News

Squeeze / Play reissue and new album Trixies

Squeeze reissue and new album

By John Earls

Comments

10

Squeeze are to reissue their 1991 album Play this week – ahead of the band’s new album, Trixies, which is due in early March.

Squeeze have a notably troubled relationship with reissues, as they have endured a long dispute with their former label, Universal, whose A&M subsidiary released the majority of Squeeze albums from their self-titled debut in 1978 until the band split in 1999.

Of the original incarnation of Squeeze, only Play and their final album Domino, which was self-released on Quixotic in 1998, were released away from A&M. With Play being released originally by Reprise, it’s left Warner free to reissue it, as a remastered CD and 2LP vinyl set, adding the four B-sides from the era as bonus tracks.

The new edition is the first time Play has been released on vinyl since its original 1991 appearance, and its first CD pressing since a 2008 US release on specialist American reissue label Wounded Bird.

Reprise signed Squeeze after they were dropped by A&M after poor sales of the preceding Frank in 1989, which ended their relationship after eight albums. However, while Play improved on Frank’s No 58 UK chart peak, it missed the Top 40, stalling at No 41.

Its two singles – ‘Sunday Street’ and ‘Satisfied’ – both missed the Top 75, ‘Sunday Street’ making No 87 and ‘Satisfied’ No 132. With the original Play album lasting 53 minutes, side four of the 2LP vinyl is rounded out by the B-sides of ‘Sunday Street’ and ‘Satisfied’, in ‘Happiness Is King’, ‘Laughing In My Sleep’, ‘Maidstone’ and ‘Mood Swings’. These are also added to the CD.

With Jools Holland leaving Squeeze for the second time after Frank, Play is the only Squeeze album to feature a traditional guitar/bass/drums four-piece line-up, with Steve Nieve of Elvis Costello And The Attractions replacing Holland as a guest musician on keyboards, alongside Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford, Gilson Lavis and Keith Wilkinson.

Play is also notable as an early album to be produced by Tony Berg, who had only previously produced Michael Penn and Altered State. Berg is now a leading producer of singer-songwriters in the US, working on albums for Phoebe Bridgers, Boygenius, Sombr, Andrew Bird and Lizzy McAlpine, as well as the Taylor’s Version of Taylor Swift’s Red.

The reissue of Play is followed in March by Trixies, Squeeze’s first new album since 2017’s The Knowledge. It’s released on BMG. Difford and Tilbrook have admitted they were disillusioned by the relative disinterest shown to The Knowledge, which reached No 25 in the UK, and were happy to continue touring their old material.

However, around their 50th anniversary tour in 2024 the pair revisited the unreleased songs they wrote when they first met in 1974. Based around a fictional nightclub in South London, where Squeeze formed,  Tilbrook’s meloides were too complicated for the band to actually play. Their current line-up have instead revisited them. Trixies is produced by Squeeze bassist Owen Biddle, a longtime fan of the band who joined in 2020, having previously played in The Roots.

Trixies, the new album due in March

As well as recording Trixies – which is available as a 2CD+blu-ray edition with Dolby Atmos Mix – Difford and Tilbrook have written an album of new songs. Largely recorded simultaneously alongside Trixies, this second new album needs “two or three more” songs to be finished, according to Tilbrook. It will be finished once promotional work is completed on Trixies.

After Play, Squeeze rejoined A&M, releasing Some Fantastic Place in 1993 and 1995’s Ridiculous before again leaving the label. In 1997, their first five albums, from Squeeze to Sweets From A Stranger, were reissued on CD, each with just two bonus tracks.

A seemingly random selection of four albums were reissued with around eight bonus tracks each in 2008: 1980’s Argybargy, Sweets From A Stranger from 1982, Frank and Ridiculous. Since then, Squeeze have refused Universal permission for any reissues. This means no Squeeze album has had a deluxe edition, while Ridiculous remains unreleased on vinyl. 

In 2010, Squeeze went as far as releasing Spot The Difference, in which they re-recorded 14 old hits, designed to sound as close to the originals as possible, hoping these would become the preferred visions for sync campaigns, to earn them royalties instead of Universal.

However, there have been rumours that Squeeze and Universal are close to reaching an agreement on the band’s catalogue, so that reissues can recommence. Tilbrook said in the current issue of Classic Pop: “We’re a commodity first and foremost, and Universal would like to utilise that opportunity, to recast what Squeeze mean to people. We’re very open to working with anyone who could help boost that. There’s plenty of stuff which could be rediscovered. It could happen soon, as Universal know where we are.”

Play is reissued by Warner on January 23. Trixies is released by BMG on 6 March 2026. The 2LP version of Play appears to be an indie-only release

Play 2LP pre-orders

Tracklisting

Play Squeeze / Reissue

      1. Satisfied (2026 Remaster)
      2. Crying in My Sleep (2026 Remaster)
      3. Letting Go (2026 Remaster)
      4. The Day I Get Home (2026 Remaster)
      5. The Truth (2026 Remaster)
      6. House of Love (2026 Remaster)
      7. Cupid’s Toy (2026 Remaster)
      8. Gone to the Dogs (2026 Remaster)
      9. Walk a Straight Line (2026 Remaster)
      10. Sunday Street (2026 Remaster)
      11. Wicked and Cruel (2026 Remaster)
      12. There Is a Voice (2026 Remaster)
      Bonus tracks
      1. Happiness Is King (2026 Remaster)
      2. Laughing in My Sleep (2026 Remaster)
      3. Maidstone (2026 Remaster)
      4. Mood Swings (2026 Remaster)

Tracklisting

Trixies Squeeze /

    • CD: Trixies
      1. What More Can I Say
      2. You Get The Feeling
      3. The Place We Call Mars
      4. Hell On Earth
      5. The Dancer
      6. Good Riddance
      7. Don’t Go Out In the Dark
      8. Why Don’t You
      9. Anything But Me
      10. It’s Over
      11. The Jaguars
      12. Trixies Part One
      13. Trixies Part Two
    • CD 2: Demos and Live Tracks

      Demos

      1. What More Can I Say?
      2. You Get The Feeling
      3. Hell On Earth
      4. The Dancer
      5. Good Riddance
      6. Don’t Go Out In The Dark
      7. Why Don’t You
      8. Anything But Me
      9. It’s Over
      10. The Jaguars
      11. Trixies Part One And Two
      Live At The Roundhouse, London, November 2024
      1. You Get The Feeling
      2. Trixies Hell On Earth
    • Blu-ray with Atmos Mix
      1. What More Can I Say
      2. You Get The Feeling
      3. The Place We Call Mars
      4. Hell On Earth
      5. The Dancer
      6. Good Riddance
      7. Don’t Go Out In the Dark
      8. Why Don’t You
      9. Anything But Me
      10. It’s Over
      11. The Jaguars
      12. Trixies Part One
      13. Trixies Part Two

SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

Related Content

10 Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
10 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments