The newest album from The Sweet, a band that still survives under the watchful care of original member Andy Scott, still has that instantly recognizable Sweet sound fashioned decades earlier when the band cranked out plenty of Top40 hits. But this album doesn’t have Sweet originals (unless you want to count the album’s title track, “New York Connection”, originally written and recorded by Sweet early in the ’70s). Instead, Scott’s recruited band takes some highly respected songs and gives them the Sweet ‘go-round’ musically.
The new album, New York Connection, opens up with a captivating Russ Ballard song, “New York Groove”, which demands instant replay, even before you move on. And that’s a helluva way to begin an album. Scott’s latest incarnation of Sweet takes on classic tracks like the enduring Dead Or Alive’s 1984 song, “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”, Velvet Underground’s most noticeable “Sweet Jane”, and Springsteen’s (or does this really belong to Patti Smith?) “Because The Night”.
“You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” takes on a new life as Sweet turns it away from its ’80s synth-style to the revered Sweet effect. I can’t confess to liking Sweet’s take on “Because The Night” because it is quite a different song, however, I was never much the fan of the song anyway.
The surprises of the album are their covers of “Blitzkrieg Bop” (The Ramones) in a super-great version; “Gold On The Ceiling” (Black Keys); “Shape Of Things” (The Yardbirds); and of course, the show-stopper, “New York Groove”, which rules this album’s groove space (listen below).
I’m a fan of Sweet. New York Connection reaffirms why I’m a fan.
Release Date: May 08, 2012
–Matt Rowe
Love the new bridge on New York Groove. Great version.
That bridge section is from an Alicia Keys song.