By 1971, The Sweet were stuck right in the middle of gummy pop and glam, a stepping stone into the harder realm of rock.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: The Sweet
ALBUM: Funny How Sweet Coco Can Be
LABEL: RCA
SERIAL: SF 8238
YEAR: 1971
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Brian Connolly – lead vocals * Andy Scott – guitar, vocals * Steve Priest – bass, vocals * Mick Tucker – drums, vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Co-Co * 02 Chop Chop * 03 Reflections * 04 Honeysuckle Love * 05 Santa Monica Sunshine * 06 Daydream * 07 Funny Funny * 08 Tom Tom Turnaround * 09 Jeanie * 10 Sunny Sleeps Late * 11 Spotlight
WEBLINK Site Link
Background
What we have here is a very different Sweet to the one that gave us the evergreen ‘Fox On The Run’ and other glam stomping hard rock classics. After releasing several excellent pop singles as early as 1968 all of which failed to chart, Sweet signed with the up and coming Mickie Most directed songwriting duo of Nicky Chinn and Michael Chapman.
The duo were on the hunt for a musical vehicle similar to that of The Archies and their massive selling bubblegum single ‘Sugar, Sugar’. Sweet would be a stepping stone for the Chinn/Chapman house of gum and glitter, with a string of successful 45’s for Suzi Quatro, Mud and others in the years that followed, but Sweet were never quite happy with the relationship which they saw as suffocating, despite the hits. By the time 1974’s ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’ was released, the Chinn/Chapman party was over with Sweet writing half the material in a hard rock direction and never looking back.
The Songs
As a fan and student of all things bubblegum, it’s hard for me to find fault with this record. The songs are as sticky as ice cream fingers on a summer day, and even the covers of The Supremes ‘Reflections’ and Lovin’ Spoonful‘s ‘Daydream’ are as tasty as a fistful of Blow pop suckers.
Yet I know not everyone shares my appreciation for gummy sounds and tunes like ‘Co-Co’ and ‘Funny Funny’ might throw some into sugar shock. For those in need of insulin in the form of a heavier Sweet sound can get their fix with the group penned cut ‘Spotlight’ which comes across as Deep Purple-lite but is a good indicator of the bands future direction and where their hearts really were.
In Summary
There were two different versions of this LP, the UK issue reviewed here and the German release featuring a different cover and removing ‘Spotlight’ in favor of ‘Done Me Wrong All Right’, again written by the band and in a heavier direction. Both songs were reissued on CD in 2005 with a plethora of bonus material. Hard core Sweet fans will already own this, others might hesitate for obvious reasons. But as an early document of what I feel is one of rock music’s greatest bands ‘Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be’ is a must-have.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
