― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 29 May 2006 12:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Monday, 29 May 2006 19:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― neustile (neustile), Monday, 29 May 2006 20:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 29 May 2006 20:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 29 May 2006 20:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki, Monday, 16 April 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link
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.
― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 15:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Classic, of course.
― Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 17:38 (sixteen years ago) link
just heard up the junctionca-lassic
― Meteor Crater (jdchurchill), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:44 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― 102. LJ: British. 5. (acoleuthic), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:44 (fourteen years ago) link
also yeah it is k-classic although goodbye girl might be even better
― 102. LJ: British. 5. (acoleuthic), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link
i started screaming tempted in staples a while back. many heads turned
― FACK, Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:51 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― dlp9001, Friday, 11 December 2009 03:31 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― ★彡☆ ★彡 (ENBB), Friday, 11 December 2009 03:34 (fourteen years ago) link
true story: my dad and my uncle gigged with squeeze and lent them their stuff
― 102. LJ: British. 5. (acoleuthic), Friday, 11 December 2009 03:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Slap & Tickle is my jam, Cool For Cats is my album. Love it but never warmed to the others beyond the singles.
― sleeve, Friday, 11 December 2009 03:45 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― PaulTMA, Monday, 28 December 2009 15:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Heard Up the Junction in the car today and god damn that is one of the best songs ever, no question. <3 <3 <3
― ★彡☆ ★彡 (ENBB), Thursday, 31 December 2009 02:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Classic for the "Hourglass" video alone
― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 31 December 2009 03:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Itunes tells me i've listened to This Summer 22 times (and never skipped it) in the last two years, which feels like a fairly healthy amount. Such. A. Tune.
― what kind of present your naked body (Upt0eleven), Thursday, 31 December 2009 03:32 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm the only guy in the world who likes Sweets From a Stranger; Difford & Tilbrook don't even like it last I heard. Still some great stuff there, reminds me of high school road trips.
― mojitos (a cocktail) (Cave17Matt), Thursday, 31 December 2009 03:39 (fourteen years ago) link
The non-Squeeze Squeeze album Difford & Tilbrook and Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti are really the low point of their career. Sweets From a Stranger is plenty alright.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 31 December 2009 04:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Just wrote some thoughts on their debut album here:
Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010
― xhuxk, Monday, 4 January 2010 15:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Sweets From A Stranger has I've Returned, His House Her Home, The Elephant Ride and Points Of View in it's favour, with some dodgy moments like Stranger Than The Stranger On The Shore and The Very First Dance which are unpleasantly weird enough to derail the album's credibility.
I've always liked Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti, massively flawed as it is. 'Domino' is the real dregs and a sad end to their career.
― PaulTMA, Monday, 4 January 2010 16:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook badmouth Sweets from a Stranger:
GT: I was particularly headstrong on this record and it resulted in some of it sounding awful.
Out of TouchCD: [The unreleased version recorded with Paul Carrack] stands head and shoulders above this one. This is really naff. There's no personality to it whatsoever and to follow East Side Story with this was shooting ourselves in the foot. It's a ridiculous sounding song.... Those synthetic drums sound horrendous. Listening to it now I just wince.GT: ...it sounds very much of its time and not in a good way.
I Can't Hold OnCD: ...it's not a great moment for me lyrically because it doesn't say anything. I was beginning to lose the plot here.
Points of ViewGT: This is a great band performance marred by a slightly poncey vocal performance by me.(To be fair, CD has nothing but praise for GT's vocal on this one.)
Stranger than the Stranger on the ShoreCD: I have to apologize to Glenn for not punching him when he played the ocarina on this... I said "OK, if you think this is good I'm getting out of here because this is crap."
Onto the Dance FloorCD: This does nothing for me at all.
Black Coffee in BedGT: It's far too ponderous. It could never be a fast song, but it certainly had the opportunity to be slightly perkier. My vocal is mannered and not very good at all, and I can't stand to listen to it now.
His House Her HomeCD: This is my Peter & Gordon number... This is me trying to be sophisticated, but just sounding camp.
The Very First DanceCD: This is atrocious. ...there's no passion in it.GT: I sounds a little ponderous to me.
Quotes from the book "Squeeze: Song by Song." Contrary to the quotes above, they do have some good things to say about certain songs and performances, but on the whole CD and GT both consider it one of their worst albums.
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 04:36 (fourteen years ago) link
it really is. someone tells a story in another thread about the song being on the radio while he was driving his mom around, and she started to cry when it was finished she thought it so sad.
― Cunga, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 04:55 (fourteen years ago) link
What were their favorite creations, H.L.?
― Cunga, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 04:57 (fourteen years ago) link
I'll skim the book and post some things tomorrow.
They've both said at one time or another that the song "Some Fantastic Place" is the best thing they've ever done.
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 05:08 (fourteen years ago) link
cool. I would really enjoy more excerpts if you have time tomorrow!
― Cunga, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 05:59 (fourteen years ago) link
If it's in there, I'd love to know what they think about "Letting Go."
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 06:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Interesting read, that. I love it when artists badmouth their own songs. How could anybody hate "Black Coffee in Bed"?? "Ponderous"? Fucking "ponderous"?
― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 5 January 2010 15:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Actually, "Black Coffee" does sometimes wear out its welcome after 6 minutes. They usually up the tempo a bit on stage.
Well, skimming the book turned into rereading the whole thing, so give me another day or two. I just checked, and they both say that "Letting Go" is one of the best things they ever did.
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 7 January 2010 05:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Can you tell me what's essentially said about "Vanity Fair" or "Up the Junction"?
― Cunga, Thursday, 7 January 2010 08:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Up the JunctionCD: When I wrote this it was Dylanesque and was much longer, with about 16 verses... [ Who Killed Davey Moore ] inspired me to write in a seamless way, like I was narrating a story, with no chorus.GT: I was thinking of something like Dylan's Positively 4th Street as a template when I wrote the music.
Surprisingly, A&M Records recognized the potential for the song early on, when the band was originally playing it in a slower, folkier arrangement, and asked them to make it poppier.
Difford also suggests a future ILM thread: "Incidentally, there aren't many songs that end with the title as the last line. Two spring to mind: Up the Junction and Virginia Plain."
Vanity FairGT: I wrote a piano part for this but when it came to playing with the orchestra I bottled out, to my eternal shame.CD: This has an absolutely stunning melody and beautiful arrangement. It's one we never really did live which was, in retrospect, a lost opportunity.
In the back of the book, they print the lyrics of a number of songs which are evidently their picks for the best:
Strong in ReasonTake Me I'm YoursSlap and TickleUp the JunctionSlightly DrunkGoodbye GirlCool for CatsPulling Mussels (from the Shell)Another Nail in My HeartI Think I'm Go GoSeparate BedsIf I Didn't Love YouVicky VerkyTemptedPiccadillySomeone Else's BellWoman's WorldIs That Love?Labelled With LoveWhen the Hangover StrikesBlack Coffee in BedKing George StreetLast Time ForeverNo Place Like HomeTough LoveThe PrisonerStriking MatchesThe Waiting GamePeyton PlaceSlaughtered, Gutted and HeartbrokenShe Doesn't Have to ShaveLove CirclesMelody MotelLetting GoThe TruthWalk a Straight LineWicked and CruelThere Is a VoiceSome Fantastic PlaceThird RailIt's OverLoving You TonightCold ShoulderElectric TrainsWalk AwayI Want YouDaphneThe Great EscapeTo Be a DadWithout You Here
They don't do a song-by-song analysis of the "Difford & Tilbrook" album, but do make note of Love's Crashing Waves, On My Mind Tonight and The Apple Tree.
On some of the songs listed above their opinions are split--yes, Tilbrook really does call Black Coffee in Bed "ponderous," adding "My vocal is mannered and not very good at all, and I can't stand to listen to it now."
One thing that crops up a lot in the book, particularly from Tilbrook, is statements like this:GT: [ Rose I Said ] falls into the same category as If It's Love in that I like the song and the performance of it, which is very spirited, but it doesn't distinguish itself in any way.
Tilbrook also seems to distrust the simpler pop songs; Grouch of the Day is "a fun song without any importance attached to it." Vicky Verky is "lyrically slightly twee in the way that Up the Junction isn't, which makes it less interesting to me. Musically, I don't think it's very good either." Trust Me to Open My Mouth is "quite an ordinary song really, although I liked it more at the time." Is it that he finds these songs too easy, or that they don't do anything new?
Difford does it too: Farfisa Beat is "crap... It's an album filler at best... It was probably just stuck on the album because it was uptempo."
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 11 January 2010 03:44 (fourteen years ago) link
thank you!
― Cunga, Monday, 11 January 2010 04:16 (fourteen years ago) link
weird discovery: although I've heard it >50 times as a boy, 'If I Didn't Love You' is fucking amazing, like seriously a candidate for best Squeeze and one of the better pop songs of its era
― stoke for the shawcross (acoleuthic), Sunday, 28 February 2010 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
seriously it's so great when you rediscover a piece of music you once knew off by heart but it still blows your mind
― stoke for the shawcross (acoleuthic), Sunday, 28 February 2010 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
"If I didn't love you, I'd hate you."
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 28 February 2010 21:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Tilbrook: If I Didn't Love You was "musically inspired by Talking Heads. The line 'The record jumps on a scratch' was such a gift that I had to use it, so we sang 'If I, If I, If I, If I.'"
Difford: "I love Glenn's slide guitar solo. When he first did it I thought 'This guy's out of his tree. What's he doing?,' but it's brilliant."
"'Singles remind me of kisses / Albums remind me of plans.' They are my favorite lines on the whole album. When I used to have girls back to my flat I'd go through my record collection and find the album which had the longest side... I knew that by a certain point on the record if I didn't have my hand down her pants then it wasn't going to happen because I'd have to get up and change the record over... The best album for this purpose was Something/Anything by Todd Rundgren, because it had one side that was 30 minutes long. I'd put it on and get down to business and knew that I had a couple of minutes at the end of the album to lie on my back and then I'd have the excuse to get up and change the record."
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 1 March 2010 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Now, some 35 years later, Squeeze have re-recorded 14 of their classic tracks for Spot the Difference, an album of all their classic hits re-recorded in a way so painstakingly faithful to the originals that they challenge you to spot the difference.
― scott seward, Thursday, 20 May 2010 21:18 (fourteen years ago) link
dumbest...idea...ever.
in general, i kinda hate (and avoid) re-recordings of old stuff, but this goes beyond that. this is demented. in the metal world people will re-record albums cuz when they were young they only had five dollars to spend on making an album and now they have ten dollars. i kinda understand that. even if i never want to listen to the results.
― scott seward, Thursday, 20 May 2010 21:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I wouldn't mind hearing their first album re-recorded. Peel sessions are much better sounding. Other than that, no interest in this, I don't think...
― dlp9001, Friday, 21 May 2010 01:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Hmmmmmm. I really really love Squeeze but that just sounds like a pointless effort.
― Aqua Backrat (ENBB), Friday, 21 May 2010 01:42 (fourteen years ago) link
I was just wondering today if there were any remasters of squeeze's stuff. their 80s recordings sound a little thin and wouldn't it be nice to give them a little attack. but this is not what I had in mind.
― Face Book (dyao), Friday, 21 May 2010 01:55 (fourteen years ago) link
In the past year or so they've redone Argybargy, Sweets from a Stranger, Frank and Ridiculous, but they're only available as imports in the U.S. Three of them have the appropriate b-sides plus unreleased stuff from each album, except Ridiculous, which for some reason has none of the b-sides that it should. Argy is a double with a concert on the 2nd disc.
This is the perfect opportunity to get all those b-sides in the right place, not doled out piecemeal on 17 redundant Greatest Hits records. Don't piss me off, guys, or I'll... get all sullen and bitch about it on the internet.
Tilbrook has also released 3 of a planned 5 volumes of demos from the Squeeze years.
― Hideous Lump, Friday, 21 May 2010 03:41 (fourteen years ago) link
DeepDiscount has the deluxe Argy for $23.38, and it was well worth it. Nice remaster, bonus tracks and great sounding live recording. I hope they do East Side Story next.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 21 May 2010 03:54 (fourteen years ago) link
"New recordings - improved sound quality"
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 21 May 2010 08:09 (fourteen years ago) link
i wouldn't mind hearing it if it means improved sound quality (not that classic squeeze sounded *bad* per se -- it isn't as if they started off as some no-budget crusty-punk band). but if their idea of "improved sound quality" is the "compressed-to-an-inch-of-its-life" junk that too often passes for remastering then i can live w/t it.
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 14:16 (fourteen years ago) link
If you're a Squeeze fan and you *haven't* heard the 1992 BBC Session of Take Me I'm Yours, please do yourself a favour...
http://open.spotify.com/track/3YDGxXzhoTJdtF5mPn5jBq
― piscesx, Friday, 15 October 2010 03:53 (thirteen years ago) link
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
― PaulTMA, Thursday, 13 December 2018 16:49 (five years ago) link
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.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 13 September 2019 16:20 (four years ago) link
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?
― enochroot, Thursday, 7 May 2020 01:37 (four years ago) link
It's definitely not Squeeze, but he does sound like a sped up Tilbrook.
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 7 May 2020 05:39 (four years ago) link
That is a song called "Friends Forever" by Greg Hatwell & Marc Lane.
― Tim, Thursday, 7 May 2020 08:23 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6vxg_guz8^ Squeeze performing at the recently mentioned My Father's Place as opening act for Blondie.
― AP Chemirocha (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 03:05 (two years ago) link
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
― enochroot, Tuesday, 1 June 2021 13:07 (two years ago) link
stain on my fuckin’ notebook
― calstars, Saturday, 30 April 2022 20:23 (two years ago) link
Pulling Mussels from a God Damn Shell
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 30 April 2022 20:28 (two years ago) link
And now she's two years olderHer mother fucks a soldier
― mig (guess that dreams always end), Saturday, 30 April 2022 21:57 (two years ago) link
Fast live version of Pulling Mussels (1980)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbx_6gavLno
― that's not my post, Monday, 27 March 2023 04:25 (one year ago) link
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, April 30, 2022 3:28 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink
otm
― budo jeru, Friday, 23 June 2023 22:41 (eleven months ago) link
Alternate universe where the 'suntan lotion' backing vocals are in the studio version
― PaulTMA, Friday, 23 June 2023 22:42 (eleven months ago) link
you're going to get that and so much more when openAI puts musenet back online!
― budo jeru, Friday, 23 June 2023 22:43 (eleven months ago) link
There is a flexi disc which has them in. Actually sounds terriblehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WkPIG2inPA
― PaulTMA, Friday, 23 June 2023 22:49 (eleven months ago) link
It sounds like they were recording in the studio next to The Muppets, and got them in for some impromptu backing vocals.
― enochroot, Saturday, 24 June 2023 01:35 (eleven months ago) link
A bit of a dry-run for Squabs on Forty Fab, this.
Tbh not sure what you're both getting at.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Saturday, 24 June 2023 03:14 (eleven months ago) link
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
― he thinks it's chinese money (soref), Saturday, 24 June 2023 09:04 (eleven months ago) link