#gilson lavis

[northwestofinsanity]

1978 Debut-Album era Squeeze

(I could not find color versions of these photos like the few floating around from this shoot that are in color… and unfortunately, the only versions I can find of some of these have watermarks covering faces -but I figured I’d share them -and I’ve got a few more to post later)

[hellogoodbyegirl]

Pulling Muscles from a Shell on SNL

[spilladabalia]

Squeeze • Slap & Tickle / It's So Dirty • OGWT 1979

[longliverockback]

Squeeze Babylon and On 1987 A&M ————————————————— Tracks: 01. Hourglass 02. Footprints 03. Tough Love 04. The Prisoner 05. 853-5937 06. In Today’s Room 07. Trust Me to Open My Mouth 08. Cigarette of a Single Man 09. Break My Heart 10. Who Are You? 11. The Waiting Game 12. Some Americans —————————————————

Chris Difford

Jools Holland

Gilson Lavis

Andy Metcalfe

Glenn Tilbrook

Keith Wilkinson

* Long Live Rock Archive

[mitjalovse]

John Cale producing music? Can you guess he has a combative streak there as well? Given the way he and Lou Reed got along one cannot be shocked to hear about the treatment he gave to Squeeze. I do understand what he wanted, i.e. he planned to take them away from their comfort zone, yet he forgot he dealt with their debut. Sure, he also worked on many musicians' introductions as we shall see, but he could've understood all musicians need to establish at least a semblance of an identity with their entree. Squeeze still looked for theirs then, though we can admit Cale probably provided them with a couple of possibilities for their follow-ups. Moreover, I must laugh over the fact he produced a record by a group that took the name from the most controversial Velvet Underground album.

[therecordconnection]

Ranting and Raving: "Up the Junction" by Squeeze

Squeeze are one of the great unsung bands of the second British Invasion. A band that has never gotten their well-earned praise.

Squeeze were never going to be huge megastars. Their discography is too varied, their humor too odd and too British, and their songwriting was of a kind that didn't really appeal to American sensibilities. Though the band managed to have a few hits here in the states ("Black Coffee in Bed," "Hourglass," and, most importantly, "Tempted") they never got much further than that. Part of me thinks they didn't really care about conquering America since they never bothered to try and appeal to us. Certainly songs like this were never going to do it. There's British slang all over this song that makes no sense unless you head on over to Genius and look at some annotations.

But it's songs like this one that I think made Squeeze a special band. A different band. These were guys that wrote songs with a subtle and understated magic to them.

Squeeze's songs were created through the songwriting partnership of dual guitarists/vocalists Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook. Unlike Lennon/McCartney, it's very easy to figure out which one did what. Difford handled the lyrics, Tilbrook then took those lyrics and set them to music. "Up the Junction" is one of the best things they wrote together and it deserves some praise.

So, why don't we start with defining what the phrase "up the junction" means. It's simple. It means: Up shit creek without a paddle. Boned. In a mess of trouble. You're screwed, basically. The phrase doesn't appear until the end and it isn't until the end where it's revealed why the song is called that.

I said Squeeze's songwriting was of a kind that didn't really appeal to American sensibilities and that's clear right from the first listen. Americans love a chorus they can sing along to. Tom Petty's famous songwriting philosophy was, "Don't bore us, get to the chorus." Squeeze breaks that rule by virtue of not having one. The song has six verses and a bridge that all have the same melody and progression through the song's 3:05 runtime. Tilbrook settles on one core groove and while drummer Gilson Lavis and keyboardist Jools Holland add little flourishes and extra spices here and there, the song rarely changes. This would normally be detrimental and lead to the song being boring, but the lack of chorus makes it stronger. Difford explained that he and Tilbrook agreed that having repeated lyrics would break the flow of the song, to which he is absolutely right. This song never feels like it's overstaying its welcome. The story remains engaging the entire time and nothing derails it. Difford and Tilbrook cited Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street" as an influence on "Up the Junction," which fits because that's another song that tells a full story without a chorus. Roxy Music's "Virginia Plain" is structured the exact same way.

Lyrically, this is one of Difford's best and it's a masterclass on how to tell a well written, well focused, and well paced slice-of-life story in just three minutes. The verses tell the story of a guy who met a girl from Clapham (a district in London), fell in love with her, had a daughter with her, and proceeded to then lose his girl and daughter when he became an alcoholic and they left him.

Each verse contains eight lines a piece, with each one focusing on a different part of this couple's relationship. Verse 1 they meet. Verse 2 they move in together. Verse 3 the guy gets a job and his girl gets pregnant. The bridge has the guy work through the winter and the girl moving forward with her pregnancy. Verse 4 has their daughter be born. Verse 5 describes the guy's alcoholism and his family leaving him. The final verse details his current state of being alone without his girl and their child. Each of these verses are perfect. There is no extra fat or any needless detail. Difford could've published these words strictly as a poem and it wouldn't be diminished. This song is also a great example of how clever he could be with his words. Like here:

"She gave birth to a daughter Within a year a walker She looked just like her mother If there could be another"

It's stuff like this that's simple, but very very sweet. It helps paint a picture and while some of Difford's lines suffer from being written by a young songwriter early in his career ("We stayed in by the telly / Although the room was smelly" is a bit of a silly rhyme) it never detracts too much overall.

The only time the song goes through any significant change musically is during the final verse, where Tilbrook and Difford stop playing their guitars and let Holland fill the empty space with his keyboard taking over command. It creates a more somber mood compared to the rest of the song and allows the music to better reflect the final lyrics, which is about being left alone and having regret for how things fell apart and how he probably won't be able to fix it.

"Alone here in the kitchen I feel there's something missing I'd beg for some forgiveness But begging's not my business And she won't write a letter Although I always tell her And so it's my assumption I'm really up the junction"

Suddenly, the title's meaning becomes very clear and it's heartbreaking.

What Squeeze pulls off here is a fantastic tale of love and loss in a short amount of time. It's pop music at its absolute finest. It's a song that deserves more love. Hell, the band who made it also deserves more love. It saw success in its day, becoming one of Squeeze's highest charting U.K. hits, peaking at #2 in 1979. Now, all these years later, it remains one of the band's best songs. What you get with "Up the Junction" and others are works from two songwriters who sought to push the boundaries of the average song structure and were always trying to play with different sounds and ideas to see what might land and what might not. Squeeze were a band of underdogs and this song wonderfully shows what these guys had to offer.

Squeeze was always cool for cats and they'll remain cool for you, too.

[galleriesmagazine]

#NewArtShow 05-01-23 - Modern Artists Gallery - Jana Muller - Dame Vivienne Westwood MODERN ARTISTS GALLERY High Street, Whitchurch on Thames, Oxon RG8 7EX Featured Artists. Through Jan. Jana Muller: Portrait Paintings. I didn’t get to meet her - Dame Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler. Gilson Lavis: Portrait Drawings - Music Legends. Other artists include Gaila Adair, Stuart Buchanan, Alice Cescatti, Sasha Constable, Wendy Freestone, Paul Wright, Nicholas Wright. Please contact before setting out t 0118 984 5893 e-m info@modernartistsgallery.com  modernartistsgallery  @modernartists  modernartistsgallery web www.modernartistsgallery.com https://www.instagram.com/p/Cne3KSXITyT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[uksqueeze]

Squeeze, 1978 lineup (L to R: Jools Holland, Glenn Tilbrook, Gilson Lavis, Chris Difford, Harry Kakoulli)

[rainingmusic]

Squeeze - Tempted

[northwestofinsanity]

[hellogoodbyegirl]

Squeeze

[andypartridges]

Squeeze photographed by Lawrence Impey at Ettrick Lodge, mid 70s.

[longliverockback]

Squeeze Sweets from a Stranger 1982 A&M ————————————————— Tracks: 01. Out of Touch 02. I Can’t Hold On 03. Points of View 04. Stranger than the Stranger on the Shore 05. Onto the Dance Floor 06. When the Hangover Strikes 07. Black Coffee in Bed 08. I’ve Returned 09. Tongue Like a Knife 10. His House Her Home 11. The Very First Dance 12. The Elephant Ride —————————————————

John Bentley

Chris Difford

Gilson Lavis

Don Snow

Glenn Tilbrook

* Long Live Rock Archive

[rolloroberson]

Charlie Watts Memorial 6 December 2021

The Memorial for Charlie Watts was held at Ronnie Scott's club with band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Darryl Jones, Steve Jordan, Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler and Tim Ries accompanied by Lila Ammons, Mark Flanagan, Dave Green, Jools Holland, Gilson Lavis, Ben Waters, Tom Waters and Axel Swingenberger.

[mitjalovse]

I noticed an interesting name on one of the most famous compositions by Scott Walker – Morris Pert. True, we have already met him before, he's one of those musicians you can find in surprising places, so we shouldn't be shocked to locate him on The Real Macaw, Graham Parker's disc from the 80's. Yes, Morris Pert collaborated with one of the most underappreciated songwriters in the vein of Nick Lowe, though the album the Scottish percussionist appears on seems like a mixed bag of tunes. I mean, the period during the middle of the 80's didn't feel good to Mr. Parker, though you can hear in the link he still managed to hit the nerve. His patented wit and the melodic accompaniment leave us with more questions than answers, which is good.