East Side Story is the fourth studio album by new wave group Squeeze. The album peaked at number 19 in the UK Albums Chart, spending 26 weeks in the listing. The album was a definite break with Squeeze's "New Wave" sound, as it contained songs influenced by rockabilly, R&B, blue-eyed soul, Merseybeat, and psychedelia among other genres. It also contained Squeeze's last top 10 UK single, "Labelled with Love". It was the first album to feature new keyboardist Paul Carrack, replacing Jools Holland who had departed in early 1981. He sang lead on the track "Tempted", which became Squeeze's first U.S. chart hit. Shortly after the release of this album, Carrack left the band for a solo career, but he returned to Squeeze for a time in the early 1990s, playing and singing on the Some Fantastic Place album. In the UK, East Side Story was reissued on CD in 1997 with two album outtakes, as part of the band's Six of One... box set. The set included the band's first six studio albums, all digitally remastered. A year later, each separate CD was made available for individual purchase. In 2007, the album was digitally remastered and released in Japan. It contained two extra bonus tracks, both taken from B-sides from the album's singles; Trust, and Yap, Yap, Yap.
Recording
The initial concept for the album, proposed by manager Jake Riviera, was for Squeeze to record a double album with one side produced by Elvis Costello, another by Dave Edmunds, a third by Nick Lowe and the fourth by Paul McCartney. Although all producers were willing, the logistical difficulty of assembling the four producers ultimately made the plan impossible. In the end, the album was narrowed down to a single disc and was largely produced by Costello and Roger Bechirian, though Dave Edmunds produced the opening track, "In Quintessence". In the studio, Costello, in the line of his longtime producer Nick Lowe, served more as a creative advisor while Bechirian handled the technical aspect of production. Bechirian explained, "Elvis sat there and pontificated a lot about this, that, and the other and I got on with getting the stuff down and rallying the band. I mean, Elvis did have an influence to some extent, but it wasn't that great". Chris Difford spoke glowingly of Costello's influence, saying, "I was in complete awe of working with him. It was a great challenge to come in every day with a lyric that would be better than the one he might come up with.... I could tell which were the weak ones just by looking at his face". The album was halfway completed when John Lennon was assassinated on 8 December 1980. The band were in the studio at the time; Difford recalled, "We went into the studio and a dozen or so musicians just dropped in. We cracked some beers and just played John Lennon songs the whole day. It was highly emotional".
Reception
In 1989, the Toronto Star music critics took to look over the albums they had reviewed in the past four years to include in a list based on "commercial impact to social import, to strictly musical merit." East Side Story was placed at number 2 on the list, only being beaten by Thriller by Michael Jackson. The Toronto Star went on to note that "songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook hit their creative peak in 1981, grafting Motown rhythms, country melodies and close harmonies onto a nervy New Wave soundtrack. At once ironic and sentimental, East Side Story is a masterpiece of kitchen-sink drama, from the shattered war bride in "Labelled With Love" to the harried housewife of "Woman's World"." The New York Times praised the album as an "exceptionally satisfying pop record". Bechirian later said of the album, "I think the sound they got was amazing on that record. I'm really, really pleased with it. I think it's one of the best works that I've been involved with". Difford named the LP one of the two great albums that Squeeze ever made.
Track listing
All tracks written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook except where noted. Side A
