Sweets from a Stranger is the fifth studio album by the British New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 group Squeeze. Its surprisingly dark mood and what some perceived as relatively uninspired songwriting led to some of the band's least flattering reviews since their debut. The band split up soon after a world tour for the record, and the two main songwriters went on to record 1984's Difford & Tilbrook

Difford & Tilbrook (album)

Difford & Tilbrook is the only studio album released by Difford & Tilbrook. Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook were the main songwriters in the New Wave band Squeeze until their 1982 breakup. The duo continued to write songs together, and in 1984 released this self-titled effort. When Squeeze...

. Squeeze reunited and released Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti

Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti

Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti is a 1985 album by the British New Wave group Squeeze. It is the band's sixth album, and the first recorded since their breakup in 1982. It reunited songwriters Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford with drummer Gilson Lavis and keyboardist Jools Holland...

in 1985.

In 1997, the CD was released in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 with two bonus tracks, as part of the Six of One... box set. The set included the band's first six studio albums, each digitally remastered. These CDs were made available for individual purchase in 1998.

Track listing

All songs written by Chris Difford

Chris Difford

Chris Difford is a singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer....

 and Glenn Tilbrook

Glenn Tilbrook

Glenn Martin Tilbrook is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid 1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally wrote the melody for Squeeze, while his writing partner, Chris Difford, wrote the lyrics...

.

1. "Out of Touch" – 3:50
2. "I Can't Hold On" – 3:34
3. "Points of View" – 4:12
4. "Stranger Than the Stranger on the Shore" – 3:19
5. "Onto the Dance Floor" – 3:37
6. "When the Hangover Strikes
   When The Hangover Strikes
   "When the Hangover Strikes" was the second single released from Squeeze's fifth album, Sweets from a Stranger. It was the first UK single culled from one of the band's albums not to achieve a position on the Singles Chart ....
   
   " – 4:29
7. "Black Coffee in Bed
   Black Coffee In Bed
   "Black Coffee in Bed" was the first single released from Squeeze's fifth album, Sweets from a Stranger. At the time of its release it was the longest Squeeze track ever issued, and it remains the only 7" Squeeze single over six minutes long...
   
   " – 6:12
8. "I've Returned
   I've Returned
   "I've Returned" was a single in the Netherlands, released from Squeeze's fifth album, Sweets from a Stranger....
   
   " – 2:34
9. "Tongue Like a Knife" – 4:10
10. "His House Her Home" – 3:23
11. "The Very First Dance" – 3:17
12. "The Elephant Ride" – 3:22

Bonus Tracks (1997 reissue)

13. "I Can't Get Up Anymore" – 3:55
14. "When Love Goes to Sleep" – 3:44

Bonus Tracks (2008 reissue)

(includes all previous tracks)

1. "Annie get your gun" - 3:25
2. "I'm at home tonight" - 3:23
3. "Elephant girl" - 3:38
4. "Spanish guitar" - 2:46
5. "Tomorrow's world (his house her home)" - 3:09
6. "Whenever we meet" - 2:58
7. "Last call for love" - 3:28

Personnel

• John Bentley
  John Bentley (musician)
  John Bentley was the bassist for Squeeze from 1980 to 1982. He played on the albums Argybargy and East Side Story, generally considered to be the band's best by critics, as well as the darker and less acclaimed Sweets from a Stranger...
  
   – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , Back Vocals
• Chris Difford
  Chris Difford
  Chris Difford is a singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer....
  
   – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
• Gilson Lavis
  Gilson Lavis
  Gilson Lavis was the drummer for Squeeze from 1976 until 1992. More recently, he has been drumming for Jools Holland's Rhythm & Blues Orchestra....
  
   – Drums
• Don Snow
  Don Snow
  Don Snow is a vocalist, Hammond organist, pianist, guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer and saxophonist who is primarily known for his work with Squeeze, the Sinceros, Procol Harum and the new wave act The Catch...
  
   – Keyboards, Back Vocals
• Glenn Tilbrook
  Glenn Tilbrook
  Glenn Martin Tilbrook is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid 1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally wrote the melody for Squeeze, while his writing partner, Chris Difford, wrote the lyrics...
  
   – Lead Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

Additional Personnel

• Elvis Costello
  Elvis Costello
  Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
  
   - backing vocals on "Black Coffee In Bed"
• Del Newman - string arrangements
• Paul Young
  Paul Young
  Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
  
  - backing vocals on "Black Coffee In Bed"