Squeeze Album: “Piccadilly Collection”

The excellent songwriting team of Difford & Tilbrook has long been one of the most underrated in rock and roll's history. From the immortal "East Side Story" to the more recent masterpiece "Ridiculous", Squeeze's albums have always been top of the line. The same cannot be said for their compilation albums, however. Although "Piccadilly Collection" does include some interesting b-sides, like "Elephant Girl" and "What the Butler Saw", the tracks are poorly selected and grouped on the CD.

The ultimate Squeeze album is, of course, Singles, 45's and Under. This is a classic album of 1980s pop that belongs in any record collection.

This compilation (The Piccadilly Collection) is an updated release of classic Squeeze tunes, containing many of the favorites from Singles, 45s and Under (Pulling Mussels, Tempted), as well as newer material from the 1990s (Everything in the World, Some Fantastic Place).

It includes a few other noteworthy songs (Hourglass, Love's Crashing Waves) that are worth having, as they are of the same quality as the material from "Singles". In addition, there are a few interesting tunes (Spanish Guitar, Elephant Girl) that are positive additions and are relatively unknown.

This is a good compilation to buy if you need a Squeeze CD that covers the highlights but also adds some newer material.

I have to agree with the other review, this compilation is a jumble. Once again we get the familiar songs that are also on "Singles-45's and under" or "Classics". How many disc do we need to have that contain "Tempted", "Black Coffee in Bed" or "Annie Get Your Gun"? This disc focuses on the later songs of Squeeze, and it is nice to get the better songs from the later Squeeze albums, such as "Some Fantastic Place" and "Frank". There are not any songs from "Play" since it was released on another label. There are five songs that are hard to find b-sides, of which "Within these walls of without you" and "Elephant Girl" are excellent. They may be worth the CD by themselves. It is also nice to include two songs from the out of print Difford and Tilbrook album, both "Hope Fell Down" and "Love's Crashing Waves" are great songs. What would have been much better would be a straight album of b-sides, there are so, so many excellent Squeeze songs that are not released on a proper CD, such as "Discipline" , "Splitting into Three" or "Introvert". There is a two disc Squeeze CD called "Excess Moderation" which is much superior to "Piccadilly Collection" In my opinion you would be much better served by that disc.

I've long enjoyed the most prominent Squeeze hits collection ("Singles-45s and Under") and this collection piqued my interest when it first came out, especially since it included later Squeeze tracks (including "Hourglass", "Everything in the World" and "Some Fantastic Place", among others). There is a bit of overlap between the two compilations but all in all they complement each other nicely. Here you'll also get two songs from Difford and Tilbrook's 1985 CD ("Love's Crashing Waves" and "Hope Fell Down") and several choice b-sides as well, including the irresistible "Squabs on the Forty Fab" (neat, if somewhat cheeky medley of virtually every early Squeeze hit, reminiscent of something from Stars On 45). All things considered, you really can't go wrong having both "The Piccadilly Collection" and "Singles-45s and Under" in your CD library.

The majority of the material on this 1996 CD exists elsewhere in the Squeeze catalog. And, although the material for this CD was remastered, the first six albums of the catalog were remastered again the following year, and they definitely sound better.

HOWEVER... There is a D&T, non-album track on "Piccadilly" that makes ownership a must for the true Squeeze fan: "Hope Fell Down", the opening track from 1984 "Difford & Tilbrook" solo album.

IMHO, "Hope Fell Down" is an even better song than "Tempted". If you thought the harmonies on "Tempted" were great, wait until you get a listen to these.

There are many overlooked Squeeze songs that should have been hits, but this is the grandaddy of them all.

Once you've heard it, you virtually want to cry at the injustice of the obscurity of this fabulous track... and this CD is the only place where it appears in remastered form (although I just noticed HIP-O re-released "D&T in '06, but there's no mention of updated mastering on that disc).

It also appears on the "Excess Moderation" compilation, but curiously, it's a different version, and doesn't sound as good. And, D&T themselves lament the "miss" on this song in the Excess booklet liner notes.

It's a fantastic track, cruelly ignored; if you haven't heard it, and you don't own it, your Squeeze experience and collection are absolutely not complete.