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Do you have an idea what compilations have good sound and the correct single versions? There have been discussion of the album reissues, but I really want to avoid everything Repertoire since 1995 or so. And I am interested in compilations, not albums, at this time.

The only Sweet I have in my collection is the Repertoire double CD set called "Hit Singles - The Complete A & B sides" from 1995. It collects all 20 singles that charted in Germany, A-side followed by B-side. The sound is so thin I thought I was listening to my 1980 cassette player. Plus noise reduction. My MP3s (from unknown sources) sound 100% better.

I am aware of the existence of the following official compilations:

1. The Best Of Sweet (Capitol, 1992) (reportedly good sound, but missing Funny Funny, Co Co, Alexander Graham Bell, Poppa Joe, Turn It Down, Tom Tom Turnaround and Rock'n'Roll Disgrace)
2. Gold - 20 Superhits (Arista, 1993) (missing Teenage Rampage, The Six Teens, Fox On The Run, Action and The Lies In Your Eyes)
3. The Best Of Sweet (Camden, BMG, 1997) (also appearing under the title The Very Best Of Sweet) (nothing recorded after Ballroom Blitz)
4. Sweet Originals: The Best 37 Glamrock Songs Ever (BMG, 1998) (most comprehensive, 2 CDs, has every hit)
5. Greatest Hits (BMG International, 2001) (good track list, but missing Love Is Like Oxygen and Tom Tom Turnaround)
6. Very Best Of The Sweet (Sony/BMG, 2005) (missing Love Is Like Oxygen, Tom Tom Turnaround and Rock'n'Roll Disgrace; only 16 hits plus 4 unknown fillers)

(There also seem to be uncountably many budget compilations...)

Any thoughts?

QUEEN ripped off THE SWEET.

I only have the Capitol set but I like it very much. I don't mind the missing early hits. I can't handle that much cheese.

The newer BMG collections suffer from brick wall mastering.

As for the catalog itself, I doubt there will ever be satisfactory masterings, unless Hoffman gets his hands on something. "Off The Record" would be nice, or even "Give Us A Wink".

JWB,

thanks for the suggestion. I will buy the Capitol "Best Of Sweet" CD from 1992 for the sound quality.

Those "brick wall masterings" of the newer BMG collections...that would apply to everything released since 1997, I assume? Because on paper, the "Sweet Originals: The Best 37 Glamrock Songs Ever" looks very good.

Aren't there any earlier comps from the 1980s? Or album releases from before BMG or Repertoire?

And is there at least one album release that you would recommed for the sound quality?

"Sweet Originals" sucks. Brick wall city.

I also have the singles set on Repitoire and many songs are needle drops! In fact, I think one or two might still be needle drops on the newest remasters. I am going to start a thread about this on SHTV.

The set on Capitol uses the single mixes for everything, I'm pretty sure. I would have to dig it out but I remember "Action" and "Oxygen" being the single versions. As for the sound quality, I haven't listened to it in a while but it's certainly better than anything Repitoire or BMG released. I can't guarantee that there isn't any NR, etc...or anything like that so be fore-warned. The Tower Records site says it was mastered by Kevin Reeves. How is that guy's repuation? Ron Furmanek put the set together. If you pick it up, let me know what you think. I'm not familiar with all the single versions so I can't say if they're all on there or not.

As for other things, we've pretty much covered all that I've heard. The US Capitol CD of "Level Headed" is very good, but it's the US version of the album. I haven't listened to the US "Desolation" in years and years, but I imagine it would be somewhat warm compared to the latest offerings.

Searching through discussions, I came up with the following CDs that could be promising:

Best Of Sweet (Capitol, 1992) - covers the hits from Little Willy onwards (with some ommissions)
Blockbusters (RCA ?) - covers the hits from Co Co through Ballroom Blitz
Collection (Castle, 1989) - covers the hits from Teenage Rampage through Stairway To The Stars (no Love is Like Oxygen)
Desolation Boulevard (Castle, 1989) - maybe the best CD release of this album?

About Kevin Reeves....some good, some bad reviews. He did the deluxe editions of Marvin Gaye's albums, and many other Motown remasters like Stevie Wonder's catalogue. Most complaints are about too much brightness.

What about the German "Starke Zeiten" CD? From 1988, so it should be at least free of any loudness or noise reduction problems.

I will just buy those comps (unless you give a definitive thumbs down) and compare them.

Based on your recommendations, I will not buy the "Sweet Originals" or the most recent "Very Best Of" CDs by BMG and Sony.

I've only heard the Capitol set. Go for it.

I have bought the following CDs:


#1: Starke Zeiten (Ariola 258867, (c) 1988 BMG Ariola)
#2: Blockbusters (ND 74313, RCA label, (c) 1989 BMG Records)
#3: Best Of Sweet (CDP 0777 7 80324 2 7, (c) 1992 Capitol Records)
#4: Hit Singles A & B Sides (REP 4591-WL, (c) 1995 Repertoire Records)
#5: Castle Masters Collection (CMC 3006, (c) 1990 Castle Communications)
#6: Desolation Boulevard (CLACD 170, (c) 1989 Castle Communications)

#6 sounds spectacular! This proves how well the album was recorded and what is possible with good mastering. Track 4 (Medussa) cuts off abruptly at 4:43, but I don't know if that is correct or an error. Nevertheless, this CD leaves nothing to be desired in terms of sound quality. Am I right that "The Six-Teens" is the same in its album and single mix? I did not notice any difference so far, but I am not yet a Sweet expert. "Fox On The Run" is a very different (and longer) mix in its album version. It also sounds way better than any of the versions of the single mix.

#4 is very offensive to my ears. Compressed, harsh, thin sound with an additional annoying bass boost! Very lifeless sound overall. A few of the B-sides seem to be unique to this set, however. But whenever there was a choice, this set was my least preferred. The only exception is Love is Like Oxygen, which I only have on #3 and #4, and it sounds a bit less horrible here.

#3 was recommended by JWB and by Grant (and some others) on SH.tv. I hate the sound of it. By far the brightest of all CDs in comparison, which makes the vocals and drums very harsh and aggressive, almost metallic. The only song which sounds nice here is "Californian Nights" (3:44 version), which beats the 3:22 version on #4. All other songs are much thinner and treble-heavier than elsewhere. Some songs are peak-limited/clipped.

#5 has very few tracks in common with the other CDs. Its sound is always muddy, muffled, lacking in top end. But since the eq was conservative, it still manages to sound more pleasant than #4 and #3. But "The Six-Teens" and "Turn It Down" are not even remotely as good as on #6. I bet, these are from a tape whic is at least one generation removed.

Which leaves #1 and #2 as my recommended compilations. In general, #1 has the better, more natural eq, and the best sound for the vocals. On the other hand, #2, in several cases, manages to have better fidelity and clearer sound. #2 is a bit brighter, and on some songs, this causes the vocals to sound thin and metallic (similar to, but no as bad as on #3). I'd say you need both if you want to cover all the earlier hits, and decide for yourself which you prefer.

The band had 20 charting singles in Germany, and all of them were top 30. Amazingly, 15 of them reached the top 10, and 8 of them were number 1. One can surely say, Germany is the homeland of the Sweet's commercial success. Here are my sound quality picks for those 20 hits:

Funny Funny: #1 (This is one of the cases were #2 sounds bad because of the eq).
Co Co: #1
Alexander Graham Bell:#1
Poppa Joe: #1 for nicer eq, #2 for better source.
Little Willy: #1.
Wig Wam Bam: #1 for sound, but #2 is six seconds longer.
Blockbuster: #2 (bad tape used for #1)
Hell Raiser: #2
Ballroom Blitz: #1
Teenage Rampage: #1
The Six Teens: #6
Turn It Down: #6
Fox On The Run (single version): Oh man, all sound terrible. #1 is the least offensive.
Action (3:20 version): #1
Action (3:44 version): #5
The Lies In Your Eyes: #5 (#1 sounds cassette-like here)
Lost Angles: Either #3 or #4, but both are horrible in their own way.
Fever Of Love: #5 (bad tape used for #1)
Stairway To The Stars: #5
Love Is Like Oxygen: #4, but still almost unlistenable
California Nights: #3

What I need most is a good sounding version of Love Is like Oxygen. Maybe the album version is of better sound quality? (Similar to "Fox On The Run")?

If Luke gives me his okay, I will send him some comparison clips that he could host.

Wow, nice work Andreas.

I only have #3 and #4. I have been listening to the new British remasters and enjoying them. They sound better than the German BMG discs. The EQ is better and it's not as loud (but still a bit loud). I'm hard pressed to tell if there's any NR though. I have nothing to compare them to but other crappy discs. I like how they've added all of the non-LP tracks and rarities, though some of them still sound like needle drops. The only missing track (I think) is the US version of "Lady Starlight". I wonder why Capitol doesn't feel the need to release any Sweet? There have only been 4 CD's ever in the US...am I right? The first US album on Razor & Tie, US Desolation, US Level Headed and Best Of...all on Capitol. Why doesn't Audio Fidelity license some Sweet? They're putting out other gay crap from the 70's...why not put out some stuff that has never been released on CD here?

Why no Sweet releases from Japan? They're usually into that kind of shit.

Hi JWB,

do those British album remasters cover all the 20 singles I listed above? I am not familiar with any album except Desolation Boulevard. The single mix of "Fox On The Run" is a great mix which sounds shitty. How is it on your CDs?

The Blockbusters CD (#2) could have some noise reduction...some passages have a strange lack of hiss ... and very little echo, especially compared to Starke Zeiten (#1). Since it is from 1989, it is not out of question. Even those tracks on #1 from clearly inferior tapes (like the song "Blockbuster!") sound better after repeated listens than the seemingly cleaner version on #2.

I have now come to the conclusion that Best Of Sweet is the worst of them all. Once you get to the choruses, it is literally ear-bleeding on every single song.

What are the two versions of Action?

*cut*

Andreas wrote:Hi JWB,

do those British album remasters cover all the 20 singles I listed above? I am not familiar with any album except Desolation Boulevard. The single mix of "Fox On The Run" is a great mix which sounds shitty. How is it on your CDs?

What are the two versions of Action?

The remasters cover every LP and single track from 1971-1977 except that alt version of "Lady Starlight". Plus one outtake, two BBC tracks, two acetate demos, some studio demos, and some alternate mixes.

The spines of the CD's line up to form a Sweet logo, which is neat.

"Fox On The Run" is fucked on the master, I think. Sounds like poop everywhere.

There is a single mix and a longer album mix of "Action". Is that what you're asking about?

JWB wrote:I have been listening to the new British remasters and enjoying them.

On the other forum in the "The Sweet Remasters" thread, you did not say anything nice about them. In fact, you called them "loud" and "Astley job". Have you changed your mind?

I avoided those remasters on purpose because of your comments.

I think I was referring only to "Give Us A Wink" originally. I have since changed my tune a bit because I am enjoying the rest of the discs. They're loud, but I wouldn't say they're as bad as an Astley job. They're more like the newest Hendrixes. I bought them because it does sound like they used the best source tapes and the EQ isn't as harsh as the German BMG's. They don't give me a headache or anything if I listen to them loud. I don't feel like hunting down a variety of old CD's to get all these tracks.

Why don't you buy one and chime in with your opinion? May I reccommend "Desolation Boulvelard" since you already have another version to compare it to, it has both versions of "Fox On The Run", and the bonus tracks are way cool.