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

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

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, ...

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

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

in Europe, and another by

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

in the United States, Canada and Japan. 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 May 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 25 October 1975. Sweet's guitarist, Andy Scott, 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, Def Leppard, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black S ...

, famous for working with the likes of

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, 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 experiments ...

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

The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

, and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

. 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 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writings about West Hollywood be ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Today, it is the site of The Viper Room, which is where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on

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morning in 1993. The US front cover was slightly altered to add extra road signs and an altering of the album's title and band logo.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by

Brian Connolly Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 10 February 1997) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of glam rock band Sweet between 1968 and 1979 and known for his charismatic stage presence and di ...

Steve Priest Stephen Norman Priest (23 February 1948 – 4 June 2020) was an English musician who was the Bass guitar, bassist (and, later, co-lead vocalist) of the glam rock band The Sweet. Early life Priest was born in Hayes, Hillingdon, Hayes, Middlese ...

, Andy Scott and Mick Tucker except where noted.

RCA release

;Side one # " The Six Teens" ( Mike Chapman,

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 US and UK in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international record c ...

) – 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" (

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 orig ...

, 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, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. One of the band's most recognizable songs, it was placed number 11 by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the " 500 Greatest S ...

" (

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

) – 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 May 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" (Chapman, Chinn) – 4:00 # "The Six Teens" (stylized as "The 6-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

– 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 * Mick Tucker – 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