DISC ONE:

                Dinosaur Act

                I Wanted To Tell You

                The Ugly Truth

                Someone To Pull The Trigger

                Girlfriend

                Do It Again

                In Too Deep

                Day For Night

                Evangeline

                Reaching Out

                Devil With The Green Eyes

                Knowing People

                Divine Intervention

                Does She Talk

                Time Capsule

                Crippled Inside {John Lennon}

                I Want You {The Troggs}

(Disc 1 FM broadcast recorded at Petrillo Bandshell, Grant Park, Chicago IL 7/4/1993)

Give a proper hat-tip to Livewire for compiling this drop-dead gorgeous-sounding Sweet rarities collection. Heavy on the time frame in and around Sweet’s big hit “Girlfriend,” the three-CDR set is a must-own for both casual and die-hard Sweet fans who want some ace live material as well as a wealth of B-sides and demos assembled all under one roof. The inclusion of several key covers – in particular Neil Young’s “Mr. Soul” and “Cortez The Killer” – additionally provides insight into the Sweet muse in 1992-93.

But let’s also give Livewire a quick flogging with the proverbial wet noodle: Discs 1 and 3 are both straight copies of prior bootlegs, and it would be nice from a consumer point of view to have that pointed out up front. I don’t have a problem with labels copying other labels’ material, particularly if we’re talking boots that are now out of print. But if a title is going to be geared towards collectors, let’s treat the collectors with a little respect and provide the sources along with the music.

So here’s what you get:

Disc One, a Chicago concert broadcast live over the radio, was originally a Kiss The Stone bootleg (KTS 257) issued in 1994. (Worth noting is Sweet’s backing band at the time: ex-Television guitarist Richard Lloyd, ex-dB’s drummer Will Rigby and Tony Marsico on bass.) The same concert also saw booting on an obscure disc called Do It Again.

Disc Two, of course, is an odds ‘n’ sods collection of B-sides and Japan-only cuts plus a few other stray tracks. Interesting to note that this disc copies “Mr. Soul” which also appears on Disc Three.

Disc Three was originally a bootleg on Moontunes (MOON 008) titled Goodfriends – Another Take On Goodfriend. (That title does appear on the Livewire sleeve but no mention of it being from a prior boot.) The Moontunes boot, interestingly enough, was an expanded copy of a 1992 promotional-only, fanclub-distributed album titled Goodfriend – Another Take On Girlfriend (Zoo/BMG # ZP17098-2) which was a compilation of B-sides and live material; it contained just the first 13 songs listed above. Moontunes added five extra tracks: “She Said She Said” and “Mr. Soul” originally surfaced as B-sides – 2 of 3, the other one being “Does She Talk” – to a 1992 promo-only CD single for “I’ve Been Waiting”; and “Super Deformed,” “Teenage Female” and “Good Friend” were the B-sides to the 1992 commercial CD single “Girlfriend – The Superdeformed CD.”

Hope all that makes sense… At any rate, a thoroughly enjoyable collection if you don’t own all the other prior releases. Livewire’s artwork, as usual, is nominal, just a pair of one-sided tray panels and a couple of color pics, but nicely designed. -- OSWALD