Today’s classic song of the day is a very, very lost sweet soul tune from 1974, “Sad Sweet Dreamer” by the group Sweet Sensation. It reached #1 in the UK, #14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #17 on the Cash Box Top 100.
“Sad Sweet Dreamer” sounds like a Philly Soul track but it’s all British—the group hails from Manchester, England, the tune was written by Brit songsmith David Parton, it was produced by Parton and Tony Hatch (“Downtown“), and it was released on England’s Pye Records label. It’s a really great tune, but it sounds a lot (on purpose, I’m sure) like the Stylistics.
Sweet Sensation (singular, not plural) was an eight-piece soul group from Manchester, England. The group was discovered on the British talent show New Sensations; producer Tony Hatch was a judge on the show and was impressed enough that he signed them to Pye Records and took them under his wing.
While “Sad Sweet Dreamer” was Sweet Sensation’s only hit in the U.S., making them a one-hit wonder on our shores, they had one more hit in their native UK, 1975’s “Purely By Coincidence.” After several more singles failed to chart (and following a poor performance in the UK’s run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest), the band called it quits in 1977.
Which leads us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, all eight members of Sweet Sensation, with lead vocalist Marcel Young, performing “Sad Sweet Dreamer” on the December 25, 1974, episode of the British program Top of the Pops. It’s just one of those things you put down to experience.
