Sweet's Andy Scott learns an expensive lesson

Dave W · June 11, 2012, 08:36:29 AM

Slapped with £50,000 in legal fees for pursuing a ridiculous lawsuit over a secondhand CD

nofi · June 11, 2012, 08:58:51 AM

that's what happens when you wear tight leathers, not enough blood flow to the brain.

uwe · June 11, 2012, 10:33:39 AM

That same suit wouldn't have worked in Europe where a Europeam Directive has it that the lawful acquiror of a music CD may sell it secondhand without infringing the IP-holder's rights. Whether the same applies to an mp3 is hotly disputed though.

Dave W · June 11, 2012, 01:09:46 PM

Quote from: uwe on June 11, 2012, 10:33:39 AM
That same suit wouldn't have worked in Europe where a Europeam Directive has it that the lawful acquiror of a music CD may sell it secondhand without infringing the IP-holder's rights. Whether the same applies to an mp3 is hotly disputed though.

The suit is from Europe, unless Austria has somehow seceded.

Highlander · June 11, 2012, 03:54:05 PM

(everyone's allowed an off day once in a while...)

uwe · June 12, 2012, 05:54:27 AM

Austria or Australia ... the roos live in the Alps ...

I am flabbergasted this took so long, it was without chance right from the start.

lowend1 · June 12, 2012, 06:52:45 AM

Quote from: uwe on June 12, 2012, 05:54:27 AM
Austria or Australia ... the roos live in the Alps ...

I am flabbergasted this took so long, it was without chance right from the start.

Well, according to the article, he DOES have a German lawyer...

Dave W · June 12, 2012, 09:04:26 AM

Quote from: lowend1 on June 12, 2012, 06:52:45 AM
Well, according to the article, he DOES have a German lawyer...

I noticed that too!

No competent lawyer would encourage him to persist, considering that the right of second sale is established law. He probably went against legal advice.

uwe · June 12, 2012, 09:23:00 AM

I guess that what they did with his action which he thought to be such a blockbuster was to turn it down?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyNaCUe9hX4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW3UAN3E9Tw&feature=related

jumbodbassman · June 12, 2012, 09:31:30 AM

that ric sounds aweful

the mojo hobo · June 12, 2012, 10:37:26 AM

And not just the Ric. Maybe they need to turn it down.

uwe · June 12, 2012, 10:50:29 AM

Quote from: jumbodbassman on June 12, 2012, 09:31:30 AM
that ric sounds aweful

Noisy enough to have been written by early Kiss, Turn it Down was one of their weakest singles and certainly one of the weakest Chinn Chapman songs.

The sound of the Ric probably has to do with an overdriven soundboard signal used for this TV studio recording, in general Steve Priest didn't sound that way.

Big_Stu · June 12, 2012, 02:28:54 PM

I had a Sweet triple CD that was made in the Netherlands; it transpired that the contents of some tracks had no content from any of the members or ex-members of Sweet. The CD in question had alleged content from Brian Connolly - and rumours abound as to just how many of the said CD were available to buyers.
There is/was a band who at one time had been members of Brian's "new" Sweet after they split, after his death members came & went to the point that (and I'm open to contradiction here) few of them had actually gigged with him, but yet they were still gigging as "his" Sweet, despite repeated requests from his daughter to please cease and desist.
To combat that Andy copyrighted the name "Sweet" in Europe in a musical context, which has left him wide open to abuse.

lowend1 · June 12, 2012, 03:06:46 PM

Actually, when Priest used the Ric / Hiwatt setup, that is essentially the tone he got - albeit with more low end:

If you listen to the studio version, his tone there is something else entirely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiI4wbJUTNg&feature=fvwrel

Sweet were always something of an anomaly - beneath the makeup, glitter and teeny bop harmonies beat the hearts of closet Deep Purple fanatics. Check out the "Andy Scott does Basic Blackmore" lead break:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXOq2-gd4WA&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLDF113765176C5F94

uwe · June 12, 2012, 07:34:27 PM

Indeed they were. Funnily enough though of the first DP line up "Hush" era with Rod Evans and Nic Simper. They would hold processions to watch that particular line up rehearse. And Andy Scott once said that Mick Tucker's tragedy was that he would have given his left nut to sound like Ian Paice (which he couldn't, he lacked the swing) when in fact he had an original style of his own (more Bonham than Paice). Scott played a red Gibson ES (as Blackmore did in early Purple days) and then moved on to a Strat (as Blackmore did around the In Rock era). And Brian Connolly was the successor of Ian Gillan in Wainwright's Gentlemen. Steve Priest's Ric/Hiwatt combo was probably no coincidence either, it is what Hughes played in Mark III around that time. They really tried hard to emulate DP, even bringing a keyboard player in eventually.

Sweet got their knights' honors when they dedicated an impromptu Alright Now to Paul Kossoff after his death in 1976 on a US tour and a member of the audience - Richard Harold Blackmore - asked to join them for that song which he did (there is even a - not very good - recording of it).

I saw The Sweet on the Love is like Oxygen tour (plus keyboards and an extra guitarist), it was a good, musical gig, notable for hardly any Chinn Chapman material from the back catalogue being played (instead they played a great version of JJ Cale's Cocaine). At that point in time Sweet had given up trying to sound like DP and were more akin to a hard rocking 10 CC. Their music had become more intricate and it suited them well. Not long after, Connolly got the (not even glam anymore) boot. Steve Priest with his higher, more flexible voice had in effect become the band's lead vocalist.