Squeeze Album: “Greatest Hits”

After being all but ignored in the US for most of their career, Squeeze belatedly hit the top 40 with "Hourglass." With a novelty sing-a-long chorus and a comic video, it gave the band their needed MTV exposure...and then it vaporized almost immediately. One other minor hit from "Babylon and On," "853-5937" (annoyingly absent from this collection), and the band's fortunes fell away.

It makes "Greatest Hits" a frustrating experience. While it does nicely supplant the old "45's and Under," it ignores the non A&M material, and their final albums, especially the great "Loving You Tonight" and title track from "Some Fantastic Place." And since for some insane, criminal, reason, the entire classic Squeeze discography is out of print in America, this remains the sole place to get about a third of the songs on this disc.

The Lennon and McCartney comparisons that Difford and Tilbrook frequently garnered are apparent here, starting from the singles off "Argy Bargy," which was where Tilbrook and Difford coalesced their quirks to their classicism. By their best album, "East Side Story," the band was aiming for the edge of the universe, and with Paul Carrack's perfect vocal, "Tempted" became their benchmark. But it also became their anchor, as their desire to make great art and still have mad success began to strain them. "Sweets From A Stranger" was wildly uneven, with the soulful "Black Coffee in Bed" being the most brilliant moment. (And "I've Returned" missing in action here.)

Then it was off to some overbearing solo work and an erratic reunion (the three best songs from "Cosi Fan Tutti Fruitti" are all here). Then they got serious for one last hurrah and made the stunningly poppy "Babylon And On." With the energetic "Trust Me To Open My Mouth" and classic sounding "Footprints," this was what most people probably think of when they refer to a Squeeze sound. "Frank" had some ok moments, but this time it was record company indifference that did the album in.

But for those moments that dot the soundscape of "Greatest Hits," you get some of the finest pop the 80's produced. The gamut from quirky new wave ("Cool For Cats"), country ("Labeled With Love"), soul ("Tempted" and "Black Coffee in Bed") and classic, sophisticated pop ("Footprints," "Up The Junction"). Squeeze were maestros of modern music. While you'll find plenty to like here, they deserve better than this haphazard anthology.

This collection was first issued in the UK back in 1992, to relaunch the band's career after their return to A&M records. The first 12 tracks are copied from the UK edition of "45's & Under" (which differed slightly from its US incarnation), whilst the following eight are culled from the band's three eighties albums for A&M - there's nothing from 1989's "Play", recorded for Reprise to no great commercial success. At the time, this album contained all but one of the Squeeze singles to hit the UK chart ('Bang Bang', since you ask!).

At the time, this album served its purpose well and sold brilliantly. But why it was issued in the USA as late as 2001 is hard to understand, since it fails to include the American Top 40 hit '853-5937', and much of the other mid-eighties material, though well-written, sounds over-produced. As others have noted, this is only exacerbated by the now-outdated CD mastering.

In Britain, this CD has now been superceded by stupidly titled "The Big Squeeze", which drops most of what was added to this in favour of five minor UK hits from the 1990s and the title track of their farewell album "Domino", as well as massively improved sound quality. If you can't stretch to that, you're probably as well making do with "45s and Under" - but you should buy a Squeeze singles collection of some sort, since they were among the great masters of the format.

Formed by Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook in 1975, Squeeze quickly caught the attention of critics and the public alike. Their first album full-length album was U.K. Squeeze, released in 1978. Despite wide critical acclaim, Squeeze disbanded in late 1982. They reunited in 1985 for five more albums before finally calling it quits for good.

Originally released in the UK in 1994, Greatest Hits contains the 12 tracks from the now-classic Singles 45s and Under, plus 8 additional tracks from the band's later albums. All the songs you know and love are here: UK Top 10 hits like "Cool For Cats" and "Take Me I'm Yours," as well as the more successful material like "Pulling Mussels From a Shell," "Tempted" and "Black Coffee in Bed." The thing that makes this CD even better are the tracks that were added on; like the quirky "Hourglass," "Footprints" and the personal favorite, "Trust Me to Open My Mouth"--all from the underrated Babylon and On album.

Writing songs that are clever and thought provoking, humorous and heartfelt, Difford and Tilbrook have often been compared to the likes of Gilbert and Sullivan or Lennon and McCartney. Greatest Hits shows why.

Ever since my peers and I had 'Cool for Cats' entrenching our generation delegation (X maybe), I have heard some other offerings of Squeeze (UK Squeeze). Curious, I bought this album. I love it.

In the words of Molly Meldrum, "Do yourself a favour."

Jim.

Squeeze's upbeat songs never cease to amaze me. In this album it highlights their diversity in 80's pop music. There is definitly something for everyone in this compilation. My favorites being Black Coffee In Bed, and Is That Love. MY only regret is that the band faded out with the 90's and I no longer hear them played on radio.