Squeeze

A new album from Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook (Squeeze) is always going to be an exciting event and this is definitely one of the better ones.

Coming a couple of years after the last Squeeze release, ‘Cradle To The Grave’, the familiar traits of this quintessential British outfit are all there – great stories, melodies and tunes that become almost instantly familiar, a range of musical styles that goes from punk to funk and brilliant presentation. Going all the way back to the earliest days of the band one of the features of a Squeeze album was the precision with which it was put together, always professional but always with a sense of bringing the listener in to the song with them.

This is a very mature album. Songs such as ‘Departure Lounge’ dealing with imminent death and dementia and ‘A&E’ which calls question to policies on the NHS are ‘grown up’ themes but then they temper that with ‘Patchouli’ which is a beautifully crafted pop song.

All the twelve tracks here tell tales or touch on emotions and feelings and they all carry music that is beautifully played and occasionally delightfully out of the norm. Every number feels as though it has meaning and there isn’t a single moment that you could point to as filler. Difford & Tilbrook have too many years’ experience to waste time on substandard material.

Personal favourites abound. The aforementioned ‘A&E’ is classic Squeeze, talking about real-life experience. ‘Final Score’ is chilling, brilliantly set and played but with an underlying story that is shocking. ‘Albatross’ is so ‘today’ but somehow hearkens back to the sixties, especially with the rhythm delivered by bongos and backward tapes at the outro.

All told an excellent album by one of the best bands Britain produced in the heady days of the mid-seventies. Great to see that they are still making music that stirs the soul.