GLITZ BLITZ and HITZ
Rightly produced as a limited issue CD (limited to how many Sweet
can sell) it has a limited demand.
Targeted at the audiences attending the gigs of the GLITZ BLITZ HITZ tour
it is an excellent souvenir of the event for fans to take
home. Hard core fans will also want it
for the fact that it has the “new boy” Tony OHora
performing on lead vocals and bass.
Sensibly, Sweet waited for Tony to get a few gigs under his belt before
pressing the record button. What Sweet have produced is a very professional recording (and I
reached that decision before noticing that the mixer guy was Damian Scott, with
Adam Booth as stage technician). The
packaging seems to vary a great deal. I
have seen picture disc versions, blank (room for autograph?) versions, and
mine, which is the “you have to hold up to the light to see which side the
recording is on”, version. They aren’t shrink wrapped so check before you buy if you get the
chance.
Recording quality is crystal clear! Those of us who associate live recordings
with “portable cassette up the jumper” standards will be astonished by the
clarity of this recording. If only we’d
had this technology available thirty years ago.
As for the set list? Well there are no great surprises. A recently adopted Bond Theme replaces The
Stripper as getting on stage music and as expected Hellraiser
is the first hit out of the vault. The CoCo/Funny Funny/Poppa Joe medley follows with Tony Ohora working hard with the crowd. Wigwam Bam is merged into Little Willy for
more audience participation. This is followed by Teenage Rampage and we have to
imagine what gestures Andy might be making as he misses out a certain
lyric. Love is like Oxygen is prequeled with a tribute to Brian and Mick and moves in to
Fanfare for the Common Man. It is
interesting to hear Tony comment in the lyric “There’s a rumour going round
this town, that Sweet are back in town!”
Clearly he has been doing his homework and has been listening to the
McNulty vocals from Mals’s period with Sweet. Once you are aware of that you listen to the
way he phrases some of the lyrics to see what other influences emerge. Blockbuster, Fox on the Run and Ballroom
Blitz conclude the high-energy set.
Yes, we’ve heard it all before and many
middle of the road fans will certainly feel that to buy yet another hits
compilation is not worth it. That is
understandable, but I say again that this is a niche market production, which
fills that niche very nicely. The hits
are well honed as you’d expect after all these years and Tony sings with
confidence. As a souvenir of the tour it
is a must and as a record of Sweet’s new line-up it is essential.
There is one final reason for buying this CD, and that is the
fact that we hear Andy comment that the sound quality in the venue is
excellent. Now that must be a first!
Woody
May 16th 2003