Squeeze return on October 2 with new album Cradle To The Grave, their first album of new songs since Domino in 1998. An early run of 1,000 copies is on sale now via Squeeze’s website.
Cradle To The Grave is produced by Glenn Tilbrook with Laurie Latham, who produced Squeeze’s 1985 album Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti. First single Happy Days is available now, while the title track and Top Of The Form have been previewed live.
Squeeze’s line-up features Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, with drummer Simon Hanson and keyboardist Stephen Large, who joined Squeeze when the band reformed in 2007. John Bentley, previously Squeeze’s bassist from 1980-82 before rejoining in 2007, played on sessions for the album before he left in 2014. The remaining bass is by new bassist Lucy Shaw, formerly of Oi Va Voi.
Cradle To The Grave is also being used as the soundtrack to September’s new BBC1 comedy-drama of the same name, based on Danny Baker’s autobiography, which stars Peter Kay as Baker’s dockworker father Fred.
Tilbrook said: “When I read the book, I got in contact with Danny and said that I thought we could do something together with his book. Danny was already talking with??his co-writer Jeff Pope about a TV series, and the mood and sentiment of Cradle were completely in sync. Danny and Jeff both loved it, and everything else followed on from there.”
Explaining the wait for a new album, Tilbrook said: “Four years ago we agreed that, if we were to carry on, we really needed to work on new material.” Difford added: “We’ve grown up a lot in the last few years, musically. We still love our own past but, as musicians, we needed to grow.”
The full tracklisting of the album is:??
Cradle To The Grave; Nirvana; Beautiful Game; Happy Days; Open; Only 15; Top Of The Form; Sunny; Haywire; Honeytrap; Everything; Snap, Crackle And Pop.