Play
Studio album by
Squeeze
ReleasedJuly 1991
StudioReal World Studios (Box, Wiltshire); Helicon Mountain Recording Studios (Blackheath, London); Zeitgeist Studios (Los Angeles, California); Ocean Way Recording (Hollywood, California, US)
GenreRock
Length52:25
LabelReprise
ProducerTony Berg
Squeeze chronology
A Round and a Bout
(1990)		 Play
(1991)		 Some Fantastic Place
(1993)
Singles from Play
  1. "Sunday Street"
    Released: July 1991
  2. "Satisfied"
    Released: July 1991 (US Promo), 4 November 1991 (UK)
  3. "Crying in My Sleep"
    Released: 1991

Play is a 1991 album by the British new wave group Squeeze. It is the band's ninth album, and their only released by Reprise Records. It is the first LP in the Squeeze discography to feature only four official members instead of five (Steve Nieve took on many of the keyboard duties that would have gone to Jools Holland in the past). Tony Berg produced the album. In the liner notes to the 1996 Squeeze compilation Excess Moderation, Glenn Tilbrook stated that he considers Play the beginning of Squeeze's "renaissance period." The album spent one week at number 41 in the UK Albums Chart in September 1991.[1]

The liner notes to the album are, appropriately, in the form of a play that incorporates the lyrics of the songs in a script that also references the plays Our Town by Thornton Wilder and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

Recording

Play was recorded in Greenwich, London at WoodWharf Studios.[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
NME7/10[3]

Play received some positive reception from critics. Stewart Mason of AllMusic proclaimed the record to be "probably Squeeze's best post-reunion album", naming the tracks "The Truth" and "Walk a Straight Line" as "particular highlights".[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook.

  1. "Satisfied" – 5:10
  2. "Crying in My Sleep" – 5:03
  3. "Letting Go" – 5:01
  4. "The Day I Get Home" – 4:50
  5. "The Truth" – 4:12
  6. "House of Love" – 3:23
  7. "Cupid's Toy" – 4:31
  8. "Gone to the Dogs" – 3:54
  9. "Walk a Straight Line" – 3:50
  10. "Sunday Street" – 4:16
  11. "Wicked and Cruel" – 4:14
  12. "There Is a Voice" – 4:01

Personnel

Squeeze

Additional musicians

Choir on "The Day I Get Home"

Production

  • Squeeze – arrangements
  • Tony Berg – producer, arrangements
  • Chris Lord-Alge – basic track recording
  • Ken Jordan – overdub recording
  • Steve Reincoff – overdub recording
  • Bob Clearmountain – mixing
  • Ronnie Box – recording assistant
  • Chris Lawson – recording assistant
  • Terry Medhurst – recording assistant
  • Kim Champagne – art direction
  • Jeff Gold – art direction
  • Enrique Badulescu – photography
  • Miles Copeland III – management
  • John Lay – management

References

  1. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 522/3. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. 1 2 3 Stewart Mason. "Play - Squeeze | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Staunton, Terry (31 August 1991). "Long Play". New Musical Express. p. 34.
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