SWEET Vinyl & CDs

Review: Brit glam gods Sweet's glory years in the 70s had a huge impact on generations of rock and pop that followed, with the likes of Motley Crue and Saxon covering them and countless others, from KISS to the Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, citing their influence. This latest compilation, dug from the private vault of guitarist Andy Scott, is a sizeable raid on their archives, with unreleased versions of a succession of massive smash hit singles including 'Blockbuster', 'Hellraiser', 'Teenage Rampage' and many more. It's easy to hear how the band's knack for anthemic choruses and tight, riff-driven rock has become timeless, and this is the sound of them at the top of their game.

Review: The Sweet's contribution to the glam rock canon would find itself less popularly cherished than that of their coevals in Slade, Roxy Music and David Bowie, but that doesn't stop their said many hits from utterly reshaping the ridgeline of British pop rock history. Sweet evolved from bubblegum pop beginnings into one of the defining forces of 70s glam rock. Their early chart success kicked off in 1971 with 'Funny, Funny', made in collaboration with hit-making duo Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. But this new compilation reissue, Platinum Rare 1, does yet more than just fixate on the hits, familiarising us even further intimately with the cat-suited four-piece in their nascency, selecting from longest-surviving member and guitarist Andy Scott's private archive, and with alternate takes, mixes and unreleased tracks recorded by the original lineup.

Review: A brand new best of collection including all the hits and classic album tracks from the British glam-rock band's breakthrough in 1969, up until 1978. The collection is being released on beautiful transparent coloured vinyl featuring brand new liner notes after the recent release of 'Isolation Boulevard' - a reworking and reimagining of 1974s 'Desolation Boulevard'. An amazing tribute to the original Sweet, now that all three members have unfortunately passed away, with an incredible 1-2 punch on side C with 'Love Is Like Oxygen' and 'Funny Funny' back to back - just a short two track highlight, but truly covering the breadth and depth of the power of Sweet.