Squeeze - The Knowledge (2017)

Welcome back to the world of Squeeze, a world where previous visitors will find much that is both reassuringly familiar and intriguingly different. A new album, ‘The Knowledge’, offers up another dozen examples of high quality Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook song craft, and is the perfect curtain-raiser for a massive UK, US & Australian tour.

Two years on from the critically acclaimed Top 20 success of ‘Cradle To The Grave’ (the band’s first set of new songs this century), ‘The Knowledge’ sees our heroes broaden their musical canvas, as evident on the opening ‘Innocence In Paradise’ with its pedal steel and cinematic atmosphere evoking images of the mythical western. But don’t be wrong-footed by that curveball compass point, because Squeeze are still very much part of the fabric of South London.

Their hometown heritage, such an integral part of the group’s DNA since seventies hits like ‘Up The Junction’, ‘Cool For Cats’ and ‘Slap And Tickle’, flows through the album as resolutely as the mighty majestic Thames. Greenwich’s own Maryon Wilson Park is name-checked in the chorus of the softly shuffling ‘Patchouli’, while ‘Every Story’ is a heartfelt poem to the people and places that shaped their upbringing.

After their resurgence in 2015 with UK Top 20 and critically acclaimed album Cradle To The Grave, the first Squeeze album of new songs since 1998, Squeeze went on to play the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2016, solidifying themselves as one of the UK’s best live acts.