Chris on the Hourglass video:. HOURGLASS (Babylon and On, 1987) “This was shot in a studio in London Bridge, and the set was mostly devised by Jools and Adrian Edmondson. They were good friends, and they hatched most of the plot together. Jools has got a keen eye for the absurd. It was a two-day shoot, and in those days a two-day shoot usually meant that you were spending lots of money, which indeed we did. I can’t remember exactly how much it cost, but I imagine it would’ve been around £100,000, which is obviously totally unheard of these days. We did a video last week for 250 quid. Things have certainly changed.” More from article: The 10 best Squeeze videos, by Chris Difford
This video is about as bad as the video for "Hourglass" was good and clever. Mirrors the songs themselves.
Well actually I was kind of intrigued by the video, particularly the bit where they were roaming around the circuit board. Call me a geek but I seriously was looking at all the labels on the capacitors etc. and going, wow, they have actually totally replicated what these look like. I mean, what the hell - I look at this stuff all the time and it entirely looked realistic to me - as if the entire band had been shrunk down to the size of a printed circuit board (albeit before surface mounted components). Sorry I'll stop geeking out... I do fully appreciate @jimbutsu's unapologetic love for this song and the side lights on the lyrics.
Dreadful. Interesting that this may be one of the last "ph0ne number" songs if true. We certainly didn't need any more did we?
853-5937 - 4 To write a phone number song seems kind of gimmicky, but I do think it's catchy, and usually find myself singing it for a while after hearing it. I've never been too keen on a capella intros, and would have preferred an organ-lead intro like on Tempted. One thing about the intro that I'm hearing is a bad edit approximately 13 seconds in. The line beginning, "She'll give you a ring", sounds off, like it came from a different take or something. No one else has mentioned it so maybe it's just me.
"8535937" Strangely, I quite like this one. The chorus is as banal as anything, but still catchy and memorable, and the verse doesn't sound too far from classic Squeeze - you can hear bits of "Black Coffee" and "Tempted" in there and I like the use of the organ. The bridge is pretty good as well. It gains points for not throwing in the synth horns or any of the other 80s flourishes that we heard in the previous track, and for not outstaying its welcome at all. A pity that this one isn't on my Greatest Hits CD! 3.5/5.
I didn't hear the edit first time, but now that you've mentioned it I can hear it quite clearly and can't unhear it!
I got nothing against phone number songs. Pennsylvania 6-5000 is a great one from the swing era, and I can't resist 867-5309 (Jenny). Squeeze's contribution to this "genre" is neither horrible nor wonderful. I give it a 3/5.
"853-5937" -- 2.5/5 Meh. I don't hate this song, but it's far from one of their better offerings. I was always surprised this was a single. The inclusion of the Hendrix lick in the guitar solo is clever, though.
I've noticed that since I was a kid. I think with headphones if you listen very closely (and probably too loudly) you hear the music leaking or some print through from the multitrack. REM did that same trick with the guitar intro on "South Central Rain." It sounds like they edited in that intro after the fact, so it would be curious to hear an alternate version before the tape surgery. dan c
"853-5937" 4/5 I'm a bit surprised at the hate this song dials up. Some might say Chris phoned in the lyrics, but I still give this little through away my ringing endorsement. (Yay, puns!) I think it sits nicely in the album. A little trite, but I can't help but enjoy it every time it plays. The bridge is brilliant. dan c
The edit probably was intentional, because I doubt something like that would have slipped past Glenn, but to me it just sounds sloppy.
I really like "853-5937" as a bit of fun and lighthearted but also very catchy and well-written pop song. It has a strong band performance as well as great vocals. The background to the song, that it was inspired by Glenn's own answering message, is interesting. I like that Glenn had a jingle as an answering message rather than a plain speaking one - from afar it seems very Glenn to not miss any opportunity to be creative. And I imagine that Chris may have been inspired to write the lyrics after calling Glenn about something several times, only to be greeted by that answering machine jingle (which may have come across to Chris as more and more annoying each time he called). One of Chris's many strengths as a lyricist is how he can write cinematic short story lyrics based on everyday life and bring characters to life, in this case the narrator who is in love with Angela who never answer his calls. The lyrics don't reveal how the story ends or what Angela feels or not about the narrator or his close friend who lives near Angela. It is perfectly possible that she is not interested in either of them and may be out with someone totally different. I like the detail about how she lives in Mill Hill and the narrator in Bermondsey which would be, what, a 30-40 minute subway journey? It is not exactly a long distance and to me there is a sense of humour in the choice of locations. 4/5
"853-5937" has some really good songwriting elements, but I don't think the song is structured all that great. First, opening with an acappella chorus rarely sits right with me (and that apparent edit has never sounded good, I think that's how it was sung and isn't an edit.) The verse is shorter than the chorus, which indicates to me that Glenn didn't have much confidence in the music he wrote for the verse, so he compensated by repeating the chorus too often, which weakens the whole song. The bridge and the "borrowed" Hendrix solo, from 1:46 to 2:21, are my favorite parts (thanks @intv7 for connecting those dots for us), and only happen once each. I think this is another song that would be greatly improved by re-ordering the song into a more conventional sequence, and toning down the volume of the 853-5937 chorus. 3/5
853-5927 I love me some pop music. This one, simple yes, is catchy as heck. It's got a sweet vocal, a brief but rousing guitar solo and a wonderful bridge. It's really difficult to write such a "simple", yet irresistible, pop song. So few people can do that well. I'll take an entire album of this. 4/5
I think the real issue is that Camden is on the Northern Line. I'd never be able to make that relationship work because I'd keep getting off there and just wandering around. Angela: "Where the hell were you?" Me: "There was a ska-punk band at The Roundhouse, what do you want from me?" Angela: "So you just blew me off and went to some show?" Me: "I tried to tell you, if you'd pick up the damn phone once in a while, you'd know!"
853-5937 I like the verses ok but the chorus is grating, especially being repeated so often. The real highlight, however, is the bridge and the short instrumental bit just after. 3/5 P.S. another phone number song not mentioned yet is one from 1978 that reached number 8 in the UK and 27 on the US Billboard - if you want pure pop fun fluff then try 5705 by City Boy...
I've fallen off the wagon train of this thread, due to having a bit of a booze-lose at a Squeeze gig a couple of weeks ago. Oh dear. At least it was a cheap ticket and I'd already seen them the previous week, but all I can say is: be sure to eat more than merely 1 meal in an entire day before drinking copious amounts of wine. Anyway, on with my self-indulgent catchup thread, part one: No Place Like Home - 5/5 Heartbreaking World - 2.5/5 Thank heavens this wasn't a hit. The last thing Squeeze needed was another smash hit from a temporary keyboard player. Can you imagine Glenn having to sing this for the rest of their post-Jools career? Completely mired in the 'Feed The World' era of one-the-nose 'let's save the planet' lyrics. Kudos to Jools for recovering from the boogie-woogie flu and turning in a good vocal performance. Any song that gives Wet Wet Wet their day in court is at least OKish by me. Hits Of The Year - 3/5 Maddening choice of US single, even more maddening to fly them over to film the sheer LOL-fest that was the extremely expensive, but utterly terrible-looking video. When Glenn brushes his hair back near the end, he looks like he's fending off an anxiety attack. Chris and Jools look like they need sent outside the classroom (Chris for forgetting his guitar strap). Musically it's Squeeze not succeeding in being Art Of Noise with those timeless orchestral hit sounds, but strangely impossible to hate. Check out Glenn's demo on his 'When Daylight Appears' CD for the extra keyboard intro, which finally found a home on this year's 'Food For Thought' single. Break My Heart - 3/5 A memorable song that lands a bit odd in the execution. I like the bit near the end where it sounds like someone (Chris?) has thrown himself off a tall building. I Won't Ever Go Drinking Again (?) - 3/5 Semi-comedic country number bent out of shape to resemble Kid Creole's Coconuts on an off day. Which is still decent fun. Suites From Five Strangers - 3/5 I enjoyed the comparisons to Ummagumma and The Residents' 'Commercial Album' - Chris' offering even sounds like it could have been on the latter. Musically useless, but a true curiosity in their canon. Is Keith's contribution literally a pinball machine? The Fortnight Saga - 2/5 Semi-unpleasant sounding demo that goes nowhere, sounds almost as mangled as something off Costello's 'Goodbye Cruel World' masterwork. Love Is A Four-Letter Word - 2.5/5 Jolly Comes Home is vastly superior. What Have They Done? - 4/5 I'm so glad this song exists, as it is - as others have noticed - exactly halfway between the sound of Cosi and Babylon. It feels like much more of a 'band' sound, yet retains the unmistakable mid-80s touches. An excellent song as well, I think it's no longer a spoiler to mention it has been played live presumably for the first times ever on their 2022 UK tour - I think I actually said "NO WAY" aloud when Glenn introduced it.
I would like to take this opportunity to strongly recommend Glenn's mid-80s demo CD 'When Daylight Appears', where you can hear the Babylon & On songs arranged in forms that suggest Glenn is still living in Cosi-land in his head. Also, you get an extra-strong picture of how much he was digging Prince at the time (he listed 1986's 'Parade' as one of his favourite ever albums in a fan club questionnaire), an influence that was a little less pronounced by the time certain songs made it it to the studio.
"853-5937" I used to find the intro so annoying I never even bothered to listen to the rest of the song. Fortunately, it's uphill from there but it never exactly becomes a classic either. Maybe this is nitpicking but why is the message prompt fully in the third-person? It just sounds odd. 3/5
