As in the band "Squeeze." There's some sort of haphazard reissue problem going on in the U.K., where four of their collections ("Sweets From A Stranger", "Frank", "Ridiculous" and "Argybargy") were just reissued with extra tracks. "Argybargy" gets the swanky clear-plastic cover "Deluxe Edition" treatment with both extra B-side type tracks and a second CD featuring a live show from March 9, 1980. Which just proves conclusively that this was one friggin' tight band back in the day...
Speaking of "tight"... the singer-songwriters behind Squeeze, Difford and Tilbrook, were part of a "track by track" type book a couple years ago where they basically admitted they hated each other for long periods during Squeeze's run. (They've evidently made up, since the band toured last year.) I don't know, somehow knowing that does color my impression of the albums. Maybe I just want to imagine that the guys behind such sunny songs were cheerful chaps themselves, and learning they could barely tolerate one another diminishes my enthusiasm.
Same things happened when I read the bio of John Fogerty. Incredible musician, but boy, we're talking about one angry man, who refused to perform with his original band-mates when CCR was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. He wound up performing with a pick-up band while CCR's rhythm section sat seething in the audience. Or Three Dog Night... the survivors continue to tour, but they won't let vocalist Chuck Negron anywhere near them. (In that case, Negron freely admits he was the bad guy, ahh, heroin...)
I guess that's the downside of reading these backstage stories... the salacious details are intriguing in a gossipy way, but they pop any fantasy "Patridge Family"-ish" balloon that may have been constructed while savoring their efforts. Suppose that's why it's called "fantasy"...
