Customer Reviews

Sweet Revenge

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first heard Sweet Revenge in 1980. It was so [un]popular that I couldn't find it anywhere, and, when I tried to order it from the record company, they sent me several copies free, including one in which an employee had taken a razor and cut out one of the pictures inside the album jacket *inside the shrink wrap*. I think the songs and lyrics ("Are you question or answer?..." etc...) have stood up over time. Well worth buying.

This is a concept album in the Faustian mode, about a girl who sold her soul to the devil and won. She's promised anything she wants (Follow Me), her first wish is for riches (Gold) and also for fame. After turning to her mother for help (Mother Look What They've Done For Me), she runs away (Run Baby Run) and retires into solitude. Renouncing her selfish desires, she offers her love to someone who really needs her, and that becomes her Sweet Revenge over temptation. The first song cycle, (Follow Me to Follow Me Reprise), has always been a classic disco suite, but with the exception of Enigma Give a bit of Mmh) the other tracks don't quite live up to the rest. Follow Me with its swirling synths is a timeless classic however, and showcases her husky voice to the full. In a way, Amanda was the European Donna Summer and it's a pity she didn't achieve greater success in the UK and USA. This album has certainly stood the test of time very well and is a prime example of intelligent dance music.

Its incredible that this, Amanda Lear's second major studio album dating from afar back as 1978 still sounds fresh and exciting today. Contained herein are the smash hits Follow Me (with its gloomy Faustian Concept); Enigma (With its sly reverential lyrics: "its all so confusing especially when you start singing") and other gems which highlight the songwriting talent of Ms Lear: Comic; The Stud and Mother Look What they've done to me - which is easily one of the best songs about child abuse or rape. A must have for your collection. Now if only BMG would release ALL her other masterpieces....

This was actually Amanda's 2nd album, it came after 'I'm A photograph' .
This Truly is A CLASSIC to have, with all wonderfull tracks like only Amanda could write herself, together with her help Anthony Monn.
All by all, It tells the story of a girl, who sold her soul to the Devil and won.
Thanx Amazon, for making this album available, you are having a true Classic here!

This was Amanda Lear's second album released in 1978, and she delivers fully on the promise expected after her well received debut 'I AM A PHOTOGRAPH' 1977.

It's good for dancing but listen more closely over the eurodisco dance beat are intelligent lyrics. Follow Me is a gloomy Faustian concept of a girl selling her soul to the devil for fame and riches.

Each track starting with the above mentioned Follow Me blends seamlessly into the next. Mother Look What They've Done To Me perfectly captures the despair, anguish and devastation of rape, incest or even child abuse. Gold and Run Baby Run have driving incessant beats, and a slower version of Follow Me with different lyrics round off the suite.

Producer Anthony Monn and Lear slow it down a bit on Comics but only slightly, what a great video this would have been with Linus, Superman, Barbarella, Batman and Robin who are the "life of the party' coming out to party after the lights go out. Enigma is a witty slyly referential track: "it's all so confusing especially when you start sing" while on The Stud Lear proves she can rock with the best of them. Ironically Lear wanted to be a rock singer initially. The gentle closing number Hollywood Flashback is a homage to the stars of the silent screen.

An absolute gem of an album (whilst not her best that honour goes to the following years Never Trust A Pretty Face)and a must have for fans of disco with clever lyrics.

it was the cover that caught my eye in Andorra in 1979,dont remember the exact year.but i needed some music to keep me company on the rails.so i bought sweet revenge.that tape has and is still the only tape that i posess.the meanings of the songs change with the times.it has givern me moch joy and a few imagenary moments.for years i have been looking for more even virgin in vancouver could not help me.i only was able to collect the rare article about amanda.now i amincreasing my audio and visual libary.someday more audio and then return to were i first foud her and hope to see and meet her.a singer can give you more in your mind than you can explain.andorra was very good and amandatravelled with me from the arctic to athens to amsterdam and has been part of my favorites and will saved and savored by me at will. listen and you to may hear the lorelei.

Although "Sweet Revenge" was her most successful album in 1978, it's not her best one. Originally it consisted of a first side composed of five songs linked to one another and telling a story and of a second side with four more tracks. While the songs on side A are very good, not all the songs on side B have the same quality: "Comics" and "Hollywood Flashback" are rather weak - despite the excellent lyrics of the latter. Now released as a cd (the only original one of the six Amanda Lear recorded for the German label Ariola), it contains the mega-hit "Follow Me" (which she re-recorded many other times: in 1987, in 1993, in 1998 and which Ian Levine remixed in 1989). All in all it's a cd worth having, even if the packaging design is very poor, if compared with the original album sleeve. In any case, try to get hold of the much better "Never Trust a Pretty Face" (1979) and "Incognito" (1981) or of her only US production "Secret Passion" (1987).

Might be a bit older but the Euro Pop Rocker still can belt out the songs and give her fans a great CD!

This is a concept album in the Faustian mode, about a girl who sold her soul to the devil and won. She's promised anything she wants (Follow Me), her first wish is for riches (Gold) and also for fame. After turning to her mother for help (Mother Look What They've Done For Me), she runs away (Run Baby Run) and retires into solitude. Renouncing her selfish desires, she offers her love to someone who really needs her, and that becomes her Sweet Revenge over temptation. The first song cycle, (Follow Me to Follow Me Reprise), has always been a classic disco suite, but with the exception of Enigma Give a bit of Mmh) the other tracks don't quite live up to the rest. Follow Me with its swirling synths is a timeless classic however, and showcases her husky voice to the full. In a way, Amanda was the European Donna Summer and it's a pity she didn't achieve greater success in the UK and USA. This album has certainly stood the test of time very well and is a prime example of intelligent dance music.

although lear is an intelligent woman and so a clever lyricist, this album suffers from a lack of good melodies; the only memorable is the eurodisco classic 'follow me', the rest is not really very good; the opening side-long suite is in truth unimaginative and rather monotonous; lear did a much much better job on the very good 'incognito' from 1981