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Cool for Cats (album)

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Cool for Cats
Studio album by
Squeeze
Released6 April 1979 (1979-04-06)
Recorded1978 and 1979
StudioOlympic Studios, Britannia Row Studios and Sound Techniques (London, UK)
Genre
Length38:12
LabelA&M
ProducerJohn Wood and Squeeze
Squeeze chronology
Squeeze
(1978) 		Cool for Cats
(1979) 		Argybargy
(1980)
Singles from Cool for Cats
  1. "Goodbye Girl"
    Released: 3 November 1978
  2. "Cool for Cats"
    Released: 9 March 1979
  3. "Up the Junction"
    Released: 18 May 1979
  4. "Slap and Tickle"
    Released: 31 August 1979

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,[3] 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.[3]

Its 1997 CD release, as part of the Six of One... box set contained two bonus tracks. This collection included the band's first six studio albums, each digitally remastered. In 1998 the six CDs were released individually. In 2007, the album was digitally remastered and released with 5 bonus tracks exclusively in Japan. Each of the 5 tracks came from B-sides from the singles released from the album.

Content

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Billboard said Cool for Cats was a "hard-rocking" album with "hard-edged power pop".[2] Alluding to the record, Steven Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described Cool for Cats as "the work of a rock & roll band [...] that lathered on the keyboards and herky-jerky rhythms".[4]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Smash Hits9/10[7]
Uncut9/10[8]
The Village VoiceB[9]

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".[2]

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.'"[10]

In 1995, Chris Woodstra proclaimed Cool for Cats to be a "pure pop masterpiece" in the All Music Guide to Rock.[11]

Track listing

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All songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook except "Hop, Skip & Jump", by Difford and Jools Holland.[12]

  1. "Slap and 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)

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  2. "I Must Go" – 2:16
  3. "Ain't It Sad" – 3:29

Bonus tracks (2007 Japanese remaster)

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(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

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Squeeze

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

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Chart performance for Cool for Cats
Chart (1979) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[13] 18
UK Albums (Official Charts Company)[3] 45

Certifications

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Certifications for Cool for Cats
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[14] Gold 20,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Silver 60,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Cool for Cats – Squeeze". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Squeeze: Cool for Cats". Billboard. Vol. 91, no. 16. 21 April 1979. p. 62. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 522/3. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  4. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Argybargy – Squeeze". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  5. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Squeeze". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  6. ^ Considine, J. D. (2004). "Squeeze". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 773–74. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ^ Starr, Red (22 March – 4 April 1979). "Albums". Smash Hits. Vol. 1, no. 8. p. 31.
  8. ^ Watts, Peter (October 2015). "How to Buy". Uncut. No. 221. p. 59.
  9. ^ Christgau, Robert (30 July 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  10. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved 13 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  11. ^ Woodstra, Chris; Bogdanov, Vladimir; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas, eds. (2002). All Music Guide to Rock (3rd illustrated ed.). Backbeat Books. ISBN 9780879306533.
  12. ^ "Squeeze (2) - Cool For Cats". discogs. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  13. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 316. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  14. ^ "Squeezing the Gold". Cash Box. 2 February 1980. p. 37. Retrieved 3 December 2021 – via World Radio History.
  15. ^ "British album certifications – Squeeze – Cool for Cats". British Phonographic Industry.
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