Squeeze

Black text with each letter in a red circle over an illustration of the band on a white background

Sweets from a Stranger is the fifth album by British new wave band, Squeeze, released in May, 1982. The album was mildly successful, spawning a minor hit in the song, ‘Black Coffee in Bed,’ which would hit in the Top 40 in the U.S. while it failed to chart the top 50 in the U.K.

The band was formed in Deptford, Long, England in 1974, coming to prominence in the late 1970s. Band members, Christ Difford, Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland named the band after a disreputable Velvet Underground album. The band was heavily inspired by the Beatles and the Kinks. The band was joined by Harry Kakoulli and Paul Gunn, the original drummer, was later replaced by Gilson Lavis. The release of Packet of Three lead to a recording contract with A&M Records. They had a tough time gaining a foothold in the U.S. and didn’t hit the U.S. Top 40 until a decade after their debut album. Squeeze went on to build a dedicated following that stayed with them in the late 1990s with many of their songs becoming pop classics of the new wave era.

By the time the band was close to releasing their fifth album, they were exhausted. Like many groups of the era, the group had been performing nonstop for close to a decade and had gone through a number of members. After going on tour to support the album, the band broke up going their separate ways. The band reunited in 1985, releasing some of their most commercially successful work.