Squeeze: Greatest Hits

Album Review

Released in England in 1992, and reissued straight-up nearly a decade later in America, the 20-track collection Greatest Hits is a very good collection that captures Squeeze at their best, even if it doesn't contain all of their best moments. This contains pretty much everything on the 1982 collection Singles: 45s and Under — every one but one of the 12 tracks, with the sublime "If I Didn't Love You" down for the count, but supplanted by the terrific "Labelled With Love," so it's a draw — and it brings it up to speed with selections from 1985's Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti to 1991's Play, with a total of eight tracks, including the big hit "Hourglass" and one of its successors, "Footprints" (but not "853-5937," yet there's still a good portion of Babylon and On here). This certainly provides a more generous selection of material, which is welcome, but the record doesn't summarize the group's great period as Singles: 45s and Under, nor is it quite as infectious. Still, it does have more tracks, and it covers the post 1982 period very well, so it does fulfill its goals very well, and, for listeners looking for a fuller collection, this may very well be the choice — especially since it contains almost all of Singles.