Spot the Difference

Personnel: Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Chris Difford (vocals, guitar); John Bentley (vocals, bass guitar); Stephen Large (keyboards); Andrew J. Jones (synthesizer, percussion); Simon Hanson (drums).
Audio Mixers: Glenn Tilbrook; Andrew J. Jones.
Recording information: Charlton and Albury Court Studios, Deptford.
The very title of Spot the Difference suggests there are notable variations between this collection of re-recorded hits and the originals, but a quick listen reveals that Squeeze are taunting their audience to differentiate these painstaking re-creations from the originals. Apart from the fact that Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford are several years older -- a fact they take no pains to disguise -- these 15 re-recordings could pass in a pinch for the originals, the arrangements and instrumentation uncannily mimicking the classics. While this hardly supplants those originals, Spot the Difference is a fun spin for the devoted and a good advertisement for Squeeze's reunion tour, proving they still have the knack to entertain. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine