"Cool For Cats" by SQUEEZE - April 1979 UK Second Album on A&M Records featuring Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford, Jools Holland, Harry Kakouli 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...

 

"...A Bit Of Slap And Tickle...Down The Pub..." 

 

 

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It was time to up the game. Released in March 1978 on A&M Records, the self-titled and self-assured debut album for Deptford's finest "Squeeze" was the first of their large catalogue to contain the mighty trio of Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford and Jools Holland. But it had failed to chart in either Blighty or the USA (known Stateside as "U.K. Squeeze" also on A&M).

 

But the catchy-as-a-cold singles, toned-down Punk trashing and naughty-boys schoolyard humour of their second platter "Cool For Cats" saw Squeeze launch into public transistor radio consciousness with a cricket-bat wallop – the 45-single "Cool For Cats" going all the way to No. 2 on the UK singles charts - "Up The Junction" doing the same (they rivalled The Police for sales on A&M).

 

Its journey however on digital has been a weird one and in May 2022, "Cool For Cats" on a CD Remaster is at times, a bit of difficulty to find. Initially launched in and part of the November 1997 "Six Of One..." 6CD Box Set on A&M Records 540 801-2 (Barcode 731454080125) - it 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).

 

But it has been deleted years now and often carries with it a hefty price tag when it comes up for air on sale sites. The same goes for the A&M Re Master Pieces single CD editions of their popular debut and third albums "Squeeze" (1978) and "Argybargy" (1980) - both also issued with the Box set's Two Bonuses as single CD variants - see full reissue list details below. 

 

Let's go back to the 'Slap And Tickle' and 'Slightly Drunk' Deptford boys, hip enough back in the day to be actually considered to be cool cats...

 

UK released 19 January 1998 (4 February 1998 in the USA) - "Cool For Cats" by SQUEEZE on A&M 540 804-2 (Barcode 731454080422) is an A&M Re Master Pieces CD Reissue and Remaster with Two Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (44:06 minutes):

 

1. Slap And Tickle [Side 1]

2. Revue

3. Touching You Touching Me

4. It's Not Cricket

5. It's So Dirty

6. The Knack

7. Hop Skip And Jump [Side 2]

8. Up The Junction

9. Hard To Find 

10. Slightly Drunk

11. Goodbye Girl

12. Cool For Cats

Tracks 1 to 12 are their second studio album "Cool For Cats" - released April 1979 in the UK on A&M Records AMLH 68503 and in the USA on A&M Records SP-4759 with the same tracks. Produced by JOHN WOOD and SQUEEZE - it peaked at No. 45 in the UK (didn’t chart USA). 

 

BONUS TRACKS (Both Previously Unreleased):

13. I Must Go

14. Ain't It Sad

 

SQUEEZE was:

GLENN TILBROOK – Lead Guitar, Vocals

CHRIS DIFFORD – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

JOOLS HOLLAND – Keyboards

HARRY KAKOULI – Bass

GILSON LAVIS – Drums

 

Part of the "Six Of One..." 6CD Box Set - it won't take Squeeze fans long to work out that there's two things wrong with this CD Reissue. 

 

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 11 and 12 of the Box Set's 52-page booklet carried track-by-track comments for the debut 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 44:06 minutes, yes it's nice to have two new outtakes, but where's all the singles and their non-LP B-sides - a format this band was not only famous for but one that fans revelled in?

 

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. 

 

Having a mad synth go at the Funk and Disco market of the day (every band tried in their own sly way), the album "Cool For Cats" opens with the travails of a young romance gone left (or to the pub) with the brilliantly ordinary-world observant "Slap And Tickle". It comes roaring into your living room too – a song that gets better and better after every listen (dig those guitars as it fades out). Blackpool, back-page reviews and tittle-tattle in dressing-rooms comes in for some stick in "Revue" – Squeeze reacting to the flack they used to get for the British Press not being able to musically pigeonhole them. 

 

Better by far is the funny, rude and self-decrepating "Touching Me Touching You" – our active adolescent thinking of his girl just a little too often and putting those thoughts into private play (watch those curtains missus). That weedy Elvis Costello-type-organ sound in the background now has just enough power in the Remaster – as do the twin guitars that race "Touching Me Touching you" to its very-10cc finish. She used to do a topless down at the Surrey Docks with tassels on her trupenny bits – but our singer can't name names because "It's Not Cricket". You can imagine that if Madness had issued their own version of "It's Not Cricket", they would have had another Top 5 hit in Page 3 obsessed England. Huge organ and rhythm section pumps out "It's So Dirty" with lyrics about the old man not finding out about the latest squeeze who may or may not meet his exacting standards for female companionship. Four-minutes and thirty-three seconds of "The Knack" ends Side 1 with a typically candid tale of lesser-men regaling their collective weaknesses.

 

Opening Side 2 is the cracking rocker "Hop Skip And Jump" – a very Jools Holland bopper that makes me smile, even now – good quality in the transfer too. Hard to resist either the hooky melody or the girl-from-Clapham lyrics in the brilliant "Up The Junction" – kissing in front of the telly in a smelly flat leading to little kicks inside her. Two years on and his drinking has become a problem while his lady's mother has left for a soldier and now there are no more nights with nappies whiffy (telly's gone to the hock shop too). After the urban cool of "Up The Junction" – the twin vocal leads in "Hard To Find" and the song itself do well to hold their own – ballerina tights if only he was a girl. "Slightly Drunk" still doesn't do much for me though.

 

"Goodbye Girl" was the first 45-single off the album in November 1978 – a whole sixth months in advance of the LP (its Non-LP B-side "Saints Alive" is unfortunately not included here). It's a good tune, but I never thought it was a great one and I can kind of understand its No. 63 placing on the UK charts for only two weeks. But then comes the big daddy - "Cool For Cats" – Cowboys taking positions behind the trees while Davey Crockett rides around saying its...Cool For Cats. A brilliant chitty-chatty tune about likely lads in rough-and-tumble pubs, flashing the cash to disreputable types staggering from the dartboard amidst the overflowing ashtrays and spilled Watney's Pale Ale. Love that synth break before it kicks into the girl-standing-by-the-wall Disco scene and Holland's endearing plinky-plonky keyboard solo – so damn – well, cool.

 

The two Bonus Tracks are properly exciting - "I Must Go" (2:16 minutes) is a tale of Moscow and New York with Carry-On Fish-Wives witty vocals after the chorus and would have made a top Non-LP B-side for "Up The Junction" instead of the album track A&M did use ("It's So Dirty"). The rocker "Ain't It Sad" (3:27 minutes) is even better - a very cool-guitar and snotty-vocals number similar to some of the more Punky material on their March 1978 self-titled "Squeeze" debut album. I can imagine someone putting this on a period CD-R and a punter being shocked to find that it's edgy vibe is by Squeeze. Damn cool to hear these two now anyway – and pleasing to know they are actually worthy of the moniker Extras.

 

Squeeze would follow with the similar (if not better) brilliance of "Argybargy" for their third studio album in February 1980 – opening that productive decade with a doozy. But like so many, I have only to see that strangely lovely artwork that kind of harks back to Lounge Music, and I'm a happy purring feline (who maybe leaves the touching to someone else)...

 

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"