"Argybargy" by SQUEEZE - Febuary 1980 UK Third Album on A&M Records featuring Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford, Jools Holland, John Bentley and Gilson Lavis with Production by John Cale of Velvet Underground fame (January 1998 UK A&M CD Reissue and Remaster with Two Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks - Part of the A&M Re Master Pieces Series and also in the November 1997 "Six In One..." 6CD Box Set) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

"...Maid Marion On Her Tiptoed Feet..." 

 

 

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Released in February 1980 on A&M Records and with John Bentley replacing Harry Kakouli on Bass (Harry had been with the band for the first two LPs), the third Squeeze album "Argybargy" did well in Blighty peaking at No. 32 on the back of two hugely popular 45s.

 

But more importantly, it was their first LP to crack America where it hit a more modest No. 71. This began a long and fruitful nine-album chart run Stateside well into the Nineties and beyond and was the last LP by Deptford's finest to include the mighty trio of Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford and Jools Holland (Paul Carrack of Ace and Mike & The Mechanics fame would join them for platter number four - "East Side Story" in May 1981).

 

With two bona-fide 45-single winners in the shape of "Pulling Muscles (From The Shell)" and "Another Nail In My Heart" – hardly surprising too that the ever popular "Argybargy" is one of the few titles in the voluminous Squeeze album catalogue to be at the receiving end of a Universal 2CD Deluxe Edition. First released 2008 on A&M Records 9832835 – Barcode 602498328354 – itself reissued in 2012 on Mercury 060075327855 – Barcode 0600753278550 - CD1 of that beast offered a whopping nine-extras with fifteen more on CD 2 – including the two bonuses first offered here. But to what we do have...

 

Initially launched in and part of the November 1997 "Six Of One..." 6CD Box Set on A&M Records 540 801-2 (Barcode 731454080125) - "Argybargy" was then put out as an A&M Re Master Pieces single CD re-release in January 1998 (February 1998 USA) with its Two Bonus Tracks intact (both are pictured above). To the muscular details...

 

UK released 19 January 1998 (4 February 1998 in the USA) - "Argybargy" by SQUEEZE on A&M 540 803-2 (Barcode 731454080323) is an A&M Re Master Pieces CD Reissue and Remaster with Two Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (44:25 minutes):

 

1. Pulling Muscles (From The Shell) [Side 1]

2. Another Nail In My Heart

3. Separate Beds

4. Misadventure

5. I Think I'm Go Go

6. Farfisa Beat [Side 2]

7. Here Comes That Feeling

8. Vicky Verky

9. If I Didn't Love You

10. Wrong Side Of The Moon

11. There At The Top

Tracks 1 to 11 are their third studio album "Argybargy" - released February 1980 in the UK on A&M Records AMLH 64802 and in the USA on A&M Records SP-4802. Produced by JOHN WOOD and SQUEEZE - it peaked at No. 32 in the UK and No. 71 in the USA.

 

NOTE on the US LP: 

Because "If I Didn't Love You" was issued as a third 45 in the States (not issued in the UK, there were only the two singles mentioned above) - it was decided to give that track more prominence on the American SP-4802 LP. So the USA album altered the run of tracks for Side 2 to the following – 9, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 – putting "If I Didn't Love You" first instead of "Farfisa Beat"

 

BONUS TRACKS (Both Previously Unreleased):

13. Funny How It Goes

14. Go

 

SQUEEZE was:

GLENN TILBROOK – Lead Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

CHRIS DIFFORD – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

JOOLS HOLLAND – Keyboards, Vocals

JOHN BENTLEY – Bass

GILSON LAVIS – Drums

 

Annotation - without the accompanying 52-page long book that came with that Box Set (a fabulous looking thing with huge swathes of memorabilia pictured), the skimpy gatefold slip of paper with barely any info that acts as an inlay for this CD is wildly inadequate. Pages 13 and 14 of the Box Set's 52-page booklet carried track-by-track comments for the third album from the band, and that could easily have been re-printed for here. A&M took the lazy way out and simply reissued the CDs as is from the box set. 

 

Bonuses/Missing - with a total playing time of 44:25 minutes, yes it's nice to have two new outtakes, but where's all the peripheral singles and their non-LP B-sides - a format this band was not only famous for but one that fans revelled in? When there was ample room, it's disappointing for sure. To the good stuff - Digitally Remastered by band founder GLENN TILBROOK and A&M's go-to Audio Engineer for the A&M Re Master Pieces Series ROGER WAKE - the original tapes certainly pack a lethal punch. But for such a huge step forward in songwriting and especially the brilliant words in each and every song, the absence too of the lyrics is kind of unforgivable.

 

The album opens with a total winner and probably one of their most loved songs (next to "Cool For Cats") - the Maid Marion On Tiptoed Feet of "Pulling Muscles (From The Shell)". With the LP issued in February, A&M Records UK were slow off the mark, not putting the 45-single out until April 1980 - AMS 7523 fitted out with the Non-LP B-side "What The Butler Saw". The flip-side song "...Butler..." had been rejected from the initial playlist for their second platter "Cool For Cats" (unfortunately it isn't here when there was shed loads of room). You really do miss the lyrics not being here either for their second 45 from the LP - "Another Nail In My Heart" - released as 45-single in January 1980 on A&M AMS 7507 with the Non-LP "Pretty Thing" on its flipside. Few bands use words like 'sympathetic arrangements' and 'little boy lies' - but Squeeze do (dig that great guitar solo too, now with a bit of oomph in it). 

The group's songwriting sophistication starts to really get in its stride with the almost hypnotic guitars of "Separate Beds" - a tune where Mum didn't like her (wouldn't peel the spuds). Time to decamp to Mrs. Smith's B&B for a spot of quality time - breakfast at 7:30 a.m. prompt mind (some crumpet my dears). "Misadventure" has that Elvis Costello British New Wave rock to it - a frantic bopper about the Isle Of Dogs with Miss Adventure and her lacy mates. The British LP's Side 1 comes to a close with "I Think I'm Go Go" - thinking about the Disco and why the need to go there at all - the synths and freckled face lyrics all clear in the Remaster especially as the song stretches out from the Buckingham Palace lyric. 

 

Side 2 opens with 2:57 minutes of the manic "Farfisa Beat" - Stereo Disco a-go-go does make-up and tight tee-shirts and mirror balls (so Elvis Costello in ways). "Up in the morning, politely yawning...egg on the shirt of my heart..." - the stop-start journey of "Here Comes That Feeling" making our hero stare up at the ceiling and wonder if he'll ever step outside this internal doom. The very Dave Edmunds bop of "Vicky Verky" is one of those great Squeeze dancers wrapped around a tale of pregnant girls and protective mothers trying to their best. "If I Didn't Love You" was issued Stateside as the third single from the LP (A&M Records 2229) with "Pretty Thing" on its flipside - the song actually name-checking singles and albums as being like the levels of love. We romp home with the happy-wappy "Wrong Side Of The Moon" - remembering to remember to forget - slick little guitar solo giving it some halfway through. "There At The Top" again feels like an Elvis Costello song - a lady looking at a map and a watch wondering which will get up the corporate ladder fastest. A very British New Wave track to end a really good album.

 

The Two Bonus Tracks have a history - "Funny How It Goes" (3:49 minutes) was presented along with two other songs "Someone Else's Heart" and "What The Butler Saw" as a 14-track album cut of the "Argybargy" album – but A&M and manager Miles Copeland rejected all three so chopping it down to the 11 we now have. "What The Butler Saw" would end up as the Non-LP B-side of the British 45-single "Pulling Muscles (From The Shell)" – not featured here unfortunately – and "Someone Else's Heart" would end up being re-recorded with Elvis Costello in tow for their fourth platter "East Side Story" in 1981. 

 

The two out-takes "Funny How It Goes" and "Go" (4:12 minutes) make their first appearance on CD here in 1998 – the first being a piano-pounder about chatting up women and its pitfalls. Faster and go-cat-go is the guitar and drums of "Go" - another killer tune that's very Clash or Jam on a neck-jerking bender. It feels slightly unfinished, but dig that groove and those clever keyboard flourishes over the driving guitar towards the end - like The Cars having a whig out. In other words both the Extras are actually worthy of the moniker Bonuses.

 

At a time when seriousness and political statements abounded (nay even demanded by the Musical Press) – bands like Squeeze, Madness and even The Specials offered unashamed fun – a trip down to the local for some "how's your father" slap and tickle with some risqué and poignant lyrical observations throw in for good measure. And would we have it any other way. A cool reissue of "Argybargy" and one to seek out if you don’t want to fork out for the 2CD DE variant...

 

SQUEEZE A&M Re Master Pieces CD Reissue Series

Released January 1998 UK, February 1998 USA

Each Single CD Remaster Contained Two Previously Unreleased Bonuses

 

1. "Squeeze" 

Original UK LP March 1978 on A&M Records AMLH 68465

UK CD Reissue January 1998 on A&M 540 806-2 (Barcode 731454080620) 

Bonus Tracks "Deep Cuts" and "Heartbreak"

 

2. "Cool For Cats" 

UK LP April 1979 on A&M Records AMLH 68503 

UK CD January 1998 on A&M Records 540 804-2 (Barcode

Bonus Tracks "I Must Go" and "Ain't it Sad" 

 

3. "Argybargy" 

UK LP February 1980 on A&M Records AMLH 64802

UK CD January 1998 on A&M 540 803-2 (Barcode 731454080323) 

Bonus Tracks "Funny How It Goes" and "Go" 

 

4. "East Side Story..." 

UK LP May 1981 on A&M Records AMLH 64854

UK CD January 1998 on A&M 540 805-2 (Barcode 731454080521) 

Bonus Tracks "The Axe Now Fallen" and "Looking For A Love"

 

5. "Sweets From A Stranger"

UK LP May 1982 on A&M Records AMLH 64899

UK CD January 1998 on A&M 540 807-2 (Barcode 731454080729) 

Bonus Tracks "I Can't Get Up Anymore" and "When Love Goes To Sleep"

 

6. "Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti" 

UK LP August 1985 on A&M Records AMA 5805 

UK CD January 1998 on A&M 540 802-2 (Barcode 731454080224) 

Bonus Tracks "Love's A Four Letter Word" and "The Fortnight Saga"