Squeeze have been around since time began. OK, not exactly, but it’s fast approaching 50 years.
The two principal songwriting guitarists, Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook, first worked together in 1974. Their debut EP came out in 1977 on an indie-label part-financed by Miles Copeland, and was produced by John Cale of Velvet Underground fame.
They were soon signed to A&M Records for whom they would record five albums between 1978 and 1982 as well as enjoying a dozen singles reaching the Top 50, of which three went Top 5.
After a short break up, during which time Difford and Tilbrook recorded and toured as a duo, Squeeze got back together in 1985 and stayed together until 1999, albeit band members came and went at regular intervals. There were seven studio albums in that period.
The early part of the 21st century saw the two principals embark on solo careers, all the while remaining close friends who would occasionally show up at one or the other’s shows and perform alongside one another.
Inevitably, Squeeze came back into being, reforming in 2007, since when there have been spells where they have toured as a full band and times when it’s been down to just Difford and Tilbrook. There have been just three new albums since the latest reformation.
All told, Squeeze can boast a discography of 15 studio albums and 49 singles/EPs, along with 4 live albums and 14 compilations. It’s a highly impressive body of work.
This ICA, however, is going to focus, with one exception, on the initial period from 1978 to 1982, simply as I’ve loads of material from that era and very little beyond, other than one studio album and a couple of ‘greatest hits’ type efforts. Oh, and it’s singles heavy…….
SIDE A
1. Take Me I’m Yours
The debut single which reached #19 in May 1978 and can be found on the eponymous debut album released the same year. It’s a fine introduction as the vocal talents of both Difford and Tilbrook are to the fore, as too are the keyboard skills of Jools Holland, whose look and sound were hugely important in making the band stand out that bit from many of their contemporaries.
2. Another Nail In My Heart
A #17 hit from March 1980. One of the main strengths of Difford and Tilbrook as songwriters was their ability to marry up catchy music with lyrics that told stories. In this instance, Tilbrook came up with the tune, making use of a moog synth all the way through as well as a classic ‘tennis racquet’ guitar solo straight after the first chorus, while Difford sings of a failed romance while putting all the blame on himself.
3. Cool For Cats
The first of the huge hits, reaching #2 in April 1979. This is one of the rare occasions when Tilbrook took lead vocal on a Squeeze single, but his voice is the one best suited to a tune which gives as good an indication as any of the band’s London and pub roots in the working-class south-east of the city.
4. When The Hangover Strikes
A flop single from 1982 and a track on the album Sweets From A Stranger. It’s an album which sold well enough to the fanbase to reach the Top 20 on its week of release, but which was panned by the critics on the basis that it sounded nothing like the Squeeze whom everyone had a soft spot for. Tilbrook has said he was inspired the 50s albums from Frank Sinatra when he came up with the tune, while Difford remains, rightly, proud of a lyric that captures that morning-after feeling rather perfectly.
5. Piccadilly
From the 1981 album, East Side Story, which was mostly produced by Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian. Lyrically, it’s a sort of throw back to some of the earlier material, telling the tale of a date night in the posh west end of London, but the music had advanced a great deal in a short period of time.
SIDE B
1. I Think I’m Go Go
An album track from 1981’s Argybargy. One in which both Difford and Tilbrook take turns on lead vocal. It’s a personal favourite as it just sounded so different and unusual from anything else they had written to this point. The songwriters have since revealed it’s about the rigours and unpleasant nature of constantly being on tour to promote your new record.
2. Up The Junction
Here’s what I said about this song back in 2014.
“A soap opera story in just over three minutes. The boy about town gets caught out with his trousers down. He can’t cope with the fact that he has to grow up and take responsibility. The woman of his dreams soon moves on and all he has left are bittersweet memories.
1979. A massive hit and one of my favourite songs of all time, albeit as a 16-year-old I didn’t quite understand the full nuances. But now I’m 51 and I’ve seen it this story play out in real life far too often over the years.
Tears and saying sorry are just not enough. But the male side of the species just never learn.”
Other than the fact I’n now nearly 60, every word from 2014 is just as relevant today.
3. Last Time Forever
The band broke up after Sweets From A Stranger. They got back together in 1985, with the surprising news that Jools Holland, who had left the band in 1980 after the third album, Argybargy, was back in the fold having decided he could combine his television work with recording and touring. This was the comeback single, one that is as close to an epic as anything they have ever recorded, with the full length version coming in at six-and-half- minutes, complete with sampled dialogue from the film, ‘The Shining’.
4. Labelled With Love
Two years after Up The Junction came another ‘some songs make great short stories’ effort, with a tune Tammy Wynette and George Jones would have been proud of. Sad songs say so much…….
5. Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)
A tribute to the joys of holiday sex only reached #44 in the UK Charts back in May 1980. It’s long been one of their most popular and enduring songs, cheered to the rafters whenever it gets aired in the live setting. I can only imagine that the folk at the BBC weren’t fooled by the song’s subject matter and more or less banned it from the airwaves on Radio 1, which perhaps explains why it sold so poorly.
As with most of the ICAs I come up with, this doesn’t consist of the ‘best’ ten songs that Squeeze recorded in the period concerned, but it’s my effort at pulling together a cohesive album that makes for a consistent and interesting listen.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Perfect. The singles from the Mark 1 phase of the band are as good a run of singles as any band has produced.
Another Nail In My Heart is my Squeeze song. Although I never bought it. I own a copy. I didn’t buy it. I’m thinking I may have ‘acquired’ it or indeed saved it from the clutches of someone not paying it the due care it deserved.
The voice for me was what made it. I’d put the arm back on the stereo and just let the single play and automatically replay and replay.
My next favourite would be Up The Junction, again – that voice.
1974 to 1977 would, I’d suggest, represent a career for newer artists yet Squeeze were just stepping off the starting blocks.
Up The Junction is a kitchen-sink slice of social realism where the poignant tune is as important as the bleak lyric. AOR classic Tempted and Woman’s World (from East Side Story) would have to make my squad.
Love Squeeze. Difficult to argue against any of these choices, although I think I would have opted for Is That Love? ahead of Last Time Forever. Partly for the sake of being pre-split, but also because I think it’s fantastic.
I didn’t really like the Cosi Fan Tutti-frutti album when it was released. A bit too smooth and sounded like the band wanting to prove they were grown-ups. Fortunately, the next few albums showed that they realised that being grown-up could go hand-in-hand with sharp and witty lyrics. Definitely enough for ICA 2!
An interesting addition would be ‘Tempted’ recorded in 1981 (in the middle of a Squeeze purple patch, between ‘Is that love’ and ‘Labelled with love’). The vocal is by the multi-talented Paul Carrack (he played keyboards on The Smiths first LP as well as tons of other stuff). One of my fav. Squeeze songs.
And how about concluding with ‘Black coffee in bed’ – another great track (turn the volume up on the outro to hear Elvis C. sing “no milk, two sugars”).
good choices but i would have had to make room for Black Coffee in Bed
Interesting collection. Good to see ‘Junction’ and ‘Mussels’ in the mix–two of my all time favorite songs. ‘Go Go’ might have been my last tune picked from Argybargy, but it’s cool how everyone has their favorites. Great band, and probably underrated despite their successes. And thanks to DAM for volunteering to do Squeeze ICA #2!
Funny how so many bands were fab 77-82..Squeeze, The Jam, Japan, Human League, Ultravox, The Stranglers – I’m sure there are loads more. After 82 these bands either split up or just didn’t have that impact with later songs..
So happy to see When the Hangover Strikes. One of my favorites as well! I agree with JTFL they are underrated. For some reason (at least around these parts) Squeeze don’t seem to have the same cache as some of their hipper contemporaries.
This made my day. Love all the songs and so good to hear them again.
Love Squeeze and when I lived in London saw them once of twice, though not in their pomp in the 1970s or 80s. If you like the band I would recommend the book ‘Squeeze: Song by song’ which is written by Difford and Tilbrook with Jim Jury.
Truly you could pick any selection of tracks from those early albums and not go wrong, except someone would pop up and demand how you could possibly exclude song X or song Y or any of the singles, and so on. I have a handful of their later 80s albums too, up to 1991’s Play and they are very good, though not garlanded with chart hits any more.
Maybe you would like to check the version of ‘Up The Junction’ done by I, Doris. In their own words, ‘Ever wondered what Squeeze’s Up The Junction might look like from the woman’s point of view?’. The song is renamed ‘The Girl From Clapham’, and can be found on their Bandcamp page, with lyrics:
https://idoris.bandcamp.com/track/the-girl-from-clapham
Cheers!