Remember When: Squeeze Tried to Get Four Rock Legends to Produce ‘East Side Story’

From the moment The Beatles broke up in 1970, music journalists and radio DJs were obsessed with finding “the next Beatles.” Throughout the ‘70s no band came close to having the cultural impact the Fab Four had in the previous decade. But in the early ‘80s, many in the music industry pinned their hopes on a quintet from South London. For the first few years of the decade, one could scarcely read or hear about Squeeze without a reference to them being the long-awaited successor to The Beatles.

Squeeze has stuck around long enough to build their own legacy, but one has to wonder how strongly music fans would still associate them with The Beatles if their manager’s plans for their 1981 album East Side Story had come to fruition. Jake Riviera, who managed several English punk and new wave bands, envisioned the album having four big-name artists, including Paul McCartney, as co-producers. Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds would round out the production team, according to Riviera’s plan. While Riviera was shooting for the moon, it’s surprising how close he came to getting Squeeze this dream team of producers.

Trying to Build on Argybargy‘s Breakthrough Success

The next-Beatles hype grew with the success of Squeeze’s 1980 album Argybargy. Peaking at No. 71 on the Billboard 200 with no Hot 100 hits, it was hardly a Beatles-sized hit, but it was Squeeze’s introduction to listeners of album-oriented rock stations in the U.S. Three of the album’s tracks—”Another Nail in My Heart,” “If I Didn’t Love You,” and “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)”—all received airplay on those formats. They were also melodic tunes that furthered the comparisons between their composers, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, with McCartney and John Lennon.

Squeeze had great songs, but they needed something more to get the attention of a larger audience. Riviera had the bold idea of having Squeeze record a double album for their next record, and getting a different artist with name recognition to produce each side. Even a decade after The Beatles’ breakup, few musicians were bigger than McCartney, and his inclusion in the project would have been almost too perfect. Naturally, getting McCartney to co-produce the album that would become East Side Story was a key part of Riviera’s plan.

A Lot of Costello and a Little of Edmunds and Lowe

Anyone could wish to have the likes of McCartney, Costello, Lowe and Edmunds co-produce their clients’ album, but Riviera was uniquely poised to pull it off. He co-founded Stiff Records, and Costello and Lowe had been among the label’s artists. Riviera got Costello and Lowe on board, as well as Lowe’s frequent collaborator Edmunds. He even managed to get McCartney to agree to participate in the project.

Ultimately, McCartney didn’t wind up producing any of East Side Story’s tracks due to scheduling conflicts. Costello co-produced almost the entirety of East Side Story with Roger Béchirian, who had engineered most of Costello’s early albums and co-produced Trust with Lowe. East Side Story was also whittled down to a single album of 14 tracks. Just one vestige of Lowe’s involvement remained. He produced Squeeze’s cover of “Lookin’ for a Love,” which had been a hit for The Valentinos, Bobby Womack and the J. Geils Band. The song didn’t make the final track listing, but it was included on the 1997 reissue of East Side Story. The leadoff track, “In Quintessence,” was the last remnant of Edmunds’ production work to show up on the album.

Edmunds did produce a rendition of East Side Story’s biggest single, “Tempted,” which had a different sound than the final version. Tilbrook, who sang lead on Edmunds’ version, said the song initially “sounded like ELO.” By the time Costello was working on the album, keyboardist Paul Carrack (formerly of Ace and soon to be a member of Mike + the Mechanics) had joined Squeeze. In between takes of other songs, the band started playing “Tempted” in a Motown style. Upon hearing this, Costello wanted the band to rerecord the song in that style, but with Carrack singing the lead vocal part. Tillbrook retained the lead part for the second verse, and Costello sings the low and falsetto parts of the verse.

Not Exactly Beatlemania

East Side Story did chart higher than Argybargy, climbing to No. 44 on the Billboard 200, and “Tempted” was Squeeze’s first song to enter the Hot 100, peaking at No. 49. It was a step forward commercially, though it wasn’t quite in the same ballpark as, say, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or The White Album. Squeeze would chart slightly higher with their 1982 follow-up Sweets from a Stranger (No. 32). With Babylon and On, released in 1987, they would hit the Top 40 of both the Billboard 200 (No. 36) and Hot 100 (with No. 15 “Hourglass” and No. 32 “853-5937”).

Comparing any artist to The Beatles is bound to lead to unfulfilled expectations. Taken on their own terms, though, Squeeze left their mark on the ‘80s with a series of brilliantly crafted songs. They continued to chart in the UK throughout the ‘90s, and after a hiatus that covered most of the aughts, they released three albums during the 2010s. Their 2015 release Cradle to the Grave became Squeeze’s highest-ranking album on the Official Albums Chart in the UK, reaching No. 12. At least in terms of longevity as a band, Squeeze have The Beatles beat, though Difford and Tillbrook have been the only steady members.

Would Squeeze’s career trajectory have been different had McCartney, Lowe and Edmunds each produced a side of East Side Story? We can only guess how that version of that album would have sounded. It’s hard to imagine the buzz surrounding a McCartney/Costello/Lowe/Edmunds-produced album wouldn’t have raised Squeeze’s profile. Then again, the quality of Squeeze’s songs speaks for itself. “Tempted” and earlier hits like “Cool for Cats” and “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)” have only grown in popularity since their initial release.

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Photo by Mike Prior/Redferns