Sweet ~ England

Action / Medussa (1976)

'Action' is the same tune that opens Give Us a Wink and is a fantastic example of the superb hard rock goods that album brings.

But the real draw here is the American Capitol release that contains 'Medussa'. I hadn't heard this track prior and it's a must for Sweet fans - and hard rock fans in general. A well penned song, bordering prog combined with the traditional Sweet chorus sound. About halfway through Andy Scott starts to riff some chords. Not long after that an entire instrumental sequence lifts off. Scott goes wild on the guitar solo, while the rhythm section is going through some complex time changes. Very kinetic! I've never heard Sweet sound like this. And it has to be Scott's wildest solo on record.

I've just been informed this is 'Medusa' on the European versions of Desolation Boulevard. I've never heard that album, which is much different than the American version on Capitol.

Ownership: 1976 Capitol (SP)

4/1/25 (review)

 

Level Headed (1978)

Sweet were one of my early favorite groups. Level Headed was their new album at the time and 'Love is Like Oxygen' was the track getting regular airplay - a song I enjoyed immensely. We'll get to that soon. On the first day someone could shuttle me to the mall (I was only 13 at the time), I waltzed into the two record shops to purchase the album, only to find they were sold out. I decided to buy the album before it - Off the Record. I enjoyed that album (to be discussed another day), though I won't say I was blown away by it. I had one friend back then who was also into music like I was, and he did find Level Headed. Neither of us were overly impressed, and I decided to forgo buying my own copy. Not long after, I bought Desolation Boulevard (US version of course) and Give Us a Wink and those two solidified my early fan status.

Since I recently made the decision to pick up old commodity LPs from my youth (must be found in a store, and very inexpensive - or trade), I thought Level Headed would be an early score. As but one example, I walked into a local store and bought a stone mint Saga's Heads or Tales for $4 at the beginning of this adventure. But Level Headed had proved to be elusive. Again, I'm not going to mail order these things - that would have been too easy. Finally, after two years, I secured a copy - and it was properly discounted in the budget bin. Perfect.

So what of Level Headed, and where did my initial resistance come from? Right from the beginning, that's where. Even today, I find little to embrace about the opening three tracks. They're OK of course, but the melodies aren't striking, and gone is the hard rocking Sweet that I enjoyed. It's not until 'Fountain' that things begin to improve dramatically. Then comes 'Love is Like Oxygen', one of God's gifts to music. It's such a bizarre tune really - and how it became the "hit" off the album is even more puzzling. Starting off with power chords (finally!) Sweet sings in a high pitched but odd styled harmony. This is followed by some Brian Wilson like mellow interludes that raise the hair on your arm. The mid section then shows that Sweet may have had a fondness for Camel - as they totally go prog here. This leads back to the power chord section. And finally, the album closes with a cool funk bit (que?). What the heck did I just hear? None of it makes sense, but I think it's brilliant. No wonder I was drawn to this at a young age. Side 2 starts of in a Gryphon-goes-pop manner (which by that time was the sound of Gryphon anyway). There's a couple more middling tracks which leads to the other great track from the album, it too a side closer. 'Air on 'A' Tape Loop' is about as strange as 'Love is Like Oxygen'. This time it's a groovy instrumental with only harmony vocals on top - as if Deodato had walked in for a cameo.

Level Headed is not a great album by any means, but there's 13 minutes of brilliance and about 20 minutes overall of excellent material. That's plenty good for me.

Ownership: 1978 Capitol (LP). Gatefold with lyric inner.

1978 (first listen); 1/21/21 (review)

Ballroom Blitz / Restless (1974)

'Ballroom Blitz' is well known, and honestly is a great hard rocker. It was the track that drew me to Sweet in the first place when I was 12. Shoot, even my mom thought it a good track, and she hated most of what I listened to. In any case, the track is also on the US pressings of Desolation Boulevard.

The real allure here is the unreleased 'Restless' which is patented Sweet, and features some really inspired guitar soloing from Andy Scott. The 45 is as common as one raisin in a box of them, so well worth the pennies.

Ownership: 1974 Capitol (SP)

6/27/20 (new entry)