Album · Squeeze
East Side Story by Squeeze
East Side Story is an album by Squeeze, released in 1981. 5 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 104 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Tempted”, on 89 lists with a best position of #21.
East Side Story, Squeeze's fourth album, came out on A&M in 1981 with Elvis Costello producing, and it's the record where the band stopped being just another sharp new wave outfit and started raiding the whole jukebox. Rockabilly, R&B, blue-eyed soul, Merseybeat and a dab of psychedelia all turn up, and the songs are better for the detour.
It was the first album with keyboard player Paul Carrack, the former Ace man who came in when Jools Holland left early that year, with Gilson Lavis still on drums. Carrack sings lead on "Tempted", a smoky, late-night slice of soul, and it became the band's first hit in America. "Labelled With Love" is a swaying, weary ballad, and it was their last UK top 10 single. "Is That Love?" is a bright, bouncing pop jab. Carrack left soon after the album was out, though he came back for a spell in the early 1990s and played on Some Fantastic Place.
It reached 19 in Britain and hung around the album chart for 26 weeks. In the UK it was reissued on CD in 1997 with two outtakes as part of the Six of One... box, and a 2007 Japanese remaster added the B-sides "Trust" and "Yap, Yap, Yap".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from East Side Story on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tempted#310 of all time | 89 | #21 | – | 1981–2026 | |
| 2 | Is That Love? | 12 | #670 | – | 1999–2010 | |
| 3 | Labelled With Love | 1 | #315 | – | 2005 | |
| 4 | In Quintessence | 1 | #1661 | – | 2002 | |
| 5 | Messed Around | 1 | #1956 | – | 2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.