Wrong End of the Race

Last updated
Wrong End of the Race
Wrong End of the Race.png
Studio album by
Any Trouble
Released1984
Genre Rock
Label EMI America
Producer Will Birch, John Wood
Any Trouble chronology
Any Trouble
(1983)		Wrong End of the Race
(1984)		Girls Are Always Right: The Stiff Years
(2002)

Wrong End of the Race is the final studio album by the English band Any Trouble, released in 1984. [1] [2] The original LP release was a double album. [3] The band supported it with UK and North American tours. [4]

Contents

Production

Recorded in New York and London, the album was produced by Will Birch and John Wood. [5] [6] "Baby, Now That I've Found You", released as a single, is a cover of the song made famous by the Foundations. [7] [8] "Learning the Game" was written by Buddy Holly. [6] The rest of the songs were written by bandmembers Clive Gregson and Nick Simpson. [9] "Open Fire", "Playing Bogart", "Turning Up the Heat", and "Yesterday's Love" are remakes of older Any Trouble songs. [10] Gregson was influenced primarily by Richard Thompson, who sang and played guitar on "Lucky Day", "Open Fire", and "Baby, Now That I've Found You". [11] [4] Any Trouble used a horn section and strings on some of the tracks. [12] "Lovers Moon" features Cajun music-inspired accordion and fiddle. [13] The Sutherland Brothers provided backing vocals on a few tracks. [5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]
The Birmingham News Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [15]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The Philadelphia Inquirer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
Santa Barbara News & Review Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]

The Philadelphia Inquirer praised "Gregson's knack for writing bracing pop-rock anthems inspired by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and English guitarist Richard Thompson." [17] The Sunday Telegraph called Wrong End of the Race "the best LP of the year so far", and noted that the band "achieve the perfect punchy sound to complement Gregson's irresistible, up-tempo beat numbers". [18] The Press labeled the album "a near flawless example of mainstream rock sonics." [19] The Birmingham Post said of Gregson, "not since Elvis Costello ... has there been such a lyrically incisive personality." [3] The Birmingham Evening Mail opined that the "superior, soul-inspired rock" should have been limited to a single disc. [20] The Birmingham News admired Gregson's "powerful, deep-chested singing voice." [15]

Trouser Press concluded that the album "is less stylized than its remarkable predecessor, but bristles with renewed vigor and rich horn-and-vocal-filled arrangements." [21] In 2005, the Iowa City Press-Citizen said that "this tour-de-force swansong threw aside any attempts to suck-up to industry conventions to make one of the most eclectic and tuneful works of its era." [6]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Open Fire" 
2."Old Before Your Time" 
3."Lovers Moon" 
4."Lucky Day" 
5."Coming of Age" 
6."Baby, Now That I've Found You" 
7."All the Time in the World" 
8."Wheels in Motion" 
9."Turning Up the Heat" 
10."Yesterday's Love" 
11."Wrong End of the Race" 
12."Learning the Game" 
13."Like a Man" 
14."Playing Bogart" 
15."Eleventh Hour" 
16."The Cheating Kind" 
17."Snapshot" 
18."Between the Black and the Grey" 
19."Kid Gloves" 

References

  1. ↑ Pick, Steve (9 March 1990). "Clive Gregson Faces (Groan!) Popularity". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. F4.
  2. ↑ Speed, Stan (17 May 1984). "Worth the trouble". The Northern Echo. p. 12.
  3. 1 2 Daumler-Ford, Jonathan (12 May 1984). "Contrasting Tones". The Birmingham Post. p. 6.
  4. 1 2 Harbidge, Simon (8 June 1984). "Untroubled by stardom". Evening Post. Nottingham. p. 8.
  5. 1 2 Kilcommons, Denis (19 May 1984). "Trouble to play". The Saturday Weekend Examiner. Huddersfield. p. 14.
  6. 1 2 3 Musser, Jim (22 December 2005). "Record Rewind". Iowa City Press-Citizen. p. D2.
  7. ↑ "Record Round-Up". North Wales Weekly News. 31 May 1984. p. 24.
  8. ↑ Allan, Marc D. (23 August 1984). "Records". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 11.
  9. ↑ Quill, Greg (5 May 1984). "Pop". Toronto Star. p. H11.
  10. ↑ Kinghorn, Peter (24 May 1984). "Albums". Evening Chronicle. No. 33257. p. 8.
  11. ↑ Humphries, Patrick (1997). Richard Thompson: The Biography. Schirmer Books. p. 226.
  12. 1 2 Mock, Joe (21 June 1984). "Any Trouble". Sundial. Santa Barbara News & Review. Vol. XVII, no. 591. p. 13.
  13. ↑ Bohen, Jim (15 July 1984). "Shortcuts". Daily Record. Vol. 85, no. 21. Morris County. p. D10.
  14. ↑ "Wrong End of the Race Review by Chris Woodstra". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  15. 1 2 Hare, Francis (27 September 1984). "Album reviews". The Birmingham News. p. 7C.
  16. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1998). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 204.
  17. 1 2 Rea, Steven X. (8 July 1984). "A Band in Search of Success". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. H3.
  18. ↑ Dann, Trevor (15 April 1984). "Travelling Well". Sunday Telegraph. No. 1196. p. 15.
  19. ↑ Allen, Greg (4 May 1984). "The Vinyl Word". The Press. p. V11.
  20. ↑ Trapp, Roger (26 May 1984). "Album Reviews". Birmingham Evening Mail. p. 27.
  21. ↑ "Any Trouble". Trouser Press. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
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