Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1979. I’ve pulled Squeeze’s second album today for a couple of random reasons: 1) we were on vacation out of the country last week and it was amazing and gorgeous but I really missed our cats and 2) because the Vault doubles as a guest room and my folks had to spend the night due to crazy early/late flight departures, the large boxes of overflow records that usually occupies the floor in front of the “S” section is currently vacant to make space for visitors allowing me to more easily grab a record from that section. By April, when the 40th anniversary of this record’s release hits, I have a feeling Cool for Cats won’t be as effortless to procure.

Cool for Cats was very successful in the UK; it went to #45 on the album chart with four hit singles. Overall the album is very Britishly bright early new wave with pub rock roots, a little goofy (especially tracks like “It’s Not Cricket” and “It’s So Dirty”) in the spirit of Monty Python, The Young Ones, etc. – oddball and delightful with the addition of some boogie woogie piano. The first single, “Goodbye Girl,” went to #63 though a different version appears on the LP. The title track “Cool for Cats” became one of Squeeze’s biggest hits, going to #2 in the UK. I don’t think it charted in the US but I totally remember hearing this song back then. “Up the Junction” was the third single and also went to #2 in the UK. The final single, “Slap and Tickle” went to #24 and apparently is either a euphemism for sex or police brutality (based on the lyrics I’m guessing Squeeze meant the former).