Before they became purveyors of English whimsy, a kind of updated version of The Kinks, Squeeze somehow found themselves part of the punk circuit.

Their first EP came out on Deptford Fun City Records, a subsidiary of the punk label Illegal Records set up by Miles and Stewart Copeland.

Recorded in April 1977 at Pathway Studios in Newington Green, it was called Packet Of Three – a “cheeky” reference to condoms that older readers might remember.

Although the band had considerable musical chops, having been playing the pub circuit since starting in Deptford in 1974, these three songs have a raw New Wave feel far removed from the eclectic style of later hit singles like Tempted, Cool For Cats and the glorious kitchen-sink drama Up The Junction.

The primitive sound came from producer John Cale, chosen due to the group’s admiration of the Velvets (their name is taken from the band’s final album), and for his production work with The Stooges, Modern Lovers and Patti Smith.

The best song is the last one, Backtrack, propelled by Jools Holland’s turbocharged boogie-woogie piano, long before he became annoying as the world’s worst interviewer on television’s worst New Year music programme.

The EP earned Squeeze enough attention to gete them a record deal with A&M, still smarting from their short-lived punk experience with The Sex Pistols.

A year later they went back into the studio with Cale again. The Welshman began by telling Difford and Tilbrook to chuck out all the songs they had, and write some new ones, and decided their debut album would be called ‘Gay Guys’ (a suggestion the record company somehow managed to resist).

The result was neither memorable, nor commercial, and the group’s first hit single – Take Me, I’m Yours – was released in a version produced by the band themselves.

Anyway, here’s Packet Of Three, and you can fast-forward to Backtrack at 6:20.