Essentially Squeeze
31/07/2007
Starting in New York on August 2nd, Squeeze will be on tour in the States to coincide with the release of their compilation album Essential Squeeze. Although never hugely successful in America, the group's blend of poignant lyrics of ordinary life combined with different and clever tunes made them very influential in their time, the late seventies and early eighties.



Two members of the band, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook are still folk heroes to many and the keyboard player, Jools Holland, has gone on to fame and fortune as a music program presenter on television. But it's those songs of yesteryear that best express the ethos of their music at its height. Take a listen to the song I consider their best, Up the Junction, a classic tale for the English working man. Don't be fooled - they've all swapped instruments for the video; that's Jools on guitar.

Then there's the jagged but strangely compelling Pulling Mussels from a Shell (usual instruments this time) and the smooth and sophisticated Tempted. They were nothing if not versatile and paid little attention to what other bands were doing at the time.

Yet I still suspect that their real secret is the lyrics, simple but acute observations of ordinary life sung in those plaintive voices of youth. The music is interesting and sometimes haunting, but it's the words that really grab us. Certainly a group worth catching if you can.

MusicGeeks

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