I read this review of a “new” Squeeze album titled Spot The Difference in Entertainment Weekly:
“The band has rerecorded 14 of its hits and is asking fans to ‘spot the difference’ between these note-for-note renderings and the originals. It’s an amusing gimmick – the biggest difference being the voices of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, which are craggier and raspier than they were 30 years ago. Though this material has been rereleased ad nauseam. Squeeze obsessives will eat it up. For everyone else, it’s a reminder that songs like ‘Take Me I’m Yours’ have aged surprisingly well.”
I guess the dignity of a duets album or a standards album was too much…
I know this is a way for them to get ownership of an album of these songs but really, how many ‘Squeeze obsessives’ can there be at this point?
And on the topic of Squeeze is there anyone besides me who has found it impossible to remember which one is Difford and which one is Tilbrook?
Tilbrook is the one with the amazing voice who plays guitar amazingly well. Difford is the other guy (who wrote the lyrics).
From what I’ve heard, they really didn’t make much of an effort to match the sounds of the original recordings. Seems like they just went into a studio and pounded out their chestnuts.
I saw them a few weeks ago, they were really great though the whole thing had an air of nostalgia – unlike the Crowded House show I saw a few days later, where they were playing new material, which was getting a good response.
Spot the Difference–clever notion. Let me take a whack at it. Looking over the track listing and checking out some samples on amazon, I would hazard to say that in most cases the original versions were recorded by a band which seemed to have a great future and unlimited potential. Whereas the new versions aren’t. Do I win something?
Anybody going to read Pat Benatar’s book?
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Between-Heart-Rock-Place-Pat-Benatar/?isbn=9780062002815
I read this review of a “new” Squeeze album titled Spot The Difference in Entertainment Weekly:
“The band has rerecorded 14 of its hits and is asking fans to ‘spot the difference’ between these note-for-note renderings and the originals. It’s an amusing gimmick – the biggest difference being the voices of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, which are craggier and raspier than they were 30 years ago. Though this material has been rereleased ad nauseam. Squeeze obsessives will eat it up. For everyone else, it’s a reminder that songs like ‘Take Me I’m Yours’ have aged surprisingly well.”
I guess the dignity of a duets album or a standards album was too much…
I know this is a way for them to get ownership of an album of these songs but really, how many ‘Squeeze obsessives’ can there be at this point?
And on the topic of Squeeze is there anyone besides me who has found it impossible to remember which one is Difford and which one is Tilbrook?
Tilbrook is the one with the amazing voice who plays guitar amazingly well. Difford is the other guy (who wrote the lyrics).
From what I’ve heard, they really didn’t make much of an effort to match the sounds of the original recordings. Seems like they just went into a studio and pounded out their chestnuts.
I saw them a few weeks ago, they were really great though the whole thing had an air of nostalgia – unlike the Crowded House show I saw a few days later, where they were playing new material, which was getting a good response.
Spot the Difference–clever notion. Let me take a whack at it. Looking over the track listing and checking out some samples on amazon, I would hazard to say that in most cases the original versions were recorded by a band which seemed to have a great future and unlimited potential. Whereas the new versions aren’t. Do I win something?