Squeeze
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| Squeeze | |
|---|---|
 Squeeze during its East Side Story period. L-R: John Bentley, Glenn Tilbrook, Paul Carrack, Gilson Lavis, Chris Difford
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| Background information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genre(s) | New Wave, Power pop |
| Years active | 1974-1982 1985-1999 2007-present |
| Label(s) | A&M Records, Reprise Records, Ark 21 Records, I.R.S. Records, Quixotic Records |
| Members | |
| Chris Difford Glenn Tilbrook John Bentley Stephen Large Simon Hanson |
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| Former members | |
| Paul Gunn Harry Kakoulli Jools Holland Gilson Lavis Paul Carrack Don Snow Chris Holland Keith Wilkinson Andy Metcalfe Matt Irving Pete Thomas Kevin Wilkinson Ashley Soan Hilaire Penda Chris Braide |
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Squeeze is an English band that came to prominence in the New Wave period of the late 1970s, and continued recording successfully in the 1980s and 1990s. The group formed in London in 1974. They are known for their hit songs "Cool for Cats," "Up the Junction," "Tempted," "Black Coffee In Bed," "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)," and "Hourglass," among others.
Squeeze broke up in 1999, but reunited for a tour through the United States and United Kingdom in 2007, and issued a live album culled from the American leg of the tour. The reunion was successful enough that Squeeze have announced that they will stay together to play the Chichester Real Ale and Jazz on 12 July followed by a 2008 U.S. tour in August.
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[edit] Career
[edit] First incarnation: 1974–82
The band's founding members in March 1974 were Chris Difford (guitar, vocals, lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, music), Jools Holland (keyboards), and Paul Gunn (drums). The group played under several names, most frequently "Captain Trundlow's Sky Company" or "Skyco", before selecting the band name "Squeeze" as a facetious tribute to The Velvet Underground's oft-derided 1973 album of the same name.
Gilson Lavis replaced Gunn on drums and Harry Kakoulli joined on bass in 1976.
Squeeze's early career was spent around Deptford in SE London, where they were part of a lively local music scene which included Alternative TV and Dire Straits. The group's early singles and debut EP, 1977's Packet of Three, were released on the Deptford Fun City Label.
Squeeze's self-titled debut album was produced by John Cale for A&M Records, and released in 1978. In the United States and Canada, the band and album were dubbed U.K. Squeeze due to legal conflicts arising from a contemporary American band called "Tight Squeeze". The "U.K." was dropped for all subsequent releases. In Australia, the same name change was used due to legal conflicts arising from an existing Sydney-based band also called "Squeeze". Albums in Australia were credited to U.K. Squeeze up to and including Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti.
John Bentley replaced Harry Kakoulli on bass in 1979, following the successful Cool for Cats LP. Argybargy, the band's third album, led to the exit of Jools Holland in 1980. Keyboard duties were taken over by highly-rated singer-keyboardist Paul Carrack, a former member of British soul-pop band Ace, who scored a major international hit with the song "How Long." Carrack had also been a member of Roxy Music.
In 1981 the band cut perhaps their best-known album, East Side Story. It was produced by Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian, and featured Carrack's lead vocals on the radio hit "Tempted". Carrack himself left after the release of East Side Story, and was replaced by Don Snow. This line-up recorded the Sweets From A Stranger LP in 1982. Negative reviews, the stresses of touring, and conflict between band members led Difford and Tilbrook to break up the band later that year, after releasing a final single, "Annie Get Your Gun".
[edit] Difford and Tilbrook years: 1983–84
Difford and Tilbrook continued to work together, and released one self-titled album as the duo Difford & Tilbrook in 1984. Although it is not officially a Squeeze album, to many fans Difford & Tilbrook is considered a "lost" Squeeze LP because Difford and Tilbrook were themselves the only constant members of Squeeze. Several Difford & Tilbrook tracks have been featured on officially-sanctioned Squeeze compilations.
The duo also contributed to a musical written and staged in Deptford during this period, entitled Labelled with Love and based in large part on the music of Squeeze.
[edit] Second incarnation: 1985–99
Squeeze re-formed to play a one night charity gig in 1985, with all five members from the 1980 Argybargy period -- Difford, Tilbrook, Holland, Lavis, and Bentley. The performance was such a success that the band unanimously agreed to resume recording and touring as Squeeze. Searching for a different sound, the band replaced Bentley with bassist Keith Wilkinson from the Difford & Tilbrook sessions. Jools' brother Chris Holland played a few gigs as a second keyboardist in 1985, but was quickly replaced by an official new member Andy Metcalfe of the Soft Boys and The Egyptians. A bassist in those groups, Metcalfe would play keyboards with Squeeze. His tenure as the band's sixth member would last until 1988, when he was replaced by Matt Irving.
Jools Holland left Squeeze again in early 1990, and was not immediately replaced. In his stead, the band used session musicians such as Irving, Snow, Steve Nieve, Bruce Hornsby and Carol Isaacs. Then drummer Gilson Lavis was let go in 1992, and replaced by Nieve's fellow Attractions bandmate Pete Thomas. Paul Carrack also returned to the band in 1993, although by this point Squeeze was not so much a band as it was a trade name for Difford and Tilbrook plus sidemen.
Squeeze's lineup during their final years changed constantly. Though not an official Squeeze member, Aimee Mann was featured on vocals and guitar at many Squeeze shows during 1994. Thomas also exited the band that year, and Carrack doubled on snare and keyboards for a few gigs before session drummer Andy Newmark was brought in. Then - still in 1994 - Carrack left, which allowed keyboardist Andy Metcalfe to return to the band for a short spell, playing on some live dates. Drummer Kevin Wilkinson (no relation to bassist Keith), formerly of The Waterboys, was also added around this time, replacing Newmark. He lasted through the 1995 album Ridiculous, which was recorded by the quartet of Difford, Tilbrook, Wilkinson and Wilkinson. Following the release of that album, Don Snow (now known as Jon Savannah) returned to Squeeze yet again as their touring keyboard player, but by 1997, the Squeeze line-up had officially dwindled down to just Difford and Tilbrook.
Nevertheless, for the 1998 album Domino, the band was again a quintet consisting of Difford, Tilbrook, bassist Hilaire Penda, ex-Del Amitri drummer Ashley Soan, and yet another returning keyboardist in the person of Chris Holland. Nick Harper often performed with this version of Squeeze, providing additional guitar and vocals. In January 1999, just days before a planned tour, Chris Difford suddenly announced that he was taking a 'hiatus' from Squeeze. The last venue for Squeeze with Chris was The Charlotte, Leicester, England. The band subsequently continued as a quartet led by Tilbrook, with Jim Kimberley replacing Soan on some tour dates, and Chris Holland exiting in the autumn to be replaced by Tilbrook's other frequent writing partner Chris Braide.
On 27 November 1999 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Squeeze played their final gig before breaking up again. Difford and Tilbrook embarked on separate solo careers shortly thereafter.
[edit] Solo years: 2000–06
In 2003 Difford and Tilbrook collaborated on a song for the first time since Domino. The track, "Where I Can Be Your Friend," appeared on Tilbrook's well-reviewed second solo album, Transatlantic Ping Pong. In 2004 the pair worked with music journalist Jim Drury on the retrospective Squeeze: Song By Song. In this book they declared they had become better friends since breaking up the band than they ever were while Squeeze was together.
However, a 2004 attempt by the VH1 show Bands Reunited to reassemble the mid-1980s line-up of Squeeze (Difford, Tilbrook, Holland, Wilkinson and Lavis) ended in failure. While bassist Keith Wilkinson was game and drummer Gilson Lavis expressed some interest, Jools Holland felt he was too busy with current projects to participate, and, crucially, both Tilbrook and Difford expressed reservations about working together in a band context at that point in time.
Still, Difford and Tilbrook's friendship continued, and in December of 2005 Difford sat in for a few songs at a Glenn Tilbrook solo gig in Glasgow.
[edit] Third incarnation: 2007-present
In early 2007 it was announced that Difford and Tilbrook would reform Squeeze for a series of shows throughout the latter half of the year, in support of Universal and Warner's re-issuing of the band's back catalogue and the release of a new 'best of' album, Essential Squeeze, on April 30th. Jools Holland and Gilson Lavis were unable to take part in the series of shows, as they were touring under the "Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra" name for most of the year. Instead, John Bentley re-joined on bass for the first time since Squeeze's last reunion show in 1985. The rest of the lineup was fleshed out by members of Tilbrook's touring band, The Fluffers: Stephen Large (keyboards) and Simon Hanson (drums).
On 7 July 2007, at the "Return to the Summer of Love Party," at Hawkhurst, Kent, UK, Difford and Tilbrook, each singing and playing acoustic guitars, played a 7-song set of Squeeze classics to an enthusiastic reception. They played, in order, "Take Me I'm Yours," "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)," "Is that Love?," "Tempted," "Labelled with Love," "Cool for Cats," and "Up the Junction." The first actual full-band Squeeze show since 1999 took place a week later at GuilFest 2007. They toured the U.S. in August 2007, supported on various dates by Fountains of Wayne, Will Hoge, Big Head Todd And The Monsters, and Cheap Trick..
In November 2007, the band released 5 Live, a live CD consisting of recordings from the American tour. The title referred to the number of people in the band, not the number of tracks on the 19-song CD.
Squeeze played The "Al Murray Happy Hour show" on ITV on 21 March 2008. They performed their hit Cool For Cats and Goodbye Girl, before doing a cover of Queen's Seven Seas of Rhye.
Squeeze is playing the Chichester Real Ale and Jazz festival on 12 July and has announced they will be playing another U.S. tour starting in August 2008.
Squeeze is confirmed as a headliner at Beautiful Days festival at Escot Park, Devon.
[edit] Tour Dates
- 08/22/2008 Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre
- 08/28/2008 Toronto, ON - [Kool Haus]
- 08/29/2008 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
- 08/31/2008 Highland Park, IL - Ravinia Festival
- 09/02/2008 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
- 09/03/2008 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
- 09/13/2008 Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery
[edit] Band member timeline
[edit] 1974-1982
[edit] 1985-1999
[edit] 2007-2008
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Squeeze, March 1978
- Cool for Cats, March 1979
- Argybargy, February 1980
- East Side Story, May 1981
- Sweets from a Stranger, May 1982
- Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti, August 1985
- Babylon and On, September 1987
- Frank, September 1989
- Play, August 1991
- Some Fantastic Place, September 1993
- Ridiculous, November 1995
- Domino, November 1998
[edit] EPs
- Packet of Three, July 1977, November 1979 (reissue)
[edit] Live recordings
- A Round and a Bout, March 1990
- Live at the Royal Albert Hall, 1999
- Five Live, November 2007
[edit] Compilations
- 6 Squeeze Songs Crammed Into One Ten-Inch Record (incl. the 2 U.K. Squeeze singles, 3 remixed Cool For Cats singles, plus "Goodbye Girl" live), U.S. 1979
- Singles - 45's and Under, November 1982
- Classics, Vol. 25, 1987
- Greatest Hits, April 1992
- Piccadilly Collection, August 1996
- Excess Moderation, November 1996
- Six Of One... (6-CD box set), October 1997
- Master Series, November 1998
- Up The Junction, August 2000
- Big Squeeze: The Very Best Of Squeeze, June 2002
- Gold (retitled North American issue of Big Squeeze), 2005
- The Squeeze Story, June 2006
- Essential Squeeze, April 2007
[edit] Singles
Note that the three 1984 singles by Difford & Tilbrook are included on this chart. All these singles have been reissued on various Squeeze compilations, and are retroactively credited on these compilations as being by Squeeze.
| Year | Title | Chart Positions (N/R) = Not released as a single in that country |
Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | US Hot 100 | US Mainstream Rock | US Modern Rock | |||
| 1978 | "Take Me, I'm Yours" | #19 | - | - | - | U.K. Squeeze |
| 1978 | "Bang Bang" | #49 | - | - | - | U.K. Squeeze |
| 1978 | "Goodbye Girl" | #63 | - | - | - | Cool for Cats |
| 1979 | "Cool for Cats" | #2 | - | - | - | Cool for Cats |
| 1979 | "Up the Junction" | #2 | - | - | - | Cool for Cats |
| 1979 | "Slap and Tickle" | #24 | - | - | - | Cool for Cats |
| 1979 | "Christmas Day" | - | - | - | - | Non-LP |
| 1980 | "Another Nail In My Heart" | #17 | - | - | - | Argybargy |
| 1980 | "If I Didn't Love You" | (N/R) | - | - | - | Argybargy |
| 1980 | "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" | #44 | - | #97 | - | Argybargy |
| 1980 | "Farfisa Beat" | (N/R) | - | - | - | Argybargy |
| 1981 | "Is That Love" | #35 | - | - | - | East Side Story |
| 1981 | "Tempted" | #41 | #49 | #8 | - | East Side Story |
| 1981 | "Labelled With Love" | #4 | - | - | - | East Side Story |
| 1981 | "Messed Around" | (N/R) | - | - | - | East Side Story |
| 1982 | "Black Coffee in Bed" | #51 | - | - | - | Sweets From a Stranger |
| 1982 | "When the Hangover Strikes" | - | - | - | - | Sweets From a Stranger |
| 1982 | "I've Returned" | (N/R) | - | - | - | Sweets From a Stranger |
| 1982 | "Annie Get Your Gun" | #43 | - | - | - | Non-LP |
| 1984 | Difford & Tilbrook: "Love's Crashing Waves" |
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Difford & Tilbrook |
| 1984 | Difford & Tilbrook: "Hope Fell Down" |
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Difford & Tilbrook |
| 1984 | Difford & Tilbrook: "Picking Up The Pieces" |
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Difford & Tilbrook |
| 1985 | "Last Time Forever" | #45 | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "No Place Like Home" | - | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "Hits of the Year" | (N/R) | - | #39 | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "Heartbreaking World" | - | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "By Your Side" | (N/R) | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1986 | "King George Street" | - | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1987 | "Hourglass" | #16 | #15 | - | - | Babylon and On |
| 1987 | "Trust Me To Open My Mouth" | #72 | - | - | - | Babylon and On |
| 1987 | "The Waiting Game" | - | - | - | - | Babylon and On |
| 1988 | "853-5937" | - | #32 | - | - | Babylon and On |
| 1988 | "Footprints" | - | - | - | - | Babylon and On |
| 1989 | "If It's Love" | - | - | - | #7 | Frank |
| 1990 | "Love Circles" | - | - | - | - | Frank |
| 1990 | "Annie Get Your Gun (live)" | (N/R) | - | - | - | A Round & A Bout |
| 1991 | "Sunday Street" | - | - | - | - | Play |
| 1991 | "Satisfied" | - | - | - | #3 | Play |
| 1991 | "Crying In My Sleep" | (N/R) | - | - | #14 | Play |
| 1993 | "Third Rail" | #39 | - | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1993 | "Everything In The World" | (N/R) | - | - | #9 | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1993 | "Some Fantastic Place" | #73 | - | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1993 | "Loving You Tonight" | - | - | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1994 | "It's Over" | #89 | - | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1995 | "This Summer" | #36 | - | - | - | Ridiculous |
| 1995 | "Electric Trains" | #44 | - | - | - | Ridiculous |
| 1996 | "Heaven Knows" | #27 | - | - | - | Ridiculous |
| 1996 | "This Summer (remix)" | #32 | - | - | - | Ridiculous |
| 1998 | "Down in the Valley" | - | - | - | - | Non-LP |
[edit] External links
- Official site
- packetofthree.com The Squeeze Archive with exclusive photos, tour history, international discography and memorabilia
- Squeeze Discography Contains the most up-to-date discography on the Internet.
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