Glenn Tilbrook- ripping it up at 61.

Gassage

Still a sublime performer.

Whole show here, very good. And the Black 65 tele is back!

Neill

I agree.  Yet another contender for most underrated guitarist award.

57Deluxe

Nail Through My Heart solo - always loved that....

ronnyb

Saw him at the Brewery Arts centre Kendal about 3 years ago. What a performer. Just him and his acoustic, sang all the old Squeeze songs. 

Gassage

Neill said:

I agree.  Yet another contender for most underrated guitarist award.

Most unassuming man ever and I worked with him a fair few times when I owned the Casting biz.

tampaxboo

i had the '45 and under' singles comp on my mp3 for about three months but had to take it off because it was too damn catchy and was getting into things i was trying to write at the time that i expressly wanted not to be catchy. but great new wave pop. sits sort of between xtc and costello, with a strong ray davis-esque flavour to the social observation.

re the nail in my heart solo, that's a beauty. he can play.
i also really like the 'pulling mussles from a shell' one-note-solo in which he echoes/pans a single repeated note across eight straight bars while the rest of the band rotates the chord changes underneath. it's like the buzzcocks 'boredom' (later orange juice 'rip it up') solo. less is more.
it demonstrates Tilbrook's sensitivity as a musician that, being able to 'do the do' (as he so clearly can in 'nail in my heart), he also appreciates how to exploit the musical potential in strict economy to maximum effect. once someone has learned to widdle it is often hard to get them to consider alternatives. having gained the abilty to show off spins their heads. but Tilbrook is smart and keeps his options wide open, from one note solos to full widdle.

i also loved what he did to Cameron.

“I grew up in council housing,
Part of what made Britain great,
There are some here who are hellbent,
On the destruction of the welfare state."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/glenn-tilbrook-lead-singer-of-squeeze-explains-why-he-shamed-david-cameron-on-the-andrew-marr-show-a6809636.html

i wouldn't say politics was a big part of their purpose, but when Tilbrook slips social coment into his lyrics you always feel that it's with integrity and sincerity. 'up the junction' is a famous one. he knows that world from first hand experience, the highs and the lows, and has bruises to show.
personally i can respect his comment on those themes far more than the so-called credible social commentators from that time. faux political bands like the clash leave me cold. when the hell did diplomat's son, boarding school and art school Strummer ever spend a childhood on a council estate? it's sixth formers talking about what they imagine it feels like to be poor. patronising bandwagon-jumping. you can like their music for the punk textures but it's insincere posturing as far a political statement.

one thing i do hold against Tilbrook is the first line of up the junction "i never thought it would happen with me and the girl from Clapham".
once you have heard it the only way to get it out of your head is to have it surgically removed.

Fretwired

Neill said:

I agree.  Yet another contender for most underrated guitarist award.

Not sure he is .. when they were popular he was lauded as a good player. Always performed well live.

Wazmeister

Saw him at the Robin a few years ago... just him and a few Taylor acoustics... superb !

Gassage

@tampaxboo ;

Diff wrote all of those lyrics, not Glenn!

Agree with your thrust- you want to hear Glenn playing country - he's bloody incredible.

tampaxboo

Gassage said:

@tampaxboo ;;;;;;;;

Diff wrote all of those lyrics, not Glenn!

Agree with your thrust- you want to hear Glenn playing country - he's bloody incredible.

thanks for the correction Gassage. ah well, from the united forces of Squeeze.

edit. just re-read inteview in Independent story and Glen says:

“Just 10 minutes or so before we went on, I was listening to the interview he gave to Marr and he was talking about his housing policy. And I felt: “I have to say something. I couldn’t look myself in the eye if I didn’t take this opportunity.” I didn’t tell anybody what I was going to do – I didn’t want to make anyone else nervous. But I just knew I’d hate myself if I didn’t say something.”

so maybe that was him?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/glenn-tilbrook-lead-singer-of-squeeze-explains-why-he-shamed-david-cameron-on-the-andrew-marr-show-a6809636.html

ourmaninthenorth

Bloody marvellous. 

Cracking post James. 

Gassage

ourmaninthenorth said:

Bloody marvellous. 

Cracking post James. 

Paul, ironically, last time I saw Glenn, I took @miserneil - we had a good catch up with him, went home, and it was the day I was robbed and cleaned out.

TheBigDipper

I've never seen Glenn give a bad performance, and I've seen him once a year over the last 8 or 9 years. You sort of take Squeeze for granted until you go see him (or the pair of them) and get run over by hit after hit after hit.

My fave is "Some Fantastic Place". 

chillidoggy

If only it wasn’t a Telecaster.

tampaxboo

another cheeky solo in this one, reminds me of Harrison (Help/Rubber Soul era) channelling Perkins and Atkins. solo at 1m28s:

KKJale

Yolanda Charles is absolutely killing it on bass in that show. So effortless, and her timing is spectacular. With her onboard it's one of the best line-ups I can remember. 

IvisonGuitars

KKJale said:

Yolanda Charles is absolutely killing it on bass in that show. So effortless, and her timing is spectacular. With her onboard it's one of the best line-ups I can remember. 

Yes, great band! I recorded an album with Simon Hanson (drummer) a few years ago. Effortless.

Gassage

chillidoggy said:

If only it wasn’t a Telecaster.

That tele- 1966 trans logo, B Bender on it. Hefty weight.

Glenn also has an all original 1952 blonde, that's made from helium- about 5lbs!, that Elvis Costello bought him for singing on Good Yr for the Roses.

Gassage

TheBigDipper said:

I've never seen Glenn give a bad performance, and I've seen him once a year over the last 8 or 9 years. You sort of take Squeeze for granted until you go see him (or the pair of them) and get run over by hit after hit after hit.

My fave is "Some Fantastic Place". 

So, that song is about GT's fiance and schoolday sweetheart, who passed aged 24 from cancer.

It almost killed Glenn and he actually went through a stage of heroin use as a result (which he's open about) and it caused a rift between Glenn and Difford.

One day, a year or so later, Glenn came down to his kitchen, and there was a note on the table. The lyrics were about his fiance, from Chris.

Fantastic Place was a reference to Glenn quitting the dope and being where he needed to be.

He wrote the music in 6 minutes and he'll tell you it's still his favourite song they wrote together.

She gave to me her tenderness
Her friendship and her love

There in the sky above
We grew up learning as we went
What a voyage our life could be
It took us through a wilderness
Into the calmest sea
Her smile could lift me from the pain
I often found within
She said some things I won't forget
She made a few bells ring
So simple her humility
Her beauty found in grace
Today she lives another life
In some fantastic place
She showed me how to raise a smile
Out of her bed of gloom
And in her garden sanctuary
A life began to bloom.
She visualised a world ahead
And planned how it would be
She left behind the strongest love
That lives eternally
I have the hope that when it's time
For me to come her way
That she'll be there to show me round
Whenever comes that day
Her love was life and happiness
And in her steps I trace
The way to live a better life
In some fantastic place 

ourmaninthenorth

Gassage said:

ourmaninthenorth said:

Bloody marvellous. 

Cracking post James. 

Paul, ironically, last time I saw Glenn, I took @miserneil - we had a good catch up with him, went home, and it was the day I was robbed and cleaned out.

I remember that particularly ugly incident...

Dominic

Labelled with Love ...........one of my all time best songs/lyrics