Note: the CD I listened to was not the 1997 reissue.
Record Collector Magazine: "I've read that [John Cale] wanted to call the album Gay Guys."
Glenn Tilbrook: "Yes, that was his idea for it. Great. Get us off to a running start! When most bands make their first album, they go in and do a lot of stuff that's been going down well in their sets; well, that wasn't the case with us. He told us to write new songs - which we did. He was an inspirational guy to work with, but I felt that it was almost like we were writing for what he wanted rather than what the band itself was. When you're in a position to be making a first album, it's (A) awe-inspiring to be making an album, and (B) difficult to assert yourself against somebody who knows the ropes."
An almost unlistenable debut album from what later became a fantastic pop/rock band. The story goes that the band showed up at the studio with material and their producer, former Velvet Underground member John Cale, made them discard all that material and come up with new songs on the spot. In my experience, "forced creativity" is usually unproductive, and this weak effort seems to support that theory. There's just no melody here - its more about the sound of the music than the actual music. The album was so bad that the label, A&M, added two songs to the album that were produced by the band and released those two as singles. Hard to believe that this is the same band that would give us Tempted in just a few years. If I had heard this album in 1978, I might have never listened to Squeeze again and that would have been a tragedy indeed.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: Forget them all except the self-produced Take Me I'm Yours.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I knew this album was hot mess, but since it's Squeeze I just couldn't resist when I saw sitting in a used CD bin.
Previously revisited for the blog:
The Complete BBC Sessions (2008)
Domino (1998)
Ridiculous (1995)
Some Fantastic Place (1993)
Babylon and On (1987)
Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti (1985)
Difford & Tilbrook (1984)
East Side Story (1981)
Argybargy (1980) - 1987 reissue and 2008 Deluxe Edition
Cool For Cats (1979)
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