Squeeze – The
Knowledge (Love Records via ADA Warner)
LP / CD / DL
Out Now
5 / 10
Review by Matt.
For all the post-New Wave classics in their back pockets, my
defining Squeeze moment came in the Summer of 1987 in a minibus trundling the
country lanes of North Wales. Sitting next to my equally music obsessed pal,
Walkman on knee, one earphone each, we’re revelling in a mixtape containing a
bunch of our latest favourites. Some of those have long since descended from
memory (there are probably a fair few you’d be hard pressed to get me to admit
to now…) but to this day, I can’t hear Squeeze’s “Hourglass”, released that
summer, without being taken back to that minibus. Go back to it. Walk around
it. Take it in. Listen to how it bursts with energy even now, thirty years on.
Pure pop gold.
Christ. Thirty years.
Fast forward to 2017 and Squeeze stock remains relatively
high. The hugely acclaimed 2015 album “Cradle To Grave” was followed up with an
effusively received Pyramid Stage slot at the following year’s Glastonbury.
Seats for their current tour will set you back north of fifty quid face value
and tickets for a fair few of the dates are running short on supply. And so,
into the mix, they throw a brand-new album, “The Knowledge”.
When it’s good, it’s great. “Innocence In Paradise” opens
the album, all pin-bright chords, minor key intrigue and familiar melancholy.
Gorgeous, really gorgeous. Not really recognisable as the band that offered up
“Up The Junction” but that’s no major criticism. Even just the title of
“Patchouli” sends me back 20-odd years to the fragrance of significant others
and it’s gratifying that the lyrics are a reflection on memories and the
passing of time. It’s set to a lively shuffle, Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford
in joyous union; Tilbrook the upper register light, Difford the baritone shade.
“A&E” is more recognisably old-school Squeeze. Given a little less sheen it
could conceivably sit alongside their early 80’s output, an admirable paean to
and praise for the NHS, and a damning lament of its badly managed decline.
Within the first 45 seconds of “Rough Ride”, a joyous gospel prelude gives way
to punchy funk and a wailing soprano. Oh yes.
Some of the lyrics jar a bit but, again, you have to take an imaginary hat
off to its rally against austerity.
There is occasionally, however, the vague feeling of “The
Knowledge” being a little half-baked. On “Every Story”, chord patterns fly
left, right and centre while a somewhat, let’s say, patchy accordion manfully
tries to keep up – the production values on show in the first few songs conspicuous
by their absence here. “Departure Lounge” meanders aimlessly around acoustic faux-psychedelia
for the better part of 4 minutes before coalescing into something of more
substance. “Final Score” confronts the
tricky issue of the abuse of young footballers by their coaches. It’s helped
along by a stately and suitably earnest backing but the subject matter is
largely implied, begging the question; why bother? The deepest depths are
plumbed on “Please Be Upstanding”, a jaunty ride (pardon the pun) through one
man’s experience of erectile dysfunction. If it’s autobiographical, well
frankly, it’s just that bit too much
information.
The second half passes by in a fug of averageness. “The
Ones” is pleasant but lightweight, “Albatross” a curious tale of a man buying
Fleetwood Mac records that seems to fizzle out before it’s really reached a
conclusion (should you require a conclusion from a song about a man buying Fleetwood
Mac records, that is). “Elmers End” has a bundle of promise in its easy
swagger, louche brass section and harmonised 70’s guitars. It’s just lacking
one thing. A vocal. Closer “Two Forks” picks the pace up but it’s hewn from
such a tired and tested palette that it’s difficult to muster any real
enthusiasm.
Look. Squeeze don’t owe us anything. Pick the bones out of
their back catalogue; it stands up with the best that British pop has to offer.
But when the band themselves are trailing an album with the soundbite “It is such a pleasure to say that in 2017 we
have delivered our best ever record”, you’re entitled to expectations far
in advance of what Squeeze have delivered here.
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