The Best of Sweet

I recently bought The Best of Sweet. The album is hardly comprehensive, but it provides a good cross section of their hits. It is also the only Sweet greatest hits album available in the United States.

For those of you wondering who the band Sweet was, they were the group who originally performed the song "Ballroom Blitz." There was a lot more to Sweet than that song, but, while they had a string of hits in the UK, they never really took off here in America. Their hits here can be listed on one hand: "Little Willy," "Ballroom Blitz," "Fox on the Run," "Action," and "Love is Like Oxygen." Despite their lack of hits here, they have remained a cult band in the United States.

That is with good reason, as they were a very talented group. They started out as a bubblegum group before progressing to more mature rock. Beyond "Wig-Wam Bam," The Best of Sweet doesn't really present much of their bubblegum phase. In fact, "Wig-Wam Bam," "Little Willy," and "Blockbuster" are the oldest songs on the album, even though Sweet had been around for a few years by the time of their releases. Instead of focusing on their early, bubblegum years, The Best of Sweet concentrates primarily on the era of their hit album Desolation Boulevard and thereafter. Not that I am complaining. It is good to have "Love is Like Oxygen," "The Lies in Your Eyes," "Ballroom Blitz," and other hits on one album.

I grew up listening to Sweet and I still enjoy them. They are still one of my favourite bands. If the only thing you have heard of Sweet is "Ballroom Blitz," then I recommend you give The Best of Sweet a listen.