Any Trouble - C’mon & Join Us!

Popping back in time

Regular solo releases and lengthy stints as a sideman for Richard Thompson and Nanci Griffith have given Clive Gregson gainful employment over the last couple of decades, but Life In Reverse finds him slipping comfortably back into his old shoes as frontman of one of the most notable band of power poppers of the early 80s. Any Trouble were greeted by enormous music press hype on their debut, delivering four albums of harmony-laden hook-happy catchiness before calling it a day in the face of general public indifference. Nothing here quite matches their previous triumphs (Girls Are Always Right, Trouble With Love), although there’s still much to recommend. The Man I Used To Be chugs along with the vibrancy of The Supremes’ You Can’t Hurry Love, while Peyton’s Place acknowledges the passing of the years with Gregson hankering for a lost love now tending to another man’s children. The delicate Nothing New is typical of the slow burning folk/country of solo Gregson, but for the most part the album bristles with the smart, unassuming guitar-led ditties of yore. It won’t change your life, but it might make the next 40 minutes that little bit more bearable.

Stiff | CDSEEZ 69

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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