''Desolation Boulevard'' is the third studio album by the British

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

band

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones ...

, originally released in the United Kingdom in November 1974. Two noticeably different versions of the album were released: one by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

in Europe, and another by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

in the United States, Canada and Japan. The album contains the band's best known songs, "

The Ballroom Blitz "The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "Ballroom Blitz") is a song by British glam rock band The Sweet, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The song reached number one in Canada, number two in the UK Singles Chart and the Australian Chart, and ...

" and " Fox on the Run". The RCA version contains the single "Turn It Down" and the original recording of "Fox on the Run." The Capitol version, released in the United States in July 1975, includes the band's 1973 hit single "The Ballroom Blitz" and the single version of "Fox on the Run." In the U.S., the album peaked at #25 on October 25, 1975. ''Desolation Boulevard'' is considered by many to be the band's best album. Andy Scott, Sweet's guitarist, said of '' Desolation Boulevard'': "Such diversity only proves that the band was never going to be just formulaic, giving this album a definitive place in Sweet history".

Cover artwork

The album artwork was done by art design group

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10cc, Ba ...

, famous for working with the likes of

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompanie ...

, and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

. The background photo was shot near the entrance of a rock music club called Filthy McNasty's, located at 8852 Sunset Boulevard in

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Today, it is the site of

The Viper Room The Viper Room is a nightclub and live music venue located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It was established as The Viper Room in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. The other part owner was Sal J ...

, which is where actor

River Phoenix River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician and activist. Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He ha ...

died of a drug overdose on

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

morning in 1993.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by

Brian Connolly Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 9 February 1997) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of glam rock band The Sweet between 1968 and 1979 and renowned for his charismatic stage presence ...

Steve Priest Stephen Norman Priest (23 February 1948 – 4 June 2020) was an English musician who was the bassist (and, later, lead vocalist) of the glam rock band The Sweet. Biography Priest was born in Hayes, Middlesex. He made his own bass guitar and be ...

, Andy Scott and

Mick Tucker Michael Thomas Tucker (17 July 1947 – 14 February 2002) was an English musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the glam rock and hard rock band Sweet. Biography Mick Tucker was born on July 17, 1947, in Kingsbury, North W ...

except where noted.

RCA release

;Side one # "

The Six Teens The Six Teens were an American pop group from Los Angeles, California, United States. All of the group's members were teenagers, or younger, at the time of their first recordings: the oldest was 17-year-old Ed Wells and the youngest, 12-year-old T ...

" (

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi ...

Nicky Chinn Nicholas Barry Chinn (born 16 May 1945) is an English-American songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the UK and US in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international number- ...

) – 4:02 # "Solid Gold Brass" – 5:33 # " Turn It Down" (Chapman, Chinn) – 3:30 # "Medusa" ("Medussa", on remastered CD editions 1999 and 2005''Desolation Boulevard. EU CD edition, 2005''
Discogs. Retrieved 201-12-19.) (Scott) – 4:45 # "Lady Starlight" (Scott) – 3:12 ;Side two # "

The Man with the Golden Arm ''The Man with the Golden Arm'' is a 1955 American drama film with elements of film noir directed by Otto Preminger, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren. Starring Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darre ...

" (

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 origi ...

, Sylvia Fine) – 8:27 # " Fox on the Run" – 4:47 # "Breakdown" – 3:06 # "

My Generation "My Generation" is a song by the English rock band the Who, which became a hit and one of their most recognizable songs. The song was named the 11th greatest song by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It becam ...

" (

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

) – 3:59

Bonus tracks on 1997 reissue

"Burning" – 4:07 # "Rock & Roll Disgrace" – 3:50

Bonus tracks on 1999 reissue

"I Wanna Be Committed" – 3:10 # "Teenage Rampage" (single A-side) – 3:32

Bonus tracks on 2005 reissue

"Teenage Rampage" (Chapman, Chinn) – 3:52 # "Own Up, Take a Look at Yourself" (B-side of "Teenage Rampage") – 3:58 # "Burn on the Flame" (B-side of "The Six Teens") – 3:37 # "Someone Else Will" (B-side of "Turn It Down") – 3:25 # "Medussa" (home demo – previously unreleased) – 5:51 # "Burn on the Flame" (home demo – previously unreleased) – 3:57 # "I Wanna Be Committed" (Chapman, Chinn) – 3:10 # "Fox on the Run" (7" version) – 3:24 # "Miss Demeanor" (B-side of "Fox On The Run") – 3:17

Capitol release

The Capitol version of ''Desolation Boulevard'' was released in the United States and Canada in July 1975. It was different from the U.K. version and included several songs from their previous album '' Sweet Fanny Adams'' in addition to the "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run" singles. ;Side one # "

Ballroom Blitz "The Ballroom Blitz" (often called "Ballroom Blitz") is a song by British glam rock band The Sweet, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The song reached number one in Canada, number two in the UK Singles Chart and the Australian Chart, and ...

" (Chapman, Chinn) – 4:00 # "The Six Teens" (Chapman, Chinn) – 4:04 # "No You Don't" (Chapman, Chinn) – 4:36 # "A.C.D.C." (Chapman, Chinn) – 3:28 # "I Wanna Be Committed" (Chapman, Chinn) – 3:14 ;Side two # "Sweet F.A." (Scott, Tucker, Connolly, Priest) – 6:16 # " Fox on the Run" (Scott, Tucker, Connolly, Priest) (single version) – 3:28 # "Set Me Free" (Scott) – 3:59 # "Into the Night" (Scott) – 4:25 # "Solid Gold Brass" (Scott, Tucker, Connolly, Priest) (with guitar overdub) – 5:35

Personnel

Sweet

– lead vocals (except as noted) *

– bass, lead vocals (UK tracks 9, 18; US track 3), backing vocals * Andy Scott – guitars, synthesizer, lead vocals (UK tracks 5, 6; US track 9), backing vocals *

– drums, percussion, backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control The Sweet albums 1974 albums Albums produced by Mike Chapman RCA Records albums Capitol Records albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis