Customer Reviews

Give Us a Wink

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the remarkable things about the Sweet's discography is the incredible variety of musical styles that they traversed in just a little over a decade. In many respects this album represents Sweet's heaviest hour and also one of its finest.
Songs such as "Keep it In", "Yesterday's Rain" and "White Mice" are loaded with lots of great riffs courtesy of Andy Scott and God knows what pills Mick Tucker was on as his drumming seems almost hyperactive.
Both musicians are largely responsible for the impression one gets that much more music is contained on this album than the 40 odd minutes it actually has.
"4th of July is one of my all time favourite Sweet songs. Although released as a single, it was never as commerical as "Action" or the "Lies in your Eyes", but the meandering keyboards and subtle guitar work with the drug oriented lyrics provide for quite a surreal song which ends with one hell of a bang.
"Action" is another one of the great Sweet songs. Possibly their best. With cash registers ringing, screaming vocals and guitars duelling, this song is loaded with energy and "action" a plenty. I was fortunate living in Australia at the time because as a single, this song performed better there than in the UK and the US and received much more airplay, making it to about no.6. (Ofcourse it made it to No 1 in Germany).
"Lies in your Eyes" is a much more commercial song. It has a very strong melody, but it does not have the musical variety of the other two singles. Once again Aussies appreciated the Sweet more than England and the US, the song making it to about number 10 in the National Charts. In fact, it even made number 1 in Australia's capital city Canberra. (Number 5 in Germany).
Brian Connolly might not have liked singing heavy rock, but he sure was damn good at it. And Steve Priest sure knew how to keep the tempo of a song up with frenetic bass playing, his vocal interludes and overlaid harmonies.

"Off the Record", the follow-up album to 'Give us a Wink", although similar, was a much lighter attempt as a rock album. And the next two albums include some material that is semi-classical (quite superb too if you can drop your preconceptions). Quite possibly the change in musical style was motivated by the fact (at last in my view) that Sweet completely mastered the heavy rock genre on this album.
If you're into heavy rock, I strongly recommend you buy this album. Others preferring Sweet's softer side should start with "Level Headed" or "Cut Above the Rest" (also both 5 star attempts but ooh so different).

The band has finally reached their adulthood and now have total artistic control of the finished product. SWEET now write all their songs. This gives them wind under their wings and SWEET soar! You can feel them bubbling with energy in every song in every note. We finally get to answer the age old question; how high can Andy Scott sing! Andy takes it to new heights in "The Lies in Your Eyes" putting the "Bee Gees" best vocal efforts to shame. There's only one way to play this album and that is VERY LOUD. The way it was intended. The only drawback here is (exceptionally) the extras (or lack there of). No demo versions, no previously unreleased material. The 3 extra tracks do not offer any incentive as they add very little to the originals. Personally I would very much have appreciated to have the North American version of "Lady Starlight" added as an extra here. It was included on the North American album and was slightly more "polished" than it's UK predecessor. Oh well, no use crying over Yesterday's Rain ;-) Oh, and another thing, would it have killed them to make a "winking" cover like the original vinyl album? We have the technology...

SWEET loses a star here for the extras not worth the extra bucks and being cheap on the cover...

This new UK remaster of "Give Us a Wink" uses the less satisfactory UK running order,which lacks "Lady Starlight"(version 2) which was on the U.S.A. album.The remastering is decent.As for the bonus tracks,you get the 7" single version of "Action"(a different intro,but otherwise the same take as the album version,which featured a longer intro which was spliced on to the same take.What I mean is that the intro on the single version is the orginal,the album version's intro is a revised intro.).The other two bonus tracks are alternate "Munich mix" versions of "Cockroach" & "4th of July",which are essentially alternate takes."Cockroach" features totally different vocals,and "4th of July" a prominent piano,which diluted the song's hard rocking impact.These are similar(but not identical) to the versions heard on the German CD "Platinum Rare".But if you're looking to hear the U.S.A. version of the album,get the Japanese Toshiba/EMI/Capitol CD of the album.That CD reproduces the album cover art(and its' graffiti) in full.

To me "Give us a Wink" was the high watermark that the band could ever have hoped to achieve considering they started out as a glam/bubblegum/teeny booper act under the control of pop songsmiths Mike Chapman, and Nikki Chinn. This could be considered the Sweet's dark album with cut after cut being brooding, standoffish, and sleazy. "keep it in" and "White mice" drive with reckless abandon while "Yesterday's Rain" and "Healer" are mid-tempo rockers that make full use of the bands skills at creating tension and climax. Lead Singer Brian Connolly's voice is shredded at the end of most cuts and sounds incredible while yeoman guitarist Andy Scott makes the most out of every solo and riff, and there are plenty of good riffs to be found here. Production is not a bright as "desolation Blvd." or "Off the Record" but it adds the the greasiness of the whole album, which is ripe with sex and violence. One of my faves from 70's rock, I put it alongside ANYTHING made from the era.

I hardly ever 5-star rate any record ... just so that you know it. But this one is pretty close. For one thing it is clearly the best effort Sweet ever made (and that's saying a lot since they did som pretty good records along the way). They loose a half star because "Lies in your Eyes" is such a lame song. Another half because the soundquality of the mastertapes is below standard. This is not intended to be garage-sound in any way, so why not go for crystal-clear?
That said this is a sublime effort. In many ways signifieing The Sweet's final transition. Even though both "Sweet Fany Adams" and "Desolation Boulevard" are essentially rock-records they do maintain an influence from the Chinn/Chapman era. As if the snake did not get rid of the old skin all the way. Not only does these records have Chinn/Chapman compositions on them. Some of the self-penned songs are distinctly of the same breed. Now, this is not neccesarily bad ... just different. But it leads to less consistant albums. And "Give us a Wink" is better than that ... far better.
The Sweet in many ways started out as the male (and seventies) equivalent of "Spice Girls". Good looks, experienced composing (Chinn/Chapman but typically with selfpenned and more rock'ish tracks on the flipside) and producing and some quality media-relations. So the really interesting thing about The Sweet is there strive and abillity to leave conformity behind and to develope into an influential and important hard rock band.
And "Give us a Wink" is their most important record in this context (rivalled only by "Sweet Fany Adams"). It's dark and agressive. The composing and playing is mature and innovative and the overall feeling of the album is that of music with a mission. It is also a very hard (if not exactly heavy) rock album. In fact some of the hardest around in the mid seventies.
Listen to "Cockroach" or "Yesterdays Rain". Lyrics about sex and lust, dark ambitions and very sharp-edged and hard music brilliantly arranged and played. Some of the figurative playing in for instance "Keep it in" and the two afforementioned songs takes a lot of effort and time to even really experienced musicians to figure out. This i top-musicianship.
And this album (at least not in the original version) leaves no time to relax your ears - no ballads, no holes in the wall(later versions had "Lady Starlight" from "Desolation Boulevard" on it - it works badly with the rest of the songs).
But the original eight songs stand out as not only The Sweets best record, but as one of the most important releases in the seventies at all. If you have read this long you know which songs I think are the best on the record and also that one track (the opener as it happens) is below standard. The rest of the songs are all really excellent: Theres the classic "Action". The Creepy "Healer" and the ironic and satirical "4th of July". All brilliant songs. One song deserves a special mention - "White Mice". I personally find it to be one of the weaker compositions on the record to be honest. But it highlight the harmony-vocals that more than anything is The Sweet sound-legacy. In fact all of the band-members had pretty strong voices. And they used this fact to record outstanding vocals rivalled only by Queen.
The Sweet as a band performed an impressing transition ... leaving little doubt that they must have felt truly frustrated as a teeny-pop outfit. This frustration may have contributed to the well known problems with drugs and alcohol eventually to kill the lead-singer Brian Connoly. A few years ago the ultra-tallented drummer Mick Tucker died as well.
At the end of day The Sweet was an excellent rock-band. And the fact that not only I but many people with an interest in rock-history says so will, i'm sure, please the two remaining members, Steve Priest and Andy Scott. And maybe this will ease the disapointment of never beeing truly accepted as a band by their contemporaries. I recommend this album to anyone who likes hard rock and want to know more about one of the best rockbands of the seventies. And if you want to know more buy further Sweet-albums in the following order: "Sweet Fany Adams", "Off the Record", "Desolation Boulevard", "Strung Up" and "Level Headed". Thats all you need. But if one record is all you can afford ... Wink it!!

I've looked for this for a very long time. One of Sweet's best! I was disappointed to see that "Lady Starlight" was not included in the track list, as it was on the original,after "Cockroach"

...and this band has some great ones. The band in prime form, pop and melodic, combined with heavy riffs and raunchy lyrics. In step with 'Desolation Blvd', and other classic Sweet stuff. Available pretty cheap for an import, go buy this if you like Slade, T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen, Bowie, etc. 'Action' is arguably their best song ever, but 'Lies in your Eyes' and 'Yesterday's Rain' are also tops.

This band, and especially this album, have been sorely overlooked and underrated. Before GUAW came out, all I really knew about The Sweet were "Little Willy" and "Fox On The Run". Now, "Fox On The Run" is a great song but the songs on GUAW are powerful. I bought the cassette when it first came out because I was on a Navy ship and I had a small tape player (this was before the walkman). Even through my one little speaker I was blown away by these songs. All 8 songs from the original release are great. All these years later and I can still hear the songs in my head. Particular favorites are "Lies In Your Eyes", "4th of July" (I find myself singing the chorus quite often), "Action" and "Yesterday's Rain".
If you're a fan of 70's hard rock, like Uriah Heep and Humble Pie, I think you will like this album. Buy it, play it, crank it!

If you own one Sweet cd this should be it.It's the most consistent rocker in all of the releases.I've been a fan since they had to share the airwaves with Disco Tex & The Bee Gee's.I'll say it again with the rest of us fans...THE MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED BAND OF (at least the 70's)ALL TIME!!!(especially Andy Scott)!!!!!!!!!

This is one of my favorite records of all time. I love every song on it--can't say much more than that. Andy Scott's dizzyingly frenetic guitar parts on "White Mice," and "Keep It In" are superb and way ahead of their time. Get it!