User Profile

What a pleasant surprise! While I enjoyed Squeeze's previous albums "Cool for Cats" and "Argybargy" for their chill upbeat vibe, Eastside story enters some pretty artsy territory. That in part can be attributed to Elvis Costello's work on the album. His influence is clearly heard in the country-esque "Labelled With Love" and "Messed Around", both sounding like something out of the album "Almost Blue".

East Side Story also has more socially conscious lyrics, making the songs slightly more somber. There’s plenty of upbeat songs for good measure, but it’s no Argybargy. Though many songs such as "Someone Else's Bell" and "Tempted" share Costello's theme of romantic struggle, there are some surprisingly touching songs that lament the status quo of women such as "Vanity Fair”, “Labelled With Love and "Woman's World". Each song tells the story of a woman who struggles with societal ties, ranging from a housewife who has a mental breakdown to an empty model. It’s a unique subject and told very well.

Along with the excellent lyrics, East Side Story is wonderful musically. There’s A LOT of variety on this album. Each song seems to progressively enter more experimental realms lyrically and musically. The first four songs are great pop tunes, kicking off with the constant chord changing “In Quintessence” to the well known “Tempted”. Then comes “There’s No Tomorrow” and “Heaven”, with wistful bells and warped guitar chords; both are strange yet pleasing. The album becomes espeically creative when the string section is introduced in the tense “F-Hole” and melancholy “Vanity Fair”.

It's a shame that the double-LP never reached full fruition. It would have been interesting to hear Dave Edmund's, Nick Lowe's and Paul McCartney's take of a Squeeze album. That’s the only flaw I see in this album. It feels like East Side Story has a lot more to say. But that's a good problem to have I suppose. It's a classic in my book.