Customer Reviews

Fool Around: The Best of Rachel Sweet

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just love this album which was originally released back in 1980. Ms. Sweet proves she has an excellent vocal range and my favourite track would have to be "Foul Play" which contains the lyrics "You murdered a love' which most people in a bad relationship can relate too.This album sounds as fresh today as it did 25 years ago which is quite an accomplishment for any artist. Rachel Sweet ROCKS!!!!

From her first brilliant, soaring intro of B-A-B-Y to the saloon-styled Elvis Costello ballad "Stranger in the House", Rachel Sweet hopskotched into the punked-out world of the Ramones, Blondie and the Clash with a jailbait look, a wad of bubblegum, and a mildly pedophiliac titled debut lp, "Fool Around." This CD, "Fool Around: The Best of Rachel Sweet" comprises all the cuts from that early lp as well as several later hits, including her best known, "Everlasting Love," a duet with one-TV-movie-hit-wonder, Rex Smith.

Sweet recorded a couple of other CDs during the height of her fame, but none made as big a splash as "Fool Around", which won her a spot on the 1980 "Stiff" tour along with the likes of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. It would seem that, despite her definite musical talent, her best marketed feature was her age...or lack thereof. In later years, Sweet may have stopped getting the attention she deserved from managers, agents, and potential fans.

This "the Best Of" CD is great in that it does include all of the "Fool Around" material, most of which has a country feel to it, since Rachel got her start singing for fairs in her home state of Ohio, where the audiences wanted their music homespun. But there were a few songs even back then, like "Cuckoo Clock" (featuring Lene Lovich) and "Girl With the Synthesizer" that added wildly different directions to her repertoire. One of the best songs featuring her sultry country voice in a ballad is "Wildwood Saloon", which not only shows off her voice, but foreshadows another midwestern miss about to burst on the country scene, Alison Krauss.

The newer songs--the theme from "Hairspray", for example, and "I'll Watch the News" are witty and professionally delivered, if not quite as punchy.

It's no accident that one of Elvis Costello's best efforts at feting his pal George Jones ("Stranger in the House") appears here, and if you are unfamiliar with Sweet and wonder if you should buy this CD, thinking of Costello's tongue-in-cheek country period might help you decide. One of my favorite tunes (written by Records' drummer John Wicks)"Pin a Medal on Mary", contains the memorable verse:

You said you were going to the bathroom/
But you were gone for half an hour/
You came back so disarranged/
You hadn't been there for a shower. ...

This CD rocks, it's witty, it belts out the high and alto notes, it's a punk-pop extravaganza from the beginning of the genre.

It has been so long ago I don't even remember when I first heard Rachel Sweet, but it made an impression, so when I ran across Fool Around-The Best Of, I grabbed it and have not looked back. Great album by a great singer. I would get this album for no other reason than it is a real collector's item. Just check the used prices and you will see that, but if you consider yourself a real collector, then I recommend this one.

as usual, her best album is the one with whodoeslisalike and a fab album. so instead we get teh trash album of hers and not the one with her best. Fool Around (1978) should be her CD and we'd all be happy and she'd have a 5star review. Leave it to management to make sure brains stay out the equation of marketing most all the great obscure acts. I could list many other cases, but for now. I agree - where is Fool Around (1978).

This might be better than 2 stars. I don't know because I haven't stopped fuming yet. I am in a band that has played Rachel Sweet's tune "Tonight" for years. It has always been well received by audiences. Trouble is, I have no idea what happened to the copy of the cassette from which I first heard the song. I have been searching for it for years. It finally shows up on this compilation and I'm elated. Problem is, it's not available. I had to buy it used from someone on this site. So I plops me money down and the person sends me the CD. Problem is, that song isn't on the CD. Amazon got the song list wrong. Yes, it has some of her other cool tunes such as "Who Does Lisa Like", "Pin a Medal on Mary" and "Everlasting Love" But I'm not looking for those songs. I'm looking for "Tonight." So...once I stop being p@#$%d-Off, I might review it again.