When Glen Tilbrook and Chris Difford first started the great UK band Squeeze, it was the mid-’70s, and the two of them were kids. Squeeze recorded their self-titled debut album with producer John Cale in 1978, but they were writing and recording songs long before then. In 1974, the 16-year-old Tilbrook and the 19-year-old Difford wrote a concept album called Trixies together. They never released or even properly recorded the album because they just didn’t know how to do that yet. A half-century later, Squeeze have finally recorded Trixies, and the LP is ready to come out.
Tilbrook and Difford wrote the songs for Trixies before Squeeze even had a stable lineup. (Drummer Gilson Lavis passed away last week at the age of 74; he joined up in 1975.) In a press release, Difford says, “We fully committed ourselves to songwriting but this was three or four years before we even got to make our first record. Long story short, these were songs that we just didn’t have enough musical experience to record properly.”
Squeeze have broken up and reunited a few times over the years. Since 2007, they’ve been solidly back together, and they’ve released a few more albums. In 2022, they released their Food For Thought EP. They remain a beloved institution. Last week, big fan Lily Allen posted this on Chris Difford’s Instagram:
Difford and Glen Tilbrook recently rediscovered the first cassette that they made for their Trixies songs, and they decided to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary by finally recording and releasing those songs properly, with bassist Owen Biddle producing. Tilbrook says, “The songs that we wrote then astound me. I’m proud of them now, and I’m particularly proud that it was young us that did that. These are very much the same songs that we wrote then. The only difference is that now I can teach the songs to the rest of the band. Back then, I didn’t even know what the names of the chords were!” Below, check out the strutting lead single “Trixies Pt. 1” and the LP’s tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 “What More Can I Say”
02 “You Get The Feeling”
03 “The Place We Call Mars”
04 “Hell On Earth”
05 “The Dancer”
06 “Good Riddance”
07 “Don’t Go Out In the Dark”
08 “Why Don’t You”
09 “Anything But Me”
10 “It’s Over”
11 “The Jaguars”
12 “Trixies Part One”
13 “Trixies Part Two”
Trixies is out 3/6 on BMG. Pre-order it here.
Dean Chalkley
