Monday, November 10, 2008

The Sweet - Man From Meca




Mostly known for their sickeningly "sweet" bubblegum brand of pop "glam" music, what we have here is a real MUSCULAR rock workout by The Sweet.

This aint no "Fox on the Run" or "Ballroom Blitz" or even "Little Willy" which just so happens to be the A side here. But this B side is a bit of Heavy Proto-Metal from 1973, and while this isn't quite on par as say Sabbath, Heep, Purple or the heavier side of Zep, this is certainly equal or better than any of the 2nd tier rockers like Foghat or Nazareth ever came up with... And while The Sweet certainly had some edgier songs this one really does it for me. One can only imagine if they put down the hairspray and leather trousers and actually tried to rock what other great heavy rockers they could have came up with.

The Sweet - Man From Meca

9 comments:

Aesop said...

One of my favorite bands, and sharp dressers as well.

Anonymous said...

Wowie!

I remember listening to the Little Willy 45 when I was a tiny little guy... 6 or 7 I suppose. I'm sure I listened to the flip-side, too, but... it's been 32 or 33 years!

I'm looking forward to this. Thanks!

Donna Lethal said...

I bought this (or rather, had my mother buy it) in first grade!

Ever hear Gene Pitney's "Mecca"?

Mondo said...

This is right up my Desolation Boulevard - I love The Sweet, would also recommend checking out Turn It Down, Burn On The Flame and the live version of Hellraiser - they're one of the overlooked influences on so many rock bands..

Anonymous said...

Little Willy is the first 45 rpm I ever bought. I must of been four years old. "Man from Mecca" is a better song and it shreds. Sweet put out some great overlooked hard rock. Check out Raven's 1981 cover of Hellraiser/Action.

sirlordford said...

Raging Slab to a smoking cover of this as well.

GrizzyLyn said...

I did a search for Man From Mecca on a whim, not expecting anyone but me to remember this kick-ass B-side song. Lo and behold, there it was (complete with an MP3 download). Once I heard this song I knew there was more to The Sweet than what met the eye. The Sweet were ahead of their time, which Desolation Boulevard eventually proved. Their "popular" songs were never the ones that I liked best... give me "No You Don't" over "Fox On The Run" any day. They were highly underrated and overlooked. Shame!!

GrizzyLyn said...

Had to leave another quick message after checking out your webpage. Bloodrock Live caught my eye, never can forget listening to "D.O.A." WOW!! Great collection you have there. If you ever get to Barre,Vermont check out the store "Exile On Main Street." Lots of great vinyl (if you are looking for anything special, Mike could probably get it for you). Thanks so much for bringing back tons of great memories. I'll be back to visit your page again, that's for sure.

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