Retro Spins: Difford & Tilbrook - Difford & Tilbrook

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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Retro Spins: Squeeze - Frank

  

When I was deciding if I was going to focus in on Squeeze and grab their remaining albums for my collection, I came across the song, If It's Love. This instantly cemented that decision, with me stating to myself, "I really like the vocals of Glenn Tilbrook."

Frank serves as the last release from Squeeze for the decade, and unfortunately, it would fail to produce any successful singles for the band. This, for me, is particularly disappointing based on how much I dug the above noted tune. However, in retrospect, there's no doubt that the landscape of music was changing by 1989. Hair metal had come and gone, and in its wake was the evolving grunge scene. The world had seemingly moved on from pop rock, at the time, myself included.

Things started out great with If Its Love, and provided additional standouts such asPeyton Place, Rose I Said, and (This Could Be) The Last Time. However, it was around the latter, that I suddenly found myself uninterested. The remaining tracks to come simply weren't resonating, and I actually found myself saying by track eleven (of twelve), "Isn't this thing done yet?"

While Squeeze still had a solid layer of instrumentation across all the songs on Frank, it did feel like a more straightforward rock and roll album versus the new wave and pop sounds that filled the majority of their 80's discography. I suppose I don't fault the band for evolving with the times, but on the same hand, when you listen to albums back to back, these shifts can feel out of place. I suppose had I listened to it in 1989, it would have felt like a more natural transition.

Ironically, the album ends with the track, Is It Too Late, which picks things up a bit with its New Orleans vintage club sound. While I initially wasn't paying that much attention, it was the lyrics, "(Is it too late) To kick me in the teeth? (Is it too late) Knock them down my throat? (Is it too late?)" that my mind jolted back with a, "Wait, what'd he just say?"

Despite this sudden new investment, the album ended after the song faded, leaving me to sit here thinking, "Eh, it was just okay." Based on its reception at the time of it original release, I don't appear to be alone in this mindset.

The end result of Franks lackluster response would be A&E dropping Squeeze, the band which they had supported since their 1978 debut, and across eight studio albums. Undeterred, Squeeze made a deal with I.R.S. to release the live album, A Round And A Bout, while also adding new keyboardist, Matt Irving.

By this time, the television career of Jool Holland was booming, and he opted to leave the band to pursue not only that, but a solo career. It would be his second departure from the band, and he would not be immediately replaced.

Still undeterred, the band signed with Reprise, and released 1991's Play. Unfortunately, this would prove to be another failure, and ironically, A&E would sign them again, releasing 1993's Some Fantastic Place, and 1995's Ridiculous. Despite both albums making the top fifty in the UK, Squeeze would continue to experience difficulties with major labels, and depart in 1997 to release albums independently.

During this entire period, lineup changes would continue to occur. This included Gilson Lavis being fired in 1992 after relapsing into alcoholism, and Keith Wilkinson, who departed after 1995's Some Fantastic Place for undocumented reasons. With that said, it was surprising to see that Paul Carrack would make a brief return to the band, his first since singing the lead on Tempted back in 1982 for East Side Story. However, his return would be very brief.

Squeeze would break up again in 1999, with both Tilbrook and Difford going on to solo careers. An attempt at reuniting Difford, Tilbrook, Holland, Wilkinson and Lavis seemed to start positively in 2004 when spearheaded by the VH1 series, Bands Reunited. Unfortunately, it ultimately didn't happen, Holland would state he was too busy, Lavis would only express mild interest, and Tilbrook completely decided against it.

In 2007 it was announced by Difford and Tilbrook that they were going to reform Squeeze. While they'd release four albums between 2010 and 2026 the two would be the only reoccurring classic lineup members. With an ever rotating lineup, the band continues to actively tour, and who knows, maybe they have some more studio album in them that will come down the pike.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.