With no tour on either side of the ocean in support of the album, Sweet’s ‘Waters Edge’ dropped like a rock in a sea of great pop records released in 1980.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Sweet
ALBUM: Waters Edge
LABEL: Polydor
SERIAL: POLS 1023
YEAR: 1980
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Steve Priest – lead and backing vocals, bass * Andy Scott – lead and backing vocals, guitars, keyboards * Mick Tucker – lead and backing vocals, drums, percussion
Additional Musician: Gary Moberley – keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 60’s Man * 02 Getting In The Mood For Love * 03 Tell The Truth * 04 Own Up * 05 Too Much Talking * 06 Thank You For Loving Me * 07 At Midnight * 08 Waters Edge * 09 Hot Shot Gambler * 10 Give The Lady Some Respect
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
‘Cut Above The Rest’ was one of the best and most underrated albums of 1979, at least in this writer’s opinion. For Sweet, touring America during the summer with Cheap Trick, Kiss and Journey as a threesome proved to be a refreshing experience from the previous year which came to an ugly head dealing Brian Connolly’s drinking and relative incoherence.
Unfortunately as good as ‘Cut Above The Rest’ was, the album received few reviews and most of those didn’t exactly praise the band so when it came time to record ‘Waters Edge’, their label was in no mood for further failure.
The Songs
Both management and record company were pushing Sweet from all sides, choosing the producer, Pip Williams of Status Quo fame as well as the music and essentially running roughshod over the band.
And yet with all the internal stress, musically ‘Waters Edge’ is pretty damn impressive. Bouncy electronics kick off ’60’s Man’, one of two unsuccessful singles pulled from the record.
Bassist Steve Priest picks up the majority of vocal duties with Andy Scott providing lead on four cuts including the wonderfully lightweight ‘Tell The Truth’ which sounds very much like ELO.
Mick Tucker’s excellent rumbling rocker ‘Own Up’ is pure Sweet with an instantly recognizable riff and very reminiscent of the classic ‘Give Us A Wink’ period.
With a brain searing hook and trademark high-end backing vocals the title track offers up one of the collections catchiest tunes while the other single that inexplicably never charted ‘Give The Lady Some Respect’ is a classic rocker in the Sweet tradition of heavy rock blended with mind-bending pop sensibilities as only they could pull off.
In Summary
With no tour on either side of the ocean in support of the album, Sweet’s ‘Waters Edge’ dropped like a rock in a sea of great pop records released in 1980.
The death of Mick Tucker’s wife and his own diagnosis for Pancreatitis as well as a missed opportunity for Andy Scott to produce the Iron Maiden debut didn’t help matters.
Adding insult to injury an aborted Scott/Priest produced Brian Johnson solo project prior to the singer joining AC/DC only bought more misery on the band. One more album – 1982’s overlooked ‘Identity Crisis’ and Sweet’s long run would sadly come to an end.
Sweet on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
