The Modern World

I can tell you everything wrong with the Sweet's Action: the Sweet Anthology (Shout! Factory) - much of it is simply bubblegum and/or journeyman efforts - but the stretch of the band at its best is irresistible for me. From 1972's "Little Willy" through the tracks from 1975's Desolation Boulevard, the Sweet performed a pretty smart trick, connecting Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman's schoolyard melodies with Brian Connolly's hard rock voice and Phil Wainman's sound-of-modernity production. The result sounded like a sexy, hard rock now that was available to anybody who wanted to be a part of it.