You should probably be listening to Squeeze right now.
Unfortunately, maybe you’ve only heard “Tempted.” Sure, it’s a pretty good song, but they had much better at their early ’80s peak. The obsession of advertising folks and DJs with “Tempted” completely misrepresents the band as a shallow one-hit wonder. Besides being huge in England, they were just freakin’ great.
Start with “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)” or “Another Nail in My Heart.” Then, move on to just buying their singles collection.
They could just craft an amazing pop single. Like, really amazing.
Perhaps most amazingly, they were one of the few acts to whom the modifier “beatlesque” could accurately be ascribed. The vocals, the guitars, the songwriting…the whole package.
Oh, and “Black Coffee in Bed” does the whole retro-soul thing much better than “Tempted.”
