Yes, new material will be great when it comes, but with their musical creativity never in question, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook had two aims with this brilliant idea. Firstly, to "own" a piece of the many musical gems they have created. They admit to this. Secondly, to prove that they still have all of the technical talent and physical ability to sing, play, and produce a record exactly as they did in their youth on the major record labels. I've always wanted to see if a musical artist could pull something like this off. These aren't just alternate takes from the same day, studio, and producer. These are self-produced versions decades removed from the originals, but so faithful to the originals it scares me. I'm sure it was a painstaking process.
Imagine the Beatles if they were all still with us, going into a studio and attempting to record "A Hard Day's Night" again in 1994 and making it sound like the 1964 original. The result would be quite interesting. How about Rembrandt duplicating one of his early masterpiece paintings thirty years later? Both paintings would still be almost priceless today.
Squeeze fans will think Gilson Lavis is providing the beat on "Another Nail in My Heart", and Jools Holland is doing the piano solo on "Pulling Mussels From the Shell". Difford & Tilbrook surprisingly sound 21 years old on "Cool for Cats" and "Up the Junction" respectively.
Now let's have fun spotting some of those tiny differences. The biggest is that Tilbrook does the lead vocal on "Loving You Tonight", achieving something he could never do on "Tempted": He sings the song every bit as good as (and maybe better than) Paul Carrack. Carrack guests on "Tempted" and sings it straight, but some slight phrasing differences are revealed. In the chorus of "Another Nail...", D & T shorten the vocal note on the words "found" and "tough". "Black Coffee in Bed" has less echo on the guitar solo, and the preaching vocals during the fade out are more soulful and clear. Tilbrook does nearly perfect copies of all the guitar solos, with split seconds of differences here and there making it interesting. John Bentley on bass is at his early 1980s best. I believe I notice a difference in the synth pattern on "Goodbye Girl". Recorded DIY style with updated technology and equipment, I find I prefer the sound profile of many of these cuts slightly over the originals I have loved. This project has pressed the reset button on this band, bringing back the feeling of energetic New Wave freshness, and preparing the current lineup for the time when new material is to be recorded, and supporting tour commenced.