Volunteering had its perks. Lots of free albums, meeting semi-stars, going on the air once in a while (I even made a few commercials) and getting a heads up on the up and coming bands, which proved to be a constant source of jealousy on the part of my friends when a band I predicted would become famous actually did and I could smugly say "I called that one!" Like I did with U2. But that's another story.
This one is about Squeeze and about a copy of Cool for Cats that made it into my hands in early 1980. The record had actually been released in '79, but New York radio was slow to pick up on it. The station I was working at, WLIR, went by the slogan "Dare to be Different," and they held true to that motto by daring to play the title song of Cool for Cats.
It was love at first listen. It was different, so far apart from anything I was hearing at the time. I grabbed a copy of the album and spent that night listening to it for hours, flipping the disc at least ten times. The lyrics to Up the Junction were simple, the rythmn almost monotonous. But somehow those two parts together formed a riveting song. Even Cool for Cats, with its machine-gun presentation of the lyrics (I give a little muscle, and I spend a little cash, but all I get is bitter and a nasty little rash) was just so out there that I couldn't help but love it. If I Didn't Love You (I'd Hate You). was the ultimate in relationship songs:
Singles remind me of kisses, albums remind me of plans .
Well, I thought that was pretty damn deep back then. In fact, I still do. And I still quote it.
I found a copy of U.K. Squeeze. - their first album and the original name of the band- in some dirty record story in the city. While it seemed to be made by almost a different band, it was still some good shit, as we used to say in the 'hood. Take Me, I'm Yours inspired many a late songwriting session on my part, trying to recreate that staccato delivery of passionate-in-an-odd-way lyrics.
Article comments
1 - Dawn
I hadn't really thought about how their lyrics until you pointed out the above examples - although "Tempted" has great lyrics, I always just appreciated their quirky new-wave synth sound.
I think they deserve a place on your list without a doubt (I also like XTC and kind of always thought they were underappreciated in the same way.)
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Michele! But leave my muscles IN the shell, please
3 - JR
I thought this post was going to be about Journey. Now those guys wrote a lot of great tunes.
4 - michele
The referenced Journey song is the only Journey song I like.
5 - Dawn
JR - Something scarier than your politics - your musical taste!
6 - SFC Ski
Squeeze is one of the best pop bands of all times, one of the few to achieve the title of Beatlesque and deserve it.(XTC is another one.) It's a shame that some of the best UK bands were on the verge of breaking up by the time they the charts in the US. I have a copy of a live show broadcast on WBCN in 1985 that shows just how diverse and talented these guys were,
7 - Dave Nalle
I've seen Squeeze in concert almost a dozen times. They have the best lyrics of any band I've heard, and the single best written set of lyrics ever in Up the Junction, which also includes what I consider the best line ever written in a pop song - "the devil came and took me from street to bar to bookie". It's the perfect combination of meaning and meter.
Squeeze's songs - even more so than XTC's , though thye have gotten more recognition for this - are literally poetry set to music. This is mostly Difford and Tillbrook's work, of course. The band as a whole has been just as good without Jools Holland the last couple of times I saw them.
But let me make a side comment on Jools. He's the best Jazz piano player of all time, bar none. He's like a pasty, white reincarnation of Jelly Roll Morton with an even more inflated ego, but less child molestation. If you haven't seen his TV show, keep an eye out for re-runs on the BBC channel. It's the finest music show ever broadcast and occasionally you get to see Jools play and be amazed.
Dave
8 - Mark Saleski
the other thing greate about Squeeze is the vocals. instead of singing in harmony they're singing on octave apart. pretty unusual, and very distinctive.
9 - alienboy
Squeeze were another of those uniquely English bands that didn't really become as big as they might have.
For anyone that cares, there is also a brief review of Madness here
10 - alienboy
Ah, Squeeze. Another of the English sound groups that should have been way bigger than they were.
The 80s were, in some ways, the last great rock era (which is not to say that there are no great bands arounds these days, that would be ludicrous) and there were many great groups around then.
Another great English band were Madness, and a brief review can be found here
11 - SFC Ski
In the '80's it seemed like we were spoiled for choice, especially because it was the last decade of truly independent and music oriented (as opposed to SoundScan oriented) radio. Now I feel I have to sift through a lot of junk to find a good band, and the only way I usually do is more often via Internet posts or Internet downloads, rarely via radio, though WMNF in Tampa does a pretty good job of exposing listeners to new stuff.
12 - alienboy
Another great and uniquely English band.
Where have they all gone?
Coincidentally, I just reviewed Madness here