Sweet’s July 1975 single ‘Action’, a self-composed cut, peaked at number 15 in the UK chart. Now confident in their own songwriting and production abilities, Sweet spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the album Give Us a Wink with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack. The new album release was deferred until 1976 so as not to stifle the chart success of their previous LP, Desolation Boulevard (1974), still enjoying strong sales.
January 1976 saw the release of the single ‘The Lies in Your Eyes’, which made the Top 10 in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia, but only reached No. 35 on the UK chart. Sweet’s first album to be fully produced and written by themselves, Give Us a Wink, was released in March 1976. All of this highlighted the band’s image change from glam to a tougher jeans-and-leather look.
Sweet were striving to build on their growing popularity in America, with fifty headline concert dates commencing in January 1976. The US tour was not financially successful, however, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates being cancelled. Following the end of the tour, they planned to spend a week at The Who’s Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album, before abandoning the project and heading to Japan to perform eight concerts.
1 Ballroom Blitz 3:52
2 Yesterday’s Rain 4:57
3 Rock ‘N’ Roll disgrace 4:13
4 Burning/Someone Else 2:05
5 Blockbuster 3:34
6 Restless 5:19
7 Cockroach 4:32
8 Healer 7:06
9 AC/DC 4:06
10 Burn On The Flame 3:38
11 Keep It In 2:27
12 Action 3:36
13 Lady Starlight 4:08
14 Man With The Golden Arm 3:59
15 The Lies In Your Eyes 3:17
16 The Six Teens 5:18
17 Set Me Free 4:22
18 Fox On The Run 3:59
19 Sweet F.A. 6:37