Disco de Sweet: “Level Headed [Bonus Track]”

After countless hits,metal glam classics and rebel raisin'rock, this group of rousers suddenly grew-up and retreated to the hills to record this classic. An album made by mature musicians who were just to good to put out another 1,4,5 boogie album. This has an adventurous feel to it like a classic Queen album. Some moments do sound like Queen in the complex harmonies. And the softer songs have a grand orchestral sound that is big not boring.And we have our heavy guitar themes but the glossy production makes everything sugary sweet. I'm reviewing this again after all these years because we the fans were unfair when this came-out the first time. "Love Is Like Oxygen" did go on to be a big hit. This is a deep album and deserves reflection and multiple spins...5 stars because this is a class A record from a band that just became a class act at that time...

This is a great album by the Sweet with some really good songs...it's got a couple of duds like Lady Of The Lake. This effort is one of their mellowest albums...but songs like the massive Love Is Like Oxygen make it worth picking up.

I have the Lemon Records version and it is not remastered at all in fact the CD's output is very very low and it's hard to tell if they used master tapes for this release...they are notorious for vinyl transfers and this is probably the case for this reissue...still the quality is very listenable if you turn up the stereo a lot just not what you'd expect from a 2008 remaster. The other thing is I wish it came with the US cover art which I prefer.

Moving well into their 30's in age the Sweet takes a turn to the adult-oriented rock genre. Having been known either for being Mike Chapman/Nicky Chinn's band, or hard rockers writing occasionally killer songs, Sweet turns the volume down to a low scream for "Level Headed" in 1978. Unbeknownst to fans this was to be Brian Connolly's swan song as the rest of the band was about to give the alcoholic singer the boot in a most uncool, devious manner. The album really shines as Steve Priest and Andy Scott step up and deliver a collection of fine songs, all four members giving superb performances. "California Nights" sets the mood by the band doing their best Eagles/Fleetwood Mac impersonation, but "Silverbird" is pure Sweet with killer rythm by Priest and Tucker. "Fountain" surprises by showing range in the band's songwriting talents. "Love is Like Oxygen" we all know it, it's so good...nuff said. Side two offers up a string ensemble for a song from out of nowhere "Anthem No. 1" sung beautifully by Brian. "Strong Love" is a mid-tempo rocker that fit nicely in the pocket with a killer groove. The album ends on the strange "Air on 'A' Tape Loop", but somehow seems like the perfect end for the band. "Level Headed" is what's known as progressing as a band, and many times spells death. The Sweet were lucky in this regard, the audience accepted them in their new format, and the band didn't need to retrace their steps....for another two albums. Level Headed could be perceived as a high water mark for the band critically as well as commercially. To others, its just limp rock and roll. I think it stands on its on merits.

This is a well-crafted album. It captures the transformation of the band from the glam-rock of their beginnings to the harder and leaner music that they put out afterward. This is evident especially in the track 'Air On "A" Tape Loop'; you have to remind yourself that this was a song from 1978. The cover is different than the U.S. released version. That version has a closeup of what looks at first glance like a city or structure from an alien world perhaps. But when you opened the foldout center of the album, you saw a picture of a floating electric guitar with a cassette tape player in the place of the string pickups. Very original artwork. The picture of the band that is on the cover of this version of the album was located on the album sleeve if I recall correctly. It has nothing to do with the quality of the recording, but it is interesting just the same.

I must admit that my expectations weren't very high when I purchased this disc. I bought it for the extended version of "Love Is Like Oxygen," a true pop-rock classic from the seventies. When I listened to "Level Headed" for the first time, I was quite surprised and rather disappointed that the first cut ("Dream On") was a slow, sappy ballad. I might have embraced such a song had I been listening to Bread or The Carpenters, but this was SWEET! I expected cut one on an album by Sweet to be attention-grabbing, fun and up-tempo, but it didn't happen this time. Cuts three through ten are equally unremarkable.

If not for the presence of cut two, "Love Is Like Oxygen," I might have given this disc a one or two-star rating. The long version of "Oxygen" alone makes "Level Headed" worthy of a place in your music library.