Any Trouble
 Stiff
Records had great commercial hopes for this Manchester quartet, led by
balding, bespectacled singer/guitarist/pianist Clive Gregson, whose
songs - mostly about the unhappy side of love - have always shown real
talent. It unfortunately took the group a long time to escape their
basic facelessness and locate a sound, a slow start that may be why
Any Trouble ended without ever receiving the acclaim they deserved.
The first LP (Where Are All The Nice Girls?) suffered from -
not unreasonable - comparisons to early Elvis
Costello, and showed Any Trouble to be a pub band five years after the
end of that era, playing competent, melodic rock with no special
character. Only The Hurt and the stunningly derivative
Second Choice (a retread of Less than Zero) left any
lasting impression beyond overall nice-guy swellness.
Live at the Venue, recorded onstage in London in May 1980,
included performances of both aforementioned songs (and five more from
the first album), plus a rendition of Bruce
Springsteen's Growing
Up (shades of Greg Kihn). The band showed a helpful increase in
spunk and velocity, but still fell short of being exciting. (Although
Live at the Venue never came out in America as such, six
selections were issued as the promo-only Live and Alive
12-inch.)
Wheels in Motion, produced by Mike Howlett (later a
hit-maker
for Flock Of Seagulls), evinced further improvement, adding impressive
intricacy and dynamics to the arrangements. Gregson's growing
confidence as a singer helped put across his pessimistic (but not
cynical) lyrics on songs like Trouble with Love, Another
Heartache and the outstanding Walking in Chains.
The Any Trouble LP - by a half-new line-up - was the band's first
great album, a wonderful new blend of soul and pop strengthened by
Gregson's sharpening melodic sense and lightening lyrical outlook.
Please Don't Stop, Man of the Moment, Northern Soul
and other tracks resembled a non-obnoxious Hall & Oates crossed with
Costello and recorded at Motown; production by David Kershenbaum
provided the sonic variety and sophistication previously lacking.
The group inexplicably re-recorded three early (and not timeless)
songs for Wrong End of the Race, adding a rousing cover of The
Foundations' Baby Now That I've Found You, and a bunch of new
Gregson compositions. (The US edition deleted Lucky Day and
Yesterday's Love, a reprise of the group's first single, to make
way for three tracks not on the UK version.) Featuring an illustrious
cast of guests (Richard Thompson, Billy Bremner, Geoff Muldaur), the
LP was less stylized than its remarkable predecessor, but bristled
with renewed vigor and rich horn-and-vocal-filled arrangements.
Without fanfare, that was the end of Any Trouble. Their final
performance was at Dingwalls in London at Christmas 1984.
With minimal outside contributions on drums, horns and backing
voices, Strange Persuasion, Gregson's first solo record, was a
one-man show that plainly laid out its author's heartbreak and pain.
In Summer Rain, a deeply personal stunner actually based on a
friend's experiences, he questioned the wisdom of a court's child
custody decision; elsewhere, Gregson addressed love lost and mistakes
made with self-critical resignation. Over simple music that was
attractive and effective, Gregson sang with pride and dignity, making
this a deeply moving document of sincere, honest emotions set into
song.
Gregson then formed a partnership with Isle of Man-born vocalist
Christine Collister, a guest on Strange Persuasion who, like
Gregson, had toured and recorded with Richard Thompson. The folky
Home and Away - recorded at a handful of acoustic 1986 gigs and
chez Gregson - handsomely blended her deep, strong voice with his on a
broad assortment of originals (Any Trouble material like Northern
Soul and All the Time in the World, as well as tunes from
Strange Persuasion) and classics (Merle Haggard's Mama Tried,
Carl Perkins' Matchbox, Larry
Williams' Slow Down) that
was as warmly likable as it was unaffected.
Mischief shaped the same heartfelt songwriting and rich
singing into full-blown arrangements, many of them tastefully rocked
up with drums (by Any Trouble alumnus Martin Hughes) and electric
guitars. Gregson's striking melodies and deeply incisive lyrics were
more than adequate to the stronger environment; the duo's voices rose
to the occasion as well, making Mischief an easy record to like
(except perhaps by crabby folk purist misled by the pair's habit of
performing with just Gregson's acoustic guitar). Highlights:
Everybody Cheats on You, the unflattering I Specialise, the
mournfully romantic We're Not Over Yet and the reluctantly
happy This Tender Trap.
Gregson and Collister successfully raised their ambitions and
widened their stylistic reach on A Change in the Weather, an
even better collection of songs and settings. Joining their voices in
more intricate harmonies and testing out more complex material, the
duo soared through poignant essays on wife abuse (This Is the Deal),
mortality (How Weak I Am), the hollowness of pop stars and
culture (Jumped Up Madam, the CD-bonus Temporary Sincerity)
and overdriven children (Talent Will Out). On a lighter note,
Gregson revealed an abiding enthusiasm for Elvis Presley with the
witty and personal (Don't Step in) My Blue Suede Shoes, to
which Collister added a rocking rendition of the King's own Tryin'
to Get to You.
Rather than build on A Change in the Weather, the duo next
cut a simple acoustic collection of quiet cover versions with no
outside assistance. From the delightfully surprising (10cc's The
Things We Do for Love) to the solid (Merle Haggard's Today I
Started Loving You Again, Bruce
Springsteen's One Step Up)
and the sappy (Jackson Browne's For a Dancer), Love Is a
Strange Hotel had a quiet, casual charm but not much backbone.
Many of the selections were far from standards (Aztec
Camera's How
Men Are, Paul Carrack's Always Better with You, the Boo
Hewerdine/Darden Smith title tune), which left the unadorned demo-like
performances to stand on their own, and they were altogether too
unprepossessing for that.
Released earlier in 1990, Welcome to the Workhouse provided
a fine footnote to Gregson's early career with ten previously
unreleased demos and outtakes recorded alone or with simple
accompaniment between 1980 and 1985. Any Trouble songs (I'll Be
Your Man) in drastically different form, band versions of This
Tender Trap and Standing in Your Shadow (both now in the
duo's repertoire), an acoustic cover of Michael
Jackson's She's Out
of My Life and several otherwise unavailable Gregson songs made
this a rich, significant collection.
| The
Band |
Clive Gregson
Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Chris Parks
Guitar |
Phil Barnes
Bass
Mel Harley
Drums
Steve Gurl
Keyboards |
Martin Hughes
Drums
Tom Jackson
Vocals
Andy Ebsworth
Drums
|
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