Album: Singles, 45's and Under
Artist: Squeeze
Submitted by: B.C.
Year: 1982 (compilation)
US Billboard Peak: 47th (3rd in UK)
I knew very little of Squeeze going into this album. I even saw them live once at Summerfest with B.C. What I knew about Squeeze is that they were a diverse 80s pop band from the UK who had a few chart toppers. The other thing I knew was Jools Holland was a member. I found out from B.C. when I was telling him about this show I saw called 'Later......with Jools Holland'. B.C. replied, "he was a member of Squeeze". This conlcudes my background knowledge of the band.
The album 'Singles, 45's and Under' is a compilation album released by Squeeze in 1982. I wanted to avoid compliation albums in my research, but I asked my subjects to give me their 3 favorite albums, not to give me the 3 best albums that fit into my strict rules. This compilation is an album of all their singles from the late 70s to early 80s, hence the title 'Singles, 45's and Under'.
The album starts out with heavily synthesized tracks. The heavy beats and poppy synthesized riffs, started to wear on me. The songs seem to keep with the same theme of unequated love and nonchalant courting intertwined with the repetitive synthesized back beat. As the album progresses you see a shift. By 4th track, the edge of the synthesizer is not as prevalent. Though the songs underlining theme stays the same, the vocals and musicians start to take the forefront.
Though it is a compilation album of previous singles, I found the way that the tracks were selected showed a solid progression of the sound of the band over the half decade that these tracks were taken from. Even during the second listening, many of the songs where I originally questioned B.C.'s choice in music, I found myself singing many of the lyrics later on in the day.
The album starts out with heavily synthesized tracks. The heavy beats and poppy synthesized riffs, started to wear on me. The songs seem to keep with the same theme of unequated love and nonchalant courting intertwined with the repetitive synthesized back beat. As the album progresses you see a shift. By 4th track, the edge of the synthesizer is not as prevalent. Though the songs underlining theme stays the same, the vocals and musicians start to take the forefront.
Though it is a compilation album of previous singles, I found the way that the tracks were selected showed a solid progression of the sound of the band over the half decade that these tracks were taken from. Even during the second listening, many of the songs where I originally questioned B.C.'s choice in music, I found myself singing many of the lyrics later on in the day.
