Review With hilarious honesty, Squeeze's frontman reveals how his pop career went well and truly Up The Junction!―MAIL ON SUNDAYChris Difford's characteristically dry memoir deals with political conflicts closer to home. Opening with the early, boozy days of Squeeze, it ends in 2016 when the band appeared on The Andrew Marr Show. Spotting then prime minister David Cameron on the sofa, keen to justify his government's decision to knock down old council estates, singer Glenn Tilbrook improvised new lyrics: "I grew up in council housing," he sang, "Part of what made Britain great / There are some here who are hell bent / On the destruction of the welfare state." Difford reports that the PM clapped along, then "came over to us at the end of the show and said, ' You know I think that song is going to be a hit!'"―DAILY TELEGRAPHAs anyone who has listened to "Cool for Cats" or "Up the Junction" will know, Difford's lyrics are superb at noticing the unconscious poetry of everyday life, and the early chapters of this book are tightly packed with the sights, the sounds and especially the smells of his childhood: the "sweetest smell of peat burning on the fire" in his Irish aunt's house, "the dry crusty odour of socks in football boots" at school, or the heady teenage scent of "Brut and spray-on deodorant".―THE GUARDIANThis conversational memoir from Chris Difford - one of the principal songwriters of beloved U.K. pop act Squeeze - covers a lot of ground: his south London childhood; the band's career ups and downs; and his non-Squeeze detours, including managing Bryan Ferry."Some Fantastic Place" is distinguished by its admirable candour: Unlike many artists, Difford is reflective about the obstacles he's had to overcome (e.g., flying anxiety, substance abuse, relationship breakdowns), and he is direct and forthcoming about how these things inform his life and music, even in the present. However, Difford's dry sense of humor also shines through - for instance, speaking of the band's first, ill-fated U.S. gig, at The Lighthouse in Bethlehem, New Jersey, he writes, "We literally played to one man and a dog. We were forced to play a second set by the owner. The dog left." Lovely and enriching, "Some Fantastic Place" is very much worth a read.―SALON Read more About the Author Born in Greenwich, London, Difford has written lyrics for over thirty years, most notably in partnership with Glenn Tilbrook. The two were primary members in Squeeze and Difford & Tilbrook. Some of their best-known songs are 'Tempted', 'Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)', 'Black Coffee in Bed', 'Cool for Cats', 'Up the Junction' and 'Annie Get Your Gun'.After the breakup of Squeeze in 1983 Difford continued writing songs with Glenn Tilbrook for artists such as Helen Shapiro, Billy Bremner and Elvis Costello. He has also written lyrics for music by Jools Holland, Elton John, Wet Wet Wet, Marti Pellow and others. In 1985 Squeeze reunited, having hits in the U.S. with Babylon and On, 'Hourglass' and '853-5937'. Difford left the group in 1999 launching a solo career in 2003 with his album I Didn't Get Where I Am. Difford was also manager of Bryan Ferry and The Strypes. In March 2010, Difford curated Songs in the Key of London, an evening of music dedicated to the capital at the Barbican Centre, London. Read more
G**B
Turns out this great songwriter can write books too!
I'm only 5 chapters in so far, but Difford's book is an absolutely delightful read -- even the "childhood stuff" which is often skip-worthy in biographies is fun to read and insightful. Fun to learn what helped form the author into the artist he is today. Plus, it's great to get the inside scoop from one of the greatest bands of all time. Highly recommended! And now if you'll excuse me, I'll be listening to all of my Squeeze albums over and over for the next few months.
G**G
Sunlight on the Lino...
Very honest book about one of my favorite songwriters. Being that it’s an autobiography, I didn’t expect the writer to actually show warts and all. Wow, this guy is the proverbial fellow that falls into a pile of horse manure and keeps pulling out ponies.If ever there was a story of the lucky man, this is it!
A**N
Some Fantastic Place
I literally just started this book today and it reads like Chris Difford is talking right to me this book is a fun read and a treasured book in my collection
E**E
Good read
I’m not really familiar with Squeezes material except for Tempted. But I enjoy reading about a fellow musicians journey as I did with this book.
W**L
So perfect
I read this as I turned 60, thinking it would bring me back to my early days as a young Squeeze fan. It did. But it also gave me guidance and words to carry into my next stage of life. Chris is a wise man, and I take his story to heart. Such a perfect ending to a story that keeps going...
G**N
Five Stars
Squeeze fans will really enjoy this book. My husband read it in about two days.
D**E
There was so much I did not know about Chris
Candid, well written, and interesting
J**T
The man who writes the words
As Chris Difford writes, “My history with Squeeze carries weight, and people want to know all about this part of me.”‘Some Fantastic Place’ charts the band’s critical and commercial ups and downs as well as its bewildering changes of personnel and managers but at the heart of both book and band, is Difford’s complicated relationship with his song-writing partner, Glenn Tilbrook.Difford-Tilbrook have often been likened to Lennon-McCartney and this book sharpens the parallels in some respects, with Difford-Tilbrook being at least as prolific (with 137 songs, including ‘Take Me I’m Yours’, written in their first year together); a shared ambition to write a musical; and Chris sharing John Lennon’s problem of remembering lyrics when performing, even when they were very memorable and he was their author.‘Some Fantastic Place’ also points to the differences with Lennon-McCartney, including a much clearer division of labour between the lyric writing Difford and the tunesmith Tilbrook (who also took the lead in terms of arrangement, recording and performance). Although now fulsomely acknowledging Tilbrook’s many vital contributions to the band, including his constantly embracing change, Difford admits that for many years there was unspoken rivalry between the two men for the band’s leadership; a leadership to which Difford could lay claim insofar as it was Tilbrook who had originally responded to his advertisement for a guitarist rather than vice versa (a claim somewhat diminished by the fact that Difford was guilty of false advertising in claiming that there was a band or recording deal at that time) and because Squeeze songs are all lyric-driven, as Difford’s words precede Tilbrook’s music.The word “unspoken” was used advisedly in the preceding sentence because one of the problems with which Difford has laboured throughout his life is that - ironically for a lyricist - he finds difficulty in putting his feelings into words in everyday life. This has been both curse (for many relationships) and an artistic blessing for, as he explains in ‘Some Fantastic Place’, “When I was a child, to be told to speak when spoken to by my mother gave me the backstage pass to my imagination, and there I found the many songs and stories I have written and have yet to write.”‘Some Fantastic Place’ is, however, ultimately much more than just an insider’s story of a much loved and highly respected group. It is also a consistently candid, often very humorous and always interesting story of Difford’s entire life, from his working-class prefab home in King George Street, Greenwich, aged ten (“when my memory begins”) down to the present day, via teenage gangs, petty (and once not so petty) crime, song-writing, albums, touring, managing, alcohol, and drugs and rehab, with friendships (celebrity and otherwise), marriages and children along the way.There are two respects in which the book could have been improved.Firstly, someone at the publishing house should have pointed out to Chris that he sometimes expresses himself oddly, examples being: “Her cold shoulder definitely gave me food for thought”; “I could feel the penny dropping at an alarming rate”; “my emotions were tickled to the roots”; “we fell to our emotional knees”; “The rest of the songs were tossed off like pancakes on a less-than-emotional grill”; and – my personal favourite - “We were both heaving the elephant in the room further and further up the hill.”Secondly, although we learn a lot about the dynamics of his various song-writing partnerships it would have been good to have had more from Chris on the actual mechanics of his writing of lyrics.Having said that, this is still a fascinating read about a talented artist and interesting individual, which merits an audience far beyond Squeeze fans and those interested in anecdotes about celebrities, although for me the chapter on Difford’s Sunset Boulevard-style dealings with Bryan Ferry, with Chris as Max von Mayerling to Ferry’s Norma Desmond, itself makes the book well worth the price of purchase.
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