Recorded in 2020, as a tour-toughened Sweet lineup (then comprising recently added bassist Lee Small and lead vocalist Paul Manzi, alongside long-standing drummer Bruce Bisland, who replaced Mick Tucker in ’92, and 54-year-veteran guitarist Andy Scott) faced career-halting global lockdown, Isolation Boulevard captures a dozen re-recorded versions of the band’s greatest hits.
Projects like this often seem somewhat surplus to requirements, but considering the Sweet captured here are five decades removed from the Sweet that first banged out the majority of Isolation Boulevard’s material and that 75 per cent of the Popswop-bothering glamsters of yore are no longer with us, this particular revamp makes more sense than most.
The first thing that strikes the listener (especially the listener of a certain age) is just how well the Sweet’s era-defining hits (usually supplied by their songwriting/management team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman) stand up to 21st-century scrutiny. The titles speak for themselves: Blockbuster, Hellraiser, Teenage Rampage, Ballroom Blitz, Action, all spark with an intrinsic excitement entirely emblematic of their times, every hook-laden riff-storm is a twisted punk firestarter, and now, solidly revamped with contemporary rock productions, five decades of Andy Scott honing and still pitch-perfect proto-Queen harmonies, they all just sound brilliant.
Manzi beefs up Brian Connolly’s teenybop-friendly vocals for a metal-weaned constituency, but cannot possibly replicate the evergreen charm of Steve Priest’s inimitably camp asides. Ultimately, though, this is a record dripping with irresistible charm. And The Six Teens? Still the greatest No.1 single they never had.
