Sweet - Off the Record

As a kid "Ballroom Blitz" was one of the coolest songs I'd ever heard, followed closely by "Fox on the Run." Those two songs more or less cemented Sweet's reputation for me. In the '80s I finally bought Desolation Boulevard and that more or less scratched that itch. Then in the early '90s I picked up their best of CD and got "Action" and the radio edit of "Love is Like Oxygen" and as a bonus "Little Willy" a song I knew but honestly never associated with The Sweet, or simply Sweet.

During my formative years though it was the 45 of "Action" that rocked my world. I was never a big fan of 45s and only had a few as I hated having to change the record after one song. However, as mix tape fodder they were awesome, except I didn't have the ability to make mix tapes until I was in my late teens. What does all this meanderambling have to do with anything? Not much, it's just me sitting here while listening to Off the Record and thinking about my relationship (one sided, but it counts) with the band.

Sweet were one of the bands I liked as a kid, but as I got older they didn't grow with me. They were relegated to a particular point in time and while I liked those early songs the band wasn't relevant to me. I distinctly remember hearing a copy of Level Headed being played in a record store and it just so happened that "Love is Like Oxygen" came on while I was standing there. I don't know why this is still so vivid, but all I could think was, "This is Sweet? This sucks."

Just like that I had passed judgment and it was immutable. Aside from the couple of cool songs, Sweet sucked. Even after getting Desolation Boulevard I don't recall anything other than the two cool songs. I probably listened to it once and put it away. Verdict? Sweet still sucked.

Over the last couple of years I've picked up a couple of Sweet's albums. The first one I found was 1978's Level Headed and then Give Us a Wink from '76. I was actually pretty impressed with Level Headed and to a lesser degree Give Us a Wink, but it was the record that had "Action," and that was enough for me.

I was out the other day, and there in the new arrivals section was Off the Record and it came home with me. I gave it a good clean and after the first pass, it was just meh. Nothing really jumped out but there was something going on and it warranted at least another spin ... and then another, and another after that.

I was out the other day, and there in the new arrivals section was Off the Record and it came home with me. I gave it a good clean and after the first pass it was just meh. Nothing really jumped out but there was something going on and it warranted at least another spin ... and then another, and another after that.

True, the album doesn't have a holy shit moment, there aren't any real clunkers either. It is a decent listen and the band was throwing it all against the wall. The band even manages to unleash a riff-heavy aural assault that stretches over seven minutes on "Windy City" that goes by pretty fast. Heck, even what could have been a musical shit sandwich "Funk It Up (David's Song)" was more fun than I expected it to be. It almost reminded me a bit of David Bowie. I doubt it was his song, though.

I honestly think this album is better with the passage of time. Back in '77 with what was coming down the pipe, Sweet were already out of step with their brand of glam compared to what their rock contemporaries were putting out. Whereas today I'm listening to it at face value without caring about where it needs to be fitted with what was going on at the time. It would either be good, or it would suck.

Oh, I'm not going out on a limb and calling this a classic, but it is certainly a durable collection of rock songs that were pretty enjoyable. The band employed all their tropes from the impossibly high harmony notes that were layered on top of most of the songs to the big double tracked guitars and synthesizers. It worked more than it didn't and it felt like the band was still railing against the perceived confines they endured under the direction of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, the songwriting and production team that helped them attain their biggest success.

All in all this was pretty enjoyable and sadly equally forgettable ... but, it didn't suck.

Styx - Paradise Theater

Styx was hands down one of my favourite bands as a kid. They were a strange band, even back then. They were a hard rock band, almost progressive at times, who had a penchant for sucky ballads. I know there's a tendency for people to zero in on "Babe" as the song that killed the band's credibility. The roots go way back to almost the beginning when Styx released "Lady" on their second album. It showed a side to the band that needed to be kept in check, and for the most part the band kept things on a pretty tight leash. The band had been setting a gruelling pace, releasing an album a year (two in 1972) and by the time they released Paradise Theater (if I end up writing theatre later it's because that's how we spell it here) in 1981 they'd dropped ten albums in less than a decade. I snapped this up as soon as I saw it, and it became a fixture on my turntable. Like the band had announced on "Borrowed Time" from 1979's Cornerstone , ...

David Baerwald - Bedtime Stories

The little sticker on the shrinkwrap says, "You may remember David Baerwald from David & David's Boomtown ..." You bet, I remembered David Baerwald. Back in 1986 Boomtown was an album with moments of sheer brilliance. The whole album may not have been as top shelf as the first few tracks, but that didn't matter - it is an excellent album. I waited for a follow-up ... and waited, and then in 1990 it was a solo David, David Baerwald, who dropped Bedtime Stories . I snapped it up. "All For You," the opening cut, is still my favourite song on the album. It was mesmerizing. I'm not sure if the song got any airplay, it may have, but that may have been wishful thinking on my part as it was on a lot of mix tapes at the time and I heard it a lot in the car. The CD had a great booklet with all of the musician credits and lyrics. Oddly, when I found a sealed copy of the record (a great score), it just had a plain paper insert - the picture of David walking wit...

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

"Cars" was really the only song I knew by Gary Numan. I knew the name of the album the song came from. Over the years bits and pieces of trivia are accumulated, but in terms of his music it was still distilled down to one song ... It would be too easy to write Mr. Numan off as a one hit wonder, and I suppose in terms of actual chart hits this was his defining moment as a solo artist. Of course this really means nothing, as Gary Numan would drop an album a year pretty much through to the end of the '80s. He'd then slow down a little but continued to make music. While The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's debut solo release in '79, he actually cut his teeth on a couple of albums in a band called Tubeway Army, first with the band's self-titled release in 1978, and then on Replicas that came out in April of '79. By the end of Tubeway Army's run most of the band would follow Gary into his solo career. Paul Gardiner, who had been with Gary from the b...

Old Enough to Forget

Search This Blog