Squeeze's Chris Difford To Unleash New Material with 'Saturday Morning Music Club'
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Written by Nigel Sachdev
Chris Difford, double Ivor Novello winner and founder member of the iconic and newly reformed Squeeze, continues to innovate and surprise with his new album ‘Chris, That And The Other’, the first release on brand new digital distribution venture ‘Saturday Morning Music Club’.
Rather than selling a CD or digital album of 12 songs through the usual channels, Difford aims to give fans more for their money than the standard iTunes jpeg. Over the course of a 12-week period, a “cluster” of media will be delivered direct to fans’ desktops each Saturday morning: the week’s lead album track, 2 b-sides, videos, photos and handwritten lyrics and notes – all for only one price.
All the content will be delivered straight to a single desktop application, which will allow users instant access to the music and other content – which can then be saved to the computer or transferred to portable devices. Media content will not be DRM-protected. Latecomers to the Saturday Morning Music Club need not worry about missing out as once material is made available it stays that way.
“It’s not an album, it’s an experience” says Difford. “Like in my childhood, the excitement of rushing to the record shop every Saturday … I’d love to bring that feeling back to buying music”. A single, ‘Like I Did’, will precede both the Music Club and a run of solo dates, while a physical release of the album is due for much later in the year.
Chris Difford is no stranger to giving back to his fans and the music community. He continually runs music-writing workshops, is involved in music therapy as well as teaching, while he is due to curate the inaugural ‘Songs In The Key of London’ concert at the Barbican on March 9th – this will bring together Difford, current and former Squeeze bandmates Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland, as well as the likes of Suggs, Blaine Harrison (Mystery Jets) and more, singing their favourite songs about London.
As for the record itself, ‘Chris, That And The Other’ is Difford’s third solo album, following 2007’s very well received ‘Last Temptation Of Chris’. It was recorded at The Pool in South East London and Jools Holland’s Helicon Mountain Studios, and produced by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno / David Byrne).
‘Chris, That And The Other’ is only the tip of the iceberg in what is sure to be another action-packed year, as Squeeze become recipients of one of the coveted PRS Heritage Plaques in March, marking the location of their first ever gig in what has now become the Greenwich Dance Academy. Following this, Squeeze are all set for an eagerly awaited tour that will visit both sides of the Atlantic in the second half of 2010.
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