Should the 70's band Sweet get more kudos for it's hard rock period?

That's what I encountered. Do u have the RCA version of Give us a wink? I heard they added synthesizers to the US Capitol. I assume u have CD?

 

For Wink I have an early Repertoire WG CD from around 1990. It has the synths added to Lady Starlight, but that's the only track I believe. It beat out the original 1st TOCP Japan version, which I think is the same as the US Capitol and the WG version I have. The BMG remastered version omits the synths, but I'd swear a different version of the original track was used.

 

Do u know what track(S) were "synthesized" on original US vinyl Lp?

 

I'd say so! Sweet F.A. has to be one of the heaviest sounding songs of its time. That chugging guitar riff has probably done a lot of NWOBHM and thrash metal bands good when they were starting out.

 

Yesterday's Rain kicks major a**!

 

On the original LP the only track that technically had the synths added was Lady Starlight. Fox On The Run was completely reworked from an earlier, more raw version, and completely re-recorded with the synths. To hear the early version of Fox, you would have to get the BMG remastered UK version of Desolation Boulevard on CD. It doesn't compare to the version on Wink anyway.
As a side note, there are earlier versions of Cockroach and 4th Of July on the Repertoire CD called The Sweet - Platinum Rare, which contain no synths.

 

Best Sweet Comp?

 

Sure. Great songs and great band. Love them.

 

Hey, the "bubblegum glam" singles rock, and played live, they were practically punk:

 

That's a tough call, because in order to get a lot of the more obscure tracks you at least need these 2:
1989 - Blockbusters (RCA ND 74313, Germany)
1989 - The Collection (Castle CCSCD 230, France)

This is going on the assumption you want non remastered tracks.

 

It's a shame there isn't more non lipsynch footage of them out there. They were so heavy live.

 

The Sweet are underrated full stop.

 

Here's a killer, non lipsynched track:

 

This is one of my all time favs by them

 

This the kind of stuff you're talking about? Yeah it's pretty good...

 

They were tbe modish of all tbe glam bands. Too bad they didn't do a concept album" The Sweet's Sell OUT".

 

That was the last hard rock years album they made. The earlier stuff is better.

 

No, wasn't them. I actually saw the Rollers comped when I was working at Tower when they toured America in 76. It was a weekday late afternoon show to get all the kids. Hilarious. I actually love Rock & Roll Love Letter.

 

I almost posted a video for Rock & Roll Love Letter. Great riffs on that one too.

 

Did they really play or was it a lipsynched affair?

 

Phil Wainman produced the Bay City Rollers 2nd and third albums. He was involved with Sweet early on. So there's a connection there, thus the similarity.

 

I just picked up the recent reissue of Strung Up on vinyl (red translucent). It's fantastic. They've added extra tracks to both the live record and the studio record. It makes a nice Hits comp.

 

What extra tracks were added? I have 2 different old CD versions, and unfortunately neither sound that great.

 

Even though there are some great tracks (Set Me Free, Burn On The Flame, Action etc) and the musicianship is fantastic (Mick Tucker is one of the great rock drummers), I think when Sweet head towards hard rock / heavy metal they very often sound cliched and like they're trying too hard, especially the supposedly macho lyrics on songs like Sweet FA ('Well it's Friday night, I need a fight, If she don't spread, I'm gonna bust her head' That's vile as well as incredibly naff!) and Yesterday's Rain ('She gave me love bonafida, Up to my balls inside her' Very Spinal Tap!). The music's great but as a heavy rock band I find them to sound forced and unconvincing a lot of the time, with awful lyrics. I much prefer the glam rock singles. At least the lyrics to those are fun rather than macho posturing, violent and sexist garbage.

 

To each his own. It's a valid point about the lyrics. I actually like the whole catalog, including the early glam plus the early 80's material. To me it's ALL good.