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Elly Roberts reviews
Sony/BMG
- Cert:
- Cat.no: WNRD 2185
- Running time: 120 minutes
- Year: The ’70s
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Stereo
- Languages: English
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £17.99
- Rating: 10/10
Sweet memories of the band the press loved to hate.
When you put together a Welshman (Andy Scott from Wrexham) a Scotsman (BrianConnolly) and two Englishmen (Steve Priest and Mick Tucker) youre bound tohave some fun. And thats exactly what Sweet were all about.
This excellent start-to-finish TV-style documentary tracks their dominationas Glam Rock giants. As Sweet Shop in 1966, their early chart outings were aflop, then they shortened it to Sweet in 1968 and things gradually improved.They were invited to put some vocals to an existing song Funny Funny and (wig wam) bang their first chart success.
When they teamed up with hit-making duo Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn theywere virtually unstoppable as the hits rolled out. Where contemporaries Sladeand T.Rex failed to cross over into the American market, Sweet made it bigtime around the globe.
Apart from some great fairground radio friendly catchy pop songs, key totheir success, particularly the States, was their Beach Boys vocal range andharmonies. Then manager, Phil Wainman adopted the same idea as The Beatles,believing that they had a game-plan, which in turn, he used with Sweet togreat effect. Eventually he saw them being a huge stadium act: it came toan abrupt end he was dismissed.
Flowing and candid interviews with Chapman, Wainman and Scott reveal theinter-band goings on: musical conflicts and direction. Stage and lifestyleantics are recalled with fondness and a few records are put straight.
In no time Rollers and Mercs, Rolex watches and swimming pools werecommonplace in their daily vocabularies. For a band that were frowned uponby the serious music press, primarily for their camp dress-code andlightweight offerings, these boys were a bit of an enigma. Their use ofmake up came from dressing room experimentation. The more the press had ago at them,the more the band overindulged for fun.
Hits were pure pop, but the B-sides, which they wrote, showed another side tothe marketing beast. Eventually,this is the avenue they would pursue, a hardersounding edge, along with leather gear. Live performances were notoriouslyraucous, with some surprising consequences: far removed from their Top Of ThePops image.
The funny funny bits are the comical early videos the one on the beach,where they mime to Popa Joe (a Caribbean summer song), as they performon some British beach with a gale blowing, and Limbo dancers doing their thingis an all-time classic. During a gig in Santa Monica, Connolly (who wasbecoming a liability due to alcohol problems), was taken off stage.
The band played on as a trio. It signalled the beginning of the end forConnolly, who eventually quit in 1979. Before that Andy Scott received an IvorNovello Award for Love Is Like Oxygen and they had global sales of 30million. Scott continues to tour performing AS Sweet.
Enjoy the ride they did!
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.