{"id":30866,"date":"2017-10-12T20:34:53","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T19:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=30866"},"modified":"2017-10-12T20:34:53","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T19:34:53","slug":"get-the-knowledge-squeeze-mark-definite-return-with-new-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2017\/10\/get-the-knowledge-squeeze-mark-definite-return-with-new-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Get The Knowledge: Squeeze Mark Definite Return With New Album"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Before you are issued with a licence to become a London taxicab driver, you have to pass The Knowledge, a rigorous test of the driver’s familiarity with a number of pre-set London street routes and places of interest. A London cabbie will know how to get in and out of traffic jams, the shortest route, the most scenic route, and so on. It might seem like your driver is taking you on a circuitous route, but you know you’ll get there, because your driver has The Knowledge. Similarly, ‘The Knowledge’, from Squeeze, takes a rather winding route from the opening song, ‘Innocence In Paradise’, to final song, ‘Two Forks’, but we get there in the end.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A 12 track album which nicely picks up where ‘Cradle To The Grave’ justify off in 2015, ‘The Knowledge’, from Squeeze, sets the band firmly back on track, in preparation for their forthcoming UK tour.<\/p>\n

‘The Knowledge’ has so much to give. Opening with the gently rocky ‘Innocence In Paradise’, and then the up-tempo ‘Patchouli’, it’s as much a journey through life as through the the album. With track titles such as ‘A&E’ (which reminds us of ‘Up The Junction’ in its look at everyday life – in this case in the A&E department of a hospital), ‘Rough Ride’, ‘Departure Lounge’, and ‘Final Score’, we’re given the feeling that we’re looking at someone’s life, but just like taking a London cab, it’s not necessarily a direct route: the life story happens in the middle of the album. Having said that however, as much as ‘The Knowledge’ is a concept album, each song is good enough to stand alone on its own merits.<\/p>\n

‘Albatross’ with its “clickety-clack” rhythms and harmonies feels familiar, there’s a 60s vibe about it, while ‘The Ones’ is a slow funk track with an almost tropical feel.<\/p>\n

There is something for everyone on ‘The Knowledge’; fast-paced tracks, jazzy numbers, even an instrumental, ‘Elmers End’, which sounds exactly like the actual location as the terminus for Croydon’s trams: you’re enjoying the ride but you know you’re coming to the end.<\/p>\n

And the end, ‘Two Forks’, is brilliant. Great lyrics like “We’re tossed up like salad, two forks of our life”, and “Our tastes are so different, we’re so far apart, but we’re joined together, have been from the start” are multi-layered gems, simplistic until you realise it’s about life: no matter what the ups and downs, so long as we stick at it, it all works out in the end.<\/p>\n

‘The Knowledge’ is out tomorrow, 13 October, and available here<\/a>. Squeeze are currently on tour across the UK:<\/p>\n

October 2017<\/p>\n

13th Oct \u2013 Bristol Colston Hall
\n14th Oct \u2013 Leicester De Montfort Hall
\n16th Oct \u2013 Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
\n17th Oct \u2013 Guildford G Live
\n19th Oct \u2013 Ipswich Regent
\n20th Oct \u2013 Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
\n21st Oct \u2013 London Indigo At The O2
\n23rd Oct \u2013 Reading Hexagon
\n24th Oct \u2013 Southend Cliffs Pavilion
\n26th Oct \u2013 Sheffield City Hall
\n27th Oct \u2013 Cambridge Corn Exchange
\n28th Oct \u2013 Harrogate International Centre
\n30th Oct \u2013 Manchester Bridgewater Hall
\n31st Oct \u2013 Edinburgh Usher Hall<\/p>\n

November<\/p>\n

2nd Nov \u2013 Gateshead Sage
\n3rd Nov \u2013 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
\n4th Nov \u2013 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
\n6th Nov \u2013 London Royal Albert Hall<\/p>\n

Find out more about Squeeze online on their official website<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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