Sweet - Any Love?

Their best IMO, well it's my favourite anyway.

 

It has been said that lead singer Brian Connolly was the half brother of the actor Mark McManus famous for his role in the Scottish detective series Taggart. Don't know if it's true. Brian Connolly was born in my home town Glasgow something I didn't know until recently. Bit of useless trivia for you

 

Not true.

 

From two different (online) sources Makes no difference to me whether they were related or not. Good band. Good front man.

"The truth is that Brian Connolly was raised by Mark McManus's uncle and aunt, Jim and Helen."

"His half brother was none other than Brian Connolly lead singer of the group The Sweet."

 

He was born a Connolly. He was raised by the McManus family. He has no McManus blood in him at all. He is not Mark McManus' half brother.

 

I only put what I read. Wish i hadn't bloody bothered now. Thanks for putting me right. I'll be able to get a good sleep tonight knowing they're NOT related.

 

Has anyone put the poster in the new boxset up on their bedroom wall yet?

 

My grandma did.

 

Oh Heavens no!!!

 

I love "Love Is Like Oxygen", especially the album version.
That song is forty years old this coming January. Wow!

 

I remember this getting a bit of airplay on BBC Radio 1 back in 1974:


The Sweet connection was that Angel were managed and produced by Mick Tucker and Andy Scott

 

What were they thinking with that?

 

The Sweet were a kick-ass rock band disguised as a glam band. Love Is Like Oxygen is not only my favorite Sweet song; it's one of my favorite songs ever (full version only, of course).

They did a lot of great stuff, and were one of the best 70s groups around.

 

LILO is one of those "sublime sounding" rock songs to me.

 

Wrong.
Sweet were a hugely successful and fantastic glam rock band who tried and failed to be a hard rock band.
They released loads of brilliant top 10 singles. They also released loads of studio albums, which between them spent one single week on the UK Album charts.

 

What is the source material for the vinyl box? I'm not crazy about the cramming of bonus tracks on each and every side of the vinyl. It breaks the flow too much for albums I have ingrained in my head.

 

Wow...that's pretty shocking. I wonder why they had so little success on the album charts? They seemed to do ok in other countries...Germany for example.

 

Always happy to hear stuff like:

Ballroom Blitz
Teenage Rampage
The Six Teens
Fox on the run
Love is like Oxygen

 

I like a lot of The Sweet's rock records but much prefer them as the glam rock single a band. To me they are unconvincing as a rock band most of the time. They sound like they are trying too hard with sexist and macho crap lyrics, tracks like Somebody Else Will, Sweet FA and Yesterdays Rain spring to mind as having putrid lyrics that just sound pathetic now. "If she don't spread I'm gonna bust her head" indeed. You really would have to be a total arsehole think that, never mind sing it as a lyric and then release it for all to hear! The posing just looks stupid too. They could certainly play, had many great songs, but with crap like that, they were never going to be taken seriously.

The version of Somebody Else Will on Strung Up is very unsettling as you know it was recorded in 1973, at the height of their chart fame, with very young girls in the audience. It's just vile.

I just avoid listening to the crap stuff and enjoy Wig Wam Bam instead!

 

Yeup I dig Sweet, Fox on the run. that song rocks.

 

Even with some really bad song lyrics ("If you don't go down on me, someone else will") their music is awesome!!!
My wife was not a fan after hearing the chorus of Someone Else.
My four year old asks to listen to Poppa Joe everyday this week. She does have a Grandpa called Popa Joe. Maybe she thinks the song is about her grandpa???

 

That's the clean version!

 

It is a shame about "Someone Else Will". The lyrics are sexist and nasty but the instrumental track on that is a keeper. I love that relentless, driving riff and the really nice guitar break. The lyrics on the single are bad enough but you're right, the live versions are even more vile. Shock value wears off very quickly. I never liked the live versions because they usually combined it with "Burning" since they couldn't reproduce both the heavy rhythm guitar riff and the lead guitar of "Someone..." live so very little of that song was actually played and it was almost all "Burning". (At least in the versions that I've ever heard)

Another similar example is "Cockroach"----ridiculous lyrics but kicking instrumental track. All in all, I like a lot of Sweet's hard rock tracks and the poppy singles as well.

 

This is where they needed a good producer to step in and say...great track, but it's back to the drawing board on those lyrics. Maybe a good manager as well.