Fiona - Squeeze (1992/2020)

Released in 1992, Squeeze came at a time when the rock world was experiencing a major upheaval. Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten had gone through the roof commercially, and alternative rock was becoming rock's primary direction, something that many A&R people and music industry professionals would have thought impossible a few years earlier. But sure enough, rock tastes were changing, and by 1993 and 1994, ‘80s-style arena rockers like Fiona Flanagan were being accused of sounding dated. Not that dated is necessarily a terrible thing; it can actually be a plus if you worship a particular era. And on Squeeze, Flanagan's sound is firmly planted in the ‘80s. Produced by Marc Tanner (with John Kalodner doing some of the engineering), this slick, high-gloss collection of arena rock, hard rock, and pop/rock shows no awareness of the grunge/alt-rock upheaval that took place in 1992. Flanagan was a product of the ‘80s, and Squeeze never strays from that big ‘80s sound: big drums, big guitars, big melodies, big choruses, big harmonies. Squeeze, which was Flanagan's first album for Geffen and fourth overall, found the New Jersey native fronting a real band instead of simply using a bunch of studio players (a move that Kalodner had recommended). But once you get past the fact that there are four people on the front cover instead of one, it becomes apparent that Squeeze isn't a radical departure from the three albums Flanagan had recorded for Atlantic in the ‘80s. And like much of her Atlantic output, Squeeze falls short of remarkable but is generally decent. Squeeze is never mind-blowing, although it's a pleasant, likable effort that is worth hearing if you're a die-hard fan of ‘80s-style arena rock.