The Sweet: Here and Now

Rating:
Summary: A wasted opportunity. Why can't they get it right?
Review: The Sweet is one of the best rock bands in the history of music. Video footage of the "mighty" Sweet has always been sort of a rarity. Truly, a major event! At last, we finally get the chance to enjoy the glory of watching The Sweet in action in DVD format, or so we think...

Major disappointment! Whoever produced this DVD did a terrible job. For starters, the sound could have been much better. Perhaps it would have even been valid to re-record it over the video images. They left the original poor sound from the original ancient tapes.

My biggest complain is what happens between songs. They don't let you see the start of the video for various seconds (it feels like an eternity!). I don't like missing out valuable images without reason. It takes forever until you actually see the band. The end of every song is also abruptly cut off. Instead they show the same images and the respective song title.

All the mishaps aside, you can truly appreciate what a great band The Sweet was. Brian Connolly giving his best during "Fever of Love", Mick Tucker pounding the drums in "Sixties Man", Steve Priest soulfully singing and playing his bass, and a young --once a great guitarist-- Andy Scott playing with aggression and taste.

Now on to the second section: Andy Scott's Sweet. It hurts to say it, but Andy Scott looks pathetically fat, rigid and tired (totally opposite to the personality he once had). He has really no point in re-doing the old classics with his new band. They do it competently (singer/bassist Jeff Brown does a very good job), but NOTHING can compare to the real thing, so why do it? Why tampering with the original creations? Totally senseless if you ask me. His newest Afterlife stuff does not do much for me either, truth be said. The biography section leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't even mention who are the players in the newest videos.

I was very disappointed with this gem, still I like it because I can still see some of the "real" Sweet, one of the best and most influential bands of all time. I'm still hopeful somebody will finally get it right and give us fans a real good DVD with The Sweet. Until then, I guess this is the best we can hope for, oh well...