Squeeze - Slap and Tickle - The Old Grey Whistle Test

[fatgary68]

not the best joke from jools holland but i'll forgive him for his musical ingenuity

[numberwang2020]

great synths from a great guitar player etc

[MegaPollypolly]

thats harry kakoulli on bass not john bentley he didnt join til 1980!

[nickhirst999]

No it ain't! On his MySpace page, John Bentley says that he joined Squeeze 2 weeks before Cool For Cats reached number two in March 1979. This is from 3rd April 1979. I've met John a couple of times and this is definitely him. I did make the same mistake myself originally! (see 2nd comment on this page).

[LondonSB71]

love this song

[jonasosaurus]

wheres kevin wilkinson

[nickhirst999]

Hello again, jonasausage!

I don't know. Where is kevin wilkinson?

Ask me one on General Knowledge!

[kevj247]

kevin wilkinson didnt join squeeze until after the reunion in 1985

[paulsmartialarts]

@kevj247 That would be Keith. Kevin Wilkinson (no relation) was the drummer on the Ridiculous album in 1995.

[AcrossfromtheAlamo]

What bass is John Bentley playing, it looks similar to one used by Sting circa 1979?

[nickhirst999]

Well I must admit, that's been puzzling me too! So I've just looked at the vids for Cool For Cats and Up The Junction which show it more closely and my conclusion is......I dunno!

I've worked in guitar shops for the last 25 years and I've never seen one. At first I thought it might be a Warwick but they weren't made till 1982.

Possibly a Wal or a Dean? Maybe it's handmade?

Anyone else have any ideas?

[gleemonex1966]

@AcrossfromtheAlamo looks like a travis bean to me.

[keef71]

@gleemonex1966 yep a travis bean TB2000, alan lancaster played one in quo for their 1982 tour

[nickhirst999]

@keef71

Thanks keef71. That's that question answered!

[hamstar8]

@AcrossfromtheAlamo its a travis bean

[Ulmeyda08]

This is going to sound very very strange, but there's an interview with Simon Cowell on the Jay leno show, where various groups of singers came on stage while simon was being interviwed and he was asked to critique them. One of the groups was called "pen15" and Jay Leno said it looked like "penis".

[michaelmoval]

Play it, Glenn! [wooing applause]

[nickhirst999]

Straight from the horse's mouth: John Bentley on his MySpace page says that he joined Squeeze two weeks before Cool For Cats got to number 2. This means that my unusual green cover copy of the album is wrong. It also means that the book "Squeeze song by song" is wrong, too!

[jhaskoll]

Great find.

I'm sorry to have to tell you, but that is John Bentley on bass not the great Harry Kakouli. Harry had already been shunted by the time this session took place..

[nickhirst999]

That's ironic as I've actually met John Bentley!! 0/10 for observation on my part. Just as well this isn't Wikipedia! Reason for the confusion is that I used the Cool For Cats CD as my reference. Looking at my original vinyl copy it is indeed John Bentley and the CD is wrong. I think I'll rewrite my description!

[Mikeya85]

not quite the original line up, gilson being in for paul gunn.

[nickhirst999]

True, I'd forgotten about him! I've amended the description. Thanks.