Squeeze: Classic Or Dud

anyway, they were classic in their first incarnation -- after east side story, the quality drops off even faster than post-dance gary numan. what made squeeze pretty interesting is how they were at their best when they had one foot in the pub and the other in the studio, as opposed to being strictly one or the other. which may be why i like the first two (but esp. cool for cats) best -- they sound exactly like a bar-band that's been let loose in a fancy studio, only it works ("slap and tickle," "take me i'm yours," "goodbye girl.")

Only briefly. Their mid 80s output hardly consisted of masterpieces, but their, mostly overlooked, 90s output was mostly just as brilliant as the "Cool For Cats"/"Argybargy"/"East Side Story" trilogy

Of course, "hipsters" would accuse them of sounding dated, which is bullshit because they were kind of retro oriented already during the late 70s.

Question:

Are U.K. Squeeze and Squeeze the same?

are the first couple of albums worth getting?
which one *specifically*?

And the band is CLASSIC of course.

Because we've never met. I have each Squeeze albums until 'Babylon And On', plus 'Ridiculous'. It's a fact, though, that after 'East Side Story' their songwriting quality gets worse.

I hardly know any of their music. I do like "Up The Junction", though.
-- Robin Carmody, Monday, 29 January 2001 01:00 (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

^^^this dude was drinking some Incorrect Juice when he made this post.

"Pulling Mussels From A Shell" is a banger, though.

Classic, of course.

just heard up the junction
ca-lassic

up the junction does really interesting things with the idea of time-lapse in narrative within the context of the 3-minute pop-song, no joke

also yeah it is k-classic although goodbye girl might be even better

i started screaming tempted in staples a while back. many heads turned

Hmmm, just listening to their BBC Sessions...surprised to find myself really liking the opening handful of tracks, which keep reminding me (in a general way) of a mishmash of Vapors, Vibrators, and maybe early Adam Ant. Less aggressive, for sure, but definitely in that vein.

I absolutely love Squeeze. Up the Junction is amazing - yes. Also love Annie Get Yr Gun, Goodbye Girl, Another Nail in my Heart all of the big singles really.

true story: my dad and my uncle gigged with squeeze and lent them their stuff

Slap & Tickle is my jam, Cool For Cats is my album. Love it but never warmed to the others beyond the singles.

Some people turn their nose up at them simply due to the Jools Holland connection, which is a shame. Far less consistent than the likes of XTC, yet their finest material - most of which is non-singles, believe it or not - more than compensates for the intermittent failed pop experiments and stylistic wrong-turns.

Heard Up the Junction in the car today and god damn that is one of the best songs ever, no question. <3 <3 <3

Classic for the "Hourglass" video alone

The beard is gone now btw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pYUOJxXdrXM

Youtube link for the documentary

i thought chris difford looked great considering all his past indulgences.

Here's the legit link, higher quality and with the correct aspect ratio -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n8kmq

New single 'Tommy' is streaming, now:
http://soundcloud.com/squeezeofficial-1/01-tommy

My favourite Squeeze story is still the one where Jools Holland wrote 'I am a cunt' on the forehead of a passed-out John Cale during the first album sessions. I noticed THAT story was absent from the recent documentary! Hehehehe!

Every so often (like tonight) I'll find myself digging out Cosi Fan Tutti Fruitti in an attempt to listen to it with fresh ears and see if I manage to catch anything I've missed or possibly find something in it that I never have before, but I always end up coming to the same conclusion: 'King George Street' and 'Last Time Forever' = keepers, rest of the album = does nothing for me.

I also really am not too keen on the production on Cosi, either - which is strange because Laurie Latham (who produced Cosi) worked on The Stranglers' Aural Sculpture only the year before, and I think that album sounds absolutely fine!

the solo on "Another Nail in My Heart" is some virtuoso shit. still can't figure it out after three years. amazing song

Yeah, Tilbrook has always been quite an underrated guitarist. Always love the way he manages 2 pack so many chords in2 his songs, 2.

That one's got some real Dire Straits shit going on.

What do Squeeze fans think of their first EP, Packet of Three? Is it well known at all? It wasn't on Single 45's and Under presumably because it was on Deptford Fun City not A&M. I can imagine it being dismissed since it's got a punkier, or at least pub-rockier, sound to it, but I quite like it, Night Ride in particular.

It's alright, Squeeze were never entirely convincing during their brief 'punk' phase. I'd love to hear more recordings of the band prior to their debut, or what was rejected by John Cale - assuming Cool For Cats was all new stuff. There was a first draft of that album which was rejected by the label, though the (not great) song 'Blood And Guts' was released on a compilation.

A new pressing of Packet Of Three was bundled with vinyl copies of A Round And A Bout. The was a live 'Annie Get Your Gun' CD single which may be the one way to get those tracks on CD

I think it's funny that Squeeze blocked Bang Bang - which was a bigger hit chart-wise in the UK than many of their better known songs - from absolutely all future singles/hits albums, due to Tilbrook hating it. I went to see them in 2012 and they OPENED with it. I tweeted Difford to ask what made them bring it back and he said he didn't know

Eye'm pretty sure that the material on Cool For Cats was drawn from a huge backlog 'o' stuff Difford/Tilbrook had mostly built up prior 2 the first LP. The first LP was mostly written in the studio 2 please John Cale. They had a habit 'o' stockpiling songs and pulling them out years later. Eye think there's one or 2 tracks on later albums which were earlier songs dusted off.

Tilbrook particularly hates 'Get Smart' on that first LP.

whoah I had no idea Cale produced that first record, that's nuts.

I like Backtrack. I mean, it's a pub-rock ramalama number which really sounds like it wants to be a Nick Lowe record but which I think suits the scruffy production the best. The other two don't do much for me. This didn't seem obscure back in the day though - Deptford Fun City kept issuing it during their later success so it was a pretty common single. I picked up a copy of it from a guy in my high school class and used to see it second hand a lot.

Some great stories about the first album sessions. Cale made them bin most of their songs and instructed them to write more on new subjects at his request (Strong In Reason), instrumentals (Wild Sewerage Tickles Brazil) and supposedly he had them cover 'Amazing Grace' and play it for several hours. And he told them to title the album 'Gay Guys'. Seems like he got more hardline after he discovered Jools Holland had written "I am a cunt" on his forehead while he was passed out and failed to notice for a couple of days

(on Cale, not himself)

Yeah, he wanted 2 de-pop everything and demanded the band wrote songs about muscle men.

My guitar teacher and I are big fans of secret '80s guitar heroes: Elliot Easton, guy from Squeeze, even Neil Giraldo (solo on "hit me with your best shot" is pretty tricky). Dudes who know how to lay low until just the right spot to show off. Maybe James Honeyman-Scot or Mike Campbell count, too, but plenty of people cite them as an influence. Less so the aforementioned.

how representative is labelled with love because jesus christ that is an awful dirge

I don't think its representative at all - I can't think of another song they did quite like it. but I do think it's one of their best songs so take that how you will

I agree, awful country pastiche, while Tempted is mighty

apols for the link to you know where but..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-4800220/Squeeze-frontman-Chris-Difford-working-Bryan-Ferry.html

Wow.

Yeah that was one crazy story. Or set of them.

whoa @ John Bentley in the Magma shirt, very nice

Q mag/Marti Pellow was the 0_o bit for me

Sounds like being in the orbit of Bryan Ferry is not for the faint of heart.

Rarely seen video now on Youtube. First US single from Some Fantastic Place in 1993:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjkGuY_EVGE&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjkGuY_EVGE

So they've been on tour over here and last night was pretty sharp -- saw Difford/Tilbrook on their own a couple of years back so it was nice to see them with a full band lineup. My girlfriend's the major fan -- had a great running commentary all night on various deep cuts as a result.

I'm pretty sure this is Glenn TIlbrook singing, but the lyrics are too generic for Google to yield any results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytMdOWd_WNs

Can anyone ID?

It's definitely not Squeeze, but he does sound like a sped up Tilbrook.

That is a song called "Friends Forever" by Greg Hatwell & Marc Lane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6vxg_guz8
^ Squeeze performing at the recently mentioned My Father's Place as opening act for Blondie.

That whole first album still seems so out of character for them.

Somehow I was never aware (until today) that Squeeze actually named themselves after the Doug Yule VU album:

As teenagers on the South London scene, Squeeze – setting out their stall early on by facetiously naming themselves after a poorly-received Velvet Underground album

stain on my fuckin’ notebook

Pulling Mussels from a God Damn Shell

And now she's two years older
Her mother fucks a soldier

Fast live version of Pulling Mussels (1980)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbx_6gavLno

Pulling Mussels from a God Damn Shell

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, April 30, 2022 3:28 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

Alternate universe where the 'suntan lotion' backing vocals are in the studio version

you're going to get that and so much more when openAI puts musenet back online!

There is a flexi disc which has them in. Actually sounds terrible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WkPIG2inPA

It sounds like they were recording in the studio next to The Muppets, and got them in for some impromptu backing vocals.

A bit of a dry-run for Squabs on Forty Fab, this.

Tbh not sure what you're both getting at.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdzHoiF8nmU

I think this is my favourite track from Ridiculous (1995), there was a lot of Beatles homage stuff around at that time but I can't think of much that's in this style, it sounds specifically like some of the more eerie tracks from the White Album