- Audio CD (20 July 2004)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Extra tracks, Import
- Label: Universal Japan
- ASIN: B0001N1ME4
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 648,443 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Review
In the early 80s, the UK's premier chroniclers of the average person's romantic adventures - along with Madness - were Squeeze. Like the nutty boys, Squeeze were an intrinsically London act. And, as the universal success of the collection, Singles 45s And Under, proved, as a singles band they were peerless. However, the albums could be just as thrilling.
Following two patchier albums filled with cheery East End tales, Argy Bargy (1980), emerged as their crowning achievement. Now reissued along with some of the band's later efforts, it remains a masterpiece of kitchen sink pop, possibly second only to the follow up, East Side Story. Chris Difford, and Glenn Tilbrook, the band's Lennon and McCartney had already proven themselves adept at gritty, witty tableaus like Up The Junction or Slap And Tickle. Added to this was their technical sheen. There's Tilbrook's underrated ability to pull tasty (and apt) solos out of the hat like a younger George Harrison - the solo at 1.46 on Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) is one of the best - and also one of the best drummers in the business in Gilson Lavis. All this briefly made Squeeze world-beaters.
Yet it was Tilbrook's angelic tones, undercut by Difford's bass growl that really defined the band's sound. It's used in marvellous ways here on If I Didn't Love You, a song which encaspulates the double-edged pleasures of sexual advances ("if I didn't love you I'd hate you"). The pair's lyrics were by now able to sum up a universe in a couplet. It was their cheeky tendency to use phrases that eschewed poetry but remained English through and through that made them stand out from the crowd. Time and again the subjects amaze with, if not their mundanity, then their refusal to depict anything beyond their own back yards. Separate Beds and Vicky Verky chronicle the fumbling first steps of young love with petty crime and parental control as bit players; Misadventure is the story of a failed dope smuggling operation; There At The Top is a sideways look at the life of a career woman. Meanwhile I Think I'm Go Go details the dislocation of touring abroad (''This world's got smaller, I'm shaking lots of hands. Saying lots of things that no one understands...'').
There is a litttle inconsistency: Jools Hollands' Wrong Side Of The Moon is throwaway while the synth-inflected Here Comes That Feeling lacks the musical clout to hold its own in such rarified company. Everything else on offer is, however, marvellous. Now boosted by a splendid extra disc with a live performance from the period, if you're going to own at least one Squeeze album, this has to be the one. --Chris Jones
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5.0 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME REMASTER!
3 Feb 2006
By BOB
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
The domestic version of this CD sounds like it's coming out of an AM radio.
This version THUNDERS. It's a spectacular remastering job which makes the enjoyment of this fabulous record even more enjoyable.
The 1997 copyright date on the back of this Japan CD coincides with the remastering which was done on the Squeeze catalog in that year.
The two extra tracks aren't throwaways, either. Makes this package even more of an excellent deal.
Why Universal hasn't availed itself of this version for domestic U.S. distribution is a crime.
But, then again, that's Universal for you. If a way can be found to do things cheap and rip-off the consumer, Universal Music will find it.
This version THUNDERS. It's a spectacular remastering job which makes the enjoyment of this fabulous record even more enjoyable.
The 1997 copyright date on the back of this Japan CD coincides with the remastering which was done on the Squeeze catalog in that year.
The two extra tracks aren't throwaways, either. Makes this package even more of an excellent deal.
Why Universal hasn't availed itself of this version for domestic U.S. distribution is a crime.
But, then again, that's Universal for you. If a way can be found to do things cheap and rip-off the consumer, Universal Music will find it.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
U.K. pop band hits highpoint on third LP
27 Feb 2005
By hyperbolium
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
Squeeze's album history is varied and ambitious. Their self-titled debut, produced by John Cale, was a quirky affair built on songs written in the studio. The follow-up, "Cool for the Cats," provided the foundations of a commercial breakthrough in the UK, and this third LP (the last featuring keyboard player Jules Holland) opened the doors to the higher reaches of the UK charts as well as finding wide favor on U.S. college radio. Subsequent albums provided both artistic expansion (1981's Elvis Costello-produced "East Side Story" introduced Ace's Paul Carrack to the group and held the band's trademark "Tempted," and 1982's "Sweets From a Stranger" added "Black Coffee in Bed" to the band's canon), but none lived up to the consistency of "Argybargy."
What makes this album a highlight of the band's catalog is that virtually every track on the album is as memorable as the hits. Even better, though recorded in the middle of the New Wave, Squeeze stuck to more traditional rock and pop sounds, mostly refraining from rhythms or keyboards that would have aged badly. Difford and Tilbrook wrote beautifully British songs, with the sort of rye viewpoint that made the Kinks so effective. Among the album's lesser-known charms is "Vicky Verky" - one of Difford and Tilbrook's most heartbreaking songs of teenage relationships and redemption, as well as the dancefloor rave-up, "Farfisa Beat."
A&M Japan's 2004 CD reissue includes a pair of bonus tracks ("Funny How It Goes" and "Go"), neither of which matches the brilliance of the original 11. The booklet includes liner notes and lyrics in Japanese, and typically bad English translations.
What makes this album a highlight of the band's catalog is that virtually every track on the album is as memorable as the hits. Even better, though recorded in the middle of the New Wave, Squeeze stuck to more traditional rock and pop sounds, mostly refraining from rhythms or keyboards that would have aged badly. Difford and Tilbrook wrote beautifully British songs, with the sort of rye viewpoint that made the Kinks so effective. Among the album's lesser-known charms is "Vicky Verky" - one of Difford and Tilbrook's most heartbreaking songs of teenage relationships and redemption, as well as the dancefloor rave-up, "Farfisa Beat."
A&M Japan's 2004 CD reissue includes a pair of bonus tracks ("Funny How It Goes" and "Go"), neither of which matches the brilliance of the original 11. The booklet includes liner notes and lyrics in Japanese, and typically bad English translations.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great find...if you can get it
2 Nov 2004
By tony mac
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
If you don't know Squeeze, first get Singles or East Side Story. If you like that first purchase and like their 70s-early 80s stuff, then buy Argybargy. It is a great album. I just wish it weren't so hard to find.
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