# 1945       Squeeze -        BLACK COFFEE IN BED
                                                                                        

                                       Sweets From a Stranger, A&M Records, 1982                                
            BILLBOARD CHART ACHIEVEMENTS:
                 Mainstream Rock:   # 26

       
     # 51 in the UK


          Top 20 hit at MATT RADIO
     
 
As one of the most traditional pop bands of the new wave, Squeeze provided one of the links between classic British guitar-pop and post-punk.  Inspired heavily by the Beatles and the Kinks, Squeeze was the vehicle for the songwriting of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, who were hailed as the heirs to Lennon and McCartney's throne during their heyday in the early '80s.  Unlike Lennon and McCartney, the partnership betweeen Difford and Tilbrook was a genuine collaboration, with the former writing the lyrics and the latter providing the music. Squeeze never came close to matching the popularity of the Beatles, but the reason for that is part of their charm.  Difford and Tilbrook were wry, subtle songwriters who subscribed to traditional pop songwriting values but subverted them with literate lyrics and clever musical references.  While their native Britain warmed to Squeeze immediately, sending singles like "Take Me I'm Yours" and "Up the Junction" into the Top 10, the band had a difficult time gaining a foothold in the States.  They didn't have a Top 40 hit in the U.S. until 1987, nearly a decade after their debut album.  Even if the group never had a big chart hit in the U.S., Squeeze built a dedicated following there that stayed with them into the late '90s, and many of their songs — "Another Nail In My Heart," "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)," "Tempted," "Black Coffee In Bed" — became pop classics of the New Wave era, as the platinum status of their compilation Singles --- 45's and Under indicates.

Chris Difford (b. April 11, 1954; guitar, vocals) and Glenn Tilbrook (b. August 31, 1957; vocals, guitar) formed Squeeze in 1974.  Tilbrook answered an advertisement Difford had placed in a store window, and the pair began writing songs.  By the spring of 1974 the duo had recruited pianist Jools Holland (b. Julian Holland, January 24, 1958) and drummer Paul Gunn and had named themselves Squeeze, after the disowned Velvet Underground album that featured none of the group's original members.  Squeeze began playing the thriving pub rock circuit, although they were quirkier and more pop-oriented than many of their peers.  By 1976, the band had added bassist Harry Kakoulli and replaced Gunn with Gilson Lavis (b. June 27, 1951), a former tour manager and drummer for Chuck Berry.  They had also signed a contract with Miles Copeland's burgeoning BTM record label and management company.  Squeeze had already recorded several tracks for RCA, including two cuts with Muff Winwood, that the label rejected.  BTM went bankrupt before it could release the band's debut single, "Take Me I'm Yours," in early 1977, but Squeeze was able to work with John Cale on their debut EP due to a contract Copeland had arranged with Cale.

Squeeze released their debut EP, Packet of Three, on Deptford Fun City Records in the summer of 1977 and soon arranged an international contract with A&M Records, becoming the label's first New Wave act since their disastrous signing of the Sex Pistols.  The band entered the studio with producer Cale later that year to work on their debut album, provisionally titled Gay Guys by the group's producer.  Cale had the group throw out most of their standard material, forcing them to write new material; consequently, the record wasn't necessarily a good representation of the band's early sound.  By the time the album was released in the spring of 1978, the group and A&M had abandoned the record's working title, and it was released as Squeeze. In America, the band and album had to change their name to UK Squeeze in order to avoid confusion with an American band called Tight Squeeze.  By the end of the year they had reverted back to Squeeze in the U.S.  Preceded by the hit single "Take Me I'm Yours," the album became a moderate success, but the group's true British breakthrough arrived in 1979, when they released their second album, Cool for Cats.  More representative of the band's sound than its debut, Cool for Cats generated two UK number two singles, its title track and "Up the Junction."  Later in 1978, the EP Six Squeeze Songs Crammed Into One Ten-Inch Record EP was released.  Squeeze tried for a seasonal hit that year with "Christmas Day," but the single failed to chart.  Kakoulli was fired from the band after the release of Cool for Cats and was replaced by John Bentley.

Released in the spring of 1980, Argybargy received the strongest reviews of any Squeeze album to date and produced moderate UK hits with "Another Nail In My Heart" and "Pulling Mussells (From the Shell)."  Both songs, plus "If I Didn't Love You," became hits on college radio and in New Wave clubs in America, increasing the band's profile considerably.  Argybargy was the first Squeeze album to chart in America, reaching number 71.  Jools Holland, whose fascination with boogie-woogie piano was beginning to sit uncomfortably with Difford and Tilbrook's increasingly sophisticated compositions, left the band in late 1980 to form the Millionaires; he was replaced by Paul Carrack, formerly of the pub-rock band Ace.  Following Argybargy, critics in both the UK and U.S. were calling Difford and Tillbrook "the new Lennon and McCartney," and in order to consolidate their growing reputation Squeeze made an attempt at their own Sgt. Pepper with 1981's East Side Story.  Initially the album was to be produced by Dave Edmunds, but the group scrapped those sessions to work with Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian.  Upon its summer release, East Side Story was hailed with excellent reviews, but it didn't become a huge hit as expected.  Nevertheless, it found an audience, peaking at number 19 in the UK and number 44 on the U.S. charts.  The soulful, Carrack-sung "Tempted" failed to reach the UK Top 40, but it did become the group's first charting U.S. single, reaching the Top 50.  The country-tinged "Labelled with Love" became the group's third and last British Top 10 hit that fall.  Carrack left at the end of 1981 to join Carlene Carter's backing band; he was replaced with Don Snow, a classically-trained pianist who formerly played with the Sinceros.

Ever since the release of their debut, Squeeze had been touring and recording without break, and signs of weariness were evident on Sweets from a Stranger.  Though it was the group's highest-charting U.S. album, reaching number 32 shortly after its spring release, Sweets from a Stranger was uneven.  In the UK it was a considerable disappointment, reaching only number 37, with its single "Black Coffee in Bed" stalling at number 51. Nevertheless, the band had earned a considerable fanbase and were able to play Madison Square Garden that summer.  Tired of touring and its frustrating commercial fortunes, Difford and Tilbrook decided to disband Squeeze late in 1982, releasing the compilation Singles — 45's and Under shortly after its announcement. Ironically, Singles peaked at number three on the British charts; it would later go platinum in the U.S.

Though they had disbanded Squeeze, Difford and Tilbrook had no intention of ending their collaboration; they simply wanted to pursue other projects.  In particular, they saw themselves as songwriters in the classic tradition of Tin Pan Alley or the Brill Building and began writing for Helen Shapiro, Paul Young, Billy Bremner and Jools Holland.  They also worked on Labelled with Love, a musical based on their songs, which played briefly in Deptford, England early in 1983.  The duo released an eponymous album in the summer of 1984, showcasing a sophisticated new sound, as well as long, flowing haircuts and coats.  The record was a moderate success, but the duo already were thinking of re-forming Squeeze.

source: Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com