"Love Is Like Oxygen" is a song by the British band Sweet, co-written by the group's guitarist Andy Scott and Trevor Griffin, a musician who had played with various unsuccessful bands before becoming a roadie and sound engineer, and released in January 1978. The song was a departure from earlier recordings by the Sweet, which were more guitar-driven and featured high vocal harmonies. The extended album version of the song (6 minutes 19 seconds), which appeared on their album Level Headed, incorporates strings and has some disco elements.
Their first release on the Polydor label after their departure from RCA, it was also their last Top 10 hit, reaching #4 in New Zealand, #6 in Switzerland, #8 in Belgium, Canada and the United States, #9 in United Kingdom and #10 in West Germany.
Later that year it was honoured with a Song of the Year nomination at the Ivor Novello awards, although beaten by "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. The song is frequently included on greatest hits compilations, usually in its edited single version.
February 18, 1978, Billboard Review
SWEET—Love Is Like Oxygen (3:20); producer: Sweet; writers: Scott, Griffin; publishers: Sweet/WB, ASCAP. Capitol P4549. First single from Sweet's new "Level Headed" LP opens with powerful guitar chorus before shifting gears into various instrumental changes. Tight, multi-layered harmonies accents the tune with an underlying tenderness while retaining a degree of biting toughness.
BRIAN CONNOLLY
ReplyDelete(Brian Francis Connolly)
Born October 5, 1945
Died February 10,1997
Flamboyant lead singer os Seventies British glam rock group Sweet, Scottish-born Brian Connolly received his first guitar as a Christmas present at age 12. Leaving home at 18 after discovering that he was raised by foster parents, he jumped into a career in music. Forming The Wainwright Gentlemen in 1966, Connolly renamed the group The Sweet Shop in 1968. Featuring drummer Mick Tucker, guitarist Andy Scott and bassist Steve Priest, the group was signed by Fontana Records. Switching labels and desperate for a hit, the renamed Sweet agreed to the demands of songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn (of Mud and Suzi Quatro fame) and had Connolly backed by a session band for the group's first five singles. Sweet hit the British charts between 1971 and 1973 with bubblegum/rock hits like 'Funny Funny', `Co-Co', 'Little Willy' and `Blockbuster'. Gradually evolving into a make-up wearing, glam-rock group, Sweet enjoyed greater US success in the mid Seventies with the hits `Ballroom Blitz' (1974) and 'Fox On The Run' (1975). Tired of targeting a young audience, in 1974 Sweet recorded the less commercial efforts, Desolation Boulevard and Sweet Fanny Adams, and then parted from Chinn and Chapman. From the album Level Headed, Sweet scored its final hit in 1978 with the Top 10 entry, 'Love Is Like Oxygen'. Leaving Sweet over personality conflicts in 1979, Connolly pursued a rocky solo career. A hard drinker all of his life, his career was interrupted by a series of heart attacks, a divorce, and near-bankruptcy. Enjoying a revival in the mid Eighties, he formed Brian Connolly and Sweet in direct competition with a Sweet group led by Andy Scott. CAUSE: Kidney and liver failure. He died in Slough, England. Although Connolly had quit drinking in the early Eighties, his health was in terminal decline during the last decade of his life.
R.I.P Brian Connolly. I love this song!
ReplyDeleteR.I.P Brian Connolly and Mick Tucker
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