Squeeze - Another Nail in My Heart
OK so it's Monday again and another dose of old man music for you. Today it's one of my all-time favourites - Squeeze. It's always surprising to me how many people have never heard of them given how many good songs the band have produced in their long career, but if I can introduce anyone new to their amazing music I'm happy to do so.
Squeeze was formed in the mid-'70s in Deptford, southeast London, by vocalists and guitarists Glenn Tillbrook and Chris Difford. The band was part of the British New Wave scene. The Tillbrook and Difford songwriting partnership produced a TON of great music - this is one of my favourite songs of theirs, a good friend put it on a mixtape for me in about 1986. But you'd recognize a lot of Squeeze songs - "Pulling Mussels (from a Shell)," "Cool for Cats," "Black Coffee in Bed," "Hourglass," "Annie Get Your Gun" (which was shortlisted for this post), "Tempted" (with vocals by sometime-keyboardist Paul Carrack), etc. Tillbrook and Difford have been compared to Lennon and McCartney and I wouldn't dispute that. Glenn has a remarkable singing voice too.
I saw Squeeze play live at the Salt Shed in Chicago in 2023 and it was one of the best rock shows I've ever seen. There are two schools of thought regarding live rock performances. The adherents of one school want to hear the songs like they sound on the album and on the radio. Those of the other school love "noodling" and alternate arrangements of the familiar hits. I have to say that I am of the first school (although the Police's live show made a good argument for the other) and the show that Squeeze put on suited me down to the ground. Glenn and Chris's voices were top-notch, the playing was outstanding, and every song sounded just like it did on the record. Amazing show!
- Kingdom Death (but safe for work!) from ByronM
- A miscellany from DavidB
- Spiffy samurai from JezT
- Terrifying Tyranids from SanderS, and
- Vietnam NVA, USMC and civilians from HayesR
Enjoy the week!
Dallas
