#519: Up 2 R ankles in it....

Got the double- or triple-whammy of snowstorms out here over the past coupla days. It was still snowing lightly as of 15 mins ago. We got off EZ -- only about 6 inches max here in town. In Seattle they got about 4 inches, & the folks on CNN were laffing at "us" pampered wussie urban idiots.
But south of Tacoma, 30+ miles south of us, they got up 2 a foot & 1/2 of the white stuff -- a lot 4 Western Washington. As of midnight the local news-radio station (Seattle's Xcellent KOMO) reported that some 275,000 people in the area R without electricity 2nite -- no heat, & it's about 25 degrees outside. Some of them have been without heat & lights 4 more than 24 hours. & it's estimated some of them won't get electrical svc back til sometime over the weekend....
As I said, we got off EZ. My biggest problem is I can't get my car out of the driveway -- & if I try, the Cadillac'll slide down the snow-covered hill, keep sliding across the street, & wind up in somebody's living room....
Oh, & I've had 2 walk home from work the past couple nites. & that hasn't bn hard at all. But it beats driving in this messy stuff. + I don't havta deal with those other idiots out there Bhind the wheel....
It's sposta warm up 2 the low 40s & start raining Fri aft. Never thot I'd think rainy & in the 40s would sound pretty good. But I'll believe it when I see it. It ain't getting any warmer yet, & this snow has already bn here 24 hrs longer than it was sposta be....
Oh, & I also played some music while putting off going 2 work 4 as long as possible....

Squeeze -- ARGYBARGY: Pulling Mussels From the Shell, Another Nail in My Heart, Seperate Beds, Misadventure, I Think I'm Go Go, If I Didn't Love You, Farfisa Beat, Here Comes That Feeling, Vicky Verky, Wrong Side of the Moon, There at the Top.
From Squeeze's GREATEST HITS: Take Me I'm Yours, Goodbye Girl, Cool for Cats, Up the Junction, Slap and Tickle.

We played Squeeze's work a lot back in my record store daze. ARGYBARGY was a big in-store favorite, & we useta play the 1st side of EAST SIDE STORY a lot, 2. Course we couldn't GIVE AWAY the albums -- it was Idaho, nobody wanted 2 know, they hadn't heard it on the radio, etc.
& while I always loved "Pulling Mussels From the Shell" & "In Quintessence," some of their stuff went right by me ("Tempted"), & some of it I hadn't heard in 30 years....
Squeeze always useta get hailed 4 Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook's clever lyrics & songwriting, but I never read NE critic talking about Tilbrook's neat guitar breaks or Jools Holland's catchy keyboards -- that's what sets a lot of these songs off, along with the sometimes kinda seedy lyrics about falling in love by accident & hangin round the pub -- + the generally bouncy upbeat sound.
"Pulling Mussels" still sounds like it shoulda sold a million copies -- it's all the best things about this band in 1 quick 4-minute dose. Catchy choruses & great keyb & guitar work. "Another Nail in My Heart" is almost as good, with another Xcellent chorus supported by cool keybs.
"Seperate Beds" is a down-home story of young love with funny lyrics: "Her mother didn't like me, she thought I was on drugs/My mother didn't like her, she'd never peel the spuds."
"Misadventure" is high-speed bounciness about getting in trouble in foreign countries. "I Think I'm Go Go" slows the bounciness down, & "If I Didn't Love You" is a good Xample of the kind of jerky sounds the band comes up with on the album as a whole.
"Farfisa Beat" sounded GREAT in the record store 30 years ago. Hearing it again all these years later, I was kinda disappointed that it wasn't as catchy as I remembered -- & there's not enuf Farfisa organ. MayB if I played it LOUDER...?
"Here Comes That Feeling" is darker than usual 4 these guys. But the real forgotten classic here is "Vicky Verky," another charming tale of young love & how it almost goes wrong -- but not quite.
I remembered the choruses of Jools Holland's "Wrong Side of the Moon" from 30 years ago. Tho Difford co-wrote, this has a diffrent sound & feel from the rest of the album. MayB if they'd given him more space, Jools wouldn't have left.
Overall, this was an above-avg new-wave pop album 4 its time, & at least 9 of the songs R pretty memorable. But on a gray, snowy day like Thurs, I wished it was even MORE lively....
Kinda ironic 2 call Squeeze's best-of GREATEST HITS, since they only hadda couple of almost-hits in America, but the early stuff here ("Take Me I'm Yours" & "Goodbye Girl") is actually smoother & more melodic than mosta the stuff on ARGYBARGY. Not necessarily more distinctive or more memorable, however.
Producer John Wood joins on "Cool for Cats," & this track is much more like the Squeeze I know, more bouncy & jerky -- plus there R more production tricks here, female backing vocals & etc. There's also a sorta lower-class British accent on the lead vocal making it impossible 2 tell who's singing (& the CD's liner notes don't help).
"Up the Junction" is another bouncy, charming tale of love that goes bad. "Slap and Tickle" has a modern(!)-sounding synth opening, it's almost disco-y(!), & there's mildly amusing lyrics about love&sex....
I'll B getting back 2 these guys. There's at least a dozen more trax on this best-of that I've never heard -- all that later stuff I know nothing about....

More soon. I finally got some Louis Jordan back in the house (hilarious jump-blues singer & his band, hysterical lyrics, the missing link Btween late-'40s pop & rock&roll -- this is the stuff Joe Jackson covered 30 years ago on JUMPIN' JIVE), & there's a best-of The Jam on the way....