One more Squeeze related album before we move on to other things. When the group initially broke up in 1982, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook decided to continue writing together, and eventually released their one and only album under the name Difford & Tilbrook in 1984.
Despite being released by the duo, since the two were the main songwriters for the band, their "solo" effort has often been regarded as a Squeeze album. In fact, remastered tracks have been included on the band's compilation albums, Piccadilly Collection and Excess Moderation, both released in 1996.
Unfortunately, it continues the trend of Squeeze, wherein the album really doesn't make many waves in the sea of 80's music. While it produced three singles, only one, Love's Crashing Waves, would be a minor hit, peaking at fifty-seven in the UK. It does, however, introduce us to bassist, Keith Wilkinson, who would join Squeeze when formally reform in 1985.
With the opening track, Action Speaks Louder, my mind immediately went to the territory of Queen's Hot Space. It's that kind of system shock, in terms of abrupt musical style change. It even sounds like it belongs in an 80's dance club.
Things then shift without warning to a string and bass disco type sound for Love Comes Crashing Down. So far, this album felt like it was going to be all over the place, unfocused, and incohesive. Ironically, the first two tracks also weren't bad. They just didn't really fit together.
Depending on your view, for better or worse, the disco sounds continued. For me, it worked out just fine. I am, after all, a fan of ABBA, Kool & The Gang, and Bee-Gees. Despite this, I soon found myself only mildly paying attention. At this point, the whole aspect of Squeeze had run its course with me. It was growing monotonous, and my brain needed something else. It didn't help that when I did tune in mentally, things were mediocre at best. I did notice though that at some point in all of this, things did shift back to a more new wave and pop sound.
About the only other standout among the ten tracks was Picking Up The Pieces, but with that noted, I can't honestly say I'd ever find myself stating, "I need to hear that again." In fact, that's pretty much how I feel about the whole album. As I sit here and reflect on that statement, I ponder I would be happier if I actually learned to let go, and purged my CD collection down to the albums I would actually play again. It will probably never happen, but I image if I did that my collection would deflate to two or three shelves, versus the seven it's currently at.
I digress though.
As noted above, Difford and Tilbrook eventually reformed Squeeze, and from their, the history of the band has remained ongoing, albeit with another brief breakup in 1999. If you want to read all about that, please dive into the last series of posts for my listening session of their entire 80's discography. Until then, I'm off to find my next Retro Spin adventure.
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