Wednesday, June 11, 2008

TVD's Daily Wax | Sweet "The Very Best Of"

You've read where lightening doesn't strike the same place twice, right? Well, without hesitation I state that if it wasn't for the one/two punch of 'Fox on the Run' and 'Ballroom Blitz', you wouldn't be reading this blog right now. Although released a few years apart, in the States as singles they seem to have come out one on top of the other--or at least the AM stations out of New York City were playing these two back to back. Both tracks kicked me in the ass as a wee lad. Long before I was listening to The Beatles, it was Sweet and Queen on constant 45RPM rotation...which must serve to explain my awkward fringe and octave-penetrating falsetto. (Hmm.)

Sweet - Little Willy (Mp3)
Sweet - Fox On The Run (Mp3)
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz (Mp3)
Sweet - Action (Mp3)
Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen (Mp3)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just love me some Sweet!

epota said...

A great sampling of some of their best work. Sweet didn't always get a lot of respect, as they weren't the primary songwriters at first and didn't pen the early hits. But they really evolved into a solid band with outstanding vocals. One listen to "Action" tells a pretty complete tale about the musicianship and the power this group could produce. Unfortunately, history and personal circumstances were not kind to them.

Thanks for rekindling the interest in my old vinyl.

Unknown said...

One of the first 45's I overplayed as a wee tyke, but still love to death as an adult, was "Little Willy."
Thanks for posting it up... memories are flooding back.

Unknown said...

funny, i remembered hearing "A.C.D.C." a lot on the radio in those days, but it never shows up
on their greatest hits albums.
so maybe it was only a hit in los
angeles?

thanks for the others!

Unknown said...

Joan Jett must've liked "A.C.D.C." pretty well. She had a cover of it out a couple years back that I ended up hearing quite a few times. It was a pretty decent cover, I must say!

Anonymous said...

One thing weirds me out about the Sweet hits... how did they make the high harmony vocal parts in their choruses? Was it a guy actually singing that high or was it some electronic manipulation, or a hit off a helium balloon? It sounds like an octave above what would be a man's normal falsetto. And I once heard a single from the band Mud who had the same producer and that also had that same bizarre high harmony

Unknown said...

Huh. I've never even heard of Mud before this post. then today (the day after reading here) I wander over to Popdose, and there's a Lost In The 70's article on Mud. Kooky.

(note. I'm not a Popdose writer, just wanted to point out the link)

Anonymous said...

Ballroom Blitz. Little Willy. Fox on the Run. ... Still seared into my head from way back then, and not in a good way.

Jon said...

Wrongest comment ever.

Unknown said...

@ jeff:
"And life goes on, you know, you know it ain't easy
You know you'll never go wrong
'Cause you're all part of the sixteens"


!!!

dickvandyke said...

Great work.
I've been looking for The Six Teens for ages... Any chance you have it, young TVD?

DVD

Jon said...

Yes, DVD, I do indeed have it...please shoot me an email...I think I lost yours...