Trixies

Saqueezeのオリジナル・メンバーでありソングライティング・チームのChrisとGlennが、10代の時に構想を練りデモ音源を制作したがリリースされずお蔵入りとなっていた幻のデビュー・アルバム、『TRIXIES』が50年以上の時を経て遂にリリースされる!キラキラと輝いていた10代の頃の作品を卓越した技術を身に着けたベテランとなった2人が現代の音楽制作を駆使し仕上げた野心作!

約8年5カ月ぶりとなる16作目のスタジオ・アルバム。
■仕様:スタンダード・デジパック

When Squeeze went into the studio to cut their debut album in 1977, John Cale, who was producing the set, arbitrarily ordered the group to throw out all the songs they had written for the LP and write new ones on the spot. (He also curiously wanted to name the album Gay Guys, a theme that hadnt informed their songs before.) This scorched earth policy wiped out what Squeeze first had in mind, and one wonders what Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook would have delivered if theyd been working with a less dictatorial producer. 2026s Trixies doesnt answer this question, but it does offer some notion of how Squeeze would have introduced themselves to the world under different circumstances. Before Squeeze landed their first record deal (and when Difford and Tilbrook were still in their teens), they wrote and demoed a concept album about the denizens of a nightclub whose clientele were by turns classy and debauched, and after rediscovering the tapes, they opted to revive the songs more than 50 years after they were abandoned. While its clear some revision has been done on the songs (given the passing references to life in the 1980s), Trixies does indeed sound like Squeeze in an alternate universe, where their Beatles-gone-new-wave outlook wasnt fully formed, and R&B, glam, and soft rock influences were audible in the music. These melodies are often busier than classic Squeeze, the storytelling is more Ray Davies than Lennon/McCartney ("The Place We Call Mars" makes it clear they were also into David Bowie), and theres a theatrical bent to the material that doesnt entirely mesh with the through-line of the narrative, which is shaky at best. That said, Difford and Tilbrooks juvenilia is the work of boys who would mature into one of the best songwriting teams of their generation, and the production and arrangements are more ambitious and accomplished than they could have pulled off in their youth. ("The Jaguars" sounds like it could have fit on Cool for Cats or Argybargy with a few tweeks.) The 2026 edition of Squeeze, anchored by bassist Owen Biddle (who produced the album), makes music thats rich limber, and they make the most of the ideas the groups songwriters dreamed up a few decades back. One hopes Difford and Tilbrook have some great new songs in the works, but if Squeeze wanted to take a look at their past, Trixies is a smart and unexpected way to do it. ~ Mark Deming