Sweet

Only those who lived through the '70s probably remember Sweet, a second-tier group that was a hybrid of glam bands like Queen and power rock groups such as The Who. They had a handful of hits during the decade, and though many of them can be described as cheesy, I have fond memories of them, so picked up a CD The Best of Sweet.

Back in the day, I had a couple of their vinyl albums: Desolation Boulevard and Give Us a Wink. The first was Sweet at their highest, the second the start of their decline. The biggest hit they had was "Ballroom Blitz," and anyone who was listening to radio back then can recall the spoken opening by vocalist Brian Connolly, as he asks each band member if he's ready,and when he gets three affirmatives, shouts, "All right, fellas, let's go!" The song, which has been covered by many groups since, was written by Sweet's producers after an ill-advised concert in Scotland, in which they were forced off stage by bottle-throwing hooligans.

Their other big hit was "Fox on the Run," and this is an ideal example of a simple, yet sterling pop single. It's almost perfect in its construction, and because it doesn't try too hard, ends up being a blissfully enjoyable three-minute listen. Almost as good is "Action," coming off of Give Us a Wink. The problem with that album, though, was Sweet attempted to match the high concept gimmickry of Queen, and failed miserably. The album had an insert that you could move to wake an eye "wink," and many of the songs were pretentious.

Sweet's last hit was the extra-cheesy "Love is Like Oxygen," which I can't resist nonetheless. It hearkens back to their bubblegum beginnings, with a lyric like, "Love is like oxygen--you get too much you get too high, not enough and you're gonna die, love gets you high." After that, lead singer Connolly, who has a kind of full-throated manic voice common to hair-band singers, left the group. He died after years of hard living, and drummer Mick Tucker has also passed away.

Sweet did have a distinctive sound--driving rock and roll, with loud guitars and a steady bass section, which they copied from The Who, who were their idols, but most notably for their castrato-like backing vocals, which made them sound like Queen.

There were a few other good songs, like "Teenage Rampage," and the infectious "Little Willy," but Sweet were never a great band and don't have much of a legacy. But damn they are fun to listen to.