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Any Trouble

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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.

Tagged as:

new wave, power pop, 80s, pub rock, pop
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Where Are All the Nice Girls?
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Girls Are Always Right: The Stiff Years
Any Trouble
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Girls Are Always Right
Any Trouble
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- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $7.99
- 7digital $7.77
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
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Where Are All The Nice Girls
Any Trouble
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- Amazon MP3 $7.99
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Top Tracks

1	Second Choice	36
2	Yesterday's Love	29
3	Playing Bogart	28
4	Turning Up The Heat	17
5	Trouble With Love	11
5	Girls Are Always Right	11
7	Growing Up	10
8	Name Of The Game (Live)	8
8	The Hurt	8
10	Foolish Pride	7
10	Nice Girls	7
10	Romance	7
13	Honolulu	5
13	No Idea	5
15	Open Fire	3

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tronsuser wrote:
Tuesday morning

a simple life is all i need

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BoldmanUK wrote:
October 2009

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!

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YesMother wrote:
August 2009

I like Second Choice.

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FleetingDasein wrote:
June 2009

So little plays? Playing Bogart is great.

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superaural wrote:
May 2009

great!

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JaviLTM wrote:
December 2008

good times.........

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erkkix wrote:
September 2008

turning up the heat!!!

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el_congrejo wrote:
April 2007

All night long... squeeze me and do me wrong.

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