When Squeeze announced their breakup following the completion of their tour for the 1982 album Sweets From a Stranger, it came as a surprise.

After all, they were just one record removed from the previous year’s East Side Story, which produced two of their biggest hits, “Tempted” and “Labelled with Love”; Sweets had been somewhat of a commercial disappointment, yet it still felt like they had unfinished business.

As it turned out, the members of Squeeze shared that sentiment — it just took them a couple of years to realize it.

The story behind the breakup was all too familiar. The effort required to maintain their early string of hits meant constantly cycling between the studio and the road, producing a steady stream of new material without much chance to take a breath and live life in a way that would inspire songwriting — let alone create songs that lived up to the high standard they had already set. The band’s chief songwriters, Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook, were particularly affected by their own success.

“Though we were flattered to be compared to Gilbert and Sullivan and Lennon and McCartney, those comparisons proved to be a millstone around our neck,” Tilbrook later admitted.

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The path to the (first) Squeeze reunion began with Difford & Tilbrook, the 1984 LP released by the duo. They were initially hired to write a stage musical, and after that project ended its three-month run, they naturally returned to the studio.

It might have been easy to assume that without needing to consider other band members’ creative input, Difford and Tilbrook would be in an ideal position to deliver a set of songs entirely to their liking. However, other factors intervened, including stereotypical issues such as drug use and romantic relationships disrupting in-studio harmony. Ultimately, the Difford & Tilbrook record came and went without making a lasting impression.

How Did Squeeze’s 1985 Reunion Come About?

Undeterred, they intended to continue working as a duo, but soon the idea of reuniting Squeeze emerged. After attending a performance by former keyboard player Jools Holland, Tilbrook called Difford in late 1984 and suggested getting the band back together.

“I thought it was a silly thing to do since we had only recently disbanded,” Difford recalled in an interview with The Atlanta Constitution. “But we went into a rehearsal hall and tried it out, and it sounded great. … The idea is to carry on Squeeze from now on while still pursuing our solo projects in the same way Genesis and Phil Collins have done, although it’ll be much more interesting than that.”

Listen to Squeeze’s ‘Last Time Forever’

With renewed enthusiasm, the group entered the studio, accompanied by producer Laurie Latham, whose recent high-profile work included Paul Young’s hit album No Parlez. In a decision they would later regret, they chose to record the new material in an extremely ’80s fashion — specifically, by cutting their parts individually rather than playing the basic tracks live. This approach helped give the songs a sound fitting for contemporary trends but also undermined their strengths as a performing unit and diminished much of the reason for reuniting most of the original lineup.

It quickly became evident that any hit singles would be accidental. Difford and Tilbrook remained a powerful songwriting duo with an ability for catchy melodies, clever lyrics, and sharp instrumental hooks. However, they had rarely aimed to record radio-friendly material, and Squeeze’s breakup and reunion hadn’t changed that. Label executives who may have hoped that Difford and Tilbrook’s recent attempt at becoming commercial pitchmen by writing a Dr. Pepper jingle would lead to an album full of obvious hits were bound for disappointment.

“The record company gets upset if they don’t hear a hit single, and initially our company didn’t like the new album because of that,” Difford told Hackensack’s The Record. “I’ll be the first to admit there are no hit singles on this album, but that’s not our main concern. We don’t take the approach Duran Duran does of writing one hit song and then filling the rest of the album with anything. We’re focused on producing the best overall product we can.”

When Was Squeeze’s ‘Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti’ Released?

The product titled Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti, in typically cheeky Squeeze fashion, arrived in stores on August 26, 1985. It quickly became clear that the pattern established by many of their records — stellar reviews but poor sales — would continue with their sixth LP: Cosi peaked at No. 57 on the U.S. album charts, with only one single, “Hits of the Year,” charting at all, barely making it into the Top 40 at No. 39.

The critics were generally kinder. Although several reviews criticized the fussy production and busy chord changes, writers were pleased to see Squeeze back in action — some even felt like they had heard a new high point in the group’s catalog.

Listen to Squeeze's 'Hits of the Year'

“All the songs on Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti are as near perfect as they can be,” enthused Tom Traver of the Winston-Salem Journal. “There are no gaps in the arrangements as there sometimes were in earlier days. The verses keep you moving effortlessly into the chorus, which always hits you hard with its irresistible hook. And Difford’s literate lyrics sound effortless in Tilbrook’s care … this is Squeeze’s best record ever.”

Whether or not that’s hyperbole is debatable; either way, Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti provided Squeeze with the momentum needed to enter the latter half of the ’80s as a fully functioning unit. It also paid off quickly — their next album, 1987’s Babylon and On, produced their biggest U.S. hit, “Hourglass,” which reached No. 15. The road ahead wasn’t always smooth; multiple lineup changes, label switches, and another breakup further complicated their already precarious commercial prospects. Nevertheless, much of their best work lay ahead of them, and this was the record they needed to create for that to happen.

“I have fluctuating opinions regarding Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti,” Tilbrook said years later. “It was not our best album but it was indeed our best album at that time.”