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Sweet - Give Us a Wink

Sweet

Sweet was always a weird band for me to categorize. Were they hard rock? Were they glam? Were they just a Chinnichap bubblegum act? I mean, these were the guys who rocked my world as a kid with "Ballroom Blitz" and melted my face with "Fox on the Run," both from the North American version of Desolation Boulevard on Capitol Records. Much later I heard "Little Willy" and couldn't reconcile that this was the same band.

It was written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, names I'd later associate with an awful lot of really questionable glam-tinged rock, and some face-melting goodness. They were the kings of bubblegum glam, but they were so much more than that. However, let's be honest, "Little Willy" is just a head scratcher, but "Ballroom Blitz" was sheer wonderfulness, and the stuff they did with Suzi Quatro was wicked. To me, Sweet were a hard rock act. I had no idea what glam was as a kid. Music was either good or it wasn't.

By 1976, the lads in Sweet were looking to step out from behind the shadow of the Chinnichap machine. They'd made inroads to being their own band on their previous album, where the second side of Desolation Boulevard included "Fox on the Run" and "Sweet F.A.," both written by the band. When Give Us a Wink dropped in 1976, all of the songs were written and produced by the band.

cover
Now, as a kid I didn't have any of their albums. It's not like I didn't want to have my own copy of Desolation Boulevard, it just didn't happen ... there were a lot of albums I wanted. I also never saw the point of collecting 45s. I can count on one hand the number of singles I've purchased over the years. I had "Bohemian Rhapsody" / "I'm in Love with My Car" by Queen, and "Action" by Sweet. I have no memory of the B side, but I do know that the single version is different than what is on Give Us a Wink. Which was pretty normal, as often the single version and album version were different ... which could suck if you don't like the album version. Thankfully, the album cut is all killer, and "Action" remains one of those songs that is over-the-top awesomeness.

I've been listening to the album for most of the day, sometimes intently listening, other times just having it on while I work in the basement. The songs are a great blend of glam and hard rock with the nut-squeezing, high-octave gang vocals that are practically inhuman ... the boys learned a thing or two during their time with Chapman and Chinn.

Sweet band
This was the classic line up:

  • Andy Scott – guitars, vocals, celli, synthesizers, voice bag
  • Steve Priest – bass, vocals, celli
  • Brian Connolly – lead vocals, string machine
  • Mick Tucker – percussion, vocals, celli, phased gong

I actually had to look up "celli" as I had no idea what it was. Apparently it's like a cello but not. Yeah, you're welcome. I also have no idea WTF a voice bag is either. Maybe it was like a talk box, but like bagpipes?

I will say that their decision to speed up the lead guitar work on "White Mice" was kind of irritating, and unfortunate, as Andy Scott is a decent player and it just made the song sound cheap and silly. However, the closing track on side one, "The Healer," more than makes up for it with a mid-tempo groove that is a little proggy and a wee bit funky, but still has that Sweet snarl delivered by Brian Connolly, who had one of rock's great voices.

Side two opens with an obvious reworking of "Fox on the Run" with "The Lies in Your Eyes," which also has an inverted riff that may or may not have been inspired by The Stones' "Satisfaction." Who knows? After a while things all sort of run together.

"Lady Starlight" was originally a non-album single, that was included on the Capitol release. Apparently it was first released as a B side to "Fox on the Run" a couple of years earlier when it was put out as a single. I'm not complaining. I like it, although it was a B side for a reason.

The band was stretching things out here and there as well, exercising their musical muscles and showing off their chops. They were trying to grow as a band.

Sweet always seemed like a band on the cusp of greatness, and while Give Us a Wink added to their song cannon with the exceptional "Action," they just never really seemed to take things to that next level. They were a band that always seemed rooted to a point in time, and despite their best efforts they just couldn't change with the times.

Honestly, I liked them just the way they were.

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