Following compilations of White Lion material, albums by Molly Hatchet (a live one and a tribute of the band to its musical influences), Great White, Night Ranger, and L.A. Guns, German oddity label brings us a commemorative Wings material album by Denny Laine (see elsewhere), and this compilation of old Sweet material.
Mind you, not of the Sweet incarnation which sported the classic line-up of Brian Connelly on vocals, guitarist Andy Scott, bassist Steve Priest and drummer Mick Tucker, but of the version of the band as originally put out on the streets starting early 1984 under the name of The New Sweet by Connelly. And that was like 5 years after he'd left the original band (or rather, was ousted due to his blatant alcoholism) to start up a solo career. Not finding that career very successful (2 singles released through Polydor in 1980 and an additional 1982 single issued through RCA hardly hit the charts), he eventually decided to live off his former success. During his lifetime (he died in 1997) two albums were recorded, 1986's Brian Connelly And The Sweet sporting only remakes of old hits, whereas 1995's Let's Go (now you get where the title of thís album comes from) featured 3 post-Sweet tracks. They are all featured on this new compilation album, alongside versions of “Little Willie”, “Wig Wam Bam”, “Block Buster”, “Hellraiser”, “Ballroom Blitz”, Teenage Rampage”, “Fox On The Run”, “Action”, “Burn On the Flame” and “Love Is Like Oxigen”, which are apparently all from the 1995 sessions. I'm not sure if this new compilation is therefore nothing more than a re-packaging of that album...except for the fat that on top of these 13 tracks, you also get the tracks “The Six Teens” and “Fox On The Run”, culled from the album Live In Denmark 1976 (which was released in 1998)...in other words, of the original Sweet band!
To myself personally, this compilation is only interesting in that it sports those 3 post-Sweet tracks, and the two live songs. For whereas the new songs at least have some originality (and do not break down the quality of the original songs, as in the first 10 songs on the album), the live songs convince me that I don't wanna get that live album except for collector's value, because the band's vocal performances (and especially Connelly's) aren't worth getting the album for! Darn, the people at Collectors Dream Records sure made a mistake releasing this album, for it is a pure rip-off, featuring material which was already released before! Nah guys, give us a live album by either Andy Scott's Sweet or Steve Priest's Sweet! At least, they cover their own songs in a far more sparkling way than Connelly ever did in his post-Sweet days! Well, since we have to rate the album, let's give it a...