The Sweet- Solid Gold Brass

Since things seem to be headed solidly in the Glam direction at the moment, I'll just roll with it and put up this clip sent by my man Ned Brewster in Majorca, Spain. Its British Glam heavyweights The Sweet doing "Solid Gold Brass" on the short lived BBC show Geordie Scene in 1974. The Sweet were a great band but tragically underrated because of their pop hits "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox On The Run". Its obvious they just wanted to be Led Zeppelin but got trapped in the bubblegum pop scene by their initial success with younger audiences.

The way they do "Solid Gold Brass", though, is evidence of something more going on beneath the surface. The song is full of contradictions- heavy but laid back, detached but aggressive, the tough sounding opening guitar riffs then Andy Scott's angelic voice and the spoken, menacing lyrics by bass player Steve Priest. What about the oddly jazzy guitar and bass at 2:20? To the band's credit, though, somehow all the disparate parts come together and they make it work.