Squeeze (band)
- For the 1980 film, see Squeeze (film). For other uses, see Squeeze play.
Squeeze was a British rock music band that came to prominence in the New Wave period of the late 1970s. The group formed in London in 1974. They are known for their hit songs "Take Me I'm Yours," "Cool For Cats," "Up The Junction," "Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)," "Tempted," "Black Coffee In Bed," and "Hourglass," among many others.
The two main writing partners in the band, Chris Difford (lyrics) and Glenn Tilbrook (music), are widely considered to be among the finest melodic pop songwriters of their generation and have often been compared with the legendary Lennon-McCartney partnership, although unlike The Beatles, Difford and Tilbrook's direct collaboration on songs continued through most of the group's career.
The original lineup of the band also included pianist Jools Holland, who went on to become a popular solo artist and bandleader, and he is now best known as the host of the critically-acclaimed and highly successful British music TV show Later with Jools Holland.
In Australia, the United States and Canada the band was for a time marketed as U.K. Squeeze due to legal conflicts arising from a contemporary American band also called "Squeeze".
Membership
The band's founding members in 1974/75 were Chris Difford (guitar, vocals, lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, music), Jools Holland (keyboards), and Paul Gunn (drums). Gilson Lavis replaced Gunn on drums and Harry Kakoulli joined on bass in 1976. Their debut album was produced by John Cale for A&M Records.
John Bentley replaced Harry Kakoulli on bass in 1979. Jools Holland was next to exit in 1980, with keyboard duties 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.
With Carrack the band cut their best-known album East Side Story, released in 1981. It was produced by Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian, and featured Carrack's lead vocals on "Tempted". However, Carrack left after the release of East Side Story, and was replaced by Don Snow. This line-up recorded the Sweets From A Stranger LP -- then Difford and Tilbrook announced that they were breaking up the band. A farewell single ("Annie Get Your Gun") was released in late 1982.
Hoever, Difford and Tilbrook continued to work together, and released one self-titled duo album as Difford & Tilbrook in 1984. Although it's not officially considered a Squeeze album, because Difford and Tilbrook were themselves the only constant members of Squeeze, to many fans the Difford & Tilbrook album is considered a "lost" Squeeze record. Further bolstering this argument is the fact that several "Difford & Tilbrook" tracks have been featured on offically-sanctioned Squeeze compilations.
The band unexpectedly re-formed in 1985 with a lineup of Difford, Tilbrook, Holland, Lavis, and Keith Wilkinson on bass (Wilkinson had played on Difford & Tilbrook). Jools' brother Chris Holland also played a few gigs as a second keyboardist in 1985, but was soon replaced by an official new member Andy Metcalfe of the Soft Boys and Robyn Hitchcock 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 would be replaced by Matt Irving, who was himself an official sixth Squeeze member though 1990.
Jools Holland left Squeeze again in early 1990, and was not immediately replaced, the band using session musicians such as Irving, Snow, Steve Nieve, Bruce Hornsby and Carol Isaacs in his stead. Then drummer Gilson Lavis was let go in 1992, and was replaced by Nieve's fellow Attraction member 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.
This situation meant that further line-up changes were inevitable, and tracing the group's lineup from this point on is extremely tricky. For instance, though not an offical 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) 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 (and perhaps mercifully) 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. Then in early 1999, just days before a planned tour, Chris Difford suddenly announced that he was taking a 'hiatus' from Squeeze. 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 fall to be replaced by Chris Braide.
Squeeze played their final gig on November 27, 1999 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Squeeze mainstays Difford and Tilbrook then both embarked upon solo careers, and the band is now apparently defunct, primarily because Difford has a pathological fear of flying, which makes international touring impossible.
However, in 2003 Difford and Tilbrook collaborated on the writing of a song for Tilbrook's solo album Transatlantic Ping Pong, and in 2004 they collaborated with music journalist Jim Drury on the retrospective Squeeze: Song By Song. Difford also stopped by to sit in for a few songs at a Glenn Tilbrook solo gig in Glasgow in December of 2005.
Jools Holland, meanwhile, hosts the popular "Later" TV music program, to which Gil Lavis often contributes drums and percussion as one of the program's "house musicians".
Discography
Studio albums
- U.K. Squeeze, Mar 1978
- Cool for Cats, Mar 1979
- Argybargy, Feb 1980
- East Side Story, May 1981
- Sweets From A Stranger, May 1982
- Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti, Aug 1985
- Babylon and On, Sep 1987
- Frank, Sep 1989
- Play, Aug 1991
- Some Fantastic Place, Sep 1993
- Ridiculous, Nov 1995
- Domino, Nov 1998
Compilations/live
- Singles - 45's and Under (compilation), Nov 1982
- Classics, Vol. 25 (compilation), 1987
- A Round and a Bout (live), Mar 1990
- Greatest Hits (compilation), Apr 1992
- Piccadilly Collection (compilation), Aug 1996
- Excess Moderation (compilation), Nov 1996
- Six Of One... (box set), Oct 1997
- Master Series (compilation), Nov 1998
- Live at the Royal Albert Hall (live), 1999
- Up The Junction (compilation), Aug 2000
- Big Squeeze: The Very Best Of Squeeze (compilation), Jun 2002
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | |||
| 1977 | "Packet of Three" | - | - | - | Packet of Three [Single] |
| 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" | #4 | - | - | Cool for Cats |
| 1979 | "Christmas Day" | - | - | - | Christmas Day [Single] |
| 1980 | "Another Nail in My Heart" | #17 | - | - | Argybargy |
| 1980 | "If I Didn't Love You" | - | - | - | Argybargy |
| 1980 | "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" | #44 | - | - | Argybargy |
| 1980 | "Farfisa Beat" | - | - | - | Argybargy |
| 1981 | "Is That Love" | #35 | - | - | East Side Story |
| 1981 | "Tempted" | #41 | #49 | - | East Side Story |
| 1981 | "Labelled With Love" | #4 | - | - | East Side Story |
| 1981 | "Messed Around" | - | - | - | 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" | - | - | - | Sweets From a Stranger |
| 1982 | "Annie Get Your Gun" | #43 | - | - | Singles 45's and Under |
| 1985 | "Last Time Forever" | #45 | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "No Place Like Home" | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "Hits of the Year" | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "Heartbreaking World" | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 | "By Your Side" | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1986 | "King George Street" | - | - | - | Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1987 | "Hourglass" | #15 | #18 | - | 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" | - | - | - | A Round & A Bout (Live) |
| 1991 | "Sunday Street" | - | - | - | Play |
| 1991 | "Satisfied" | - | - | #3 | Play |
| 1993 | "Third Rail" | #39 | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1993 | "Everything in the World" | - | - | -#9 | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1993 | "Some Fantastic Place" | #73 | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1993 | "Loving You Tonight" | - | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1994 | "It's Over" | - | - | - | Some Fantastic Place |
| 1995 | "This Summer" | #36 | - | - | Ridiculous |
| 1995 | "Electric Trains" | #44 | - | - | Ridiculous |
| 1996 | "Heaven Knows" | #27 | - | - | Ridiculous |
| 1996 | "This Summer [Remix]" | #32 | - | - | This Summer (Remix) [Single] |
| 1998 | "Down in the Valley" | - | - | - | Down in the Valley [Single] |
External links
The Squeeze Reader documents recent activity by ex-members of Squeeze. http://www.glennmovie.com Site dedicated to the excellent documentary about Glenn Tilbrook's tour of America singing all the Squeeze favorite hits! Available on DVD through glennmovie.com