SQUEEZE

Painstakingly recreating the past while looking to the future

Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook knows a thing or two about the pressure of expectations. In the late ’70s, when the London-based band first came onto the scene, he and songwriting partner Chris Difford were lauded as “the new Lennon and McCartney.” “That was a tremendous compliment,” Tilbrook says. “But as a result, our writing got more mannered, more stylized and more self-important. That lasted for a couple of years, and then we drifted back to earth. The comparison hasn’t been an issue since.”

The latest Squeeze album, Spot the Difference, shows why Tilbrook and Difford were placed in such high company. Recorded over the past three years, the disc features new versions of 14 of the duo’s classic tunes—each painstakingly re-made in such a manner that the new recordings sound nearly identical to the originals. Crafting the faithful songs wasn’t easy; Tilbrook jokes that the recording was more difficult than climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, a feat he accomplished last year. “We started by listening to the original recording, got a drum and bass track and built things from there,” Tilbrook explains. “With ‘Up the Junction,’ ‘Slap and Tickle,’ and ‘Is That Love,’ I can’t tell the difference between the new recording and the original. On the other hand, the new version of ‘Black Coffee in Bed’ is better than the old one, because I’m able to sing it with less strain.”

Tilbrook readily admits the main motivation behind the project was to regain control of Squeeze’s back catalog, which he and Difford decades ago signed away in a misguided deal. “My first choice would be to never look back,” Tilbrook says. “Those records stand as they were, and they are great records. But this is about control. These new masters belong to us. Now, if someone wants to use them for a movie or an ad campaign, we have the choice to say yes or no.”

And new Squeeze material is on its way—Tilbrook says he would “go mad” if re-recording the band’s old songs was all he did. The veteran singer-songwriter is intrigued to see how the renewed working relationship between Difford and himself, who haven’t written together since 1998’s Domino, will play out. “I think Chris and I can mix and match better now,” he says. “Chris has become more confident as a performer, and I’m writing more lyrics, which I used to leave entirely to him. We’ve both changed, and I think our writing will reflect that.”

–Russell Hall