When Chriis Difford and Glen Tilbrook busted up their band Squeeze, a lot of people were dissapointed, including me. When they released Difford & Tilbrook in 1984, I think everyone was dissapointed. Except me.  

You can see what this Anglo songwriting team might have been thinking. ”Tempted,” with a lead vocal by Paul Carrack (and with production and a vocal cameo by Elvis Costello), had climbed to #49 in the United States in 1981, and “Black Coffee in Bed” bubbled under at #103 the following year. Middling success, if that, and all of it possible because of the group’s nearly ubiquitous video presence at the early MTV.

What was sharing cable time with Squeeze in those years, and doing much better on the American pop charts to boot, were all those New Romantic and related bands…Culture Club (”Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” “Karma Chameleon), Spandau Ballet (”Gold”), Thompson Twins (”Hold Me Now”), Duran Duran (”Hungry Like the Wolf”), Human League “Don’t You Want Me”), and ABC (the single “Look of Love” but also the entirety of Lexicon of Love, which is, believe it or not, one of my favorite albums ever).

Difford & Tilbrook was the pair’s attempt, it seems to me, to ride this bandwagon to greater success, a way to get more people to hear and appreciate their literate (nee, wordy) and often challenging songs. Well, it didn’t work; Difford & Tilbrook stiffed, commerically and critically. Why?

Well, on the latter point, it simply isn’t as strong a collection of songs as were those now classic Squeeze albums Argy Bargy, East Side Story, and Sweets from a Strangers. (On this count, it was dissapointing.) As for its failure to connect with a wide audience, or really any American audience at all, I wonder if it doesn’t have to do with gravitas. As in, too much of it. Difford & Tilbrook is a very serious record that also takes itself very seriously. Whereas most of those other bands above had a a bit of winking fun along with the earnestness. Martin Frye of ABC and Boy George, for instance, were deadly serious but also goofy, campy, flamboyant, and melodramatic–all at once. Chris and Glen weren’t so good with goofy. Nore were they much for dancing, despite the album’s move-the-crowd beats.

But the record holds up well, I think, a prime example of brainy and blue-eyed New Romantic soul, and I’m very glad it’s been reissued.

Difford & Tillbrook “Picking up the Pieces” and “Hope Fell Down” from Difford & Tillbrook (A&M, 1984/2006)

James Hunter’s brand of Charlie Rich-meets-James-Brown soul (c. 1964) is so completely in my wheel house that I can’t believe I’ve only just this year discovered him. I wrote about his latest album here back in the spring. But apparently I wasn’t the only interested American who was just hearing about this Brit veteran; Hunter’s 1996 Hep Cat release, …Believe What I Say, has now been reissued by Ace.

It’s of a piece with the new record–in the pocket grooves and soulful singing without once over emoting. It may, in fact, be a little too of a piece. I suspect that if you listened to Hunter too long it would all begin to blur together. He is an act who, on record at least, is both ridiculously unmistakably gifted without finally being particuarly distinctive. 

For instance, …Believe What I Say includes a pair of duets with Van Morrison on a pair of Bobby Bland covers–two singers that Hunter owes a lot to, and that are singular to Hunter’s high-quality generic. When I hear Van the Man or Bobby Blue, I hear only them; when I hear Hunter, I think of Charlie-Rich-meets-James-Brown, c. 1964. But I don’t want that to sound like a complaint, really, not a serious one. Hunter’s fantastic, rivetting even, but best listened to a few tracks at a time. 

James Hunter “Way Down Inside” and “Out of Sight” from …Believe What I Say (Hep Cat Records, 1996/Ace Records, 2006) 

***** 

Head over to Locust Street and celebrate its two-year anniversary as one of the best audio blogs in the universe. Congratulations, Chris….Derek “Bostworld” Bostrom has posted a 1989 interview he did with the king of studio drummers, Hal Blaine….I’m a little late on this, but PBS has begun reshowing Eyes on the Prize as part of American Experience (which, at least here in KC, runs on Monday nights), the civil rights documentary series that I’d say everyone American should watch at least once or twice a decade. Encourage your local library to buy the newly reissued DVD collection, too….The Onion’s AV Club has selected my and Bill Friskics-Warren’s Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles as one of 17 Essential Music Books. Neato!

****

Those paying attention will have noticed things have been slow here lately. That’s about to change. Next week is Chuck Berry’s 80th birthday and here at Living in Stereo we are honoring the Berry with a week or more’s worth of posts, including several guest posts from friends around the internet. See you Thursday.

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