Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Any Trouble was blessed with the good fortune to release their debut album, WHERE ARE ALL THE NICE GIRLS, at about the same time that something called “MTV-MUSIC TELEVISION” began to broadcast “music videos” on a relatively new medium named cable TV. Any Trouble’s curse was that they did not look like rock stars. Their looks, alas, were consistent with the themes of their songs, which were generally poppy but angst-laden tunes about their inability to get laid. No matter. Listening to their debut CD, WHERE ARE ALL THE NICE GIRLS, beautifully remastered with a handful of singles and B-sides thrown in, one can only wonder why these guys weren't huge, while fucking Journey and Styx sold millions of copies of recorded dreck.

The quintessimal Any Trouble song is “Second Choice,” a song which forever and for all time will put me in the mind of Beverly D’Angelo for reasons we will not go into here. No matter. There isn't a human being on the planet who can listen to this song and not think of someone. The track, beautifully produced by John Wood, is simple, direct clocks in under three minutes and is unforgettable. I will venture that a great number of people have never heard the rest of WHERE ARE ALL THE NICE GIRLS because they kept playing “Second Choice” over and over. They need to proceed through the rest of the CD, which is absolute joy from beginning to end. Like New Orleans’ Cosimo Matassa, Wood knew that a producer’s job was to 1) arrange the mikes 2) watch the needle and 3) stay the hell out of the way; that is just what he did. Clive Gregson, the nominal creative force behind Any Trouble, apparently kept hashing things out with his bandmates, and whatever chemistry they had resulted in such great, great pop tunes as “Girls Are Always Right,” “Foolish Pride,” and “Nice Girls.” And, if you needed any further proof, included on this version of WHERE ARE ALL THE NICE GIRLS is a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Growin’ Up.” I grew weary of Springsteen’s working class hero shtick over two decades ago, long before his urban planning/military strategy/alternative power expertise magically manifested itself. “Growin’ Up” was the bomb, however, and one does not touch that song with impunity. Any Trouble take the tune and make it their own, without resorting to Manfred Mann pyrotechnics. It simply doesn't get any better than that.

This is a beautiful piece of work, recorded when an album full of music was worth the cost and more than a background piece for your girlfriend’s halfhearted moaning. WHERE ARE ALL THE NICE GIRLS is deserved of close attention from beginning to end, again and again and again. Highly recommended.