Sweet - Originals (The Best 37 Glamrock Songs Ever) (1998)

The title sets itself up for one hell of a fall, and the ongoing need for a decent Sweet box set is never going to be assuaged by this. But it is what it says on the tin, a 37-strong collection that, OK, they're not all the "Best Glam Rock Songs Ever," but maybe a dozen of them are, and the remainder should at least be invited to the awards ceremony. A dizzying spin through the band's entire RCA catalog, a mass of A-sides, B-sides, album cuts and what-on-earth-were-they-thinking cuts jostle for your attention. Slide, if you will, from the sophisticated stylings of "Love Is Like Oxygen," into the arms of the band's execrable cover of "Paperback Writer." Cringe through their version of "Tom Tom Turnaround" (at least New World sounded like they cared when they sang it), then leap into the tempestuous grip of "Wig Wam Bam." No chronology is at play here, nor any sense that the songs were programmed for seamless continuity. Rather, it's just wigwam-bam-thank-you-ma'am from start to finish, and you stagger out at the end wondering precisely how many different bands Sweet thought they were. The answer is, of course, as many as they thought they could get away with. So, if you like your metal laced with bubblegum, and your classic hits smeared with anodyne covers, Sweet Originals is the box for you. But it's not the box that it ought to be.