HARDWARES

Yeah, yeah, one original member… but two are dead, and enclosed bassist Steve Priest wrote and sang a lot. Still, suspend your disbelief and wear your “Yeah, but people just want to hear the songs” chapeau to the show. If you do that (and I certainly have after seeing the winning, spinning glory of this band live twice), you will FREAK at how live and alive and amazing this fully 16 track CD is. The production thrills, the playing chills, and frontman Joe Retta, despite looking like Chris Cornell (incongruous to the blond bangs of the Sweet story), does an insanely uplifting job of bringing this blindingly golden catalogue to life. Cult legend Stuart Smith is the band’s guitarist, and there are keyboards too, so there’s depth all over the place. But it really is about the songs, and no lie, if you had to assemble a little over a dozen songs by any band in the world and present them live – Queen, Zep, Priest, I don’t care – Sweet can run with any pack you propose. And this (yes, I know, questionable) Sweet don’t screw that up, offering a smart, surprising gaggle of the really old stuff (‘Little Willy’, ‘Teenage Rampage’, ‘Hellraiser’), with the expected hits (‘Fox On The Run’, ‘Ballroom Blitz’, ‘Action’), plus the headbanging and technical heavies (‘Sweet F.A.’, ‘Set Me Free’, ‘Windy City’). Expert glam metal everywhere, delivered with verve. What more could you ask for?... save for a classic set from the old days, I suppose!