Squeeze recently played a number of dates in the United States in support of their new album, Ridiculous, which, unfortunately, may never be released in this country. The NYC show, at the Academy on November 22, 1995, featured the band, energetic as always, playing a lot of their new songs and a lot of their classics, mostly to appeal to the least common denominator of Squeeze fans. Opening with "Annie Get Your Gun", and playing three more classics before the first new song, "Last Summer". Typical Squeeze pop, it would make a good U.S. single, but many American listeners may never find out! Among the other songs featured in the show were "Slap and Tickle", which the crowd seemed to enjoy although arguably one of their worst efforts, which segued directly into "Some Fantastic Place", arguably one of their best. The last encore featured Chris and Glenn and 1200 voices singing in an acoustic set playing "Tempted", and putting a new spin on their classic "Goodbye Girl".
While the concert focused on older material and newer, unfamiliar material (which is not necessarily a Bad Thing) I would have liked to hear more of their lesser-known songs that showcase their songwriting and harmonizing abilities. They played only one song from Play ("Wicked and Cruel") and nothing from Frank. Having seen the Frank tour in 1989, I missed "Love Circles", "Rose I Said" and others like "Footprints". All in all, the crowd was active yet well behaved - unusual for the Academy - and knew all of the words to all but the new stuff.
The new album is Squeeze at their best. With an 11-album back catalog, some reviewers might be tempted (no pun intended) to pigeonhole these songs into those albums, but I find that it is a natural progression, spotlighting their great songwriting ability. As with Some Fantastic Place, a number of songs are obvious single material: "Electric Trains", "This Summer", "Grouch of the Day", and "Lost for Words": "I'm lost for words which is strange for me/ I'm lost for words and no longer see/why they've slipped right through my hands". An upbeat song to be sure but Squeeze is not at a loss for words.
"Great Escape" continues their series of serious songs concentrating on domestic abuse (e.g. "Tough Love", "Woman's World", "Up the Junction"...): "... he lunged at her there she fell from the couch/ he grabbed her body as he pulled her down/... tears fell from her face as she cried and cried". One of the gems buried on the "second side" is "Temptation for Love", a short, acoustic ballad featuring Glenn Tillbrook and guests Cathy Dennis on vocal and Heitor Peretor on guitar: "What have I done/ what did I say/ am I the one you can not face/... could it be me that learns to mistake temptation for love".
"Temptation" is a truly beautiful song among an album of potential Squeeze classics. It is unfortunate that A&M has relegated Squeeze to the back catalog and import bin. However, with the release of Ridiculous and excellent concerts, Squeeze is still a valuable band with something to say.
