thing) but you can certainly here the excellent rhythm section, as well. The harmonies sometimes go a little awry, and sometimes they just don't even try for the more ambitious ones, but they are still pretty spot-on, generally. Guitarist Andy Scott shows off with some pyrotechnics throughout, proving that he became a premier heavy metal player by this time.

While they had some fairly risque lyrics on record, they get even more bawdy here, with lives like "if we don't fuck you then someone else will" being a stand-out right off the bat. Brian Connolly proves how much "Blockbuster" was stolen from "I'm a Man" with his harp solo therein, Steve Priest gets to take lead vocals in "Restless" and Mick Tucker gets a drum solo in their interpretation of "Man With the Golden Arm" (also, apparently, proving their use of backing tracks), showing that everyone in the band gets equal time (and I'm sure that each of these pretty boys were someone's favorite!).

Most of the set is from the aforementioned two albums, great tracks like "Yesterday's Rain", "AC/DC", "Cockroach", "Action" and "Fox on the Run", but somewhat lesser knowns like "The Six Teens", "Turn It Down" and "Set Me Free".

Very rockin' from start to finish! Of course, most live sets are not a good starting place for any novice, and this one has it's share of blemishes, but for fans, this should be a no-brainer! Amazon has it at an extremely reasonable price, as well!

(Oddly, the cover art here is different than the CD that I have that I just got within the last week, and whose artwork had been displayed at Amazon. Maybe a new pressing already?)