SQUEEZE – BABYLON AND ON LP – Nr MINT A1/B1 UK 1987 NEW WAVE

Squeeze – Babylon And On
(A&M Records  1987  AMA5161)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition

Sleeve & Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– a little wear top & bottom

Squeeze are a British band that came to prominence in the United Kingdom during the New Wave period of the late 1970s and continued recording successfully in the 1980s and 1990s. They are known in the UK for their hit songs “Cool for Cats”, “Up the Junction”, “Tempted”, “Labelled With Love“, “Black Coffee In Bed“, “Another Nail in My Heart”,”Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)” and “Hourglass”. Though not as commercially successful in the United States, Squeeze had American chart hits with “Tempted”, “Hourglass” and “853-5937”, and they have a dedicated following there and continue to attract new fans. All of Squeeze’s hits were written by band members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, with the former penning the lyrics and the latter handling the composition. The duo were hailed as “the heirs to Lennon and McCartney’s throne” during their peak of popularity in the early 1980s.

The group formed in Deptford, London, in 1974, and first broke up in 1982. Squeeze then reformed in 1985, and disbanded again in 1999. The band reunited for tours through the United States and United Kingdom in 2007, and this touring version of Squeeze has continued.

Difford and Tilbrook confirmed during interviews at the V Festival in both 2008 and 2011 (and in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone) that they plan to produce a record of new Squeeze material. In 2010, they issued Spot the Difference, an album of newly recorded versions of older material. Then, during their 2012 tour of the US, Squeeze made available for sale a 4-song CD of new demo recordings; later in 2012, the band’s first new official studio recordings in 14 years were issued as the EP Packet Of Four. Currently, this 4-song CD EP is only available as a bonus disc to purchasers of various live concert recordings of Squeeze’s 2012 UK tour.

Babylon and On is the seventh album released in 1987 by the British new wave group Squeeze.

Eric “ET” Thorngren produced the album, along with Glenn Tilbrook. The group officially expanded to a sextet with the addition of former Soft Boys member Andy Metcalfe; a bassist in that group, here Metcalfe was used as a second keyboard player (behind Jools Holland). However, despite being pictured and billed as a full member of the band, the track-by-track musician listings included with this album reveal that Metcalfe only played on three songs: “Tough Love”, “The Prisoner” and “Some Americans”. Metcalfe left Squeeze before their next album was recorded, although he worked again with Glenn Tilbrook during his solo years. The album peaked at number 14 in the UK Albums Chart, the highest ranking there for a Squeeze album, aside from greatest hits compilations, until Cradle to the Grave (2015) reached number 12.

The album was released in September 1987 and gave them their biggest US hit single, “Hourglass.” The song became an unexpected US hit for the band, reaching number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, which Chris Difford attributed to the video for the song as much as the song itself: “I would think that the video has had a lot to do with it. It’s been played a lot, and everybody you speak to compliments you on it. When you meet fans after gigs, they say, “Your video’s great.” They don’t say, “Your album’s great.” So it’s the first thing they think of.”

A second song released in the US later in the year, “853-5937”, also landed at number 32 on the US Hot 100.

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook.

1. “Hourglass” – 3:16
2. “Footprints” – 3:49
3. “Tough Love” – 3:07
4. “The Prisoner” – 4:06
5. “853-5937” – 3:16
6. “In Today’s Room” – 3:28
7. “Trust Me to Open My Mouth” – 3:12
8. “Striking Matches” – 3:02
9. “Cigarette of a Single Man” – 3:29
10. “Who Are You?” – 3:30
11. “The Waiting Game” – 3:06
12. “Some Americans” – 4:40

Personnel

Squeeze

• Chris Difford – guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocal on 3
• Glenn Tilbrook – guitars, keyboards, horns, sitar, lead & backing vocals
• Jools Holland – keyboards, backing vocals
• Andy Metcalfe – keyboards (moog, horns, etc.) on 3, 4, 12
• Keith Wilkinson – bass, backing vocals
• Gilson Lavis – drums, percussion

with:

• T-Bone Wolk – accordion on 3, 8, 12
• Monique Dyan – backing vocals on 4, 5, 6, 10; duet vocals on 8
• Pam Baker, Mike Sheerie, Stewart Dunning – mob vocal on 8
• Del Newman – string arrangement and conducting on 11