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Desolation Boulevard A Review by Hertz
Van Rental
This review like my others is divided into 3:
What I thought about the album at the time
What I feel about it now and
Finally my best attempt at an objective view.
The version reviewed here is the UK one, with the following track list;
The Sixteens
Solid Gold Brass
Turn it Down
Medusa
Lady Starlight
Man with the Golden arm
Fox on the Run
Breakdown
My Generation
I have done a very brief comparison at the end of this review with the US version.
What I felt at the time.
In a similar way to SFA (see my review on that one). I bought this album not at the time
of release, but after the success of a single - in this case Fox on the Run.
Interestingly, there had been a single in between 'The Sixteens' and 'Fox'. Of course this
was the minor 'hit' 'Turn it Down' which was also the last Chinn/Chapman song released by
the band as a single. All I can say is that I never heard it! Apparently it did chart in
the UK (just) at number 39, but was a dramatic fall in success for Sweet. As a single it
was probably less commercial than its predecessors, but unless it was all a co-incidence
and I didn't hear about it because of a wild series of co-incidences, it must have also
got a lot less airtime than previous releases and less than it deserved. If this was the
case and not just my mistaken impression, then unfortunately this was a foretaste of
things to come!
One of the themes of this review is the issue the band faced in the direction change they
undertook in 1974. Could they attract a new audience for more serious music, given the
handicap of not really being taken seriously? Could they move into new musical areas with
at least some of their existing fans?
Many of these exiting fans would have been like me at the time, early teenagers or younger
(I was 12).
Anyway, this is meant to be a review, so let's get on with it! My reaction to Desolation
Boulevard was
one of mild disappointment. It didn't seem to stand comparison with SFA. I remember that
particularly hated 'Man With the Golden Arm' - I wondered who in the world would want to
listen to 10 minutes of Mick practising. To be honest, I felt cheated by the track which
takes up a good part of side 2. The Fox version wasn't as good as the single and I thought
Lady Starlight was a durge. (Andy's voice sounded adequate but not distinctive enough for
lead). There were compensations: The marvellous 'Sixteens', a cover of 'My Generation' and
Solid Gold Brass (I was really taken with the combination of Brain and Steve's vocals).
'Turn it Down' wasn't bad, though not in the same league as the 'Sixteens' or 'Fox' as a
single. As an album track on the other hand, it had raw power as well as the great vocals
from Brian and
Steve. One classic Sweet technique on the recent hit singles at the time had been for
Brian and Steve to share the vocals, with Steve usually doing a camp one or two liner. On
Solid Gold Brass and Turn it Down the Brian/Steve combination over superb guitar work from
Andy was a highlight. I'm hearing
them now, 'YOU! YOU GO TAKE A WALK ...' , 'THAT MAN WALKED IN THE DOOR....'
Overall though, after the glories of SFA this album was a disappointment. I was 12 by this
time and I can hear you say yes, but Sweet were going for a more mature audience'. True,
but I can't help thinking that SFA showed how they might be able to take at least some of
the singles audience with them (these people were like the music, maturing fast). Maybe it
was a mistake to jump fast and maybe not. All I know is that Desolation Boulevard made it
more likely that they would need to find a completely new and older audience - one which
at the time viewed them as teenyboppers. Maybe a more gradual evolution
would have been better? The point is that by becoming a primarily album band, they were
effectively starting again, but not from zero, but from a negative position of not being
taken seriously by 'serous' fans.
1975 was when I first heard Desolation Boulevard and also when I noticed that my favourite
band was slipping out of favour (at least in the UK). I am obviously only talking about
one very small town in Hertfordshire (just north of London). The original fans where
either forgetting about them, or like me
moving on in what they listened to. In my case, Sweet were fundamental in my evolution,
for most people it was through what you might describe as big brother syndrome'. This is
where a older siblings introduced kids of my age into 'serious music'. Not every sibling
did this, of course, but one in a
group was enough. Along with new bands and styles, these siblings also brought was was a
kind of political correctness! The peer pressure was that you had to like bands on a kind
of unofficial 'approved list'. Worse, Sweet were not on this! I suppose it was during 1975
I started to feel like the only Sweet fan in the world.
What do I think of it now?
With maturing years, I look on the album more kindly. I still find it hard to imagine why
the band even in their wildest dreams thought 'Man with the Golden Arm' was a good idea -
a definite and complete failure to me! Worse I feel the reason the track is there the
reason was either through simple self indulgence or equally possibly an inferiority
complex going back to the early Chinn/Chapman says of session musicians - a kind of 'look
we can play really!'.
I still don't much like Lady Starlight - if Brian had sung it then it would have been
better. Andy's voice isn't anywhere near Brian's or even Steve's as lead. Don't get me
wrong, Andy was essential to the classic line up as a musician, hitting the high notes in
the harmonies and in being probably the main creative influence in the band, but for me he
was not a great front man or lead vocalist. It's the difference between being great at one
thing and OK at another....
The rest of the album has some great moments - check out the tracks I mentioned liking
above and Medusa and Breakdown have grown on me, it's a good album. But as Helmut mentions
on another review on this page, the album often sounds rushed. I feel they could have done
more with it. As an introduction to Sweet for someone who didn't know them, this would be
low down my list.
The point I mentioned at the start (could it have been better?) is key to how I view the
album - as a missed opportunity. DB is by Sweet standards a weak album. It was released
when the band was still in the public eye and a determined PR campaign in the music press
combined with a good album and strong singles would have perhaps done it. Instead DB was
weaker than it could have been and the moment past. Perhaps I am being too negative, the
band was by no means finished and in my opinion was still to produce it best work. But for
me, it was definitely an opportunity missed. Of course, the old days of number one hits
might have gone with this approach, but I feel the band could have made the transition
with less pain than was the case.
Objective view
For an outsider, I would recommend it as a good, not great album and tell them to forget
'Man With the Golden Arm'. Not the greatest work Sweet did - but some great moments and
well worthwhile.
US Version
I am not clear on the exact track list to hand for the US version since I don't own a copy
(could anyone help by the way - leave a message on the Internet ballroom message board).
But I do know it was basically a combination of singles and the best tracks from SFA and
DB. My view is that the US record company was right - this was a great introduction to
Sweet and a better album for that market.