Thursday, March 21, 2024

Jamaica World Music Festival, Montego Bay, Jamaica, 11-27-1982, Part 4: Squeeze

The second act on the third day of the 1982 Jamaica World Music Festival was the British band Squeeze.

Probably the most noteworthy aspect of this performance is that it was the very last concert given by the original version of Squeeze. The band had been formed back in 1974, and had put out albums from 1977 to 1982. But their 1982 album "Sweets from a Stranger" was not well received critically or commercially, although I personally think it's a solid album. That, on top of other problems led to the break-up.

Lead singer Glenn Tilbrook later commented, "The band was not in a happy place on the year from 'East Side Story' to 'Sweets from a Stranger.' There were some great songs on 'Sweets from a Stranger,' but the band itself did not feel great; there was dark cloud above us. It was just hard work being on the road then, and it was an odd time. Really, when you're having that sort of success, no manager is going to say, 'You need to stop for a while.' And no one did, so we had to."

As it so happened, the band reunited for a one-off charity concert in 1985, and had such a good time that they decided to stay together. The band continued all the way until 1999, and there have been more reunions since then. But I think they lost a lot of career momentum with their original break-up.

Anyway, there's no sign that this was a final concert to my ears. They didn't give any good-bye announcement to the crowd. Most importantly, it was a good performance, and they seemed to be having fun. They also played some interesting covers that never appeared on any of their studio albums: "Tracks of My Tears," "I Heard It through the Grapevine," and "Time Is Tight."

This album is 52 minutes long.

45 talk (Squeeze)
46 Another Nail in My Heart (Squeeze)
47 In Quintessence (Squeeze)
48 Cool for Cats (Squeeze)
49 talk (Squeeze)
50 Annie Get Your Gun (Squeeze)
51 Black Coffee In Bed (Squeeze)
52 Take Me, I'm Yours (Squeeze)
53 Out of Touch (Squeeze)
54 I Can't Hold On (Squeeze)
55 Tracks of My Tears (Squeeze)
56 talk (Squeeze)
57 Is That Love (Squeeze)
58 Tempted (Squeeze)
59 Pulling Mussels [From the Shell] (Squeeze)
60 talk (Squeeze)
61 I Heard It through the Grapevine (Squeeze)
62 Time Is Tight [Instrumental] (Squeeze)
63 Messed Around (Squeeze)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17314989/VA-JmicaWrldMsicFstvlMntgoByJmica__11-27-1982Prt04Sqez_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PpHHcA2g

I couldn't find any good photos of the band from the festival. I had trouble finding any good photos of the band in concert from that year at all. My search was made harder because I wanted a photo of the band at night, since their set definitely took place at night. I ultimately used just a photo of lead singer Glenn Tilbrook, taken some time in 1981.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this festival. It's one of those that fell through the cracks when it came to establishing a new annual "thing." It's also not well documented online.

    A question though... Squeeze and Toots & The Maytalls are listed on the playbill as having performed on the second day. The English Beat played on the third day. Joe Jackson played on the first day. Did the lineup change as the Festival drew closer?

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  2. Very nice! Love melody driven pop rock! Great band!

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