Cool for Cats is the second studio album by the English new wave group Squeeze, released in 1979. Cool for Cats contains four UK hit singles, more than any other album the band has issued. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK Albums Chart, spending 11 weeks in that listing.

Critical reception

In 1979, Billboard selected Cool for Cats as one of its "recommended LPs" and cited "Slap and Tickle", "Hop, Skip & Jump", "Up the Junction", and "It's So Dirty" as the album's "best cuts".

Reviewing the album in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "Power poppers (remember them?) suck this stuff up, and I understand why—not only does its songcraft surpass that of the band's debut, but it also isn't quite as sophomoric. It's sophomoric enough, though, and like so many such records makes you wonder where the power is. Not in the vision, that's for sure. And not in the beat. Great song: 'Up the Junction.'"

In 1995, Chris Woodstra proclaimed Cool for Cats to be a "pure pop masterpiece" in the All Music Guide to Rock.

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook except "Hop, Skip & Jump", by Difford and Jools Holland.

  1. "Slap & Tickle" – 4:00
  2. "Revue" – 2:30
  3. "Touching Me Touching You" – 2:25
  4. "It's Not Cricket" – 2:35
  5. "It's So Dirty" – 3:11
  6. "The Knack" – 4:34
  7. "Hop, Skip & Jump" – 2:46
  8. "Up the Junction" – 3:12
  9. "Hard to Find" – 3:37
  10. "Slightly Drunk" – 2:41
  11. "Goodbye Girl" – 3:08
  12. "Cool for Cats" – 3:39

Bonus tracks (1997 reissue)

  1. <li value=13>"I Must Go" – 2:16
  2. "Ain't It Sad" – 3:29

Bonus tracks (2007 Japanese remaster)

(Note: These bonus tracks precede the 1997 bonus tracks on the album.)

  1. "Saints Alive" – 2:30
  2. "All's Well" – 2:27
  3. "Christmas Day" – 3:53
  4. "Going Crazy" – 3:53
  5. "Blood and Guts" – 5:01

Personnel

Squeeze

  • Glenn Tilbrook – keyboards, lead guitars, vocals
  • Jools Holland – keyboards, vocals (7)
  • Chris Difford – rhythm guitars, vocals
  • Harri Kakoulli – bass
  • Gilson Lavis – drums

Production and technical

  • Squeeze – producers, arrangements
  • John Wood – producer, arrangements
  • Brian Humphries – engineer
  • Andrew Lumm – engineer
  • Laurence Burrage – assistant engineer
  • Michael Ross – art direction
  • Geoff Halpin – original sleeve design
  • Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff – artwork
  • Janette Beckman – photography
  • Mark Hanauer – photography
  • Chuck Beeson – cover design
  • Cindy Marsh – illustrations
  • Glenn Tilbrook – digital remastering
  • Roger Wake – digital remastering

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ Chart performance for Cool for Cats

!Chart (1979)

!Peak<br />position

|-

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

|align="center"|18

|-

!scope="row"|UK Albums (Official Charts Company)

References

  • Album summary