East Side Story

Product Information

A consummate pop record, with Difford and chief tunesmith Tilbrook firing on all cylinders, the diverse East Side Story featured enduring fan-favorites (and best Squeeze songs) including the sublime, infidelity-related radio hit “ Tempted” and the exuberant soul-pop of ‘In Quintessence,” while the country-flavored “Labelled With Love” swept up to No.4 on the UK singles chart.

The new Squeeze line-up, their most able yet, is completed by Simon Hanson, Stephen Large, Steve Smith, Melvin Duffy, Sean Hurley, and Owen Biddle and has become an instant favourite on the festival circuit, with appearances at V, Oxegen, T in the Park, Womad, Latitude, and Coachella to name a few.

On The Go

Guided by the redoubtable songwriting team of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, enduring South London quintet Squeeze have created one of the most covetable – and quintessentially English – catalogs in pop over the past four decades, as the best Squeeze songs show. Famous for their signature hits “Cool For Cats” and “Up The Junction,” the band originally rose to prominence as punk segued into New Wave. No strangers to life’s vicissitudes, they’ve split up and reformed twice, yet have regularly frequented the UK Top 40. They can also boast of a dedicated following in North America, and, after a five-year break, returned sounding refreshed with 2015’s critically acclaimed Cradle To The Grave, based upon fellow South Londoner Danny Baker’s acclaimed autobiography Going To Sea In A Sieve.

After a brief hiatus, during which Difford and Tilbrook issued a solo album imaginatively titled Difford & Tilbrook, Squeeze returned with Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti, probably as well known for the sleeve (tea cosy, fan, dessert) as for the songs. Ultimately, Squeeze settled on one disc, with production duties assigned to Costello and Roger Bechirian (though Edmunds did helm In Quintessence). Difford founded Squeeze in 1974 along with lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Glenn Tilbrook. The group was named after The Velvet Underground’s oft-derided 1973 album and found moderate success in the London suburbs in the mid 1970s. After signing with A&M Records, the band released a self-titled debut album in 1978, followed by Cool For Cats in 1979 and Argybargy in 1980, each of which were fine albums but strictly within the confines of the newly coined “new wave” genre.A&M released the self-explanatory Singles: 45s And Under compilation to coincide with the band’s parting of the ways and – ironically – it went platinum on both sides of the Atlantic. As it turned out, the group’s split proved to be short-lived; after Difford and Tilbrook reconvened for 1984’s Difford & Tilbrook, they reformed Squeeze with Lavis, a returning Jools Holland, and Keith Wilkinson replacing John Bentley on bass. John Cale was that producer and it’s evident the former Velvet Underground multi-instrumentalist didn’t get what made the South London outfit so singular. According to Tilbrook: “He threw out all the songs that we had written. He told us to write new songs.”