Cool for Cats [Import, Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

Squeeze | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 4, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered, Extra tracks
• Label: Polygram UK
• ASIN: B000007WEB
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,122 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Slap & Tickle

2. Revue

3. Touching Me Touching You

4. It's Not Cricket

5. It's So Dirty

6. The Knack

7. Hop Skip And Jump

8. Up The Junction

9. Hard To Find

10. Slightly Drunk

11. Goodbye Girl

12. Cool For Cats

13. I Must Go

14. Ain't It Sad

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered reissue of their second album (1979),complete with the two tracks from the box set: 'I Must Go' &'Ain't It Sad'. 14 tracks total, also featuring 'Slap AndTickle', 'The Knack', 'Up The Junction', 'Goodbye Girl' and'Cool For Cats'. 1997 A&M release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweetly succinct, irresistible pop..., March 12, 2005

By 

M J Heilbron Jr. "Dr. Mo" (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cool for Cats (Audio CD)

"Cool For Cats" is the album where Squeeze hit their stride, when Difford & Tilbrook were mentioned in the same sentences with Lennon & McCartney.

In retrospect, that seems hyperbolic, but I couldn't resist falling in love with this album. And Squeeze in general. Squeeze was a band to love.

As other reviewers have noted, the production here shows its' age, and it really wasn't that spectacular to begin with. This remaster (finally, thank you very much) presents the album as clean as it's ever gonna get.

You'll hardly notice, as the sheer tunefulness of these songs...the melodies that firmly lodge in your brain, the harmonies very suggestive of those Fab Four, the dizzying piano fills, locomotive drumming...it's a set of terrific songs. And Squeeze doesn't sit around wasting a lot of time...7 of the original 12 songs are under three minutes.

Many of them paint little English vignettes, as detailed as a small, independent film.

Personal favorites include the opener, "Slap and Tickle" with it's proto-synth-pop background;
"It's Not Cricket" - a lovely story-song with boinging bells and piano;
"Hop, Skip and Jump" - their best-bar-band-in-the-world song;
"Slightly Drunk" - for the opening line ""slightly drunk once again";
and the exquisite "Goodbye Girl"...
...heck, I could find something nice to say about pretty much every song on the record.

This one's up there with the greats, and pretty much essential to anyone who likes what was once called "power pop". Squeeze towers over that genre...and here's where it begins.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Squeeze Beginning To Find Their Sound, November 1, 2002

By 

Eric R. Last "misterrockobscurities" (San Bruno, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cool for Cats (Audio CD)

Squeeze's first three albums trace the startling transformation of a band evolving from a diamond-in-the-rough punk band with an unmistakable pop sensibility, to a polished new-wave outfit that seems to effortlessly crank out an unending stream of catchy masterpieces. "Cool For Cats" is the second album, and the sound is squarely in the middle between the stumbling debut, "UK Squeeze", and the fully-developed third album, "Argybargy", a true classic of Beatlesque pop-rock. The distinctive vocal sound of early Squeeze comes from the unusual gimmick of having both Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford singing the lead together, with Tilbrook an octave higher than Difford. But it wasn't long before they moved away from that sound, with the sweeter-voiced Tilbrook gradually taking over most of the lead vocal chores from the courser Difford. At the same time, the punk-ish energy of the earlier material gave way to the slower tempos and polished professionalism that has characterized the band for most of their long career. This evolution was dramatic and unmistakable from the debut, to "Cool For Cats", to "Argybargy", by which time the transformation was almost complete. "Cool For Cats" highlights are many, starting with the lead track, "Slap And Tickle", which is very reminiscent of the debut. The album then hits a lull, with the next 5 tracks not making much of an impression, but it finishes with 6 straight winners, starting with the high-energy pop of "Hop Skip And Jump". The next track is the stunning "Up The Junction", with Difford's lyrics telling a woeful tale of boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl because of his heavy boozing. Practically a short story set to music. The booze theme is repeated 2 songs later on the irresistibly catchy "Slightly Drunk". In fact, excessive drinking would become a recurring theme for lyricist Difford for many years to come. The next track, "Goodbye Girl" is a Tilbrook-sung ballad with a lovely melody, the type of song that would become Squeeze's trademark. The album comes to a close with the delightful, punky title track. All in all, a stellar effort by one of the greatest pop-rock bands ever.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE COOLEST VERSION OF THIS CD AVAILABLE!, August 30, 2007

By 

BOB (LOS ANGELES, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cool for Cats (Audio CD)

Wondering why this particular mini-sleeve is the most expensive in the set of 7 Squeeze albums released earlier this year?

It's because there are not one, not two, not three, not even four, but FIVE album sleeves included in the package!

There is the original purple sleeve with embossed raised lettering. The other four 'sleeves are iridescent blue, yellow, pink and green (see images above, and if you want to have fun, run your mouse cursor over all of them quickly for a show).

A very "Cool" album just got even kewler!

The masters used for this album and the rest of the set are the same remasters done in '97. However, most or all of these have more bonus tracks, also remastered for these editions, than the U.K. '97 releases.

WHAT IS A JAPAN "MINI-LP-SLEEVE" CD?

Have you ever lamented the loss of one of the 20th Century's great art forms, the 12" vinyl LP jacket? Then "mini-LP-sleeve" CD's may be for you.

Mini-sleeve CDs are manufactured in Japan under license. The disc is packaged inside a 135MM X 135MM cardboard precision-miniature replica of the original classic vinyl-LP album. Also, anything contained in the original LP, such as gatefolds, booklets, lyric sheets, posters, printed LP sleeves, stickers, embosses, special LP cover paper/inks/textures and/or die cuts, are precisely replicated and included. An English-language lyric sheet is always included, even if the original LP did not have printed lyrics.

Then, there's the sonic quality: Often (but not always), mini-sleeves have dedicated remastering (20-Bit, 24-Bit, DSD, K2/K2HD, and/or HDCD), and can often (but not always) be superior to the audio on the same title anywhere else in the world. There also may be bonus tracks unavailable elsewhere.

Each Japan mini-sleeve has an "obi" ("oh-bee"), a removable Japan-language promotional strip. The obi lists the Japan street date of that particular release, the catalog number, the mastering info, and often the original album's release date. Bonus tracks are only listed on the obi, maintaining the integrity of the original LP artwork. The obi's are collectable, and should not be discarded.

All mini-sleeve releases are limited edition, but re-pressings/re-issues are becoming more common (again, not always). The enthusiasm of mini-sleeve collecting must be tempered, however, with avoiding fake mini-sleeves manufactured in Russia and distributed throughout the world, primarily on eBay. They are inferior in quality, worthless in collectable value, a total waste of money, and should be avoided at all costs.