My Top 20 albums for 1979 No 16

Cool For Cats 1979
Genre:Rock
Style:New Wave, Pop Rock
Cool ForCats Squeeze 1979
Tracklist
A1 Slap & Tickle 3:59
A2 Revue 2:30
A3 Touching Me, Touching You 2:23
A4 It's Not Cricket 2:33
A5 It's So Dirty 3:10
A6 The Knack 4:32
B1 Hop Skip & Jump Written-By - Difford*, Holland* 2:46
B2 Up The Junction 3:10
B3 Hard To Find 3:37
B4 Slightly Drunk 2:40
B5 Goodbye Girl 2:58
B6 Cool For Cats 3:39
Cool For Cats (1979) ****

Despite being a bit too heavy on the by-now-dated synthesizers, which start this album off on the wrong foot, this is a mainly excellent collection. Tilbrook trills sweetly, while Difford's occasional vocal spotlights are delivered in a non-musical, baritone monotone - he's not the lead singer for obvious reasons, but a nice change of pace. And together these two create some arrestingly odd harmonies with their polar-opposite high/low voices. This version presents Squeeze as a group of bird-watching boys-night-out pub rats, with a bit'o laddish sexism ("It's So Dirty" - "It's so dirty when it's in the right mood/Give some brandy and some chinese food") and odes to ol' demon alcohol ("Slightly Drunk"). Some interesting sound effects like the bells in "It's Not Cricket", though their sound hasn't quite achieved the depth and sophistication it would shortly later. The title track cruises through the disco floor as Difford litanies nonsensical couplets and pulls a lass. "Up The Junction", a cinematic narrative of a couple who meet, have a kid, and break up, may be Squeeze's finest three minutes. The band takes a backseat as everything makes room for Tilbrook's breathless telling of said tale, compression in the best sense.

Featured Songs Cool for Cats and Up The Junction