Any Trouble

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Crewe, England (1975 – 1984, 2007 – present)

Any Trouble are a British rock band, originating from Crewe, England, best known for the early 1980s recordings. The band reformed in 2007.

Any Trouble was an underappreciated bright spot on Stiff Records, a label which had no shortage of talented artists. Bandleader Clive Gregson’s appearance, hardened love songs, and vocal style may have led to comparisons to Elvis Costello, but they were no second-rate rip-off — each of their four albums revealed a songwriter of unique talent and a more-than-capable band to execute the songs.

Manchester-native Gregson formed the original band in 1975 while attending teaching school in Crewe, taking the group’s name from a misquote from the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles. After a brief moment as a folky trio with singer Tom Jackson, by 1976 Any Trouble changed to a four-piece rock group, speeding up their repertoire in response to the punk movement — by this point the lineup was Gregson (vocals/guitar), Chris Parks (guitar), Phil Barnes (bass), and Mel Harley (drums). They built a strong following playing the pub circuit and released their own single, catching the attention of Radio One’s John Peel, who quickly took the band and played the song on his show. This exposure started a small-scale bidding war from several labels. By 1980, the group signed with Stiff Records.

John Wood , a renowned producer (Nick Drake, John Martyn, Richard Thompson) who had recently produced Squeeze, was hired to produce Any Trouble’s first album. Where Are All the Nice Girls? which had all the makings of a new wave classic, was met with some rave reviews but failed to rack up the big sales that were expected of it.

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  • jo4nny

    Anyone else notice the resemblance between the lead singer and Nite Owl II from Watchmen?

    21 days ago
  • calinki

    this is awesome!

    October 2010
  • prince-paradox

    I love "Playing Bogart", it's superb, but for some reason it makes me wanna drink whiskey..

    July 2010
  • tronsuser

    a simple life is all i need

    December 2009
  • BoldmanUK

    I remember seeing Any Trouble back in the 80s - can't remember where, but Captial Radio recorded the concert and broadcast it later and I was able to catch it on tape. Hmm, wonder where that casette is now? Clive Gregson has a great voice and comes up with some great lyrics!

    October 2009
  • FleetingDasein

    So little plays? Playing Bogart is great.

    June 2009
  • superaural

    great!

    May 2009
  • erkkix

    turning up the heat!!!

    September 2008
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