Here’s the cover of Chris Difford’s new radio record ’1975′.
1975 CD Cover
1975 CD Back Cover
1975 CD
Don’t forget to sign up for the bargain of the century at www.smmcmedia.com where you can get 10 instalments of Chris Difford’s new album, Cashmere If You Can, with loads of extras for next to no money. It’s great!
Get Chris Difford’s new album “Cashmere if you can”
Here’s the first Squeeze Spot the Difference Widget with a media player so you can have a first listen to see whether you can spot the difference between these re-recordings and the originals.
So tell me – can you spot the difference?
Chris Difford – 22 June 2010 – live on Simon Mayo Radio 2
There was a very good article featuring Chris Difford in The Independent on June 11th. He talks about his life in Squeeze, and explains the title of the first release from his new album.
This is the third in his trilogy of autobiographical albums, and opens with the typically frank “1975″, referring to that heady year after Squeeze was born.
Difford explains: “The 1975 period of my life was probably the most exciting year of youth because you don’t know what’s coming, how long life’s going to be, and I jumped in with both feet.”
If you haven’t joined Chris’ Saturday Morning Music Club yet, check out David’s post about 1975. It contains a clever video of the new song which includes all the lyrics, and there are lots of comments on the music club from people who have joined.
Chris also mentions that he and Glenn still intend to try writing together again soon!
Photo by Teri Pengilley
"Strong in Reason" starts out mellow
With less than a month left before setting out on their US Tour, Squeeze have started doing a few live gigs together. They played a free, unannounced gig at the Anchor & Hope in London June 8th, and Snipturn came through for us with a video of “Strong In Reason.” I was really surprised at how much I like this song from the first album, which they have sort of de-punked. It’s a lot easier to appreciate the lyrics in this less aggressive interpretation.
Snipturn’s camera work has always been so very appreciated by those of us who haven’t been able to get to the gigs, but I am amazed at the quality of his shooting for this video. He’s working from one angle in what appear to be extremely cramped circumstances, but still manages to get a lot of footage of everyone, including details of the guitar and bass playing, while still keeping Chris and Glenn’s faces in all the important singing parts. The result is very professional looking, despite having only one take and one camera!
He comments in his review of another gig last April , “Whilst filming I try to be quite disciplined and concentrate on the shot and this tends to make you “focus” on the task of getting a good result. This means that I end up enjoying the night, but in a slightly different way to everyone else. Through the camera lens though, it really was true craftsmanship at work that I was watching” I’d add that we’re treated to some very fine craftsmanship of your own, Snip!
The band appear to be in excellent form, and played at The Isle of Wight Festival a few nights after the Anchor & Hope. You can read a few short reviews of it here on the site, and a slightly longer (and better) one here.
Lots of fans gathered at the Anchor & Hope gig, and their contributions to the site are overflowing (thanks, everyone!). They include several more videos courtesy of Snipturn, a lovely set of pictures taken by our David, a detailed review by Mark, a setlist from Liz, plus lots of comments. Check it out!
Remember that you can always use the search box (in the upper right hand corner of the front page of this site) to find any gig ever played by Squeeze, Glenn, or Chris. Many of them have reviews, photos, and even videos.
The official Glenn site still says that there are more US tour dates to be added, but I’m not sure whether that information is up to date or not. It’s hard to keep track because not all the sites (GT.com, SqueezeOfficial’s MySpace page, etc) have all the current dates listed. In fact, at the moment only the Squeeze Official web site seems to have the latest ones: The Fillmore in SF, The Showbox in Seattle, and Seneca Falls Casino in Niagara Falls, NY.
Squeeze are playing at Leamington Spa July 2nd, and at the Cornbury Festival July 3rd. They hit Columbus, Ohio on the 9th and play 20 dates across the U.S.!
GLENN GETS EXTENDED STAY IN MOROCCO COURTESY OF THE ASH CLOUD
GLIMPSE IN TO BACKSTAGE LIFE AS SQUEEZE OPEN UP THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 2010
Squeeze – 10 June 2010 – live at the Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Gazette:
THE SQUEEZE – COOL FOR CATS
The 2010 Isle of Wight festival kicked off today (June 10) with the Squeeze, best known for their hit Cool for Cats, playing the headline slot. The rain held off as many a muddy camper, many of who had spent the afternoon between showers pitching their tent, ventured out to be wowed by the band. Early bird festival-goers packed into the big top to hear the band belt out the hit ‘Cool for Cats’.
The band, who sadly have never had a number one hit with any of their songs, didn’t let it stop them from wowing the crowd in the pre-warm up session prior to the opening of the festival tomorrow.
Festival organiser John Giddings said “There were about 40,000 people on the campsite by last night. (Thursday) I watched Squeeze perform and they were brilliant.
Squeeze please fans on festival night opener
Published Date: 11 June 2010
SQUEEZE proved they’ve still got the magic touch by closing out the first night in style.
From the opener – Up the Junction, to the Commitments’ favourite Tempted, the old faithfuls went down a storm.
It was a good start to what promises to be a blinding festival weekend in the Isle of Wight, at Seaclose Park in Newport.
Children as young as four rubbed shoulders with veteran fans as old as 80 as they witnessed the weekend’s first headliner. Walking on stage to the sound of thousands of cheering revellers, Squeeze were pure class from the very start. Playing with a crisp, clear sound blasting out through the massive big-top speakers, even the fans at the back were transported back to the group’s 80s heyday. Frontmen Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook were cool and relaxed throughout, putting on a professional show full of hits. Dancing and huge sing-alongs accompanied popular favourites Tempted and Cool for Cats.
Sarah Franklin, 32, from Chichester, said: ‘To be honest I didn’t expect them to be this good, I’m having a great time and hopefully the weather will get better. It’s as good as ever. Charlotte Hamilton, 20, from Surrey, said: ‘It’s my first festival and they sounded great!’ Carrie Kircher, 23, from Whitwell Road, Southsea, said: ‘Its amazing, this place has such a great atmosphere and Squeeze were amazing.’
Here’s Chris Difford’s latest Radio Record (as they call singles nowadays). It’s a classic Difford lyric entitled 1975 and is from his fantastic new project Saturday Morning Music Club – pay a visit and get involved!
Squeeze – 8 June 2010 – live at the Anchor & Hope, Charlton
Here are Snipturn’s videos of the night plus Val’s:
Here are my photos from the night:
http://www.smmcmedia.com/2010/06/02/smmc-a-brief-mission-statement/
The concept behind SMMC is relatively straightforward. It is our response to the question “what, exactly is an album these days?” A question a lot of people have been asking for a while. Well the truth is, we dont know any more. There is no answer. In the old days of not so long ago, an artist or band would spend weeks, months or years recording an album that would become a release – an event on a specific day, the release date – mostly as a result of the promotional and marketing strategies of the record labels.
Specific physical realities gently outlined the scope and limitations, and most importantly the length of the recordings that were released – through the various vehicles of vinyl, 45′s and LP’s, double albums, eight track, cassettes – then CD’s, which gradually allowed for more and more music to be included, and finally downloads.
Downloads changed everything, in particular that magic word “unbundling” which means that specific songs from albums could be handpicked by the customer. Until then the only way to get individual tracks from albums had been through buying 7″ singles or EP’s, CD singles, cassette singles, then compilations. Or of course, recording off the radio and then the TV, which a lot of people will remember.
“Unbundling” meant that the concept of the “album” would change forever. A band could record a whole album, but find that only a few songs from it were being bought online. Of course the physical CD was, and still is, available – but the focus gradually changed. “Why buy the whole album when you can just get the tracks you like? Unless its ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, why bother?!” The sad truth is that there is a lot of logic behind that statement.
But we believe an artist should be free to work within the realms of this new thinking, rather than in spite of it.
SMMC Media, the very small sphere of influence behind Saturday Morning Music Club, believes that we are offering a tailor made service borne of the desire to operate within the chaos of the new musical consumer landscape, and outside of the physical constraints of the CD, in a way that will benefit the artist and the consumer. Not only that, we believe that we can extend the experience and enrich it – which brings us back to how it started, the Saturday Morning Music Club where each week is an event, there is no one “release date” as such.
We believe in being true to the artist and being true to the consumer. We do not believe that we are reinventing the wheel, nor do we believe that we are being dramatic, drastic or revolutionary. We simply want everyone who comes our way, whether artist, fan or consumer, to be able to enjoy the experience of music and all it has to offer.
