3000 Years Ago

Who are these guys? I don't know and don't want to know. I like the mystery surrounding some bands. My brother and I were introduced to Anthony Meynell and Squire by my brother's friend Pierre (of WC for Functionary fame). We knew nothing about these guys except the date they recorded and that they were obviously British. Over twenty years later, I still know nothing. I like not knowing. Maybe my brother and I willed them into being. Maybe they were a collective dream like the one we had about a cartoon staring Rick Springfield called Do You Believe in Magic? I could easily find out everything I want to know and more from The Internet. Both probably have multiple fan sites. But I don't want to. A little mystery is a good thing. Especially when living in an era where any mystery can be dispelled with a few keystrokes.

Growing up in an isolated northern kingdom with no access to decent music magazines, radio, record stores, or even knowledgeable music fans, mysteries tended to remain mysteries. Bands I liked seemed to have dropped from the sky and being unable to find any trace of them outside my or a few of my friends' basements, I often felt they may have been figments of our imaginations, created just for us. Finding a stray mention in an otherwise Metal focussed magazine , or the occasional video slipped into Music Plus' "Rage" (no not "Rage". What was it called before that?) would be so thrilling! They exist! I'm not crazy!

No evidence of Squire was ever found… until now. I downloaded it from itunes. Who would've thought to look?

So how is it? After a couple of listens, it is definitely falling into the "better than I remember" category. Before I listened I could only hazily remember a couple of songs that had stood out at the time, but ten seconds into each song my memory was fully restored and I was singing along to tunes I hadn't heard in twenty years!

They were part of the late seventies/ early eighties mod revival (despite there insistence to the contrary : "Me and my friends we get pretty violent/ when you say we're just a mod revival yeah!"). In the eighties revival that was big in the decade that just past, the focus was mainly on a handful of post punk bands and mining their deep vein of arty, moody pop, so it's easy to forget what else was going on in the eighties' underground. For instance, the huge number of sixties influenced bands. Every city and town had it's own mop-topped band churning out Nuggets covers/ rip offs. They were everywhere. I guess Squire can be included in this group. However, they don't go in for the rough and sloppy sounds of the Nuggets influenced garage bands. They play for the same team as the Jam. A heavy mod influence coupled with a crisp, clear, uncluttered sound that highlights great hooks and a tight band. 

I was reminded of Raphael Saadiq again and again while listening to Squire. It may sound strange but they both do the same thing. They operate in a past genre without aping it, sounding nostalgic, or being a lesser version of the respective styles they've chosen to play. Squire do absolutely nothing that hadn't already been done one generation earlier by their heroes but damn they do it well! Great song writing, performed well, and recorded perfectly will always be worth listening to. The more I listen to music the more I feel the pop music timeline collapsing on itself.  Is this from '66, '81, or '09? Who cares? Not interested.

Me and my ears are glad we dug this one up.