I have listened to "Trixies," the new old record from Squeeze, four times, giving it an old school spin on the last go around, holding the inner sleeve with the lyrics, and reading along like the grand old days. My feeling on all four spins has not changed. It's a good record. It's not great.
"Trixies," without an apostrophe, is a concept album written by Difford & Tilbrook when they were teenagers, I believe three or four years before Squeeze's debut. To my ears, it's the least Squeeze sounding album in the catalogue and I can't decide if that's due to the material pre-dating when they became a band or due to the legendary duo getting older.
One problem for me and what makes "Trixies" good and not great, is Side Two. After a strong start, the record seems to fizzle out, especially with the three songs that close the record. "The Jaguars" is a simple nothing of a rock and roll song. The title track, in two parts, has little going for it. The song right before that trifecta, is a song written solely by Chris Difford called "It's Over," which is a lovely bit of music that sounds more like Richard Hawley than Squeeze. Reading along and following the "story," the record should have ended bigger. Though, maybe Chris and Glenn thought it did.
Most of my pleasure came from Side One which has the type of melodies and wordplay that made me love this band in the first place, though there is one bright spot on Side Two, a song called "Why Don't You," the one track that is most reminiscent of the band in their prime.
A friend was telling me that he heard Glenn Tilbrook mention on a podcast that this might be the last Squeeze record. There had been a new record already in the works while finishing up the "Trixies" project, but as Tilbrook explained, people don't care about or buy new music anymore, so why bother completing the project. I hope he changes his mind. The last two Squeeze records "Cradle To The Grave" and "The Knowledge" were both excellent, and going out with "Trixies," without an apostrophe, just ain't fittin'.
9 comments:
So far, I've only listened to it once and nothing really stood out for me.
In a recent interview with the NY Times, Tillbrook says that they do plan to keep making music
"...but as Tilbrook explained, people don't care or buy new music anymore, so why bother..." Wow, thanks for the depressing words so early in the morning. 😎
Lots of artists say this now: why bother recording an album because people don't buy albums anymore. That makes zero sense to me. Even if people still bought albums but mine weren't selling anymore, I'd make music because making music is what I love. Creating music makes me happy. I'd think any real artist would feel the same way -- it's the work that is rewarding, not platinum sales. Plus, fans love supporting artists and more and more know enough to buy music at the concert or via the artist website. I'm getting pitched new reissues from Everything But The Girl for albums that are decades old. And yet Fleetwood mac (before everyone died) said why bother? I really really don't get it. You create a new album (which needn't be expensive at all) now for the same reason you did when nobody had heard of you. For the love of it.
I don't think it's only about the platinum sales.
Todd Rundgren has the same sentiment and his reasons are as follows:
People don't listen to full albums like they once did.
It costs too much to pay musicians for studio time, so he records at his home studio alone.
People listen with airbuds, so why spend the time and money on production.
He's not wrong.
Also, and this may ruffle some feathers. I seem to have lost a bunch of regular readers and commenters when I first made made similar remarks.
Yeah, I love sharing music and opinions on Burning Wood and Now Playing. But it's a lot more fun when people show appreciation. (See, the Westerberg post from yesterday.)
Artists who have been around for 50 years have (mostly) the same fan base. Todd Rundgren and Squeeze aren't making music for 20 year olds. Squeeze plays the hits live because, as Tilbrook said, "no one wants to hear the new tunes." Rundgren says the same. Hell, every aging artist says the same. Bruce doesn't play the hits, and what happens, fans crap on every record since "Nebraska."
And if Burning Wood isn't the Aberdeen Proving Grounds for people who "stopped listening to (insert artist) 25 years ago," just how much joy would Difford, Tilbrook, Rundgren, Fleetwood, Mac, Nicks, Pierce, Fenner and Ziggy get if they KNEW only a few people cared.
If I have 1000 readers, I bet the percentage of those readers who actually still paid for music is really low.
So, yeah, if you love something you do it. It's why I am still here. But like Difford/Tilbrook/Todd, et al, it's easy to say "why bother" occasionally.
All fair and I imagine I am not the only one who (very) rarely comments but reads every day. And I get where musicians are coming from. I have a slight connection to the Austin music scene via our youngerchild and it's tough for them to think about anything beyond a song because no one has the attention span for an album, it seems. One youngish woman who has bounced between Austin, LA, NY, and Mexico City has had the same experience over and over: gimme your "best" (most interesting/some some similar formulation) song
While I agree Trixies is not great--I'm abashed to say it won't replace their greatest hits for me when I need a quick fix of Squeeze--I think it's pretty damn good, which I fear is a statement either about my dotage or the state of what's out there. Most likely both. C'est la vie or guerre or somesuch...
Squeeze has an album of all new material pretty much finished. It’s up to BMG when it gets released. Trixies is getting such a strong reaction ( 5 stars- Mojo ) that I wonder if that will accelerate or delay the release.
Difford, Tillbrook and Todd have earned the right to do whatever they want to do. it does remind me a little bit of the days of the cassette single. coincidentally, i know at least two huge Joe Jackson fans who've been slow to hop on tix for his upcoming tour because he "played too many songs from his latest concept album on the last tour." Thankfully for the rest of us, lots of artists feel differently if bandcamp is any indication.
I spend about $400-$500 annually on iTunes downloads and over the years a lot of that money has been spent on recommendations from this board
It started out promisingly enough with the first 2 cuts but then it was all downhill after that. Nothing memorable except for a couple of tasty guitar solos here and there. I think the gate keepers from way back when were correct in not putting this out at the time. I hope they do finish the album they've been working on as this is not the way to go out.
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