''Babylon and On'' is the seventh album released in September 1987 by the British new wave group Squeeze.

History

Eric "ET" Thorngren produced the album, along with

Glenn Tilbrook Glenn Martin Tilbrook (born 31 August 1957) is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid-1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally wrote the music for Squeeze's son ...

. The group officially expanded to a sextet with the addition of former Soft Boys member Andy Metcalfe; a bassist in that group. But here, Metcalfe was used as a second keyboard player (behind

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...

). However, despite being pictured and billed as a full member of the band, the track-by-track musician listings included with this album reveal that Metcalfe only played on three songs: "Tough Love", "The Prisoner" and "Some Americans". Metcalfe left Squeeze before their next album was recorded, although he worked again with

during his solo years. The album peaked at number 14 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, the highest ranking there for a Squeeze album, aside from

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

compilations, until '' Cradle to the Grave'' (2015) reached number 12. The album was released in September 1987 and gave them their biggest US hit single, "

Hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...

." The song became an unexpected US hit for the band, reaching number 15 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, which

Chris Difford Christopher Henry Difford (born 4 November 1954) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member and songwriter of the rock group Squeeze. Musical career Born in Greenwich, London, Difford has written ly ...

attributed to the video for the song as much as the song itself: "I would think that the video has had a lot to do with it. It’s been played a lot, and everybody you speak to compliments you on it. When you meet fans after gigs, they say, “Your video’s great.” They don’t say, “Your album’s great.” So it’s the first thing they think of."Bud Scoppa with Darryl Morden Music Connection, 25 January 1988 A second song released in the US later in the year, "

853-5937 "853-5937" is a song by English rock band Squeeze released on the band's 1987 album ''Babylon and On''. Released as the fourth UK single and the second US single from the album, "853-5937" was a moderate chart hit in both nations, reaching nu ...

", also landed at number 32 on the US Hot 100.

Music

Chris Woodstra opined ''Babylon and On'' to be a "return to the more straight-ahead pop of their classic period".

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave a mixed summary of ''Babylon and On''. Although reviewer Chris Woodstra held the album's resurrection of older sounds to be "a welcome one", he opined that the moved seemed "forced", despite noting "some moments of inspiration".

Track listing

All songs written by

and Glenn Tilbrook. # "

" – 3:16 # "Footprints" – 3:49 # "Tough Love" – 3:07 # "The Prisoner" – 4:06 # "

" – 3:16 # "In Today's Room" – 3:28 # " Trust Me to Open My Mouth" – 3:12 # "Striking Matches" – 3:02 # "Cigarette of a Single Man" – 3:29 # "Who Are You?" – 3:30 # "The Waiting Game" – 3:06 # "Some Americans" – 4:40

Bonus tracks on UK CD version

"Splitting into Three" – 3:35 # "Wedding Bells" – 2:21

Bonus tracks on Japanese CD version

"Wedding Bells" – 2:21 # "Take Me I'm Yours" (live) – 4:04

Personnel

Squeeze *

– backing vocals, guitars (1-9, 12), co-lead vocals (3), lead vocals (8), acoustic guitar (10),

nylon guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor ...

(11) *

– lead and backing vocals, guitars (1-4, 6, 9, 12), horns (1), keyboards (2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10),

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

(3), lead guitar (5, 7), percussion (6), electric guitar (10, 11), acoustic piano (12),

sequencing In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which succ ...

(12),

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

(12) *

–

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(1, 3-10), acoustic piano (4-7, 9, 11), keyboards (9) *

Andy Metcalfe Andy Metcalfe (born 3 March 1956, Bristol, England) is an English bassist, keyboardist and producer, who played mainly with The Soft Boys (with Robyn Hitchcock, 1976–1979), Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians (1984–1994), and with Squeeze off ...

– keyboards (3, 4),

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

(4), horns (4, 12) * Keith Wilkinson – bass (1-7, 9, 10, 11), basses (8, 12), backing vocals (7) *

Gilson Lavis David Leslie Gilson Lavis ( , born 27 June 1951, Bedford, England) is an English drummer and portrait artist. He gained fame as the drummer with band Squeeze in the 1970s and 80s. Lavis is currently the drummer for Jools Holland's Rhythm and ...

– drums, percussion (2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10), tambourine (12) Additional personnel *

T-Bone Wolk Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (December 24, 1951 – February 28, 2010) was an American musician and bassist for the music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates and a member of the ''Saturday Night Live'' house band. Life and career Wolk was born and raised in Yon ...

–

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

(3, 8, 12) *

Del Newman Derrick Martin "Del" Newman (5 October 1930 – 10 August 2020) was a British conductor, orchestral arranger and music producer. His orchestral arrangements appeared on songs by many rock and pop artists from the 1960s to the 1990s, including Ca ...

– string arrangements and conductor (11) * Monique Dyan – backing vocals (4, 5, 6, 10), lead vocals (8) * Pam Baker, Stewart Dunning, Mike Sheerie, Glenn Tilbrook and Keith Wilkinson – mob vocals (8) Production * Glenn Tilbrook – producer * Eric "ET" Thorngren – producer, arrangements, engineer, mixing * Squeeze – arrangements * Roger Dobson – assistant engineer * Spencer Henderson – assistant engineer * John Lee – assistant engineer * Lance Phillips – assistant engineer * Steve Williams – assistant engineer * Gary Wright – assistant engineer * Femi Jiya – additional engineer (6, 7) * Jack Skinner – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York, USA) *

Stylorouge Stylorouge is a graphic design studio based in Yalding, Kent, formed in London by creative director Rob O'Connor in 1981. Art work created by the studio has included record sleeve designs for bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees for their 1981's ...

– design * Nels Israelson – photography

Charts

References

External links

Album summary
{{Authority control Squeeze (band) albums 1987 albums A&M Records albums Albums produced by Glenn Tilbrook