And nearly twenty-five years later, Squeeze co-founder/guitarist/vocalist Glenn Tilbrook is still pulling songs from the well. Currently, he's on tour in support of his first solo release, "The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook," recorded for his own Quixotic Records on which he collaborated with a number of friends including Aimiee Mann and Ron Sexsmith.

The record is a reflection of the classic pop genius that Tilbrook possesses — a genius that continues its tryst with Motown. In fact, R&B has informed his songwriting for most of his career.

"Very much so," he says while taking a day off in New Jersey. "I never got the full perspective on Motown over (in America). Obviously there were songs that were big, but the whole Motown thing was so big over in Britain in '60s that it was right up there with all the other classic pop music that was being made at that time. When I was growing up it was all one. Although there was Motown, and other British groups and American groups it was all part of one big thing to me, and I didn't see where the lines were drawn. Although, I have to say it all took a few years for that to come out in the way that we wrote. I went sort of rocky for a while — probably by East Side Story that side started to come out again."

But, he says often the songs start off as pop rock songs only to undergo a change in the arranging process.

"I've always thought the way that songs arrive when you write them isn't necessarily the way they'll end up being. You can try different hats on for arrangements, and that can be a good thing. It can bring a different perspective to a song. Say, for instance, "Tempted." That wasn't written as an R&B song. It was written as a pop song. And with that arrangement it all clicked into place. It's ten times a better song than it was the other way."

This time out Tilbrook's tour is being sponsored by VH-1 as part of their VH-1 Classic series. In a genre populated by the Stones, Zeppelin, etc., it's odd to think of Squeeze as a "Classic" act. And in revisiting "classic" Squeeze records like East Side Story, and ArgyBargy — both released in the early '80s — it's surprising how current they both sound.

"That's an interesting thing about Squeeze, I think," says Tilbrook. "I think we're lucky enough that most of our records actually don't sound dated to me. They sound off the margins. In fact, I think the only records that Squeeze made that sound really dated are the ones we tried to be contemporary with. Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti now sounds like a real 80's record to me, and not in a particularly favorable light. Not because of the synthesizers, but because of the production values, and the way we recorded it. It was very labored. And I'm not against labored records. They can be good because they were labored. But Cosi Fan… was not labored in a good way, in my opinion. We were always outside of what was happening, and if what was happening coincided with what we were doing it was more a question of luck and judgement on our part, I think."

What would he change given the opportunity?

"There's not that much that I would change really. I'd speed it up and shorten it probably. But that's just me from my prospective. I listen to most of the Squeeze records, and I think that's what we sounded like at the time and I think it's an accurate portrayal of the band."

Squeeze released 13 studio albums, seven Greatest Hits collections and a live album recorded at Royal Albert Hall. And despite efforts at times to sound contemporary they managed to sound timeless. So what ultimately happened to this band that survived a break up early on, only to come back to score some of the biggest hits of its career?

"It was that classic thing when you have a group," explains Tilbrook. "I read something Sting said the other day… 'You have a chance, and you take it. And what you do with it is up to you. And, being smart helps.' I thought that was a good quote. That's at least half the story with Squeeze. We, at times, either didn't have luck or management on our side. And, those things can be important. Particularly management, as well. Our manager at the time was both the Police's manager and ours. You can't manage two "world-breaking" bands at the same time.

"The Police were the one's that broke, and we didn't," he says. "The Police were much more of a marketing thing, in terms of their being savvy about their image. We weren't. We definitely weren't. We were like, 'The music is what we were all about,' and we were very anti-image. So that worked against us. That was all our own doing. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone else except us. We were equally to blame for our lack of success in terms of not crossing up to the next level. I say that without a hint of regret. It's just what happened."

And, it's true. He has no regret in his voice when he talks about it. In fact, if anything, there is true affection — not longing — but a genuine fondness for his life in Squeeze. But that life came to an end in the late '90s. He tries to remember the exact moment the band decided to call it a day, but there was little communication, and a myriad of variables that contributed.

"I'm not quite sure (when it happened) really, because Chris left without telling me properly," recalls Tilbrook. "I think he couldn't tell me for whatever reason. He just didn't turn up for a tour when we toured over here in 1998, so we toured as a four piece. We were about to get on the plane, and Chris said he wasn't… he had some problems at the time. He's been in AA for nearly ten years now, and he felt at some point he was in danger of slipping. I think touring represents that to him. It's not something I hold against him at all. But, after that I think he'd just had enough. I think... always that our dream with Squeeze was that it would get bigger, and, in spite of the evidence, we kept on thinking that for the longest time. We thought we were making good records. Certainly throughout the '90s, I was happy with our output. But, if they don't do the trick commercially, no matter how good you think they are it can be frustrating if no one knows about them. I think Chris felt that more keenly than, and in a different way, than I felt it."

There were several indications that the end was near. Difford's battle with the bottle was just part of the problem. His general disinterest was becoming as issue as well.

"When we did Domino, this was something I very much wanted to do — to have control over the way we made the record," recalls Tilbrook. "In retrospect I can see that Chris didn't really want to put any time in, and neither did he want to tour. So his heart had gone out of it by that point. So the long-winded answer to your question is that we broke up in 1998.

And so it was.

On this tour it's just Tilbrook and his guitar — stark naked against a band-less background. And, for the most part, he's fine with that.

"I don't want to sound like I don't miss Squeeze. I miss having a band. I miss the dynamics and the range of a band. But what I love about playing by myself is the communication you can build with an audience. That's something I would never like to lose. Let's say, in an imaginary set of circumstances where I'm far more successful than I am, I would never give up touring by myself. (I would) do what Lyle Lovett does. He tours with his small band, he tours with his big band, and he tours by himself. All of those things work, and have things that work about them."

Recently, Tilbrook has become somewhat of an acoustic "Pied Piper," leading his audiences outside, and into the streets, parking lots, and alleyways surrounding the venues he has played, but he's stopped doing it because of the media coverage.

"The danger in my having done it is that people expect me to do it," he says. "It's like Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire, except on a smaller scale. I won’t say that I won't, but I've been concentrating on the shows inside and not have that as an expected thing. It's been enormous fun though."

The connection is what Tilbrook is really searching for on stage.

"The most important aspect of a show is communication between me and the audience," he says. "That's what (going outside) is all about. Nine times out of ten, when I've taken everyone outside, it's a device to immediately create — by breaking down everyone's expectations — a bond between everyone."

This tour will take him across the U.S., and wrap up in San Francisco, CA, on Dec. 14. Tilbrook says he and Difford are still writing together on occasion, and that they wrote a song together as recently as last year. He also says that while a touring Squeeze is unlikely, collaboration between the two long time songwriting partners is very probable.