Any Trouble
Album: Present Tense
Label: Cherry REd
Tracks: 18
Website: https://www.facebook.com/AnyTrouble

Formed in Manchester in 1974, initially as a covers band a fronted by Tom Jackson, after he left guitarist Clive Gregson took over vocal duties and began writing original material, leading to their debut, indie released single 'Yesterday's Love' and the band signing to Stiff, releasing two critically well received albums, 1980's 'Where Are All The Nice Girls?' and 1981 follow up 'Wheels In Motion', the latter featuring both their definitive cover of 'Dimming Of The Day' and 'Open Fire', the latter arguably their signature song. However, commercial success did not follow critical acclaim and the band were dropped mid-way through a 1983 American tour and split up.

However, interest from America saw Gregson and bassist Phil Barnes reform with a new line up and a deal was duly inked with EMI America, producing two more albums, 'Any Trouble' (featuring 'Touch and Go' which would be resurrected for Gregson and Collister's 'Home and Away') and 'Wrong End of the Race', a two disc set of new material and recordings of , among others, 'Open Fire', 'Turning Up The Heat' and 'Wheels In Motion' as well as a cover (at the behest of the label I suspect) of Foundations hit, 'Baby Now That I've Found You'. These faired equally badly and in 1984, the band called it quits once more.

Fast forward to 2007 and with a positive buzz for the release of the albums, Gregson put the band back together, re-enlisting founder member guitarist Chris Parks alongside drummer Martin Hughes and bassist Mark Griffiths from the touring version of The Rutles, and releasing 'Life In Reverse' on the reborn Stiff label. Response to both the album and the live dates was good, to which here's the second outing from the current incarnation, a value for money 18 tracks , the songs, as ever, all penned by Gregson, complete with lyric booklet that plays to all the band's pop strengths. So, that'll be catchy melodies, infectious hooks and lyrics that generally dwell on being one of life's perennial losers ('Learning How To Lose', the twangy 'Missed That Train') or how shit the world can be ('I Just Don't Get It', the Monkees-like 'Roll Around Here'), punctuated by the occasional ray of upbeat sunshine like 'She's Not Like All The Other Girls' or 'I Love The Way'.

Their third album was produced by David Kershenbaum, who also twiddled knobs for Joe Jackson, and you might sometimes hear affinities between the two acts, though, having said that, with its falsetto vocals, 'Great Big City' firmly nods towards the chugging sound of early CS&N while 'It Doesn't Mean A Thing' clearly harks to Gregson's Northern Soul teenage years spent at Wigan Casino and, one of the stand out tracks, the mellow, organ backed 'Anybody Else' has a definite Beatles air. There's even a hint of reggae rhythm to 'Shake A Leg'.

If he can be caustic on 'God's Little Joke', a waltzing comment on the human race, Gregson also does playful with 'Rocking Horse', a bouncy tribute to the clapped out Ford he used to drive back as a Manchester lad while the album closes with two heartfelt love songs, the gorgeous plaintive minor chord 'Annalee 'and the uptempo take a chance on me sentiments of 'Valentine'.

However, way out in front of the field is the album's other tribute, the titular gentle on your mind homage to 'Glen Campbell' (only right given he recorded a song called 'Any Trouble'), a love letter from one musician to another about the power of song that evokes Campbell's trademark tremolo guitar sound as well as lyrically referencing Wichita Lineman. At this stage of the game, fortunes aren't going to be reversed, but judging by a recent live show I caught, they're not just playing to the ageing nostalgia crowd, suggesting that they'll hopefully be troubling us again in the not too distant future.

Mike Davies