I started listening to Squeeze when I was about 7 or 8 because I remember buying Take Me I'm Yours at a flea market (I used to go to look for old original records) for about 25p on cassette single, and I remember buying it just because I liked the cover art. At another flea market pretty soon after I got the Squeeze album for about 75p and ever since then have loved their music.
Squeeze are an English New Wave band which formed in London in 1974 and originally consisted of Glen Tilbrook, Chris Difford, Jools Holland, Harry Kakoulie and Paul Gunn but there have been many changes to the lineup since then. In the early days they performed under several different names (Captain Trundlow's Sky Company and Skyco) before settling on Squeeze, which is a tribute to The Velvet Underground's album of the same name. Most people, if you ask them if they watch "Later, With Jools Holland" will know what you're talking about but few people know he is a member of Squeeze.
The debut album Squeeze was released in 1978 and in Canada and the US it was named UK Squeeze because of legal issues with an American band called Tight Squeeze and also in Australia because of a band also called Squeeze. the album contains the hits Take Me I'm Yours, First Thing wrong and Bang Bang.
Cool For Cats, the second album was released in 1979 and contains more of their hits than any other of their albums. The most notable hits were Cool For Cats, Up The Junction, Goodbye Girl and Slap And Tickle.
In 1980 Squeeze released their new album Argybargy which saw a whole different approach to the way the band played musically, and some of the songs from the album were Pulling Mussels (From The Shell), Wrong Side Of The Moon and Another Nail In My Heart.
Tempted the single which was from the East Side Story album released in 1980 is probably their most commercially successful song and was their first US hit. The album was produced in part by Elvis Costello and it is reported he had to fight to have recorded as the band felt the song was too "Country" for their image at the time.
Sweets From A Stranger was released in 1982 and was not as successful as the previous albums and also due to stresses from touring Squeeze split up later in the year. The band re-formed in 1985 for a charity gig and it went so well they decided to start recording again and released the album Cosi Fan Tuti Fruti late in 1985.
Between 1986 and 1990 they released two more albums Babylon And On in 1987 and Frank in 1989. In 1990 Jools Holland left Squeeze again to pursue other interests, mainly his solo career and then the TV show Later With Jools Holland.
Since Jools' departure Squeeze have released four more albums Play in 1991, Some Fantastic Place in 1993, Ridiculous in 1995 and Domino in 1998.
My Top 10 Squeeze Songs are:
01. Annie Get Your Gun
02. Labelled With Love
03. King George Street
04. Tempted
05. Goodbye girl
06. Up The Junction
07. Last Time Forever
08. Is That Love
09. Cool For Cats
10. Another Nail In My Heart
I began listening to ABBA when I was about 15 or so and just leaving school because obviously I had heard some of their songs on the radio and TV but somehow I came across an ABBA cassette and played it and then played it over and over. Musically and phonetically ABBA are one of my favourite groups of all time (which is why I am writing this).
ABBA for anyone who doesn't know are a Swedish group and started in the early 1970's. There are four members to the group, and it is from them (Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog) that the name ABBA originated in 1973 when they released their first album (Ring Ring). ABBA are mostly remembered for their winning the Eurovision Song contest in 1974 with the song Waterloo. After this they released their second album, also called Waterloo. Between 1974 and 1981 ABBA released several other albums (ABBA in 1975, Arrival in 1976, ABBA the album 1977, Voulez Vous in 1979, Super Trouper in 1980 and The Visitors in 1981) each having their own successful singles.
ABBA have toured many countries over the years (Germany, Denmark, Austria, Finland, Australia, UK, USA to name a few) and have become one of the most valuable exports to come from Sweden. The only group to come from Sweden and be more successful than ABBA have been Ace Of Bass (not many people know this but AOB have actually sold more albums worldwide than ABBA) and I will again get into AOB in a later post in more detail.
Musically ABBA have influenced so many bands who have come to follow and there have been massive amounts of ABBA covers by famous singers like Westlife (I Have A Dream), Madonna (Hung Up), Mike Oldfield (Arrival), Sid Vicious (Take A Chance On Me) and U2 (Dancing Queen). There have been several theater productions made over the years about ABBA, the most popular being Mamma Mia which still shows in the UK periodically.
I was too young to go and watch ABBA live but it would have been nice to see them perform, there are many DVD's of their music videos and performances available and a couple I would recommend are ABBA Gold, Super Troupers and ABBA Number Ones
My favourite top 10 ABBA songs are:
01. Does Your Mother Know 02. Knowing Me, Knowing You 03. Arrival 04. When I Kissed the Teacher 05. Dancing Queen 06. Thank You For The Music 07. I Have A Dream 08. The Winner Takes It All 09. One of Us 10. Money, Money, Money
Andy Jackson - Wisdom_mcr has sinced written about articles on various topics from Food And Drink, Music and Recreation and Sports. My name is Andy I'm 31 and I'm from Manchester, UK I like to read a lot (Discworld, Sci-Fantasy) and listen to music (The Doors, Wu-Tang, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, Blondie, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix). I also try to be a skateboarder when I get time and. Andy Jackson - Wisdom_mcr's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.