Sad Sweet Dreamer

1974

Sweet Sensation

There are loads of hits from the Seventies that have just dropped off the radar...you know the ones I'm talking about...you remember hearing 'em all the time back 40 years ago, but haven't heard them in decades because they're all but forgotten, and rarely played anymore even if they're still in an Oldies station's library. Or, worse, songs that were both legitimate hits and legitimately awesome that have dropped completely off the radar.

I'm going to finish up this little list of '75's one hit wonders with one of each, both of which were recorded and released in The U.K. before migrating to the US. The first one is a soulful, insightful little ballad that was a huge hit in England before it landed on the Billboard Hot 100 on our side of the Pond. Not only was it a huge hit, it was a huge hit recorded by a group that won an early early version of what would become 'Britain's Got Talent (And ultimately, America's Got Talent ), a show called New Faces'. The group of teens, fronted by 16 year old lead singer Marcel King, that performed on the show, called themselves 'Sweet Sensation',

One of the judges on 'New Faces' was a very blunt, abrupt record producer/song writer named Tony Hatch, who allegedly made Simon Cowell look like a pussy cat. Tony Hatch also knew talent when he saw it, and immediately signed Sweet Sensation to his label, Pye Records. Sweet Sensation recorded a single called called 'Snow Fire', which flopped so hard it dug itself a crater that's still visible to this very day....not a good way to start off a record deal.

So Tony Hatch enlisted Songwriter David Parton to help him pen a hit for the group, and the two of them took a load of inspiration from The Styalistics, and knocked out a soul ballad that made full and very effective use of Marcel King's falsetto.

It was pretty, bittersweet, insightful, and the single caught on fire in Britain, shooting to #1 on the British Pop Charts in October '74. Then it was released on our side of the Big Pond, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 at #90 on January 11^th, before breaking into the Top 20 at #18 on March 15^th, and peaking at #14 a week later on March 22^nd. The song stayed at peak for two weeks, then dropped off of the charts four weeks later for a very respectable 16 week chart run.

It was popular, got loads of radio airplay during the Winter and early Spring of '75, and had one of the catchiest, most heartfelt choruses that was ever sung. Trust me, if you grew up during the Seventies you'll recognize it instantly when you hear it. It's one of the prettier tunes to come out of 1975 (And that's saying something, because this was a Very Very Good Year for music...) but now, 39 years later, it's all but dropped off of the face of the earth. You'll hear it very very occasionally on an Oldies station (The last time I heard it was probably a year ago, during a 'One Ht Wonders' tribute). Sad, really, that a song this pretty is all but forgotten.

Of course, Sweet Sensation didn't last too well either. They had one more hit in England, named 'Purely By Coincidence', that peaked at #11 on the British Pop Chart before dropping off of the charts...it didn't even make a ripple on the Billboard, or any other, US Chart. Pye Records dropped them only two years after signing them, and other then an abortive mid-80s attempt at a solo career by Marcel King, they also dropped off of the face of the earth. 

 

All that's left is their musical musing from a young boy dreaming of the girl he lost...sort of a musical footnote that's all but over looked this day and time.

But some of us remember it...too bad it's not played more often. It really is that pretty. 
So Enjoy! Sad Sweet Dreamer by Sweet Sensation