212 Hello The Sweet - Funny Funny

Chart  entered  : 13  March  1971

Chart  peak : 13

Number  of  hits : 16

Now  arrives  my  earliest  answer  to  the  question  "Who's  your  favourite  group ?"  and  that  would  remain  the  case  for  the  rest  of  the  decade. That's  not  the  only  reason  why  writing  their  goodbye  post  will  be  a  challenge  but  for  now  we're  concerned  with  how  they  got  here.

The  Sweet's  story  began  towards  the  end  of  1966  when  Brian  Connolly  joined  an  R  &  B band  called  Wainwright's  Gentlemen. Brian  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1945  to  an  unmarried  teenager  and  adopted  by  a  family  called  McManus. He  eventually  moved  to  London  and  reverted  to  his  mother's  surname. He  was  in  the  Merchant  Navy  in  the  early  sixties. He  left  in  1963 and  sang  in  local  bands  called  The  Troop  and  Generation  X  ( nothing  to  do  with  Billy  Idol's  later  outfit ). Already  in  the  Gentlemen ( since  1964 )  was  drummer  Mick  Tucker  from  Ruislip. The  band  had  been  around  since  1962  without   really  getting  anywhere - one  of  Brian's  predecessor's  was  Ian  Gillan -  and  that  didn't  seem  likely  to  change  so  after  a  year  Brian  and  Mick  quit  to  form  a  new  band  Sweetshop.

Sweetshop's  line  up  was  completed  by  guitarist  Frank  Torpey  who'd  himself  had  a  brief  stint in  Wainwright's  Gentlemen  and  20  year  old  bassist  Steve  Priest  from  Hayes  who'd  played  in local  bands  after  making  his  own  instrument. The  band  quickly  attracted  a  following  and   were  signed  on  a  one  single  deal  by  Fontana  after  a  recommendation  from  singing  actor   Paul  Nicholas  who  briefly  became  their  manager . When  they  became  aware  that  Parlophone had  signed  another  band  called  Sweetshop  they  changed  their  name  to  The  Sweet. The  single was  "Slow Motion" , released  in  July  1968. It's  a  lightly  psychedelic  pop  tune  written  by  a  D Watkins ( ? )   that  starts  well  but  becomes  meandering ; it's  most  notable  for  Brian's  striking   throaty  vibrato  which  is   rather  too  good  for  the  song.

Fontana  weren't  interested  in  another  try  and  Torpey  left  to  be  replaced  by  Mick  Stewart   who  had  been  with  Johnny  Kidd  and  the  Pirates  in  their  latter  years. Their  next  single "Lollipop  Man"  was  released  on  Parlophone   in  September  1969 . It  was  written  by  the  duo  Albert  Hammond  and  Mike  Hazlewood  who  were  hot  property  at  the  time. The  contradictions  that  would  characterise  their  whole  career  are  already  evident ; the  song  is  pure  bubblegum  -"carries  out  his  duty, isn't  he  a  cutie  ?" -  but  you've  got  wah-wah  guitar  and  a  hard  rock  rhythm  section  in  there. It's  also  the  first  outing  for  their  trademark  high-pitched  harmonies  sound.  The  next  one  was  a  Cook-Greenaway  number  "All  You'll  Ever  Get  From  Me "  which  sounds  like  Edison  Lighthouse  with  a  good  drummer.  Their  third  and  final  single  for  Parlophone,  "Get  On  The  Line"  was  a  cover  of  a  song  by  The  Archies  which  attempts   to  inject  some  R &  B  grit  into  a  cartoon  pop  tune. It's  alright  but  has  shot  its  bolt  after  two  minutes.

Thus  ended  their  second  recording  contract  and  Stewart  decided  to  quit.  The  demoralised  trio could  have  called  it  quits  there  but  fortunately  ran  into Phil  Wainman  who'd  produced  "Slow  Motion". He  put  them  on  to  a  new  songwriting  duo, Nicky  Chinn  and  Mike  Chapman  who  needed  vocalists  for  some  demos  they  were  making.  They  went  over  and  sang  on  the  song  "Funny  Funny"  which  the  duo  then  started  hawking  round  the  record  companies. Encouraged  by  this ,  the  band   held  auditions  for  a  new  guitarist  and  selected  Andy  Scott.

Andy  was  born  in  Wrexham  in  1949  and  had  the  longest  recording  pedigree. He  was  in  a  string  of  long-forgotten  Welsh  bands  before The  Silverstone  Set  who   were  winners  on   Opportunity  Knocks  in  1966  but  didn't  get  to  record. He  moved  on  to  The  Elastic  Band  who  released  a  couple  of   singles  on  Decca  "Think  Of  You  Baby"  and  "Do  Unto  Others"  in  1968. The  former  is  a  decent  white  soul  number  produced  by  Tony  Hiller. They  got  to  record  an  LP  "Expansions  Of  Life"  but  were  poleaxed  by  the  lead  singer's  decision  to  join  Love  Affair.  Andy  then  joined  the  backing  band  for  The  Scaffold , playing  on  the  records  but  not  appearing  with  the  group , the  exact  opposite  of  the  situation  he  moved  into  with  The  Sweet. He  then  joined  Mayfield's  Mule  who  were  trying  to  be  Britain's  answer  to  Credence  Clearwater  Revival   but  their  singles  on  Parlophone  were  recorded  before  his  arrival.

The  band  got  to  mime  "Funny  Funny"  on  the  TV  show  Lift  Off   in  December  1970  before  the  record  was  available. The  response  was  sufficient to  get  them  a  deal  with  RCA    at  one  remove  through  signing  a  management  contract  with   Chinn  and  Chapman , a  career-defining  moment  though  you  wouldn't  glean  that  from  the  record  itself. "Funny  Funny"  follows  on  quite  naturally  from  their  Parlophone  singles,  bubblegum  pop  distinguished  by  an  ultra-catchy  melody  and  Brian's  plaintive  voice.  Although  a  respectable-sized  hit  here  it  went  Top  5  in  many  European  countries  and  all  the  way  to  number  one  in  Sweden , South  Africa  and  Denmark  where  it  was  the  first  in  an  amazing  unbroken  string  of  10  chart  toppers  for  the  band.  It  did  its  job  in  breaking  them  but  it's  utterly  disposable  and  you  can  understand  the  band's  reluctance  to  revisit  it  once  it  had  dropped  out  of  the  charts.