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 marked a shift from the new wave sound of their earlier work, 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".

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".

Music

Simru Sonmez-Erbil opined that East Side Story was "more blended with their post-punk sound" and that it "demonstrated the band's ability to make any musical styling work". The album saw the band diverging from their traditional new wave sound and integrating elements of progressive rock, psychedelia,

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Upon its release, East Side Story was praised by contemporary critics in the British music press. Smash Hits Ian Cranna gave the album a 9 out of 10 rating, praising the songwriting partnership of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook and the musical diversity, and Record Mirror Mike Nicholls was similarly impressed, giving it a full five star rating.

In 1989, the Toronto Star music critics took a 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.

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

Personnel

Squeeze

  • Glenn Tilbrook – lead vocals, lead guitars
  • Chris Difford – rhythm guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Someone Else's Heart" and "Heaven"
  • Paul Carrack – keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Tempted"
  • John Bentley – bass, backing vocals
  • Gilson Lavis – drums

Additional personnel

  • Del Newman – orchestra arrangements
  • Elvis Costello – additional vocals on "Tempted", backing vocals on "There's No Tomorrow"

Production

  • Dave Edmunds – producer (1)
  • Neill King – assistant producer (1)
  • Roger Bechirian – producer (2–15)
  • Elvis Costello – producer (2–15)
  • Nick Lowe – producer (16)
  • Bob Bromide – photography

Charts

Album

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Chart performance for East Side Story

!scope="col"|Chart (1981)

!scope="col"|Peak<br />position

|-

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

| 19

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard Pop Albums

| 44

|}

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!align="left"|Year

!align="left"|Single

!align="left"|Chart

!align="left"|Peak<br />position

|-

|align="left"|1981

|align="left"|"In Quintessence"

|align="left"|Billboard Mainstream Rock

|align="left"|39

|-

|align="left"|1981

|align="left"|"Tempted"

|align="left"|Billboard Mainstream Rock

|align="left"|8

|}

References

Citations

Sources