For other uses, see Squeeze (disambiguation).
| Squeeze |
Squeeze during its East Side Story
period. L-R: John Bentley, Glenn Tilbrook, Paul Carrack, Gilson Lavis,
Chris Difford
|
| Background information |
| Origin |
 London, England |
| Genre(s) |
New
Wave, Power
pop |
| Years active |
1974-82; 1985-99; 2007 |
| Members |
Chris
Difford (guitar, vocals, lyrics)
Glenn Tilbrook (vocals,
guitar, music)
John Bentley (bass)
Stephen Large
(keyboards)
Simon Hanson (drums) |
| Former members |
Paul Gunn (drums)
Harry Kakoulli
(bass)
Jools Holland (keyboards)
Gilson Lavis (drums)
Paul Carrack (keyboards,
vocals)
Don Snow (keyboards)
Chris Holland (keyboards)
Keith Wilkinson (bass)
Andy Metcalfe
(keyboards)
Matt
Irving (keyboards)
Pete
Thomas (drums)
Kevin Wilkinson (drums)
Ashley
Soan (drums)
Hilaire Penda (bass)
Chris
Braide (keyboards, vocals) |
Squeeze are an English 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 "Cool
for Cats," "Up the Junction," "Tempted," "Black
Coffee In Bed," and "Hourglass," among others.
Squeeze is briefly reuniting for a tour through the US and UK
this year, dates for which are listed at Pollstar. The band will be
accompanied by some notable opening acts for certain dates, including Fountains
of Wayne, Will
Hoge, and Cheap
Trick.
|
Contents
- 1 Career
- 1.1 First
Incarnation: 1974-1982
- 1.2 The
Difford & Tilbook Years: 1983-1984
- 1.3 Second
Incarnation: 1985-1999
- 1.4 The
Solo Years: 2000-2006
- 1.5 Third
Incarnation: 2007
- 2 Discography
- 2.1 Studio
albums
- 2.2 EPs
- 2.3 Compilations/live
- 2.4 Singles
- 3 External
links
|
Career
First Incarnation: 1974-1982
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 selected the
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, 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".
The Difford & Tilbook
Years: 1983-1984
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. Further bolstering
this argument is the fact that 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.
Second Incarnation: 1985-1999
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.
The Solo Years: 2000-2006
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. In December of 2005, Difford sat in for a few
songs at a Glenn Tilbrook solo gig in Glasgow.
Third Incarnation: 2007
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 July 7, 2007, at the "Return to the Summer of Love Party,"
at Hawkhurst, Kent, UK, Glenn and Chris, 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.
Discography
Studio albums
- U.K. 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
EPs
- Packet of Three,
July 1977,
November 1979
(reissue)
Compilations/live
- Singles - 45's and Under (compilation),
November 1982
- Classics, Vol. 25 (compilation), 1987
- A Round and a Bout
(live), March 1990
- Greatest Hits (compilation), April 1992
- Piccadilly Collection (compilation),
August 1996
- Excess Moderation (compilation),
November 1996
- Six Of One... (box set), October 1997
- Master Series (compilation), November 1998
- Live at the Royal Albert Hall (live), 1999
- Up The Junction (compilation), August 2000
- Big Squeeze: The Very Best Of Squeeze
(compilation), June 2002
- The Squeeze Story (compilation), June 2006
- Essential Squeeze (compilation), April 2007
Singles
| Year |
Title |
Chart Positions |
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" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1980 |
"Another Nail In My Heart" |
#17 |
- |
- |
- |
Argybargy |
| 1980 |
"If I Didn't Love You" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Argybargy |
| 1980 |
"Pulling Mussels
(From the Shell)" |
#44 |
- |
#97 |
- |
Argybargy |
| 1980 |
"Farfisa Beat" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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 |
- |
- |
- |
Annie Get Your Gun [Single] |
| 1985 |
"Last Time Forever" |
#45 |
- |
- |
- |
Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 |
"No Place Like Home" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti |
| 1985 |
"Hits of the Year" |
- |
- |
#39 |
- |
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" |
#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)" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
A Round & A Bout |
| 1991 |
"Sunday Street" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Play |
| 1991 |
"Satisfied" |
- |
- |
- |
#3 |
Play |
| 1991 |
"Crying In My Sleep" |
- |
- |
- |
#14 |
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 |
- |
- |
- |
Ridiculous |
| 1998 |
"Down in the Valley" |
- |
- |
- |
- |
External links
Look up
squeeze
in
Wiktionary,
the free dictionary.
| v • d • e Squeeze
|
| Chris
Difford • Glenn
Tilbrook • John Bentley • Stephen Large •
Simon Hanson
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 • Nick
Harper • Ashley
Soan • Hilaire Penda •
Chris
Braide
Management and Producers: Miles
Copeland III • John
Cale • John Wood •
Roger Bechirian •
Elvis
Costello • Dave
Edmunds • Nick
Lowe • Phil
McDonald • Laurie
Latham• Eric "ET" Thorngren •
Steve Forward •
Tony Berg •
Peter Smith
EPs: Packet
of Three
Studio Albums: U.K.
Squeeze • Cool
for Cats • Argybargy
• East Side Story
• Sweets from a Stranger
• Cosi
Fan Tutti Frutti • Babylon
and On • Frank
• Play
• Some
Fantastic Place • Ridiculous
• Domino
Singles
Related
articles
New
Wave music • Difford & Tilbrook
• A&M
Records • Reprise
Records • Ark
21 Records • IRS
Records • Quixotic Records
|
