“The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums” gives you exactly what the title implies: a rare or out-of-print album from the ’80s in its entirety. Some will be from CD, but most will have been lovingly transferred from pristine vinyl culled directly from the Analog Kid’s vast collection. Whatever album I choose, it will be one that you can’t easily find a physical copy for sale on Amazon or in your local record store (if you even have one anymore). Death…by stereo!
The mid-’80s were a rough period for Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook. The two leaders of Squeeze decided to break up the band after the lukewarm response to 1982’s Sweets From A Stranger, but then strangely opted to continue working together as a duo. That move didn’t go over particularly well with fans of the band– why split up Squeeze at all if the two primary members were still going to work together? The resulting Difford & Tilbrook album didn’t make much of an impact on the charts, and the duo ultimately decided to reclaim the Squeeze name.
1985’s Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti was the first album release from the reunited band, but the ill will created by the group’s initial split seemed to carry forward. Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti didn’t spawn any hit singles or sell particularly well, but it does contain some really good tunes (let’s be honest– Difford & Tilbrook could write catchy melodies in their sleep). “Last Time Forever” is one of my favorite Squeeze songs, and a certain music blog writer even used the lyrics from “By Your Side” in an attempt to offer love and support to a beautiful but troubled female acquaintance. She wasn’t buying it, which in retrospect seems a rather appropriate response to a song from this sweet yet unappreciated record.
Squeeze: Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti
A&M Records, 1985
1. “Big Beng” (Difford/Tilbrook)
2. “By Your Side” (Difford/Tilbrook)
3. “King George Street” (Difford/Tilbrook)
4. “I Learnt How To Pray” (Difford/Tilbrook)
5. “Last Time Forever” (Difford/Tilbrook)
6. “No Place Like Home” (Difford/Tilbrook)
7. “Heartbreaking World” (Difford/Holland)
8. “Hits Of The Year” (Difford/Tilbrook)
9. “Break My Heart” (Difford/Tilbrook)
10. “I Won’t Ever Go Drinking Again (?)” (Difford/Tilbrook)
I Won’t Ever Go Drinking Again (?)
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Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
Squeeze: “When The Hangover Strikes” (Difford/Tilbrook)
From the album Sweets From A Stranger
A&M Records, 1982
Difford & Tilbrook: “Hope Fell Down” (Difford/Tilbrook)
From the album Difford & Tilbrook
A&M Records, 1984
Squeeze: “Last Time Forever” [Single Version] (Difford/Tilbrook)
A&M Records, 1985
Last Time Forever [Single Version]
The Analog Kid 